Kelly *finally* Reads: Anna and the French Kiss

WARNING: This post kind of contains spoilers. This is not a normal review - this is a blog about a book.

For the past two years, I have heard nothing but AMAZING things about Anna and the French Kiss. I heard so many AMAZING things, that I even bought it last year and put it on my TBR bookcase. When friends and other book nerds found out that I haven’t read Anna yet, I would get yelled at. This wasn’t just, “what?! you NEED to read it!” This was, “WHAT!?! YOU NEED TO READ IT. RIGHT NOW. GO HOME AND READ IT.” So on my vacation, it became the first book I opened. Well, maybe it got too much hype over the past two years, but I wasn’t amazed as my friends clearly were. Granted, it has been hyped for me for TWO YEARS. I was expecting near-perfection. Everyone told me how realistic it was and how it was such a perfect love story. “Perfect” and “amazing” is what they were saying, but I didn’t think it was perfect or ah-maz-ing. I thought it was a good, and yes, realistic, romance novel - naive girl, “perfect” boy and all.


Anna Needs a Logistical Lesson

Okay, seriously, was Anna born minutes before the book started? I couldn’t believe some of her dumbness. Are girls this dumb now a days? How could you not think there would be movie theatres in a WORLD CITY? I’m sorry, do you know how to use the internet? That bothered me.

I was also SO ANNOYED at how naive she was about St. Clair’s feelings for her and what was going on in Georgia while she was gone. Maybe it’s because I’m older and a little more worldly than her, but she annoyed me a LOT. I would KILL to spend a year in France. Sure, I wouldn’t want to miss my senior year either, but this was the opportunity of a lifetime. I think my age plays a huge part in me not liking Anna. I'm 23 and she's 17. There is a maturity difference. But I think 17-year-old Kelly would have been pissed at her, too, for being that upset about this opportunity.

Overall, Anna was VERY believable. I liked - no, loved that. She didn’t have a great relationship with her parents, but she didn't hate them. Her relationship with her best friend was almost identical to how Laura and I talk. I loved that she didn’t just like movies, she was passionate about them and ran a blog - every aspect of her was whole, down to her brother’s obsession with Star Wars. She was so real that the story felt more like a movie or television show than a book. John Green does that for me and I’m glad Stephanie did that, too. Her writing is truly fantastic.


But St. Clair...

Just let me roll my eyes at all the cheesiness that came along with St. Clair.

Okay, I’m done.

That’s all I’m saying on the subject.


Where is this damn french kiss?

First of all, I loved Dave. I wanted Anna to GET IT TOGETHER with her brain so badly and date him sooner. Sure, he wasn’t perfect, but what 17-year-old is? I loved him. I love how he flirted with her and asked her out and he was so great, until he was a 17-year old. Stephanie’s story had perfect realism (except for how dumb Anna was sometimes and even that is debatable realism). The ups and downs of the story were 110% possible for Anna and her life. Except how pretty she was. I don’t think she was pretty with the gap in her teeth. But maybe that’s just me. Whatever. She was the main character so OF COURSE the guys liked her.

Still, the french kiss is in the freaking title. I don’t think Stephanie could have waited longer for this damn kiss. I was SO HAPPY every time Anna and St. Clair got closer to being together. At the very end, I was so upset at Anna for being mad that St. Clair ran after Meredith and then still didn’t come to her. I knew what he was doing. So why was she so DUMB? I’m sorry, but she was DUMB.  


Yes, I liked it, so hand me Lola.

I did enjoy Anna and the French Kiss. It was everything I love in a contemporary YA romance. There was a cute (and British! -ish) boy, there was a girl, there were complications and there was an awesome kiss in a french graveyard. Plus, Stephanie Perkins can write. I always appreciate an author who can write round characters in believable situations set in awesome cities. I laughed, I teared up, and I screamed when we FINALLY got that french kiss. I will recommend it and I may even read it again one day. I’m excited to get and read Lola, as I think it will be better. Stephanie’s stories have an originality to them that’s hard to come by these days. I see contemporary YA becoming so much more realistic than it was ten years ago. I’m glad I read it. Was I amazed as you all seemed to be? No. But that’s hype for you.

76% Chance of Likeability

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Site by Jennifer E. Smith (Poppy, 1/2/2012)
Review by Kelly Lucas

Who would have guessed that four minutes could change everything?

Today should be one of the worst days of seventeen-year-old Hadley Sullivan's life. She's stuck at JFK, late to her father's second wedding, which is taking place in London and involves a soon to be step-mother that Hadley's never even met. Then she meets the perfect boy in the airport's cramped waiting area. His name is Oliver, he's British, and he's in seat 18C. Hadley's in 18A.

Twists of fate and quirks of timing play out in this thoughtful novel about family connections, second chances and first loves. Set over a 24-hour-period, Hadley and Oliver's story will make you believe that true love finds you when you're least expecting it.*

It’s 6:56 Eastern Standard Time (11:56 Greenwich Mean Time) and Hadley is running late. As you open the first pages of The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight, Jennifer Smith drops you in middle of JFK and at the beginning of Hadley’s adventure to London. Then she misses her flight to London for her father’s second marriage - by four minutes.

These four little minutes [as our handy synopsis tells us] change the path Hadley thought she should be on. Hadley now gets to meet Oliver, who is British and on his way to London as well. In an act of British kindness, Oliver helps Hadley with her bag and the two start to get to know each other in JFK. Over the course of their seven-hour flight, they begin to learn about each other, their lives and the conflicts concerning their trips.

Obviously, the two start to fall for each other. The title kind of gives it away. I was pleasantly surprised at how witty Hadley and Oliver are. From their first conversation all the way to their last, the two banter like they’ve known each other for years. Oliver’s humor specifically hooked me into this story. He’s charming (and British) and funny (and British) and so kind (and British). Smith captures his voice so well. She uses the slang that an 18-year-old British boy would use. I loved that. Without even checking, I know Smith has either spent a lot of time with British people or done her homework very well.

Hadley’s adventure takes place over a 24-hour period - from JFK to the end of her father’s wedding. Fortunately for us, we get to see a lot of Hadley and Oliver learning about each other. It’s the first flirtations of a relationship that always make me smile and Smith has written it well. Unfortunately, detailing this 24-hour time period became a little boring towards the end. Once Hadley and Oliver went their separate ways, Hadley became a whiny 17-year-old. I was aching for more Oliver, and more Oliver/Hadley banter.

Hadley on her own is not that appealing. While I understand she is trying to survive a very difficult situation, I would have thought she’d be more mature about the situation. After her parents divorce, she helped carry her mother through the ordeal. Maybe it’s because I never had to deal with divorce or re-marriage, but I couldn’t relate to her. All Hadley talked about and flashed back to was the divorce, how angry she was at her father for leaving, and the re-marriage. I hate calling characters flat, but she is. Hadley often recalls the moments that lead to her flying to her father’s second wedding, but we really don’t get to learn too much about Hadley. The only way I can describe her is an angry teenage girl. She hasn’t even been overly heartbroken to need Oliver to sweep her off her feet. Smith does a lot of telling, and not too much showing.

By the time I realized this, I was 170 pages into the book. Smith hooks you in early and only briefly unhooks you. I did not find this to be the case with Oliver. He, just like Hadley, is going through a difficult situation. Unlike Hadley, he chooses to focus on her and not on himself. As the 24 hours progress, Hadley [and I] uncover Oliver. His flaws only make him real, instead of an idealised kind British boy you happen to sit next to on a very long flight.

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Site is sweet, charming, and a quick read. But I loved the idea of the story more than I actually loved the story itself. I don’t know if it’s worth the $18 a bookstore will charge you, but if you happen to miss a flight by four minutes and are stuck in an airport, you might as well pick it up and enjoy the ride.


*Plot synopsis taken from Amazon.com

If Wishes Were Gavriels...We'd Visit the Dentist More Often

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
(Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, September 27, 2011)
Review by Laura Beutler

Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grown dangerously low.

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages--not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out.

When one of the strangers--beautiful, haunted Akiva--fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

Daughter of Smoke and Bone is a perfect blending of urban fantasy and fairy tale. Laini Taylor manages to take two subgenres (which have become a bit played out for me of late) and make something completely unique. I started hearing buzz about Daughter of Smoke and Bone months before its release, leading me to snatch up a copy despite my complete ignorance about the plot. I was not disappointed. In fact, I am now urging every library patron I see to check out Daughter of Smoke and Bone. It is a little bit of everything: complex, fantastic, beautiful, stark, and, quite frankly, one of the best novels of 2011.

Laini Taylor’s vivid, cinematic prose brought Karou’s home city of Prague to life so completely that I found reading Daughter of Smoke and Bone akin to watching--or living--a brilliantly-directed film. Within the first chapter, I was hooked. But really, if you can write as beautifully as Laini Taylor, you could get away with just writing a novel filled with descriptions of Prague’s streets, and I would sing its praises. Taylor goes beyond that, creating real, complex characters that lift themselves from the page and lodge in one’s imagination.

Giving a succinct summary of the plot of Daughter of Smoke and Bone has proven next to impossible. Taylor employs non-linear storytelling to great effect, jumping back and forth in time to give the reader a full grasp of Karou’s story and of the battle raging between the seraphim and the chimera. This wasn’t at all confusing, instead, it built suspense and drew me so deeply into Karou’s world that I sometimes felt my world was the imaginary one.

Here are the basics. Karou is an art student living in Prague. But she is also something much more. She works for Brimstone, who collects teeth and, in exchange, provides people with wishes. Wishes that come true. That's right. Give Brimstone teeth, he gives you wishes. Kinda gives going to the dentist a whole new meaning... In fact, wishes are used as currency, from the tiny scuppies Karou wears on a necklace to saucer-sized gold gavriels. Brimstone is a chimera, which is to say, he is made up of seemingly incongruous parts of various animals, blended seamlessly. Brimstone, along with fellow chimera Issa and Kishmish, make up the only family Karou has ever known. Then she meets up with Akiva, who is gorgeous in an extremely-deadly sort of way, and her loyalties are challenged in more ways than one.

Yes, that’s all you get. Spoilers...

Karou has all the qualities that make up a great female protagonist. She’s strong, brave, loyal, intelligent, and dedicated...but she’s also impulsive, at times fearful, and devastatingly curious. Her curiosity resonated most with me. As I craved further knowledge of the chimera world, so did Karou. And Karou isn’t invincible, which is fantastic. Too many fantasy novels have protagonists that can dodge bullets and survive unscathed through explosions and magical attacks and what-have-you. That isn’t Karou. She has to be very careful of the criminals she comes in contact with--and sometimes, careful isn’t good enough.

Easily my favorite parts of the book were in Taylor’s descriptions of people and places, such as the enormous puppet Karou’s friend Zuzana creates as an art project, or the streets of Marakesh. I found myself thinking, “This part would be PERFECT in a film, or an anime, like Howl’s Moving Castle!” And if I’m holding something up to Howl’s Moving Castle, you know it’s good. More than good, it’s worthy.

For a while, I lived the book, and it was all-consuming. I neglected my friends, my family, odd library patrons. I detested interruptions, like sleep. It really is fortunate that I read as quickly as I do, because a person does need to eat once and a while, something I forgot altogether while I read this book. And yes, it was worth it. I doubt I’m the only person affected this way. Seriously--try reading Daughter of Smoke and Bone without thinking over what wish you would choose if Brimstone offered you one. Go ahead. You won’t make it past the first twenty pages.

MY wish would be for the second book. Now. This instant. Too bad I don’t have any gavriels.

You Probably *Should* Read This Book

Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn't Have) by Sarah Mlynowski (June 2011; HarperCollins Publishers)

A review by Kelly Lucas

If you know me, you’ll know that I tend to not... think before I do. So when I heard the title for Sarah Mlynowski’s newest book was Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn’t Have), I was, in a word, hooked.

I wanted to know what these ten things were and why they shouldn't have done them. When I want to know something, it will eat at me until I know. So on the train home the day I received Ten Things We Did at BEA, I opened it and started reading.

1 girl + 1 non-boyfriend boy + no pants = Kelly intrigued

I turned to page two and read, “why was I in bed with boy who was not my boyfriend without any pants on?” Okay, I was going to love this story. Besides the fact that my friends and I have a joke that I hate wearing pants, I knew April was my type of girl. The type of girl I would totally be friends with.*

While the first few pages are a great introduction to the story, the scene Sarah sets first actually takes place near the end, so as the chapter ends, I was full of questions. What was going on here? Why wasn’t April wearing any pants? Where was the boyfriend? As much as I loved Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn’t Have), it started out slow. Sarah took time to set up April’s story - and she has good reason for it.

Ten Things We Did is almost every 16 year-old girl’s dream world. April Berman’s father and step-mother are moving to Cleveland, but she doesn’t want to leave her Connecticut school, friends, or boyfriend. So her father agrees to let her stay and live with her best friend, Vi.  But Vi’s mother is the lead in the tour cast of Mary Poppins, which has just left to launch from Chicago! So with a lie to April’s father here, and a lie to Vi’s mother there, the girls begin living alone.

This is why April’s back story is important. We need to learn all about April’s life before she really starts living with Vi. Honestly, I was impatient. I wanted the goods! I wanted April to be alone with her boyfriend for them to have sex! I wanted to know why there was a strange boy in April’s bed! I wanted to know who this strange boy was!

So, I pushed through the back story, and like with every other Mlynowski book, I finally became addicted.

OMG, you guys. This book is super-mega-foxy-awesome.

I am very grateful that Sarah took her time with the pace of the first 100 pages, because all those details we learn are so important to the mystery, suspense, and joy that the end brings. Since I finished the book before the official pub date (Thanks, BEA!), I kept recommending it to my friends. This past week, I was very happy to receive this text: “omfg just finished ten things! amazing!!”

And it is at that. Actually, “amazing” may not even be the word. Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn’t Have) reminds me so much of The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen and 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson. Pure, honest, fresh... innocent. Can I say it’s innocent when April and Vi harbor a felon (#7)? Well, it is. Ten Things We Did is not just a love story; it’s a story where the main character grows up and learns that sometimes it’s good to do things you probably shouldn’t.

Sarah takes us on this crazy and funny story of the first time a teenager lives alone. It’s a dream world, right? April and Vi throw crazy parties (#8), cut school (#3), and of course, lie to their parents (#1). Nothing could go wrong. Right? Think again. With responsibility comes consequences.

Someone’s got to do the laundry...  

Living away from your parents is...well...not always fun. Sarah captures the honesty in what it is like to live away from your parents for the first time and the mistakes that are made. The little things Mom and Dad always do are now April and Vi’s responsibility. While Vi is used to it, April isn’t and it comes as a bit of a shock. Still, she’s unique, quirky, slightly awkward, but most of all, fun; all of these character qualities translate into a wonderful story. I laughed, I cried, I worried, and got to drool over two boys vying for April’s affection. These characters come alive in Sarah’s writing. Y’all know what I’m talking about, right? April’s story flows so perfectly. She is an amazing character and I loved her from page one. Sarah gives each of their character’s their own life, their own story, their own secrets, and their own individual voice. She doesn’t just create wonderful main characters, but wonderful, realistic supporting characters as well. Their voices are so diverse but stay consistent. Noah, April’s boyfriend, is written perfectly. He acts exactly like a 16-year-old boy and leaves you guessing and wondering from, again, page one. Why wasn’t he in the bed with her?

That, I think, is how a character should be written. You want to be friends with truly great people and characters and April, Vi, Marissa, Noah, Hudson and Dean are truly great characters.  You not only read about the crazy party, you’re there too, and get to (#9) help judge the Mr. Teen Universe Contest (yes, a MALE BEAUTY PAGEANT. I am not lying.)

We’ve all done things we probably shouldn’t have, but just like Sarah wrote in my copy, “DO IT!”

So go do something you probably shouldn’t**. It’s good for the soul.

And if you still want to know who was in bed with April, well... read the book. =)


*    Please don’t judge me.
**  Except if it’s illegal.  Illegal is BAD.  Do only LEGAL things.

What Is Normal?

It might interest you to know, that when we draft these joint-reviews we meet first on Skype to have a very long, detailed discussion about the book. Inevitably, there is some dawdling before we actually get down to business. This month, with the release of Harry Potter and the Dealthy Hallows Part I, we discussed the knitting of House socks (Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff), and Bailey’s inability to knit.  Laura swears she can learn via YouTube and that bamboo chopsticks can double as knitting needles.  

This summary doesn’t begin with phrase, “Evie was a normal, sixteen-year-old girl until...”  Nope.  Evie, short for Evelyn, was never a normal girl. She grew up an orphan in the foster care system, until one day, when she was eight, she had a little run in with a vampire in a park. Thankfully for her, the APCA (American Paranormal Containment Agency) swooped in and saved her just in time. And then discovered that Evie could see through glamours-- those pesky illusions that vampires, werewolves, hags, faeries, and other fantastical and mythical creatures hid behind to blend in with humans and lure in their victims.
A treaty was signed because of Evie, entire countries put aside their differences of policy and practice because of Evie, and the IPCA (International Paranormal Containment Agency)was formed because of Evie.  Evie gallivants all around the world, tracking down one supernatural bad guy or girl at a time. Needless to say, Evie is mega-important. But maybe not in the ways that matter to a girl of sixteen.
That is, until she meets Lend-- a boy her age and a shape-shifter-- who gets detained at the IPCA Center she lives at. And then, Evie’s already bizarre and completely abnormal life becomes more bizarre--not that she knew that was possible.  Oh yeah, and it doesn’t help that her ex-boyfriend, a faerie named Reth, seems to be the jealous kind.

But now, PARANORMALCY!

Laura: I had to tell Kiersten White off on Twitter for some events in the book. She did apologize, though. Maybe not for the events...but for making me scream. I screamed a little.

Bailey: That was nice of her.

Laura: It was the perfect post-surgery* book for me because I didn't feel compelled toward literary analysis. I could concentrate on the story and just enjoy reading. I love that. And it was suspenseful but, for me at least, not at all predictable. I didn't sit there in Chapter One thinking: "Ugh! I know exactly what type of being Evie is, why can't she just figure it out? Is she an idiot?"
Was it like that on a drug-free brain? What did you think?

Bailey (after a few moments of panic because she erased the bookmarks attached to her notes on her Nook):  Let’s start with characters and creatures.  I never really do the literary-analysis, that’s your bit Laura, but the characters and the creatures were fantastic.  White brought into this books a TON of creatures: vampires, werewolves, mermaids, hags, faeries, humans, water nymphs, and WHATEVER Lend and Evie are.
Each creature has its species characteristics, but each character has its own very distinct personality.  I think that had to be tough to really create, but White does it magnificently.  Like with Tish, the mermaid, and her robotic voice.

Laura: And her bleeps! My family uses bleeps instead of Naughty Words.

Bailey: *snorts* The robotic voice thing is normally so creepy when it’s heard in movies, or attached to something creepy in books, but White turned this robotic voice into a positive characteristic, one I LOVED.

Laura: Then, there is Tasey** (a pink rhinestone-encrusted Taser and Evie’s right-hand weapon).  I adored Tasey. I loved Tasey so much, I want a Tasey. I have all the crafty stuff--I just need the actual Taser.

Bailey: I also loved Tasey. I have a thing for female characters that like pink (or really, any color) and rhinestones and could still kick my ass. Not that Evie ever did kick anyone’s ass, she just electrocuted them. Which also seemed realistic.  I’m not saying there aren’t women who CAN kick some serious butt, but for the rest of us, a Taser is a completely acceptable form of self-defence.

Laura: Evie didn’t need to kick anyone around, which was good, but she could have. She had weapons TRAINING.

Bailey: I like that about Evie--her ability TO defend herself, but her lack of blood lust-- mostly because I have thing about people assuming that because a person knows HOW to incapacitate someone, that must mean that person wants to do it all the time. Not so much. Self-defense is a very useful life skill. One I encourage.

Laura:  You shouldn’t WANT to smack people around, but you should know how to take care of yourself.  Of course, Evie had a few other characteristics that are a little more relatable: like her obsession with a single TV show, Easton Heights.  Like how I am with TVD (The Vampire Diaries), Fringe, and many more.

Bailey: Which isn’t ONE show, Laura, but I get your point.  It reminded me of how everyone at my high school watched The O.C.  There were parties. There were extensive MySpace discussions.  
And Evie’s fascination with lockers . . . So adorable.  She had so many adorable traits, and yet, was spunky and independent.  I liked her more for that.

Laura: It was those little traits of hers that made her so realistic! Because those are the things you'd miss if you'd lived your whole life away from "normal".

But seriously, the creatures,
we absolutely loved them, as both critical readers and as emotionally-invested readers.

Bailey: OH and I love that vampires WERE NOT SUPER STRONG. That they were CORPSES underneath.

Laura: YES. Also that they weren't super-good-looking. I am tired of that. Super-good-looking stands out. If you were trying to hide your blood-sucking ways, you wouldn't want to stand out, would you?

Bailey: Vampires used to be into three big things, I think:  sucking blood, being bats, and adding to the creepiness of literature.

Laura: That made them more frightening! Look at The Historian!

Bailey: Seriously. And vampires (usually) have mind control. Why does a vampire need to attract people on looks? If I were a vampire, I would just look at you and say, “Shut up. Don’t scream while I suck you dry.”
Blood-sucking corpses are creepy.  Strong, handsome men who bite you are not. I am not necessarily opposed to the vampire as a sex symbol, but I am excessively relieved that in this book they were not.

Laura: Yes. It made this particular book more original, while still keeping within the realm of paranormal romance.

Bailey: Though, I won't lie, Lend (an important male lead) creeped me out at the beginning.  Which kind of intrigued me. But I had a hard time imagining a mostly invisible, skin-changing boy, which is realistic to his character as he was mostly invisible.

Laura: Yes. But he creeped me out in a non-threatening way, because I watch a lot of Star Trek. Lend was just like Odo!

Bailey: I didn’t make the Star Trek jump, but I did save up most of my threatening-creepy feelings for Reth.  Reth TERRIFIED me every time he showed up on the page. Thinking about Reth now is giving me the chills.

Laura: I love how similar the faeries were to the Celtic traditions! Faeries are SUPPOSED to be terrifying. And Reth was VERY frightening. Even more so because he was basically a psychopath.

Bailey: I was happy to be terrified by him, but he disturbed me. That’s the mark of a good villian.

Laura: The concept Reth giving over part of his soul to Evie creeped me out. That was freaky.

Bailey: And forcing his soul onto her. And.. the whole release the souls to me at the end...

Laura: I don't know...the whole process was kind of...I don't know how to put it...invasive. Literary Analysis Laura thought the scenes seemed like a kind of rape.

Bailey: They WERE like a rape. Which not only added to Reth’s creep-factor, but also was a crucial aspect of the faeries’ creature-dynamic. To Reth, his force was acceptable and needed and he couldn’t grasp why Evie wouldn’t accept his “gift”.  To Evie (and the rest of us human readers), it was like rape.

Laura: Especially the concept of voicelessness that Evie felt. It made me feel sick, and want to throw Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson at Evie. So she could feel less alone.

Bailey: With the creatures, and there are a ton in this book--faeries, mermaids, hags, werewolves, and the mysterious Lend & Evie--a lot of attention was paid to folklore and tradition. I have a thing for books that are obviously well-researched, and White delivered.

Laura: I loved that, especially with the faeries, because they are so often screwed up in modern works.

Now, to the adult figures,
we have to say, jointly, that we were disappointed by their actions in this book. We had an excessively long discussion about adult-figures across the YA genre sparked by the notion, “if the adults didn’t see EVENT happen, then the teenager must be lying or exaggerating”.  Here is an excerpt*** that pertained exclusively to Paranormalcy.

Laura: But the adults were mostly absent in this book--Raquel, Evie’s mothering figure, and Lend’s father--which also made me angry.

Bailey: But that begs the question of, were the adults-being-absent the adults’ fault or was that a poor author choice? Or a good author choice to make a point?
It seemed strange to me that Raquel, Evie’s mother figure, didn't seem to be searching for her after the escape. That REALLY pissed me off. But it made me mad at Raquel, not at the writing or the characterization.

Laura: I just read an essay on that topic a couple weeks ago. The argument was that it was ALWAYS a sign of weak writing that parents of teen protagonists were out of the picture. I disagree with that argument. But, sometimes, I think it's an easier choice.
In Paranormalcy, I think the lack of parents for Evie was necessary. She couldn't come from a family, because she'd been made, not born. The emptiness and detachment Evie felt were key to the development of the story and the development of Evie as a character. BUT, Raquel could have still acted like a person to Evie, if not a mother.

Bailey: I wasn't particularly upset by the lack of adult interaction because of the shape and development of the story, but I was UPSET by Raquel.  She was this figure that SHOULD HAVE BEEN a parent figure and failed.  (Again, a good author choice to make her that way, but a way she was made.)

Laura: I wanted to shake her, because (good writing moment here) you could tell she loved Evie, but she didn't make Evie know it.

Bailey: I did enjoy Evie's realization of Raquel as NOT her parent.  She kind of always knew that, but clung to her regardless.  I thought the development of Evie coming around to Raquel's character was very powerful.

Laura: It was “scientific detachment” thing because of the environment that Raquel and Evie interacted and grew up in.

Bailey: The relationship with Raquel and Evie, while seriously infuriating, was also a good one to have in YA literature. I hate when its just assumed that a parental figure loves and loves correctly. Parents/guardians screw kids up in the best and worst ways imaginable. It is missing from YA literature, in some aspects, I think.

Laura: Parents aren't black and white--you don't have parents that are 100% bad all the time and parents that are always perfect. You have a blend. I love realistic parents in YA lit.

And so, overall impressions were...

that we agreed about a lot of aspects of this book.  While we can’t wait to one day find a book that we disagree on, for now, we are more than happy to send you to the library, the bookstore, the Internet, a friend’s bookshelf in search of Paranormalcy.  

And we can’t wait to review the second in this series, Supernaturally, in the future.  



End Notes:

* For those not in the know, Laura had gallbladder surgery recently. She is recovering, but still stitched-together.

** Robotic voice is a clear jump to Taser here.  Obviously.

*** If you would be interested in the entire discussion of adult figures in YA literature, please leave a comment below.  We might be willing to rehash this into a formal article on the subject for this blog with enough reader interest.