Review of The Girls with No Names by Serena Burdick

Burdick, Serena.  The Girls with No Names.  Park Row, 2020.

It is 1910 in New York City, and women have strict upbringings and very few rights.  Suffragettes are marching in the streets, and working conditions in factories are terrible.

Effie Tildon comes from a wealthy and socially affluent Manhattan family.  After discovering a shocking secret about their father, Effie's older sister, Luella, acts out and is gone the next day.  Effie is determined to find her older sister.  She believes that Luella has been sent to the House of Mercy, a type of women's reform institution, by their father to punish her for breaking the rules.  When Effie comes up with a plan to have herself committed to the "House of Mercy, she is shocked to find out that Luella is not a resident there.  And much to her despair, getting out of Mercy House is much harder than getting in.  No one will believe that she really shouldn't be there!

At the House of Mercy life is hard; the residents are forced into grueling labor, and are often punished,  Another girl, Mable Winter, befriends Effie and they try to come up with a plan to escape.

The House of Mercy reformatory is based on the Magdalene Laundries in Ireland, which were run by the Catholic Church.  In these institutions, wayward and unmarried, pregnant women were forced to work and were horribly mistreated.  Ms. Burdick has done an extraordinary job of portraying the horrors that went on in these institutions.  She has deftly woven both the historical events happening during the early 1900s into the plot and the plight of women during this time period.  I particularly enjoyed the descriptions of the Romani people, their camp, and their everyday activities

Effie and Mabel are portrayed as strong, persevering characters.  This is a novel of friendship, love, courage, and hope.  I highly recommend it for older high school students and public libraries and give it five out of five fleur de lis!

Review of Crazy House by James Patterson

Patterson, James.  Crazy House.  Hanchette, 2017.

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The United States has been split up into cells which are totally controlled by the new government, “The United”.  Citizens have jobs chosen for them, and it is forbidden to leave the cell’s boundaries.  Seventeen-year-old twins Cassie and Becca are trying to keep their family’s farm going after their mom was sent away to have a “mood adjustment” and their dad was hospitalized after trying to commit suicide. 

There have been a number of child kidnappings, and Becca becomes the ninth victim.  She is thrown into a secret prison full of teens and tweens who are now on “Death Row”.  These “prisoners” are tortured, forced to fight one another, and, overall, treated brutally.  Occasionally, one of them is murdered in front of the others.  Cassie ends up as a kidnap victim, joining her sister in prison, and experiences what has happened to her twin.  

Becca and Cassie work together with fellow prisoners to escape and figure out the prison’s secrets, many dealing with cells, the general masses, and the elite, but unknown, population.

This is the second young adult collaboration between James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet.  Although James Patterson is well known for his adult novels, he has been making the foray into the YA world for a number of years now.  Gabrielle Charbonnet also writes under the pen name, Cate Tiernan.  She has written books for both children and young adults.

This dystopian novel has all the surprises, twists, and turns that readers have come to expect from Mr. Patterson.  The prison scenes are, at times, horrific and quite gory--add to that, the experience of having a child murdered right in front of an audience full of kids!  There are reasons behind all of the plot devices, but I do not want to spoil any of the suspense for those who have not yet read the book.

Readers will be sucked into this fast-paced novel.  The ending is a real cliffhanger, so I am hoping this is the first in a planned series of books.  I recommend the book for upper middle, high school, and public libraries, and I give it four out of five fleur de lis!

Review of Shallow Pond by Alissa Grosso

Grosso, Alissa.  Shallow Pond.  flux, 2013. 

The Bunting sisters have lived in Shallow Pond, Pennsylvania all their lives and people constantly mistake one sister for another.  The oldest sister, Annie, has raised the two younger girls ever since their mom and dad passed away.  The youngest sister, Barbara, nicknamed “Babie”, is a senior in high school and wants nothing more than to graduate and leave Shallow Pond forever.  Babie’s best friends are always trying to pair her up with guys at school, and when a new, handsome orphaned guy named Zack Faraday arrives at school, Jenelle and Shawna decide he would be the perfect date for Babie for the town’s winter carnival.

Although Babie feels an instant connection with Zack, she has no desire to have a relationship that might cause her to want to stay in Shallow Pond.  She doesn’t want to end up like Annie, now twenty-six, who was dumped by her boyfriend, Cameron Schaeffer, when she was a high school senior, or like her other sister, Gracie, now twenty-one, who works as a cashier in the town’s only grocery store.

Cameron Schaeffer has recently returned to Shallow Pond after losing his job, and Gracie has fallen in love with him.  Babie is not happy with Gracie over this development because she was hoping that Cameron and Annie would reunite.  When Cameron leaves town unexpectedly, Gracie hurries to find him.

Annie has been sick, and when she begins to get even worse, her sisters rush her to a hospital where she is treated by one of their father’s friends.  It turns out that she has a mysterious genetic illness and could soon die.  This revelation releases a series of events that take the book in a totally different direction!

Told in first person by Babie, this novel started out very slowly and repetitious.  The same scenes kept reoccurring—Babie hates Shallow Pond, and her friends love it.  Babie doesn’t want a boyfriend, but she is drawn to Zack.  Babie talks to Zack and then runs away from him.  Finally, about midway through the book, the plot began to branch out.  

Science fiction fans and readers who love a good romance will enjoy Shallow Pond.  I recommend it for high school and public libraries.  I give it four out of five fleur de lis!

Review of Prized by Caragh M. O'Brien

Prized by Caragh M. O'Brien; Roaring Brook Press, 2011.

In this second installment of the Birthmarked series, Gaia Stone continues in her role of midwife, but her beliefs are put to extraordinary tests. While running from The Enclave with her infant sister, Maya, Gaia is “rescued” by Will, an Outrider, and taken back to Sylum, a dystopian commune ruled by a blind Matrarc named Olivia. People are trapped in Sylum because there is something in the atmosphere that will kill them if they try to leave. Gaia learns that Sylum is run by women, although they are outnumbered by men. The courting rules are strict, and even a touch or a kiss could bring death for a man, even if he is not the one at fault. A woman who is in the gene pool may ask a man to marry her, and they are encouraged to have as many children as possible.

Gaia is accused of putting Maya’s life in danger by traveling, and the sickly infant is given over to a couple to raise as their own child. A prison on the outskirts of town houses male “criminals”, and it is there that Gaia discovers Luke, from The Enclave, being held there. Once per month, Sylum has a holds a contest where single men compete against each other for the right to live with a woman of his choosing in a cabin for thirty days. Luke wins one particular contest, and he chooses Maya, even though she is an infant, to live with him. Ultimately, he also chooses Gaia, because someone must take care of Maya. Gaia also brings along her friend, Mx Josephine and her infant daughter, Junie, because Maya needs to be nursed. Gaia ends up being part of a love triangle and must choose which path her life will take.

Prized is a fabulous read! The descriptions of Sylum, its rules, and its citizens blew me away! The class system used in Sylum and the customs followed by its inhabitants made me keep turning the pages as fast as I could! There were so many twists and turns in this plot; all I wanted to do was sit and read!

The men in the book were extremely chivalrous, hoping for women’s attentions, and, eventually, marriage, which was considered very sacred. Most of the women in the book were strong, developed characters, as were the main male characters. Gaia is strong-willed and believes in helping others, many times at the cost of hurting herself.

It was a great idea to have men take women’s last names when they marry, unlike the conventional manner in which it is usually done. Additionally, many of the terms in the novel were plays upon other words--Sylum for asylum; cuzines for cousins; Matrarc for matriarch; and so on, giving implied meanings to similar words in the novel. The autopsy scene was chilling and shocking, as was the pact between Gaia and Will not to divulge its results.

The book had a surprising, but satisfying ending, and readers can look forward to a third installment of the Birthmarked series! Also, the cover art is exceptional—beautiful and intriguing! This book will be released on November 8, 2011. I recommend this novel for high school and public libraries.

Note: This review was from an advanced reader’s copy of the book obtained from NetGalley and read on iPad.

Review of Between Here and Forever by Elizabeth Scott

Between Here and Forever by Elizabeth Scott.  Simon & Schuster, 2011.

For years, Abby has worshiped her “perfect” older sister, Tess, whom everyone loves. But now Tess is lying in a hospital bed in a coma, the result of a car accident. Abby just wants Tess to wake up and get on with her life so that Abby can get on with hers. Abby’s daily visits to Tess’s bedside to talk to her and wait for her to wake up consume Abby’s life. Enter Eli, the most gorgeous boy Abby has ever seen; even his voice is beautiful.

Abby comes up with a plan to help Tess wake up. She enlists the help of Eli, whom she asks to spend time talking to Tess. Surely, his wonderful voice will jerk Tess out of her coma. Of course, when Tess wakes up, she will see Eli, and it will be love at first sight. Everyone will then live happily ever after.

But things don’t always work out like they’ve been planned. Abby never counted on having feelings for Eli, and she always thought Tess would wake up. She didn’t know that Tess and their neighbor, Claire, were carrying around secrets that had affected both their lives and their futures. What Abby comes to realize is that no one is really perfect; perfection is in the eyes of the beholder.

Elizabeth Scott has touched on many sensitive subjects—self-perception, sexuality, racial discrimination, and OCD—in her lovely story. Abby feels she has always been overshadowed by her older sister, nearly to the point of invisibility. Everyone loves Tess, wants to be around Tess, wants to date Tess. Abby feels she will never measure up to Tess, even when Tess is in a coma. Even though Abby says she hates Tess, it is apparent that is exactly the opposite. Why else would Abby try so hard to wake her up?

The way that Eli’s OCD is presented is both touching and believable. Many people with OCD cannot live a normal life, even on medication. Although Eli still exhibits some symptoms, he is able to cope in a fairly normal way. However, on top of his disorder, he also has to deal with the fact that his parents consider him damaged goods, and send him to live with his grandfather. Additionally, Eli is half Japanese, part black, and part white.  While he is taunted and ostracized by the students at his school for his disorder, he is accepted at the school for his ethnicity. While this makes for a heavy burden, Eli is still sensitive, caring, and even gets ruffled at times. I loved Eli; he was a “knight in shining armor” for Abby!

Claire, Abby’s neighbor, now works at the hospital where Tess is. Much to her surprise, Abby discovers that Tess and Claire had been much more than best friends. When they had their falling out, Claire wanted Tess to “come out” so that they could be seen as a couple. Tess was afraid that everyone’s perception and expectations of her would change; she would no longer be perfect in everyone’s eyes. Claire was wounded by Tess’s actions, got pregnant and had a baby boy. Tess could not forgive Claire and, thus, ruined her senior year. This part of the book was extremely interesting, especially seeing these events unfold, in retrospect, through Abby’s eyes. She finally was able to understand that her sister was very unhappy, and possibly depressed. Of course, this was not how everyone else saw Tess!

I found out, after reading the book, that Abby’s parents had actually been teenagers in another of Elizabeth Scott’s novels, Bloom. While Between Here and Forever is a stand-alone book, if readers want some background information, they might want to read Bloom first.

This novel is a sensitive, flowing read. I recommend it for high school and public libraries!

*Note: I read an advanced readers’ copy of Between Here and Forever that I received from Simon & Schuster’s Galley Grab on nook. The book will be released on May 24. 2011.

Review of The Complete History of Why I Hate Her by Jennifer Richard Jacobson

The Complete History of Why I Hate Her by Jennifer Richard Jacobson. Atheneum, 2010.

In the summer before her senior year, Nola decides to take a summer job as a waitress at a Rocky Cove, a resort in Maine. Her sister, Song, is dealing with cancer, and while it is affecting the entire family, Nola is taking the brunt of the ordeal. While traveling on the bus to Maine, Nola meets Carly, who eventually becomes Nola’s roommate at the camp. While the girls bond quickly, Nola comes to realize that Carly is quite adept at manipulating and controlling people. When this character flaw begins to involve Song, Nola has to figure out how to release Carly’s hold on her and her sister.

While this book began slowly, the pace picked up around the middle and quickly sped to the end. The way that Nola allowed herself to have her identity nearly stolen by Carly was, at times, frightening. At one point, the two girls are so close that the other staff members referred to them as “The Cannolis”, a combination of Carly and Nola’s names.

Nola and her sister, Song, often create haiku for each other and also include them in their letters to one another in the summer. Carly picks up on this, and begins doing it, as well. The veiled implication that Carly has a mental disorder is never really brought out, but it soon becomes obvious that she needs to always be the center of attention, stealing others’ friends and even others’ ideas.

Girls will enjoy the book for its summer romances and friendships. I recommend this book for upper middle school, high school, and public libraries.