Book Review: Big Fat Disaster by Beth Fehlbaum

At First Sight: Colby is the odd girl out in her family, she's overweight and, unlike her sisters, she takes after her father (a former football player) rather than her mother (a former Miss Texas). Yet, Colby is often pushed into the spotlight as part of her father's senatorial camping - which is running on a family values platform. 

Until the day Colby finds out a big secret about her father -that he's having an affair with another woman - and the Feds come knocking around, inquiring about where the money for the campaign is actually coming from. 

In one day, Colby's life is turned upside down with her father leaving and her mother deciding to move them to a small town, where they are taken in by Colby's Aunt and her son Ryan - who really doesn't want them there. 

There, Colby's size swells even more, along with her mother's contempt for her. She gets blamed for everything: the changes in their situation, going from a mansion to a trailer, the lack of money and her father's indifference. And even when Ryan makes a cruel video of Colby struggling to get dressed and said video ends up online, she gets blamed for that too. 

Second Glance: Big Fat Disaster is a mess. 

The tone of the book is all over the place, at first I thought it was going to be about a fat chick getting her groove back and finding her self respect (It wasn't), then I thought it was about Colby finally being accepted by her mother and sisters (Not It), then I thought it was going to be about Colby finding her self and her inner strength in Pine Creek with the help of her cool Bakery owner aunt, and her cousin Ryan -This calls for a Hell to the No! - then it turned dark - bullying, suicides and death, oh my! - and then it was just meh. 

Not a single person in this book was likable or even two dimensional, everyone came off as cruel, annoying, bitter or just stupid. Colby didn't fare any better even though this story was from her perspective. We were supposed to care she had an eating disorder (Binge Eating) and feel for her because her mom was a psycho, but really... she was just as annoying as the rest of them. 

Yet, the worse thing about this book is that EVERYONE FREAKING GETS AWAY WITH IT!

After all the stuff that goes down, things pretty much end where they started, Colby is supposed to be getting some help by then but that was TOO LITTLE TOO LATE, everyone is still sticking to the status quo, and the main relationship dynamics haven't changed one bit - Colby's mom still hates her, her sisters still think she's a waste of space and Colby still cares that they think that. 

Bottom Line: There was one way for this book to work out: For Colby to come out of it triumphantly, or at least with a bit of strength or hope, but this just doesn't happen - I'm not convinced she's going to be OK by the end, either. I don't mean question or demean the author's intent or her experiences -from the author's note I gather some of the stuff (or at least the inspiration for the book) came from real-life events - but her execution does more harm than good. 

No Stars for this one. 

Book Review: The Story Guy by Mary Ann Rivers

The Deal: Carrie West is happy but restless. She loves her life working as a librarian, having a nice group of friends and a good relationship with her parents, but there is something that makes her stay up all hours of the night, reading personal adds and hunting down furniture online. 

One night she comes across a different add: Just Kissing - on Wednesdays. She has never answered any of these adds before - it's not even why she reads them - but the idea of meeting with someone just to kiss one lunch hour a week, is too tempting to resist. 

So, she starts meeting Brian at a park near both their works. Brian is  too handsome and so nice; and from the first moment there is a great amount of chemistry between them. But Brian isn't looking for a relationship, for reasons he won't explain, there is no room in his life for anything other than kissing. 

But Carrie is determined to not be just another Wednesday. 

My Thoughts: I don't know who brought The Story Guy into my radar but I know I've been meaning to read it for a while. 

As a novella, I think it works okay, I also think this would have benefitted for a little more page-time, since I felt some things were kind of very rushed. A lot of it has to do with the pace, it goes very fast and I normally love that, but I felt like this story need to stop a little toward the end, take a breath and process things a little, instead of just keep going in high gear until the end. 

Both Carrie and Brian are likable, and I was actually presently surprised by how vivid Carrie's world was giving the short page time, but you do get a good sense of her life. 

All in all, I do recommend The Story Guy, it was a good read, sometimes got a little steamy, I just wish it had been just a little bit longer. 

Book Review: This is Now by Maggie Gilbert

The Deal: No one really expects much of Jess other than falling in line and get back together with her drug-dealer ex, and get over her dreams of finishing high school (She can't imagine what her siblings would say if she let them know she not only wants to finish high school but also go to college someday). 

But Jess wants more for herself, even if that other life is all she has ever know, but she's also easily distracted by parties and clubbing with friends and drinking - which usually leads her back to her ex's bed, even if he's currently dating someone else - so her progress is rather slow. 

And then she meets Sebastien, a talented musician from a rich family who takes an interest on her, and the two of them soon begin dating. But Jess can't bring herself to tell her about her life or bring him home and she's puzzled that he wants to take it slow between them. 

Still, next to Sebastien, Jess starts to think she really has a shot at a different life, until her past catches up with her. 

My Thoughts: I was actually very excited to read This is Now, last year I read Maggie Gilbert's Riding on Air and I totally loved it, sadly This is Now didn't live up to it. 

To start with, is not always easy to empathize with Jess - she kind of shoots herself in the foot a few times, and she often comes off as lacking a backbone. Her one redeeming quality for me was that she was a hard worker, but half of the time I didn't feel like she took her dreams seriously. 

Then there is Sebastien, who comes of a bit snobbish more often than not, he is not necessarily a bad sort but I just didn't find the swoon factor with him. 

The rest of the characters weren't all that great either, they fade largely to the background and when they show up it's usually just to bring/keep Jess down. 

Also, this is one of those "what? no grovel?" books. Sebastien does something really crappy to Jess toward the end and I was not happy with how that was handled. 

Book Review: The Bride Says No by Cathy Maxwell

The Deal:  Lady Aileen once left for London with stars in her eyes and dreams of falling in love, even though it hurt her to leave her ten 12-year-old sister Tara behind in Scotland. Nine years later, with a disastrous marriage and an scandalous divorce in her past, Aline is just glad she was allowed to stay at her family's estate and that most of the town still likes her, scandal and all.

She is full of regrets though, regrets that she was so naive, that she caused such a scandal, and that her once close relationship with Tara is now practically non-existent, she's not even invited to Tara's wedding.

But when Tara arrives suddenly at the estate, dressed in boys clothes and having ran off on her fiancé days before the wedding, things start to take wild turns. Tara is a bit spoiled and selfish and hasn't forgiven aline for living her behind all those years ago.

And then Blake Stephens, Tara's fiancés show up. The acknowledged bastard son of a Duke, Blake has worked hard for everything he has and has become very wealthy in his own right. He doesn't have any great feelings for Tara but he'll be dammed if he'll be jilted.

Until he meets Aileen...

My Thoughts: Cathy Maxwell is one of those authors I quietly love, I don't follow all of her releases and but I have read most of her books and I generally enjoy them.

So, when I heard of her new series The Brides of Wishmore, I decided to give it a try as it sounded interesting and I do love me a good forbidden lovers romance - I think that it's one of the best plots if the author has the chops to pull it off - and I'm happy to say that The Bride Says No didn't disappoint.

It wasn't exactly like I thought it would be but I didn't mind, I still liked Aileen and Blake a lot - I found them quite honest given the circumstances - and the whole story had an over-all lighthearted feeling.

Tara was really hard to like, she is very childish and selfish, but I'm totally willing to give it a try to her book The Bride Says Maybe.

All in all, I do recommend this read if you're looking for some fluff with a bit of angst thrown in.

Book Review: Life in Outer Space by Melissa Keil

Aussie and Kindle Cover. Love it!

 At First Sight: Sam is a bit of a nerd and he's fine with that: he has a few really good friends, an encyclopedic knowledge of movies (particularly horror ones), and is counting the days so he'll finally be free of the teasing and bulling of the popular crowd of his school. 

He's prepared to keep his head down and avoid his nemesis - Justin - until graduation; even when his first day of Year 12 wasn't great. 

And then a new girl arrived at his school, tilting the fabric of his universe. Camilla is cool but not conceited, she tries and joins many clubs and quickly becomes widely popular, but she's also super nice to Sam and his friends Mike, Adrian and Allison, often pulling them along when she hangs with the popular crowd. 

US Hardcover

Camilla is smart and funny and a little quirky, and determined to make Sam and his group part of her life, even if he isn't sure why.

Second Glance: I'm being a little bit vague with the summary for Life in Outer Space because I really do wish people would read this book and be happily surprised by all the awesome and sweet things that this book is.

I loved Sam, he was adorable and I totally commend the author for making his a very strong and distinct boy-voice without resorting to cursing or crude behavior and even when he goes over the top, he's sweet and I love the relationship he has with his mom. He was wonderfully tridimensional.

I also loved his friends, particularly Mike and Adrian - they were a bit in the margins of the story but always in Sam's mind and I felt like I really got to know them. It also made tons of sense to me that I didn't get to know Allison as much because Sam didn't know a lot of how her mind worked either.

But, mostly, I loved Camilla. When she first showed up I kept saying "Please don't turn into a Manic Pixie Dream Girl, please don't turn into a MPDG" over and over inside of my head. And she didn't! That alone elevated this book to a whole new level for me. She was as well developed a character as Sam, even if she was more of a mystery.

There were some things that I didn't like all the way through - would have liked more depth on Camilla's relationship with her dad, and sometimes Sam drove me a little nuts - but I understand why those things happened, so they didn't bothered me as much as they would have otherwise.

And though I loved the Melbourne setting, I think it could have been fleshed out a little more. 

Bottom Line: I absolutely loved Life in Outer Space, it was a great reading experience and I totally want to thank the Vegan YA Nerds for turning me to this wonderful book. There should be more Contemporary YA like this.