Princess for Hire by Lindsey Leavitt

Princess for Hire
by Lindsey Leavitt
March 2010
Hyperion Book CH

I was vapor.  Can you get any more invisible than that?  It floats around, dispersing everywhere and nowhere.  It's not a solid.  It makes no impact.

Desi Bascomb feels like she's stagnating in her small town, Idaho life.  The boy she likes is hanging out with her ex-best friend, her parents are obsessed with turning her little sister into a beauty queen and her job consists of donning a groundhog costume and handing out coupons at the mall pet store.  Basically, life sucks until the day her agent steps out of an iridescent bubble, tells Desi that she has the ability to use magic and asks if she'd like to act as a substitute for princesses who need a vacation.  With an emphatic yes, Desi begins her glamorous new lifestyle only to find that life as a princess isn't all the magazines chalked it up to be.  Instead of dreaming about Prince Charming, Desi soon finds herself trying her hardest to help these princesses improve their lives and make an impact.

I honestly have no idea why I read this book.  It's very nearly 100% not my style, and yet once I'd started reading it, I couldn't put it down.  There were some complexities in the book that kept my adult brain entertained even among the silly, thirteen year old drama.  Little girls (or boys) who loved The Princess Diaries will enjoy Lindsey Leavitt's winning debut about one girl's transformation from vapor to solid.

Princess for Hire Novels
Princess for Hire
The Royal Treatment
Book Three (TBA)

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin ★

The Westing Game
by Ellen Raskin
June 1978
E.P. Dutton

I, Samuel W. Westing, hereby swear that I did not die of natural causes.  My life was taken from me - by one of you! 

You don't say no when someone who hates reading tells you that this is the only book that ever brought them any pleasure in life.  Which is how I found myself reading this 1979 Newbery Medal winner by Ellen Raskin.  And while I'm not quite ready to proclaim this the best book I've ever read, it definitely kept me entertained and left me wondering how anyone can enjoy a literary classic such as this and yet find the majority of reading to be pointless.  But I digress . . .

When Sam Westing dies, he gathers his sixteen potential (and somewhat eccentric) heirs together to play a game; a game to determine who murdered him.  The heirs are all quite comical as they are paired off to play the game, each wondering if their partner is the killer.  The actual mystery in the book is interesting in that it is in places almost overly simple but in others extremely complex, making this a good read for all ages.  The "great reveal" at the end certainly surprised me!

Even more than the mystery, however, I very much enjoyed the human aspect of this book.  I had expected to dislike some of the characters at the beginning, but by the end I was rooting for all of them as each person had endeared themselves to me in some way.  This book should have enough intrigue, character and humor to keep most reluctant readers occupied; however, I'm not sure it's a cure-all (Diary of a Wimpy Kid, anyone?).  For those of you who have read this book, however, and declared that never shall you read again I say this:

If you liked The Westing Game, try these (somewhat) similar books:
Gilda Joyce, Psychic Investigator by Jennifer Allison (A brilliant young girl who investigates mysteries.)
Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett (For the intrigue and intelligent clues.)
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg (Another Newbery winning mystery with young protagonists.)
Holes by Louis Sachar (For the eccentric characters and unusual mystery.)

Smile by Raina Telgemeier

Smile
by Raina Telgemeier
February 2010
GRAPHIX

I'm beginning to notice an inverse correlation between the number of books I read in a month and how badly school is stressing me out.  Considering the only book I've finished so far this month was a graphic novel, I can only assume that school has been slaughtering me.  Regardless, this book was not only a fun distraction, but also a good reminder that I need to wear my retainer more often as I absolutely never ever want to go through the experience of having braces again.  And I especially don't ever want to go through middle school ever again.  Which is what poor Raina is going through when we meet her in Smile.

After a bout of clumsiness knocks out her two front teeth, Raina goes not only through the worst kind of periodontal hell (from surgeries to dentures to headgear), but she does it all during the very awkward, often traumatizing middle school years.  As she goes through these experiences, however, she not only learns who her true friends are (how about the ones that don't call you metal mouth?), but she also discovers who she is and comes to the amazing realization that she actually likes herself, just the way she is.  In many ways Raina's road to self discovery mirrors my own.  A well-written memoir, I recommend Smile for kids of all ages who find themselves trapped in middle school.

Belle Prater's Boy by Ruth White ★

Belle Prater's Boy
by Ruth White
January 1998
Yearling

"Think of all the millions of dawns this old world has seen, " Woodrow said.  "But it will never be this same one again . . . or that same one when she left."

Never have I read a book that made me want so badly to return to my own childhood.  I think this was due in part to Ruth White's wonderful descriptions of small town life in West Virginia in 1953, and partly the fact that the feelings that we possess and the friendships that we make as children are in so many ways stronger and truer than those we have as adults.  This is the story of two cousins, Woodrow, a cross-eyed, but very clever boy and Gypsy, the local beauty.  Through their close friendship, both cousins learn to deal with tragic losses and move on with their lives.  I know I say this every time I read an award winning book, but this one truly deserved the Newbery!  I highly recommend this as a fantastic discussion book for young children and their parents.

The Stephanie Plum Series by Janet Evanovich ★

One for the Money (Stephanie Plum Book 1)
by Janet Evanovich
August 1994
Scribner

Stephanie lands a gig at her sleazy cousin Vinnie's bail bonding company.  She's got no experience.  But that doesn't matter.  Neither does the fact that the bail jumper in question is local vice cop Joe Morelli.  From the time he first looked up her dress to the time he first got into her pants, to the time Steph hit him with her father's Buick, M-o-r-e-l-l-i has spelled t-r-o-u-b-l-e.  And now the hot guy is in hot water - wanted for murder.

This is another one of those series that I've watched go up in numbers since I first started working in libraries ten years ago and always thought to myself "I really should read those one of these days."  Well I guess the stars finally aligned because I've read a few of them now and am absolutely in love!  Now before anyone gets too excited, I need to set one thing straight.  These books are fluff.  And I mean that in the best possible way. If you're looking for intellectual stimulation, you're in the wroooong place.  If, on the other hand, you want a gutsy bounty hunter with spunk, wit and charm who is constantly finding herself in hilarious situations then Stephanie Plum is your girl!  My highest recommendations for this series go to those who 1. enjoy a good mystery but can't really handle "scary" 2. miss advanced technology from the nineties and 3. to those who read solely for the immense pleasure of escaping from real life for a few hours.  To everyone else I say wait for the movie which is set to be released in January 2012!

The Stephanie Plum Books
One for the Money
Two for the Dough
Three to Get Deadly
Four to Score
High Five
Hot Six
Seven Up
Hard Eight
To the Nines
Visions of Sugar Plums
Ten Big Ones
Eleven on Top
Twelve Sharp
Plum Lovin'
Lean Mean Thirteen
Plum Lucky
Fearless Fourteen
Plum Spooky
Finger Lickin' Fifteen
Sizzling Sixteen
Smokin' Seventeen

The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross

The Girl in the Steel Corset
by Kady Cross
June 2011
Harlequin Teen

There is a darkness within me, something I can't always control.  If you like a girl with a secret side, you're gonna love me . . . 

Yeah, except I didn't . . . and neither did your so-called boyfriend.  This book was so frustrating!!!  There are so few steampunk young adult novels that I was just that much more excited to read this one and even begged my boss to pre-order it for the library.  Kady Cross's own description for this book is "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen meets teen X-Men."  How can you not be super excited to read a book like that?!  This book has excellent reviews on Amazon.com so you probably shouldn't exclusively take my word for it, but here are my issues:

1. It was too easy.  Rather than creating a true steampunk world composed of Victorian ideals and styles meshed with occasional non-era technologies, the author has instead thrown us into the future with teen superpowers such as the ability to speak to robots and silly inventions like a steel corset that is fashionably thin and comfy but also completely bullet proof.  I propose, however, that we simply must have limitations or we lose room for growth.  When the characters run into huge obstacles that are suddenly solved by the evolution of someone's superpower e.g. "Hey, we need to be able to see in the dark . . . guess what?!  I just leveled up and can now see in the dark!"  I call it bad writing - not character development.

2. UGH I hated the love interest!  So the girl has some serious Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde type issues which is totally fine.  HOWEVER, if you're going to be the girl's boyfriend then don't say you only love her sweet, kind side and desperately try to get rid of her kick-a awesome side!  Especially since I personally thought that her Mr. Hyde side made much better girlfriend material.

3. And another thing!  Please don't introduce totally awesome, super roguish, drool-worthy characters if you don't intend to use them.  I mean come on, quit dangling this potential love interest in our faces if we never get to learn more about him.  Hopefully he'll show up more in book two . . . ?

So there you have it.  Depsite my grumblings, I was not completely bored while reading this book so if you're huge into steampunk and looking for a new cosplay costume idea then go ahead and read this.  But I suggest getting it from the library.

The Steampunk Chronicles

The Girl in the Steel Corset

Book 2 (TBR)

Love You More by Lisa Gardner ★

Love You More
by Lisa Gardner
March 2011
Bantam

Who do you love?  It's a question anyone should be able to answer.  A question that defines a life, creates a future, guides most minutes of one's days.  Simple, elegant, encompassing.  Who do you love?

Hooray for another Detective D.D. Warren book~!  If you recall, I read The Neighbor, also by Lisa Gardner a few months ago and absolutely loved it!  Since it wasn't too scary and didn't leave me shaking under the covers for months or even minutes after, I decided to try another one.  And I was not the least bit disappointed!  We can possibly call this naivete on my part (being so new to the genre and all) but I do so love her stuff.  In this novel, Detective Warren is tackling a very sensitive case, as it appears that a fellow officer may have murdered her own husband and daughter.  Appearances can be deceiving, however, and the truth runs even deeper than the questions "Who do you love?" and "How far would you go to keep them safe?"