Category: Realistic Fiction
Mafia Girl by Deborah Blumenthal
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
What’s in a name? Everything if you have my name.” At her exclusive Manhattan high school, seventeen-year-old Gia is the most hated/loved girl in school. Why? Her father doesn’t have a boss. He is the boss–the capo di tutti cappi, boss of all bosses. Not that Gia cares. But life gets complicated when she meets a cop she calls “Officer Hottie” and feels a suprising chemistry. Then Vogue magazine wants to feature Gia in a fashion spread about real-life bad girls. On top of this, she’s running for class president. Can Gia step out from under her dad’s shadow and show everyone there’s more to her than “Mafia Girl?
[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]
My thoughts on this book in a nutshell? Go read Son of the Mob by Gordon Korman instead. You’ll get better characters, a better story and most importantly, a more realistic ending.
There were times I was rooting for Gia, like when she tried to advocate for the people at her exclusive private school to step up in the community. Other times I absolutely hated her. Mainly when she displayed the disturbing side of her nature as she stalked ‘Officer Hottie’ to his favourite bars and hangouts. That is just plain creepy, not a romantic or really healthy sort of fascination with a person. I get that she’s 17 and we all do stupid things at that age, but she is just so ridiculously immature at times that I wanted to slap her. Her behaviour around Officer Hottie was one of those.
There are times when I had to really suspend disbelief. For example there is a scene where $250,000 is found inside an ordinarily small object. According to the US Treasury, $100 bills are .0043inches thick. You need 2,500 bills to make $250,000 and according to my calculations the total width of those bills would be 10.75in or almost one foot. I doubt that much money could fit inside the object in question unless it was larger than the descriptions Deborah Blumenthal supplied. Another inaccuracy I found was the use of the word ‘patso’ to describe someone. As anyone with a basic knowledge of Italian knows, ‘patso’ is the phonetic pronunciation of ‘pazzo’ (literally ‘crazy’). While I can usually ignore such things, when they happen over and over I start to lose sight of the story and can’t keep my mind off of all the little mistakes that weren’t caught.
Basically, the plot of Mafia Girl dragged on because Gia was a poor character. She has such an annoying perspective that I had a hard time actually finishing the book even though it’s only 256 pages. Mafia Girl had such great potential like Gordon Korman’s book, but it just fell so flat. I wouldn’t really recommend it to anyone.
I give this book 0.5/5 stars.
Sia by Josh Grayson
(Cover picture courtesy of Always YA at Heart.)
When seventeen-year-old Sia wakes up on a park bench, she has no idea who or where she is. Yet after a week of being homeless, she’s reunited with her family. At school, she’s powerful and popular. At home, she’s wealthy beyond her dreams. But she quickly realizes her perfect life is a lie. Her family is falling apart and her friends are snobby, cruel and plastic. Worse yet, she discovers she was the cruelest one. Mortified by her past, she embarks on a journey of redemption and falls for Kyle, the “geek” she once tormented. Yet all the time she wonders if, when her memories return, she’ll become the bully she was before…and if she’ll lose Kyle.
[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]
After reading books with plenty of tragedy in them recently (Othello, The Hittite, The Iron Traitor) I saw this book on NetGalley and knew I had to request it. I absolutely knew what I was getting into: a shamelessly inspirational book that helped restore my broken faith in humanity just a little bit.
If you’re feeling down now or just want to see a YA book with a happy ending, Sia is perfect for you. It’s a cinematic story of a young girl who, when given a second chance at life, becomes a better person and changes the people around her for the better as well. Sia used to be a spoiled, bratty rich girl and after losing her memory through the rare fugue amnesia she has to confront the person that she was and all the damage she had done. Instead of letting this revelation destroy her, Sia chooses to move forward and become a better person rather than reverting to her old life.
The thing about Sia is that it’s not just your stereotypical inspirational novel. It’s actually well written! Josh Grayson just has this way of describing the scenery and the people that makes you feel like you’re really there. You can feel the tough reality of life on the streets just as well as you can feel the air of indulgence at the Oscar party in Hollywood. That, my friends, is what you call cinematic writing. It’s very easy to picture this book on the big screen.
Obviously Sia is a well-rounded three dimensional character, but the supporting cast is as well. Kyle felt very real to me as did Sia’s parents. The sort of villain in the end will never go down as one of my favourites, but her motives were believable enough in the context of the story. He won’t get any awards for completely unique characters from Sia, but the way Josh Grayson writes them more than makes up for it.
Overall, if you’re looking for a good light read or maybe even a little inspiration, I’d highly recommend Sia. You can’t go wrong with this book.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
Catnip by Valerie Tate
(Cover picture courtesy of The BunsyDawg Diary.)
What can go wrong when an elderly matriarch leaves the family fortune to her cat? Just about everything, including ‘catnapping’ and murder! CATNIP is a mystery set in the picturesque town of Dunbarton, Ontario, and tells the story of what befalls the dysfunctional Dunbar family, and the chaos that ensues, when the matriarch of the clan leaves the family fortune to her cat. That formidable feline proves to be more than a match for the humans in his life, until one fateful night when, caught unawares, he is stuffed in a sack and carried away. A nosy neighbor with a nasty, suspicious mind points the finger of suspicion at the Dunbars and Christopher Mallory, the young attorney who is the trustee of the estate, and under the terms of the will, they face losing everything. When a murder occurs, Christopher finds himself confronting a ruthless killer who would do anything to conceal his or her identity, including to kill again.
[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook copy from Valerie Tate in exchange for an honest review.]
I’ll admit that I was more than a little skeptical about this book. I mean, mystery novels really aren’t my thing in general but such a cliché-sounding novel definitely didn’t sound like my thing. Still, I gave it a try because I’ll give practically any book a chance.
Imagine my surprise and delight when Catnip was nothing like I expected! Sure at first the Dunbar family seems like your typical dysfunctional rich family, but they do actually grow out of that mould. Alice, the constantly complaining but beautiful wife actually grows up a bit after Amanda Dunbar (the grandmother) dies and she’s allowed to be free. James Dunbar grows out of his role as the henpecked, spineless husband and takes charge in his business which until that point had been doing poorly. And Alicia stopped waiting for her prince charming, waking up from her daze.
Chris, the sort of main character, also changes quite a bit from his role as impersonal lawyer and executor of Amanda Dunbar’s estate. At first his relations with the Dunbar family were tense to say the least, but I was so happy to see him grow out of that role as he began to see things from their perspectives as well. Marmalade the cat behaves like a typical cat, leading me to believe that Valerie Tate either owns or used to own a cat (as much as one can ‘own’ a cat).
Not only did I get a kick out of the characters and how they all grew, I absolutely loved the plot. In the beginning I thought I would easily be able to predict the end because it sounded a lot like other catnapping mysteries having to do with inheritance. I was wrong! Thankfully, Valerie Tate mostly stayed away from clichés and put her own twists on the ones she did use. Trust me, it will be hard to predict the ending after the twists and turns she puts you through. Overall, Catnip was an unpredictable whirlwind and if you do pick it up (which I highly recommend) you won’t be able to put it down.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
Fun to Be Russian by Theodor Rasputin
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
In FUN to be RUSSIAN you may find the answers to all those niggling little questions you never knew you wanted to ask!
• Why do Russians tie fishing boats to their feet while camping?
• What German phrase do all Russian men know and when would they use it?
• How do you catch a bottle of vodka while fishing off your balcony?
• Why is it unwise to relieve yourself out the door of a Russian train at night?
• Find out which is stronger; an Al Qaeda head or a Japanese television?
• And, just why is it essential that your wife always wears white knickers while travelling?
Drink vodka during a consultation at the clinic, experience a fishing weekend with friends, spend a relaxing summer week at the country Dacha and see how a seaside vacation to Egypt can be unusually eventful in the right company. Enjoy reading and Na Zdorovie!
[Full disclosure: I received a free print copy from Theodor Rasputin in exchange for an honest review.]
In all honesty, I had some mixed feelings about Fun to Be Russian. On one hand, there were parts that were so funny I had to literally laugh out loud. On the other hand, this reads more like a joke book rather than an actual story. Once you get past the jokes, there really isn’t much of a plot or that much characterization.
The story obviously takes place in Russia where we meet Vadim and Julia, a husband and wife who are going to a family planning clinic. Once in the doctor’s office hilarity ensues as Vadim and the doctor exchange hilarious tales over some vodka. Essentially, the whole book is like this. No, it doesn’t all take place in a family planning clinic, but it is mainly characters telling each other stories without much action in between. Sure, Vadim has a little adventure with some strong medication and actually does something at the end of the book, but that’s about all that actually happens. The scenery changes a couple of times, but the characters are just essentially telling stories within a story.
My problem with this is that while it’s funny, it’s not necessarily fun to read in a linear manner. Such tales would have been better in a sort of joke book rather than Theodor Rasputin trying to tell them all in one book. It also doesn’t leave much room for characterization. Vadim comes across as a stereotypical Russian man, only really caring about drinking and the other characters are just one dimensional. There are no real motives behind their behavior other than the fact that they just want to drink and tell each other stories.
There are some proofreading errors, but they don’t really affect your ability to read Fun to Be Russian. Some of the humour is a little crude, so I’d definitely recommend it for adults only. However, the one redeeming feature of this is that it is actually hilarious. Theodor Rasputin can tell stories in a humorous manner, it’s just that trying to fit them all into a novella was not necessarily the best choice.
I give this book 2.5/5 stars.
Black Crow White Lie by Candi Sary
(Cover picture courtesy of Luxury Reading.)
Carson Calley grew up living in Hollywood motels with his fortune-telling mother, who is full of stories about their former lives together and prophesies about his future.
We were Indians—Californian Indians. This pale skin was once native brown. And these legs of yours were once big and strong so that you could run after deer and shoot them with your arrows, and then bring the meat back to me. You were destined to be the great medicine man, the great healer who would take away all the pain and disease and suffering of our people.
Believing his mother’s yarns, Carson becomes a healer, with the people of Hollywood waiting in long lines to see him, but a purpose built on lies and exaggerations can’t last…or can it?
[Full disclosure: I received a free print copy from Candi Sary in exchange for an honest review.]
I wasn’t really sure what I expected from Black Crow White Lie. Maybe I expected your typical coming-of-age story or maybe I thought Candi Sary would go much deeper into Native American spirituality and explore it in the modern world. But her book is neither and it really turns some genre tropes on their heads.
Carson is a fascinating character. In the beginning he’s quite naive about his mother and her obvious drinking problem, but what makes him different from other protagonists in the same genre is that he slowly realizes his mother isn’t perfect. It’s not a sudden proverbial dropped ton of bricks, but rather a gradual realization as he’s exposed more to the world outside his mother’s fantasies. I don’t want to give too much away, but his friends like Casper and Faris eventually help him come to a startling conclusion. Part of why I enjoyed Candi Sary’s writing so much is that she really took the time to flesh out all of her characters, but really focused in on Carson as the protagonist. He’s imperfect, but I love him as a character anyway.
The plot is pretty fast-paced, all things considered. Black Crow White Lie packs quite a bit of story into 159 pages but it never does really feel rushed. No, instead there’s a perfect balance between characters and plot because of how the plot is moved forward by Carson’s actions and realizations. As he grows, the plot moves along and that’s what makes this one of my favourite coming-of-age novels: it’s most definitely character-based but not at the expense of the plot.
Really, what more is there to say? Carson, Faris, Casper and Juliette are all fascinating characters that are so well-developed you feel that you’re there in the story with them. Carson is an amazing protagonist for such an amazing coming-of-age novel and is definitely one of the most memorable characters I’ve read about in a long time. Not only that, there were some interesting plot twists that I didn’t see at the time but when I look back make sense. Candi Sary knows just how much information to give to her readers at certain points in the novel so there’s never really a huge info-dump but we still know what’s going on. Overall, Black Crow White Lie is an awesome novel that I’d recommend to readers of all ages.
I give this book 5/5 stars.