The Blending Time. Michael Kinch. 2010. Flux. 254 pages.

Jaym stirred as morning light slanted across his cot. He squinted at the pumpkin sun pushing through layers of smudge. No hint of a sea breeze to clean out the Corridor. He'd need a level-4 breather to hit the pavement today. And now he needed to hit it hard. It was getting too close to Cutoff. 

S'teeners do not have it easy. Just ask Jaym, Reya, or D'Shay.

The Blending Time has a promising premise, "In the year 2069, turning seventeen means mandatory Global Alliance work assignments that range from backbreaking drudgery to deadly canal labor." Three teens with different backgrounds have chosen to join SUN's "blending" project in Africa. (How much choice did they have? Well, it was a matter of choosing the army, the canal, or the blending project.) These three meet on the trip to Africa, and it is then that they learn the truth. They really will be "blending" with Africans. Each will be paired with someone--and essentially given the command to 'be fruitful and multiply.'

But it wouldn't be much of a dystopian if it was that easy, that simple.

There are many in Africa that are NOT happy with this SUN project. Many who react with violence. Many who seek to kill these blenders and destroy the villages where these blenders are located. Will Jaym, Reya, and D'Shay survive these dangers?


I didn't love The Blending Time. I'm not even sure I liked it. I did find it an interesting read--definitely interesting enough to keep turning pages. But the ending, well, it didn't quite satisfy. Readers are not given much closure. I have found from reading other reviews that there will be a sequel.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Stone, Heather Duffy. 2009. This Is What I Want To Tell You.

I can't tell you exactly what happened, but I can tell you part of it. My part.

Nadio and Noelle are inseparable twins. They love to hang out together. With Noelle's best friend, Keeley, these three are as close as close to be...until. Until one fall day they just aren't. In a way, perhaps it starts when Keeley goes to England for the summer. Noelle gets a job in an icecream shop and starts hanging out with a different crowd. The two aren't in touch over the summer. And on the night of Keeley's return, Noelle is nowhere to be found. In reality, Noelle chose to hang out with another friend, Jessica, at a party...a party with guys and drinking and oh-so-much-more. It is there--on that night--that she meets Parker. Her first love. From that moment, Noelle chooses Parker--and their secret relationship--over the comfort and security of her former friends and family. But Nadio and Keeley have a secret of their own that they're keeping. Nadio and Keeley, well, they're noticing each other in a whole new way. A wonderful way, a beautiful way. As Noelle and Keeley drift apart, there's love in the air even in the midst of anger and bitterness. But not all relationships are healthy as these teens find out. Not all love is real.

The book is bittersweet; the book chronicles the relationship of Noelle and Parker. But the book isn't so much about discovering that love isn't all that wonderful...it's a book about finding and losing yourself and choosing to be okay...even if your prince charming turns out to be a frog. It's a book about friendship as well.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
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King, A.S. 2009. The Dust of 100 Dogs. Flux. 330 pages.

Intriguing cover. Intriguing premise. Here's whats promised,

"In the late seventeenth century, famed teenage pirate Emer Morrisey was on the cusp of escaping the pirate life with her one true love and unfathomable riches when she was slain and cursed with the dust of one hundred dogs, dooming her to one hundred lives as a dog before returning to a human body--with her memories intact. Now she's a contemporary American teenager and all she needs is a shovel and a ride to Jamaica."

Isn't that a great premise? Doesn't that make you at least a wee bit curious about this book? If that premise doesn't get you, maybe the first sentence of the first chapter will:

"Imagine my surprise when, after three centuries of fighting with siblings over a spare furry teat and licking my water from a bowl, I was given a huge human nipple, all to myself, filled with warm mother's milk. I say it was huge because Sadie Adams, my mother, has enormous breasts, something I never inherited. When I was born into a typical family in Hollow Ford, Pennsylvania, in 1972, my life was finally mine again."

Here's what you'll find in The Dust of 100 Dogs. Narrative set in the seventeenth century, narrative set in the twentieth century, and narrative revealing what she's learned during her hundred lives as a dog. These three are woven together throughout the book. Both Emer (the seventeenth century pirate) and Saffron (the contemporary reincarnation) make interesting and compelling narrators. I'm sure it's purely subjective which one you'd prefer. As a lover of historical fiction, I was a bit partial to Emer's story. I found it more interesting than the contemporary one.

But there were a few things that I didn't care for in The Dust of 100 Dogs. Things that made me unhappy. One was the introduction of a new narrator, Fred Livingstone, about 130 pages in. Fred is a despicable character. A villain if ever there was one. He's a cold-hearted man, one prone to abusing his dog, Rusty. "Fred would always get a kick or slap in somehow. Soon it would be Rusty's fifth birthday, and as far as he could remember, every day for five years Fred Livingstone had beaten him." (135) Fred's sense of reality is lacking and he's mentally, emotionally, and psychologically unstable, unbalanced. (He is always daydreaming about women, imagining conversations with them, even in his daydreams he can't get a woman the right way, so these daydreams often turn dark and violent.) He would be an interesting character to analyze because he's definitely in need of help! And in a way this all makes sense there towards the end. But the animal abuse introduced into the book by the presence of Fred in addition to the foul and abusive language (a bit stronger than I personally like) make these passages unpleasant....for me.

Not every reader will find issues with those two things. And I can see how the character of Fred adds tension and complexity to the contemporary story--along with Junior, Saffron's brother who is quite the villain himself--a drug addict, a thief, an arsonist. I would imagine that you would enjoy this one more than I did. I liked parts of it a lot. But not so much on other parts.

I do think this would make a great movie.


© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
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Shoup, Barbara. 2008. Everything You Want.

Everything You Want is a coming-of-age story where it's okay to not be okay. On the surface, our narrator, Emma, has everything she 'needs' to be happy. She's got a loving and supporting family. It's her freshman year of college. She has a more-than-decent roommate to share her dorm. But everything feels wrong, feels off to Emma. And this 'offness' is only magnified when her family wins the lottery and becomes millionaires. Money can't buy happiness for Emma, or for her parents who begin to drift apart, or for her older sister. Money isn't the answer it seems on how to make her life feel right. Emma is clueless as to just what to do to "fix" her life. She's unsure of what she wants, uncertain of what she needs. She's uncomfortable in her own skin, but doesn't know how to 'fix' that. No matter where she goes, who she's with, she can't run away from herself, from her struggle to just be...to be content.

I liked this one. Loved it in a few places even. But as a whole, I can't say that I loved it. Emma's problems are all-too-real no matter your age. There are times in life when you're just not feeling it, where no matter what you do you can't seem to be the person you think you want to be or need to be. So I could relate to Emma. But I wasn't so in love with the lottery elements of the plot. Still, I'd feed comfortable recommending this one.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

fischer, Debbie Reed. 2008. Swimming with the Sharks.

The list is titled Top Ten Guys Who Are Still Virgins. Dorkowitz tops it off at number one, of course.

I didn't care for this one. I'll be honest. It's a book about mean girls--mean cheerleaders to be exact--who go to great lengths to torture the newest cheerleader, Ellika, and 'persuade' her into quitting. Why is she on the team to begin with? Her family is rich, they made a very large contribution to the school--to the gym I believe--and this was one of the stipulations: a place for their chunky/plus-size daughter on the varsity cheering squad. Our narrator, Peyton Grady, goes along with Operation Smellika--in fact she commits several of these cruelties personally--including smashing Ellika's glasses to pieces. It isn't until bones get broken and heads get concussed that Peyton sees the bigger picture and decides to break the pact. And even then it's a tough decision for her.

I suppose we're supposed to 'like' Peyton. This bystander who silently questions but still acts and goes along with the others on the team. Peyton has a conscience, but she's choosing to not listen to what her instincts are telling her. Peyton is clueless about many things. Things that the reader won't be. It's easy to predict each twist and turn in this one. Only Peyton and Ellika seem not to see the truth that's right in front of their faces.

Ellika. I have a hard time in believing in Ellika as a character. Yes, I feel sorry for her--in a way--but I have a hard time believing she could be so stupid or naive. Ellika is used to being teased, used to being called names, so why she goes and seeks out the popular crowd is beyond me. She's a new student, and she wants to 'buy' her way into the 'in' crowd? She thinks it will work? That she'll suddenly become popular? become accepted? That she'll be like that girl in the movies--the ugly duckling who transforms herself into the most popular, beautiful girl in the school. The fact that she perseveres no matter how much abuse--physical, mental, emotional--is piled onto her by her teammates...that she doesn't quit the team, that she doesn't tell her parents, that she doesn't want to change schools, etc. That she honestly believes that she can outlast and outwit the cheerleaders. That if she endures the pain, the torment, the abuse, that by the end of the school year she'll have made it, made new friends, found a place to belong. Why would she want to "belong" in the first place? Why would she want these bullies to be her friends? Why does she seek out their acceptance knowing how cruel and mean and stupid they all are? I have a hard time believing that anyone could ever welcome that much abuse into their lives.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Johnson, Varian. 2008. My Life As A Rhombus.

Rhonda the Rhombus. Perhaps not the most-appealing nickname a girl can have. But...Rhonda makes for quite a good heroine as one of the stars in Varian Johnson's My Life As A Rhombus.

Rhonda Lee is great at math. She excels so much that she tutors students of all ages at West Columbia Community Center. Which is how our heroine comes to meet Sarah Gamble. Sarah is one of the beautiful, popular people. Sarah needs help...and she needs it quickly if she's going to pull her grades up. But what starts as a rather reluctant relationship...becomes much much more through the course of the novel. As these two unlikely teens find they have much in common.

Their common bond? Unplanned pregnancies. Rhonda's is in the past--two years previous--and Sarah's is in the present. Sarah's secret is revealed to Rhonda alone. And the two come to discuss life and all its hardships in detail as Sarah puzzles out what to do with her life, her body. Rhonda's pregnancy ended in abortion--it's a choice that was out of her hands. Rhonda's father controlled the situation then, and this has put some strain into the relationship. It's not that Rhonda wanted to have her baby--not really. But she wanted to be the one to think it through, the one to decide. She wanted the choice to be hers. And the whole situation--sex, pregnancy, abortion--still haunts her in many, many ways. Her past keeps her from living in the present.

Sarah's friendship--and Sarah's brother, David--offer Rhonda a unique opportunity. A chance to offer comfort and support, yes, but a chance to heal as well. A chance to learn that your life need not be defined by past mistakes and regrets. A chance to accept life in all its fullness.

I enjoyed this one. I liked the transformation and development of the relationships between Rhonda and Sarah and Rhonda and David. For that matter, I liked the characterizations in general.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Jones, Carrie. 2008. Girl, Hero.

I don't know why I was surprised by Girl, Hero being so wonderfully fantastic. I enjoyed both of Carrie Jones' previous novels: Tips on Having a Gay (Ex) Boyfriend, and Love (and Other Uses For Duct Tape). Perhaps it was the John Wayne factor. You see, the novel, Girl, Hero, consists of letters from our heroine, Liliana Faltin, to the legendary (but deceased) John Wayne. I was skeptical at first. But it worked. It really worked. Here's our introduction:

Dear Mr. Wayne,

My mother's got a man coming to see her. She's all excited, running around, getting ready, making me clean up the whole house. She thinks this man might be the one, you know, the big enchilada, her soul's mate, her life's light, and stuff. She's always thinking that.
She's had men before, since my stepfather died. But this guy's going to stay with us in our house, for a while. Not too long, she tells me. Just until he's back on his feet. This one's moving back east from Oregon and needs a place to sleep while he looks for work.
I think, that's what hotels are for, but she's so happy, humming all the time, singing Celine Dion songs, that I don't say anything that I'm thinking in my head.
She's made up the guest bedroom. I don't think he'll stay there. I don't know who she thinks she's fooling. Not me.
He's a tall man, Mr. Wayne, like you. She knew him a long time ago, back when she was married to my father. On the phone his voice sounds Western, or Texan, like he has traces of sand and grit stuck in it that float out with his words when he talks. He sounds like he's been in the desert a long, damn while and hasn't had any water to drink and has a mighty thirst.
He doesn't sound like he's from Maine, but she says he was born and raised here.
I didn't know that people could move and have their accents change, that all their baby years and teenage years of talking could just get erased.
My mother blows air out her nose when I say this to her, and she taps her fingernails on the kitchen counter, crosses her legs and gets out a cigarette.
People adapt, Liliana, she says, and the whole sentence is just one long exasperated sigh.
It's kind of cool in a way, the adapting thing. I mean, depending on how bad high school goes, I might want to erase all of it and pretend I'm someone else when I go to college--if I get into college.
My mom thinks this man will be like you: a hero kind of man with a clean face and soul. She thinks that about every man she sees. But they never are. There's only one you. (1-2)

Jones' writing speaks for itself. She is an authentic writer, her characters have heart and soul--meaning depth and layers. And her stories have spirit or staying power. There's something about her books that just work.

"Sometimes I think friends are a necessary evil, say like McDonald's burgers. You need to have them, you want to have them, but sometimes they make your stomach ache." (6)

"Dear Mr. Wayne

Before you were a movie star, did you have to do homework? I should get a biography about you so that I can know these things, but I'm afraid to. What if I open up the book and start reading and find out you aren't who I think you are? I want people to be who they're supposed to be, but nobody ever seems to want to. I'll give it to you firsthand, Mr. Wayne: nobody in this world seems to be who they are. And my guess is that most people don't even know who they are supposed to be. Which sucks. I'm not supposed to use that word. My mother acts like it's worse than the f-word or something. You would probably say the same thing." (24)

"Sometimes I get so scared, Mr. Wayne. Sometimes I am so far from being the cowboy with the hat and the horse and my gun drawn and ready. Sometimes I'm so far away from anything I want to be and it's like that sunset you're always riding to but you never quite reach." (104)

"Sometimes I think hugs are like helmets. Sometimes I wish I could walk around with someone hugging me the whole time. You could probably make a lot of money doing that, being a professional hugger." (262)

I just fell in love with this book. With the characters. With their stories. With the language itself. With the cover itself. Everything about this book is just right, it's practically perfect right.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews