The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

Y’all.  This book was crazy…but in a good way.

Each morning, Aiden wakes up at Blackheath, an estate owned by the Hardcastle family.  Every night, Evelyn Hardcastle is murdered at 11:00 pm.  Aiden’s job is to find out who killed her…but if he doesn’t, he wakes up and repeats the day in another guest’s body.  He has eight days to figure out her murder and eight different bodies to inhabit.  To make matters worse, there are others stuck at Blackheath like him who are searching for the murderer, but they are also coming after Aiden.

I knew going into this book it was a mystery, but even then I was totally twisted the first dozen chapters and had no clue what was going on.  I think there were a few things that contributed to this confusion:

First, the book’s in first person point of view.  This means we see the entire story from Aiden’s eyes but during the story he’s jumping his personality into another person’s body, with very limited memory of that person’s immediate life.  This means until Aiden figures out what’s going on, you are just as in the dark as he is.

Secondly, the book isn’t linear.  It will tell you when it moves on to a new day with a new body, but sometimes it will jump back into a previous body.  That means you’re not meeting characters in chronological order, which makes it sometimes confusing.

Besides these challenges, the book grows on you.  By the time Aiden realizes that he’s in a murder investigation, he’s able to adapt quickly.  This book has a lot of classic mystery elements:  red herrings, double-crossing, murders, hidden family secrets…you name it!  It reminded me very much of Agatha Christie’s works, where there were so many different pieces to the puzzle, you won’t be able to figure it out until the big reveal. 

Overall, it’s a well-done mystery novel, even with the shaky start.

**Thank you Net Galley and Sourcebooks for this free book in exchange for an honest review!**

**The book is out now (also under the title The 7 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle) so enjoy!**

The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper

There’s a hidden fiction sub-genre that you may not know about:  the quirky old man books.  This sub-genre has books like A Man Called Ove, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, and Out of Sorts.  These stories revolve around men in their later years where some shocking event has made them realize that their small, orderly, predictable lives aren’t enough.  Maybe their spouse dies or moves out, or they are forced to retire earlier than expected.  Whatever the case may be, these men realize that you’re never too old to start afresh and have an adventure.

The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper falls solidly in this category.  Arthur Pepper’s wife died a year ago, and since then he’s become a recluse who’s chained to his daily routines.  That is until he cleans out his wife’s closet and finds a gold charm bracelet.  He’s never seen it before and has no idea what the eight charms mean.  So he sets off to figure out where the charms came from.  From elephants in India to tigers in England, Arthur realizes that looking back into the past is fine but living in the past isn’t.

This was overall just a cute story.  You’ll enjoy Arthur and his changing midst throughout the book.  Yes, there are a few plot lines that I wish were more resolved or went by too quickly, but that could just be me.  For the most part, this book will just make you chuckle with all the crazy situations Arthur finds himself in and wonder what will happen next.

This Is My Brain On Boys

This was a cute read by Sarah Stromhmeyer, who I already like because of her book Smart Girls Get What They Want.  Both books feature smart teen girls (yay for good role models) who are also trying to navigate the dating world.  

In This Is My Brain On Boys, Addie is smart…like genius smart (they never said it, but it seems like she has high-functioning Asperger’s).  She goes to a special boarding school where she’s trying to the Athenian Award, a full-ride scholarship awarded to a high school student who has made a breakthrough in the field of neuroscience.  Addie’s project, the Brain Adrenaline, Dopamine, and Amine Synthesis System (or B.A.D.A.S.S.), focuses on manufacturing the feelings of love through stressful situations.  Her life in on track, but there’s one minor problem…she’s starting to have feelings towards one of her test subjects who just happens to be the person behind a vandalism and bullying situation surrounding Addie the year before.

It’s just a fun, rom-com read for teens.  There’s nothing really objectionable (no language, no romantic situations beyond kissing), but it just felt like an okay read.  I really liked the characters and thought that they were very believable.  Some of the situations felt like a stretch (like the fake shark in the water gag or the fact that they have a fully funded research lab at a high school) but it didn’t take away from the story.  The story swaps from Addie’s point of view to Kris, her love interest, so we get to see both sides of the story and what they are thinking.  This does add to some background but takes away some of the “will they, won’t they” romantic tension.

For any girls who love Kassie West, this may be a good book to pick up next.

Last Man Out

Mike Lupica is a popular sports author for kids, and it seems like his books have been on awards lists since I started teaching eleven years ago.  I’ve read a few of his books and have enjoyed them (even if sports books aren’t usually my go-to genre).  However, this book just missed the mark.

Tommy is all about football:  playing defense with his team, watching it on TV, or just talking about strategy with his father.  But when his firefighter father is killed while on a call, Tommy’s world is twisted.  He’s sad and angry and the only way he’s getting out his feelings is aggressively on the football field.  With a little sister who won’t come out of her room and a mom who expects him to be the “man of the house,” the only freedom Tommy finds is through a new sport:  skateboarding.

So, I get Tommy’s feelings, but they just seem slightly unbelievable.  Maybe because he’s supposed to be twelve, but he’s acting like an eighteen year old.  I work daily around twelve to fourteen year old boys, and they don't act this mature and think this rationally.  Yes, that means that they could learn something from Tommy's behavior, but I feel like they just would become uninterested in the book instead.

Another problem is the book is supposed to be a football book, but the most exciting thing that happens is Tommy learning to skateboard.  All the football games are quick, and they all come down to tied with four minutes to go in the game…which gets boring after you’ve read about it four times already.

I can see my middle school boys liking this book, but in my opinion, it’s not nearly as strong as his other books.

Ban This Book

Ban This Book is not your typical Alan Gratz novel.  The books I’ve read by him have been action-adventure (like Code of Honor, the SCJBA winner last year) or historical fiction stories (like Projekt 1065).  

This realistic fiction story is about Amy Anne, a fourth grader whose favorite book has just been banned from the library.  The library is her safe haven, the place where she can go for peace and quiet (unlike her hectic house and loud little sisters), but more and more books are being taken out for being “inappropriate for elementary schoolers.”  While Mrs. Jones, the librarian, is tied by law and must remove the books, that doesn’t mean Amy Anne can’t start her own banned book library out of her locker.  “Good books shouldn’t be hidden away.  They should be read by as many people as many times as possible.”

I throughly enjoyed reading this one!  It’s an easy read and appropriate for elementary and middle schoolers.  We talk about banned and challenged books at my school, but this puts it in a way that I feel kids can relate to easily.  It also shows what’s the right and the wrong way of doing things.  Amy Anne does get in trouble with the school and her parents for some of her actions (like taking books out of the library without permission), but I like her parents’ response.  They’re not angry she’s trying to speak up, “but there’s a right and a wrong way to voice your objections.”  And as an added bonus, all the books listed in the book are banned or challenged book titles.  This book is a win all around!

Heart of Iron

I had the pleasure of hearing Ashley Poston speak at my school right after her first novel, Geekerella, was published.  Her love for fandoms and all things geeky was really endearing to hear, along with her writing process.  Her second book is nothing like her first (a modern day retelling of Cinderella set at a comic-con convention).  Poston’s description of Heart of Iron is “Anastasia in space,” and she’s totally right.

In this YA fantasy novel, Ana is a part of Captain Siege’s pirate crew and has been since she and her Metal humanoid companion, Di, were rescued from an escape pod.  Ana has scars on her face from a fire she doesn’t remember and a melted medallion around her neck which she doesn’t remember receiving.  When Di’s memory core starts to glitch, Ana is desperate to save him and will do anything…even stealing coordinates to a lost ship that supposedly has unused android parts on it.  With Captain Siege, her group of outlaws that are her only family, and a tag-along rich boy, Ana ends up finding out her past and a hidden secret the top royal advisors don’t want leaked.

It’s a little bit like Star Wars, with space fights and quick flying.  There are droids (called Metals) who are HIVED (connected together to a single mindless server) so they won’t rebel against the royal family.  I admit, there’s a lot going on in this story, but it does all come together eventually.  Yes, parts were predictable and a few of the “relationships” seemed forced (you know I don’t do “love at first sight” with no plausible reason for it) but it was an enjoyable fantasy read.

Reader warning:  it does set itself up for a sequel, so be prepared for a cliffhanger!

Six of Crows Duology

One thing I love about reading is the ability to escape into a new world, a historical, place, an alternate reality…and this week I’ve been running around Ketterdam with Kaz and is gang of criminals.

My first Leigh Bardugo book was Shadow and Bone, a fantasy story about Grisha, people with magical powers.  For some reason I really didn’t connect with the story…too much fantasy language to learn, too much twisting alliances, and just not what I was in the mood for at the time.  But when I picked up Six of Crows, I didn’t even know it was in the same fantasy realm as her previous books.  I remember a friend calling it “a fantasy Ocean’s 11 heist story” and I was hooked.

Ketterdam, the capital city of Kerch, is run by crooked politicians, organized street gangs, and money (I always imagined it as an early industrial-age England).  No one understands the city’s underbelly more than Kaz, a seventeen year old ruthless lieutenant in the Dregs street gang.  His reputation as “Dirtyhands” has created a mythological air around him…and gotten him many enemies.  When a wealthy merchant approaches Kaz with the deal of a lifetime, he can’t refuse.  He only has to find a crazy crew, infiltrate another country’s capital, and break out a scientist who has created a drug that causes superhuman feats of strength.  No small task, but if anyone can do it, Kaz and his scheming friends can:  Inej’s acrobatic ability to go anywhere undetected, Jesper’s sharpshooter status, Nina’s heartrendering magic, Wylan’s pyrotechnics, and Mattias’ strength and inside knowledge.

The second book, Crooked Kingdom, picks up right where the first book leaves off (I dare you to just read one and not the other…), with Van Eck, the wealthy merchant, turning on Kaz.  Now Kaz and his crew are trapped in Ketterdam with the the police, multiple countries, and all the street gangs after them.  Like the first one, this well-thought out fantasy drama will keep you on your toes wondering how they will get out of trouble.

I think what I love best about this series is the author’s ability to make you feel like you know the city and the characters.  Even though Kaz is cold and calculating, you can’t help but admire his persistence and underlaying good deeds.  His gang is supposed to be the criminals of the story, but the way Bardugo writes it, you are rooting for them to win.  It’s like the Harry Potter series; you get so invested in the story and the characters that you ache when the story is through because you know there’s no more.

This book is a YA book, but I’d say it has more high school content to it.  There is (obviously) lots of violence, but there’s also multiple sexual innuendos along with one character being kidnapped and forced into prostitution.  It’s not so much a major part of the major storyline, but just wanted you to know what you’re getting into before you pass it on to your favorite fantasy lover.