Teen Book Review

 As regular readers know, I’m busy reading tons of books for the cybils middle grade fiction panel. I’m taking a break from today’s reading to mark which of the Fantasy/Sci Fi nominees I’ve read (they’re the ones in italics). This list is from cybils.com. I’ve read just 19 of the 94, but there are lots on there that look great & I’d love to read them in the future!

100 Cupboards
written by N.D. Wilson
Random House
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Alchemyst, The
written by Michael Scott
Random House/Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Alfred Kropp: The Seal of Solomon
written by Rick Yancey
Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Araminta Spookie 3: Frognapped
written by Angie Sage
HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen Books
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Betrayed: A House of Night Novel
written by PC Cast
St. Martin’s Griffin
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Billy Hooten: Owlboy
written by Tom Sniegoski
Random House/Yearling
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Black Book of Secrets, The
written by F.E. Higgins
Feiwel & Friends
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Book of a Thousand Days
written by Shannon Hale
Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Call to Shakabaz, The
written by Amy Wachspress
Woza Books
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Chaos King, The
written by Laura Ruby
HarperCollins/Eos
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Children of the 23rd Century: The Secret of the Lost Planet
written by Mel Hogan
Athena Press Ltd (UK)
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Choices
written by Deborah Lynn Jacobs
Macmillan/Roaring Brook Press
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

City of Bones
written by Cassandra Clare
Simon & Schuster/Margaret K. McElderry
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Cobra King Of Kathmandu, The
written by P. B. Kerr
Scholastic/Orchard Books
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Cupid
written by Julius Lester
Harcourt Children’s Books
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Darkwing
written by Kenneth Oppel
HarperCollins/Eos
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Defect
written by Will Weaver
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Dragon Slippers
written by Jessica Day George
Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Dragonhaven
written by Robin McKinley
Penguin/Putnam Juvenile
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Dragon’s Keep
written by Janet Lee Carey
Harcourt Children’s Books
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Dreamquake
written by Elizabeth Knox
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Eclipse
written by Stephenie Meyer
Little, Brown Young Readers
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat
written by Lynne Jonell
Henry Holt and Co.
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Erec Rex: The Monsters of Otherness
written by Kaza Kingsley
Firelight Press
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Extras
written by Scott Westerfeld
Simon & Schuster/Simon Pulse
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Fablehaven: Rise of the Evening Star
written by Brandon Mull
Shadow Mountain
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Faeries of Dreamdark: Blackbringer
written by Laini Taylor
Penguin/Putnam Juvenile
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Fathom Five: The Unwritten Books
written by James Bow
Dundurn/Boardwalk Books
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

First Light
written by Rebecca Stead
Random House/Wendy Lamb Books
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Flora Segunda
written by Ysabeau S. Wilce
Harcourt Children’s Books
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Fred & Anthony’s Escape from the Netherworld
written by Esile Arevamirp
Disney/Hyperion
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Ghost in Allie’s Pool, The
written by Sari Bodi
Brown Barn Books
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Giving Up the Ghost
written by Sheri Sinykin
Peachtree Publishers
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Golden Dream of Carlo Chuchio, The
written by Lloyd Alexander
Henry Holt and Co
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Gray/Guardians
written by Kathy Porter
BookSurge Publishing
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
written by J. K. Rowling
Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine Books
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Hungry Ghosts
written by Sally Heinrich
Lothian Publishing (may be an imprint of Hachette Livre Australia)
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

In the Serpent’s Coils (Hallowmere)
written by Tiffany Trent
Mirrorstone
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Incarceron
written by Catherine Fisher
Hachette Livre UK/Hodder Children’s Books (UK)
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Into the Wild
written by Sarah Beth Durst
Penguin/Razorbill
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Ironside: A Modern Faery’s Tale
written by Holly Black
Simon & Schuster/Margaret K. McElderry
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Jackie Tempo and the Emperor’s Seal
written by Suzanne M Litrel
iUniverse
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Jinx
written by Meg Cabot
HarperCollins
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Kendra Kandlestar and the Door to Unger
written by Lee E. Fodi
Brown Books Publishing Group
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Lady Friday (The Keys to the Kingdom)
written by Garth Nix
Scholastic Press
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Land of the Silver Apples, The
written by Nancy Farmer
Simon & Schuster/Atheneum/Richard Jackson Books
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Leven Thumps and the Eyes of the Want
written by Obert Skye
Shadow Mountain
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Little (Grrl) Lost
written by Charles de Lint
Penguin/Viking
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Magic and Other Misdemeanors (The Sisters Grimm)
written by Michael Buckley
Abrams/Amulet
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Marigold and the Feather of Hope
written by J. H. Sweet
Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

New Policeman, The
written by Kate Thompson
HarperCollins
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Night Tourist, The
written by Katherine Marsh
Disney/Hyperion
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Nightwalker: The Warlocks of Talverdin
written by K. V. Johansen
Orca Book Publishers
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Northlander (Tales of the Borderlands)
written by Meg Burden
Brown Barn Books
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Once Upon a Crime (The Sisters Grimm)
written by Michael Buckley
Abrams/Amulet
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Penguins of Doom, The (From the Desk of Septina Nash)
written by Greg R. Fishbone
Blooming Tree Press
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Platinum
written by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Random House/Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Powers
written by Ursula K. Le Guin
Harcourt Children’s Books
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Prom Dates from Hell
written by Rosemary Clement-Moore
Random House/Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Pyre
written by James McCann
Simply Read Books
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Quest for the Elfin Elixir
written by Ami Blackford
Red Cygnet Press
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Red Spikes
written by Margo Lanagan
Random House/Knopf Books for Young Readers
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Repossessed
written by A. M. Jenkins
HarperCollins
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Return to Zandria
written by Christine Norris
LBF Books/Lachesis Publishing
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Secret of Grim Hill, The
written by Linda DeMeulemeester
Lobster Press
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Secret Zoo, The
written by Bryan Chick
Second Wish Press
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Seeing Redd (The Looking Glass Wars)
written by Frank Beddor
Penguin/Dial
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Seems, The: The Glitch in Sleep
written by John Hulme
Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Senrid
written by Sherwood Smith
YA Angst
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Sensitive
written by Nina Wright
Flux
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Seventh Chair, The
written by Ann Keffer
iUniverse
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Silenced, The
written by James Devita
HarperCollins/Eos
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Silver World
written by Cliff McNish
Lerner Publishing/Carolrhoda Books
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Skin Hunger
written by Kathleen Duey
Simon & Schuster/Atheneum
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Skulduggery Pleasant
written by Derek Landy
HarperCollins
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Standard Hero Behavior
written by John David Anderson
Houghton Mifflin/Clarion Books
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Swan Maiden, The
written by Heather Tomlinson
Henry Holt
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Tantalize
written by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Candlewick
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Tattoo
written by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Random House/Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos
written by R. L. LaFevers
Houghton Mifflin
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Thief Queen’s Daughter, The
written by Elizabeth Haydon
Tor/Starscape
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Through the Eyes of a Raptor
written by Julie Hahnke
iUniverse
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Titan’s Curse, The
written by Rick Riordan
Disney/Miramax
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

To Catch a Mermaid
written by Suzanne Selfors
Little, Brown Young Readers
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

True Meaning of Smekday, The
written by Adam Rex
Disney/Hyperion
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Two Moon Princess
written by Carmen Ferreiro-Esteban
Tanglewood Press
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Un Lun Dun
written by China Mieville
Random House/Del Rey
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Verdigris Deep (Well Witched in the U.S.)
written by Frances Hardinge
Macmillan Children’s Books (UK)
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Warrior’s Daughter, The
written by Holly Bennett
Orca Book Publishers
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

What-the-Dickens: The Story of a Rogue Tooth Fairy
written by Gregory Maguire
Candlewick
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Wicked Lovely
written by Melissa Marr
HarperCollins
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Wildwood Dancing
written by Juliet Marillier
Random House/Knopf Books for Young Readers
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Woolies and Worms
written by Stephen MacNeil
Cobblestone Publishing/Cricket Magazine Group
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

Worldweavers: Gift of the Unmage
written by Alma Alexander
HarperCollins/Eos
Buy from Amazon | Buy from Booksense (your local independent)

I’d like to mention a couple of new book blogs I’ve come across:

The Page Flipper has good book reviews that will probably come in helpful when holiday shopping!

The Compulsive Reader has book reviews, good book-related news and links. It’s only two weeks old and I’ve already found lots of interesting stuff! (I’m also mentioning this one for a contest–if you post about it by midnight Saturday you can win an ARC of Hacking Harvard, details on the blog–But I’d do so even if there wasn’t a contest going on!).

If you’re reading this, you probably like words. And you’re probably all for feeding hungry people, too, because, well, you have a heart. You can do both at once on FreeRice. It asks you vocab questions, and donates ten grains of rice to hungry people for each word you get right. It will also help you prep for standardised tests like the SAT! You might think it’s some sort of scam, but it really does work–they pay for the rice through advertisers. Go, check it out!

After Suzy’s seemingly perfect older sister, Rosie, dies in an accident, her family moves far across Australia to a different town, where they can start over. Suzy decides that this is her chance to be more what her parents want–more like Rosie. She ditches her old wardrobe, works hard at school, doesn’t get into any trouble, and surprisingly falls in with the popular crowd at her new school–a crowd very much unlike anyone she would have hung out with at her old school. These girls get good grades, do what their parents say, and are all even members of the virginity club. They want Suzy to join, too.

Only problem, is, she doesn’t exactly qualify. It was only once, but, well, that’s enough to lose you the virgin label. However, nobody at her new school knows that, so Suzy goes ahead and joins the virginity club, pledging to stay a virgin. However, it throws a wrench in her plans when her ex, Ryan, who knows firsthand that Suzy doesn’t qualify, shows up in her new town.

THE SECOND VIRGINITY OF SUZY GREEN is a funny, engaging, and touching story that readers will surely love. Sara Hantz is great at creating realistic, memorable characters, Suzy of course being the best of them. This novel is a first-person narrative told in Suzy’s great voice, very well done. This is Sara Hantz’s debut novel, and I look forward to reading her future work!

Four 1/2 Stars

…OR NOT? is definitely one of my favorite books read in recent memory. Cassie is such a completely real, entirely interesting, and very unique character! This book is made up of her journals, written in her fresh, original voice. Cassie’s a fourteen year old girl with opinions and beliefs that make her an outcast at school (ie, she is not a blindly patriotic evangelical Christian). She’s lots of things–a writer, a vegan, a thinker–but at school they’d rather just label her a terrorist (as we do in the post-9/11 world) and be done with it. At school, she’s harassed and taunted with epithets like “American Taliban slut,” especially after she refuses to sing ” Proud To Be An American” at school.

In a high school like Cassie’s fictional one, this book would probably be banned. Or maybe burned.

Cassie is a strong-willed, gutsy, and very likeable protagonist, with a distinct voice, one great character in a whole cast of them. Her story really draws readers in; it’s quite a lengthy book, but it certainly doesn’t drag on. It’s also a very relevant story today. Prejudiced people like those Cassie has to deal with are everywhere. I remember once in middle school getting in huge trouble for not saying the pledge of allegiance. I, however, am not as brave as Cassie; I’d like to have her courage, but, after that, I stood up and pretended to say it.

It’s a thought-provoking, extremely well-written first novel. Brian Mandabach’s debut is brilliant, and I am really looking forward to reading whatever this talented author writes next.

Five Stars

This is a fat girl book (not an ice skating book, as I for some reason thought upon reading the title). I’ve got to say that right off. We’ve all read them; the main character is a fat girl who is usually also a loser and often becomes happier after she loses weight.

GO FIGURE isn’t that cliche. Yeah, Ryan is a fat girl, and, yeah, that’s part of who she is that she isn’t entirely comfortable with. Her therapist tells her to embrace her fat, which she and I both think sounds kind of gross, but whatever.

Ryan wants to lose weight, but the fat girl isn’t all she is. Another thing that, to the people in her town, defines her is her ex-boyfriend, former high school nerd and current rock star on the cover of Rolling Stone. Ryan’s also a talented photographer. And she sits at the popular table at lunch. So right there, Ryan breaks that fat girl cliche.

I love how Ryan, while insecure about her weight, is seen as more than the fat girl here. The book that kept coming to mind as this book’s complete opposite was HUGE by Sasha Paley, which had flat and fat characters who were suddenly happier after they lost weight at fat camp. So ridiculoulsly and stupidly cliche! Jo Edwards avoids that, and does it beautifully. The lesson Ryan learns isn’t that it’s better to be skinny; she learns more about accepting herself than anything, but this still didn’t feel like a “lesson” book to me.

Ryan is a fantastic character. She’s totally three-dimensional, and easy to relate to (for anyone who is insecure about her body in some way, which is, well, all of us). I love her voice, that elusive quality that only some authors are able to make real, but Edwards does it. Jo Edwards is a wonderful writer! I was seriously impressed by this book.

Five Stars

I don’t know how many of you have read SHEER BLISS by Frances O’Brien, but it’s a wonderful book, and now there’s a sequel! Well, sort of. It’s not all done yet, and Frances O’Brien is presenting it in a very unsual format. It’s serialized on her blog. I don’t know how I feel about that, really, but I am excited to get to read A VERY BRITISH SORT OF BLISS. You can check it out at her myspace page, and get a copy of SHEER BLISS on the Amazon page. I’ve pasted my review of SHEER BLISS, written for TRT, below, to refresh your memories:

SHEER BLISS is a ton of fun to read. I’ve noticed a trend in tween/teen books lately; a lot seem to be about life in the spotlight. Sometimes, they’re about teen celebrities. Other times, the main characters are, like Bliss Drew, famous because of who they’re related to. Another book I enjoyed about the daughter of a famous celebrity was My Life Starring Mum by Chloe Rayban; that one was quite enjoyable, and, coincidentally, the daughter’s name was Hollywood Bliss Winterman! Apparently, fictional celebrities love the name Bliss!

SHEER BLISS is a quick read, and a funny one. It’s real, entertaining, and told in Bliss’s fresh, realistic voice. It’s sure to be a hit with readers! I can’t wait to read the upcoming sequel, A VERY BRITISH SORT OF BLISS! 

Five Stars 

Upon picking up SNITCH, I had pretty much no expectations. I didn’t expect it to be amazing; I was stuck at the airport, and expected it to be entertaining enough. I didn’t expect to really love it.

But I did! Julia is such a great character, Allison van Diepen is such a great writer, and, well, this is just such a great book! Now, of course, I can’t really comment on the authenticity of a book about gangs because I do not live in inner-city LA or Detroit or whatever (this particular book takes place in Brooklyn). I go to high school in a mostly suburban-to-rural district in North Carolina. There are still people in gangs around, yes, but it doesn’t totally dominate the way it does in Julia’s high school; it’s nothing like that.

Anyway, this book focuses on high school student Julia DiVino, who’s just trying to get through at her Brooklyn high school where gang lines are clearly marked, where gangs are everywhere. She’s not a member, though her friends Marie and Black Chuck do belong to gangs.

Julia’s life is going along fine, until Eric Valiente enters it. He’s new in school, and all the girls are drooling over him. But, for some reason, he’s interested in Julia. And he’s not the gang type, right?

Nothing is as it seems, and nothing will stay the same. Julia has hard choices to make, and then she’s got to deal with the consequences, whatever those may be.

I’m not sure I described the book well enough, but, trust me, it’s awesome. I wasn’t planning to buy this one at the bookstore, but I had some extra time so I picked it up, read the first couple pages, and I was hooked. Allison van Diepen really draws readers in, makes you believe this world (one so different from mine), makes you believe these wonderful characters. I literally couldn’t put this book down. It’s almost 300 pages long, but those pages totally flew by. If we’re lucky, there will be a sequel to this book, and, in the meantime, I certainly plan on picking up van Diepen’s first novel, STREET PHARM.

Five Stars

Just a quick reminder, nominations close today, so hurry and nominate your favorite 2007 titles at http://dadtalk.typepad.com/cybils/, if you haven’t already.

Rickshaw Girl by Mitali Perkins, illustrated by Jamie Hogan

Naima is a young girl living in rural Bangladeshi village with her family. She helps around the house, can’t go to school anymore, but loves to paint beautiful alpanas, patterns that Bangladeshi women and girls paint in their homes for special occasions. She does the best alpanas in the village, but what she really wants is to earn money for her family, the way her friend Saleem does driving his father’s rickshaw, but she can’t do that, being a girl. Still, she has to do something! This book, which is at the younger age of MG reading-level-wise but enjoyable by older kids as well, has nice, clear writing that flows nicely, and a good girl-power storyline, supplemented with interesting illustrations. The exotic setting of Bangladesh is not only interesting, but will also teach young readers about a place that is different from their homes.

I’ve read so many great books lately that I really should write about, but I haven’t had the time! I’ve been in New York, too, for the RED release party. For more info about RED, check out the link in the sidebar, search for posts I’ve made, or go to the book’s new website, redthebook.com.

I’ve been reading for the cybils, as well as other review books, and a couple I got at this fantastic discount bookstore in NYC called The Strand (if you live in the NYC area and haven’t been there, go!). Here’s a few titles: My Last Bet Friend by Julie Bowe (cybils); A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban (cybils); Rickshaw Girl by Mitali Perkins (cybils); Ask Me No Questions by Marina Buddhos (The Strand! Four dollars, brand new!); Snitch by Allison van Diepen (loved, loved, loved it!), Geek High by someone (Flamingnet), Go Figure by Jo Edwards (review copy, wonderful book), Converting Kate by someone (CurledUp)….The list goes on. Hopefully I can post a few reviews this week.

And now, I’ll leave you with these cool readergirlz shopping lists: find out more from Erin at http://misserinmarie.blogspot.com/2007/11/new-readergirlz-holiday-project.html.

Here are some cool links & reminders:

Random Buzz is the new teen book community from Random House! Check it out. 

For the writers among  you, need something proofread? Feel like helping out a college student at the same time? Check out Alyssa’s blog post here.

Don’t forget to nominate your favorite 2007 books for the Cybils awards.

Erin’s got a whole bunch of interesting posts and great author interviews up at the moment on her blog, Miss Erin.

And check out all the great reviews of Red!! Just click the link on the side and it’ll take you to the amazon page, where you can order your copy today :-)

So apparently over the past few months I’ve lost a ton of emails due to some weird filter settings. Some I’ve found and am in the process of replying to; some have disappeared, too, I think. So if you sent me something and haven’t gotten a reply, please re-send. Sorry for the trouble!

Among the emails I found was this, which looks pretty interesting:

LIVEbrary offers Media Awareness Program, Grades 4-8

Teachers, librarians, parents and homeschoolers must register in advance to participate in the LIVEbrary. More information, including registration, instructions, and a complete schedule are available at the LIVEbrary Blog <http://annickpress.blogspot.com> or via email from LIVEbrary@annickpress.com.

So today (or by the time I post this yesterday, most likely as it’s almost midnight) is the official release date of Red! You can all rush out to your nearest bookstore and buy a copy now or buy one online…And if your bookstore doesn’t have it, you should demand they order some :-)

There are already a couple of reviews up on amazon (check the sidebar for that link)–five stars! Please, if you read the book, post your review, too.

Side note: sorry for the total lack of updates recently! I’ll try to change that…

VEIL OF ROSES has several layers and a lot of potential. It is, in one way, sort of a typical chick-lit story, only this story features a young Iranian woman coming to America to try her luck at finding a husband before her visa expires (three months), because that would allow her to stay in a country where she can go unveiled and stop worrying that the police will arrest her for something like laughing too loudly. So it is both a perhaps too formulaic chick-lit story, and a look at a life that is very different from what we have here in America.

This combination had a lot of potential, and I did enjoy it. Twenty-seven-year old Tamila, a young Persian woman who wants to be a photographer, who dreams of freedom and peace in her homeland, is a wonderful character. Her forbidden romance with Ike and doomed relationship with her Iranian suitors, however, seem a little too predictable and boring. If this book could have focused more on Tamila as an Iranian in America, more about the oppresive government of Iran, rather than its chick-lit aspect, I probably would have enjoyed it more, but that doesn’t mean you won’t love it, as this was just my personal preference.

I can’t judge on how accurate the potrayal of Iran and Iranian life is, as I don’t have any experience with regard to that (this is something I feel the need to say after reading some negative Amazon reviews); however, I personally did enjoy the book and in fact passed it on to my mother to read. It is not the most empowering or sterotype-breaking book with regard to Muslim women that I’ve read, and not the best book ever, but it is enjoyable, and there are some bits of the prose that I found quite wonderful.

Still, I believe that Laura Fitzgerald is a wonderful writer with a talent for creating fantastic characters. This book is not technically YA, but I do think it has crossover appeal.VEIL OF ROSES is a good debut, and I eagerly look forward to Laura Fitzgerald’s next novel.

Four Stars