No Posts For Three Weeks!

No one probably cares but I will not be able to blog for two weeks since I will be visiting China for the first time.  And of course, Blogger is blocked there!  Yay China.  Still excited though!

Anyways, yeah.  I just felt like saying that.

Bye!

Tattly Subscription Delivery: Month 1

My Tattly Subscription for the month of July arrived yesterday!  This one did not disappoint :)

Click here to see my previous Tattly subscription delivery as well as a mini-review.

Tattoos for the month of July :)

I was very surprised and happy when I saw I received two of Tattly's newer releases, Party Animal (center) and Be Happy (bottom left). I am so excited for Be Happy in particular because you can wear it across your neck and it looks really cute. I also love the skull because it's such a classic tattoo design. Since my high school mascot is a pirate, I'll save this one for Spirit Day or a pep rally.

Names and Artists

Close-up of tattoos.  My favorites for this month are "Be Happy" (long one to wear on neck), Skull, and Emailer Extraordinaire (top center).

This was my attempt at trying to be an artsy photographer (and failing)

5 more to go!

As always, visit Tattly's website for affordable, very cute, designer temporary tattoos!

-Jenny

Review: Skinny by Donna Cooner

Title: Skinny

Author: Donna Cooner

Publishing Company: Scholastic Inc.

Publication Date: October 1, 2012

Number of Pages: 272

15 year old Ever Davies weighs 302 pounds as a result of overeating after the death of her mother.  She hates herself and thinks that everyone else does too.  At least that's what Skinny tells her.  Skinny, Ever's subconscious in the form of a fairy that sits on her shoulders, is constantly telling Ever what people think of her and that she can't do anything right.  Because of Skinny, the closest Ever has gotten to living out her dream of singing on stage was listening to songs from her favorite Broadway musicals.

After a humiliating incident involving a broken chair and the entire student body, Ever decides that she's had enough of being the fat girl that everyone mocks and pities.  She chooses to have gastric bypass surgery, when one's stomach is made smaller permanently, as a last effort to lose weight.  Maybe this surgery will allow her to have the friends, the boy, the confidence and the life she's always wanted.  And maybe Skinny will finally leave her alone.      

This is another one of those YA novels that deal with a serious topic, obesity and gastric bypass surgery in this case. One thing that initially concerned me was that the novel was glamorizing this extremely risky surgery. Many health problems can result from it and death is always a possibility. Ever seemed to be taking quite a major risk just to fit in without taking the time to think it through. As the novel progressed though, the reader sees the side effects of the surgery both good and bad, both physical and emotional. It was very refreshing to be educated about something that we've all heard of but never really knew about.

Ever is a strong character that the reader can relate to.  She's witty and talented but many people can't seem to look past her appearances.  She distances herself through her saracasm and bitterness in order to avoid getting hurt or disappointed by others, even though the only one hurting her is Skinny, the voice inside of her.  Later in the novel, Ever gets accepted into the "popular crowd" after one of the popular girls takes her under her wing.  Even her crush starts taking interest in her.  But through it all, Ever does not change.   

Besides Ever, the other characters were also gems. Theodore "Rat" Wilson, Ever's geeky, logical best friend (with abs of steel), was by far one of my favorite "best friends" in all of YA literature. Their friendship, although fairly predictable in the direction it was going to go in, felt raw and real and was very sweet. Briella, her stepsister, is not your typical one dimensional beautiful popular girl. She has her own backstory and a complex personality. Her relationship with Ever adds more dimension to the novel. And even though Skinny existed only in Ever's mind, she has just as much presence as any other character. As unrealistic as it seems to have a fairy whispering mean things into your ear, I think most girls can relate to having a Skinny in their lives, keeping them from loving themselves and going after what they want. Towards the end of the novel, the reader along with Ever discovers something important and unexpected about Skinny, which sent a good message without getting preachy.

I really liked the tidbits of Broadway references. Ever references songs from musicals like West Side Story, Phantom of the Opera and Wicked to describe her feelings. I knew most of the songs and enjoyed looking up the ones I didn't to get a better idea of what Ever was feeling at the time.

I have two minor issues with this novel. I thought the whole Cinderella thing was a little overdone. Did we really need two stepsisters and a stepmother, the school musical, and all those verbal references to get the idea? Also, I hate the cover. I know the cover shouldn't matter and that Cooner probably did not have much control over it but seriously? That girl on the cover is NOT overweight, not even close to the lower weight Ever manages to reach by the end of the novel. It's wrong that even on a book about accepting yourself no matter what size you are, the cover has a skinny girl on it. What a shame.

Overall, Skinny is a great read that changes your perspective on fat people and body image.

I give it a 3.5/5.


FTC:  This book was requested by me on Netgalley.

Feature and Follow Friday #2

Q:  If I could buy two books, they would be Stephen King's 11/22/63 and Cassandra Clare's City of Bones.  I love King and all of his books and this one seems like a very interesting twist on historical events.  It's also pretty expensive so I would want to use a gift card.  I also love YA books and have yet to jump on the City of Bones bandwagon, plus the movie is coming out soon!

Review: Rape Girl by Alina Klein

Title:  Rape Girl

Author:  Alina Klein

Publisher:  namelos

Number of Pages:  126

When high schooler Valerie threw a party in her own house, the last thing she expected was to get raped, especially not by the boy she was crushing on. But she does, and everything changes after she reports the crime.

Almost everyone at school begins shunning her, including her best friend, and sides with her attacker Adam. Her entire family is starting to act differently around her. Valerie starts meeting with a support group for rape victims and becomes involved in a court case. Amidst all these events in the aftermath of the rape, Valerie struggles to understand and make peace with what happened.

Rape Girl  was so heartbreaking to read because of how realistic it was. When I think of the word “rape”, I usually picture dark alleyways and men with knives. I really liked how Klein chose to make the actual rape without much violence or invective, showing the readers that rape doesn’t always have to be violent in order to be a crime. More than often, it happens in familiar settings involving people who one knows.

The way other people reacted to Valerie also made me angry and extremely frustrated. Everyone from strangers to best friends, school faculty to the attacker himself, thought that Valerie was lying. Some even accused her of trying to get attention for herself. I literally felt like punching the best friend Mimi the entire time I was reading. It was awful how almost everyone blamed Valerie for what happened and punished her for reporting the rape and standing up for herself. Like one of Valerie’s teacher says “‘...rape is the only crime in which the victim has to prove her innocence’”.

I also loved how honest Valerie’s feelings were in the aftermath of the rape. She feels all kinds of emotions, anger, depression, confusion. For a while, she even blames herself for the rape, thinking that she had not struggled enough or should have fought back harder against her assailant. After hearing a more graphic account of a rape in a support group session, she feels like she was “less raped” than the other girls and wonders if she ruined her life over nothing.

The writing was very straightforward and simple, narrated from the viewpoint of Valerie. The book itself was a very short read; I finished it in about three hours. I wish it had been a little longer though, mostly because the book was so engaging that I didn't want it to end so quickly.

There is a lot to be learned from this novel. Rape is often trivialized as a crime which may account for the low percentage of the incidents that actually get reported. Society's antiquated treatment of victims could be remedied by more awareness about and openness in discussing rape. Rape is not something to whisper about. It is not a taboo. And because of books like Rape Girl, progress can be made.

I give it a 4/5

Feature and Follow Friday #1

Feature and Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read.

Q. I wanted to be a book blogger because it combines the two things I love the most -- books and writing! I also love writing book reviews and sharing my thoughts on them. If I love a book, I want the WHOLE world to know about it! My friend was the one who started book blogging and she would send me her links every time she posted. She was like "It's summer and we're bored. Might as well do something productive!". I basically learned everything I know about writing book reviews from reading hers!

The free books are also a plus ;)

Review: Between You & Me by Marisa Calin

Title:  Between You & Me

Author:  Marisa Calin

Publisher:  Bloomsbury Children's Books

Publication Date:  August 7, 2012

Number of Pages: 256

Holy crap.  What I thought was just going to be typical young adult romance novel (judging from the cover and the title) completely blew me away.  This is what I get for not reading the included plot summary.

16 year old Phyre (yes, that's actually her name, get over it) is entering high school with her best friend.  She is fairly popular, generally liked and has landed on the "Hot List" once.  Just your average teenage high school protagonist.  

Until the new drama teacher Mia comes along and we learn that Phyre has feelings for her.  At first she's confused.  This is a woman she has a crush on!  But the more time goes by, the more it feels right.  It starts out with mild fascination, and grows into a near obsession, with Phyre constantly thinking about Mia and seeing her everywhere.  But while Phyre is sorting out her feelings for Mia, she fails to see that her best friend has feelings for her.  

The book was in a screenplay format which took me a while to get used to but I really ended up liking because of it's tie-in to the plot.  The writing style was very simple and straightforward but scattered jewels of detail here and there placed the reader in Phyre's world.  This made for a quick easy read but the subject matter kept Between You & Me from being light and forgettable.       

The most interesting part of the novel was the best friend.  Since the novel was written in second person, the best friend is referred to as "you".  The first time "you" is mentioned, I assumed that "you" was a guy.  After all, calling someone "you" for the entirety of a novel has romantic connotations which would make "you" a guy.  Right?  After I found out that Phyre had feelings for a female teacher, I started thinking.  There was nothing in the text to suggest that the best friend was for sure, a guy.  "You" could just as easily have been a girl who happened to have a crush on Phyre.  After this thought occurred to me, I felt so dumb.  Why couldn't "you" be a girl?  

I consider myself very open-minded but even in my mind, the default setting of sexual orientation for a book character was telephone-pole straight.  I'm sure that is true for many other readers.  Calin sends the message that this is wrong quite effectively without preaching about it and instead lets the reader find this out for themselves.  And I commend her for that.  

I was surprised since I wasn't expecting this book to be a "coming-out" story.  But at the same time, it's really not.  So we don't know if "you" is a girl or boy.  We don't know exactly what Phyre's sexual orientation is.  We don't even know if her feelings for a woman was just a passing phase or not.  We don't know all these things but in the end, it doesn't matter.  The fact that all these things remain ambiguous shows us just how unnecessary these labels really are.  The only thing that defines Phyre are her feelings.  

Between You & Me is first and foremost a book about falling in love.  It definitely will also bring up discussion about LGBTQ issues.  Calin does a splendid job of making a story about a girl with complicated feelings so deliciously simple.  

I give it a 4.5/5

~Jenny

  

HOLY COW.  Marisa Calin herself emailed me about this book review and it is now on her website under the "Reviews" section.  You can submit your own reviews too at http://www.marisacalin.com/.