Shine, Coconut Moon- Neesha Meminger

Shine, Coconut Moon by Neesha Meminger

This is another book that really deserves a longer review, but it's going to have be a super short one for now.

Sam has never known much about her heritage because her mom cut off all family ties. Shortly after 9/11, a man wearing a turban shows up at her doorstep and introduces himself as her uncle. He wanted to reconnect with family after the tragedy of 9/11 and rapidly introduces her to both her heritage and the sad intolerance of people.

Like Meminger's other novel, Jazz in Love, I really loved this book. She deftly captures both Sam's voice, and her struggle to find her place in the world. I think that any teenage could relate to Sam's struggles to accept her family and mesh her present with her past. It also dealt quite well with the racism that immediately followed 9/11. Meminger's plots and characters are engaging and believable. I can't wait for her next novel!

The Unsuspecting Mage- Brian Pratt

The Unsupecting Mage by Brian Pratt

I think I will in fact be able to keep this review very, very short. This book is terrible. Don't read it.

Wow. Now, I feel bad saying that. I'm sure that someday I will be reading reviews of my own book (hopefully) and I'll come across someone that doesn't like my own writing and you know what, I'll probably be devastated. I hope, however, that I'll be able to take whatever criticism they offer and move on. Regardless, I just don't have really anything nice to say about this book.

To be fair, I don't think that I am the demographic that this book is geared towards. I'm not a nerdy high school boy, or a man who once was a nerdy high school boy. A short summary is this: James, a high school student looking for a job, replies to an ad in the paper about someone wanting to learn magic. At the office he enters a door and is deposited into some Middle English-type world, where he learns to use his magic, puts all of his Dungeons and Dragons time to good use and gets in a lot of fights. This book read like one long D&D script, and I've never played D&D, or any other game like that. the writing was drab and terrible. The book itself is a case against self publishing- the editing is awful and there were countless typos and errors. Granted, the book is free, but I still don't think it was worth the time. A friend of mine recommended it to me, with the caveat that there were typos and such, but he thought the plot was great. I did not. People who love playing World of Warcraft and other such fantasy role-playing games might like it because that's how it read. Very episodic, lots of magic, finding trinkets and fights, no real plot or character arc.

Now, if that sort of thing appeals to you, then by all means check it out. It's free for Kindle, so you're not going to waste anything other than your time, but it really was not my cup of tea, or bourbon, or really anything.

Born Confused- Tanjua Desai Hidier

Born Confused by Tanuja Desai Hidier

A super short review for a super long book. Born Confused is sort of the epic quest of one Jersey-born Indian girl who doesn't quite fit in to either her American or Indian culture. Dimple had never been that interested in her Indian roots, until her beautiful blonde friend Gwynn starts to take over her culture, including the boy Dimple's parents have set her up with. Over the course of 500 very long pages, Dimple finds herself, her culture, love and friendship.

I had a bit of a hard time with this book. I loved the main character, Dimple. I liked her family and the plot, but the book felt too long. To be honest, I'm not sure what I would cut, because it all felt relatively important when I was reading it, but it was a struggle to finish because it just dragged. I liked the friction between Dimple and her Indian heritage and Gwynn. I think that the book is quite relatable for any girl who doesn't feel like she fits in, but the prose lumbered.

Sleep Toward Heaven- Amanda Eyre Ward

Sleep Toward Heaven by Amanda Eyre Ward

Another super short review. My lovely librarian also recommended this book to me. This is Ward's debut novel, and she really started her career well.

The book follows three women who, while all connected, don't know each other at all. Karen is on death row for murder. Franny is a doctor, who after losing a child cancer patient whom she cared about deeply, ends up in Gatestown, Texas as the doctor at the prison where Karen is held. And finally, Celia, whose husband was murdered by Karen. The story tells each woman's struggles as she works her way through the difficulties in her own life. And though each of their lives are drastically different, they feel eerily familiar.

I really loved this book. My first novel was a work of literary fiction, and despite how much Young Adult fiction I've been reading lately, I do really love a good work of literary fiction. Ward captures each woman's voice and personality perfectly. The way their stories interweave was really lovely and I felt satisfied at the end. My own personal mantra is that if your story doesn't have a strong plot pushing it forward, it must have strong characters and they must change drastically so that the reader is compelled to keep reading. Ward did a great job of creating characters that I not only loved, but rooted for and wanted redemption for each of them.

Jazz in Love- Neesha Meminger

Jazz in Love by Neesha Meminger

I went on a bit of an Indian book jag, which turned out to be really enjoyable. I try to read books from a wide variety of cultures, but don't always succeed. I really liked how this book blended some traditional aspects of the Indian culture with modern American life.

Short summary- Jazz is a Indian high school student who has always been smart and all around wonderful. However, her mother freaks when she hears about Jazz hugging a male friend and decides that she needs to be pushed into arranged dating immediately. The arranged dating doesn't go as planned and Jazz is falling in love with a completely unarranged and unsuitable boy instead. Additionally, she's on a quest to fix her aunt's love life and find the auntie's long lost love.

I really liked this book. It was sweet, light and funny. I thought that Meminger really captured how teenagers feel when they're in those first relationships (at least as I remember it, we'll not talk about how long ago that was). The story progressed well and Meminger also introduced us to the culture in a way that didn't feel like a school lesson. It was very natural and all around wonderful. I think it's a great romance book for teen girls, especially since it has a strong heroine who does her own work rather than being saved by everyone else (cough, Twilight, cough). So, if you want some cute and fun chick lit, check it out.