Young adult fiction, just like Chick Lit (or even fan fiction for that matter), falls into two distinct categories. There are the novels we read because they’re well written with realistically portrayed characters and finely honed plots. And then there are the books we read because they’re quick and dirty and fun.
The good thing about summer is that there’s no reason to make excuses for reading either variety – at the beach everyone is reading something that’s a little less literary than they might otherwise choose – so who cares if you’re reading a novel targeted toward kids 10 years your junior, and who cares if you’ve chosen a trashy one over more serious fare?
No matter what your mood, we here at PopGurls have read hundreds of pages on your behalf, and are prepared to give you a little taste of what your YA-filled summer reading list might look like. Just take a trip through the novels below, and then visit your favorite bookseller to pick up something for the next time you find yourself lounging in a little patch of sun.
Just Listen, by Sarah Dessen
Reviewed by: Amanda
I love Sarah Dessen. I love how her characters always reek of normal teenagers. I love how every novel has little moments that bring back memories of my own teen years, sometimes horrifying, sometimes sad. I love how she faithfully updates her LiveJournal each day, and geeks out over bad reality TV and making deviled eggs. And, finally, I love how when I saw her on the book tour for Just Listen she spoke to every single girl in the room as if they were old friends. Sarah Dessen is a class act.
Just Listen tells the story of a once-popular girl, Annabel, who mysteriously managed to get herself kicked out of the In Crowd by pissing off the one girl more powerful and popular than herself. Forced to start a new school year with no friends or support system, Annabel takes to eating lunch on a wall where only one other person sits – a boy named Owen, whose anger-management issues are legendary. Annabel and Owen strike up a tentative friendship by talking about music, something Owen is obsessive about and Annabel has never really considered as anything but background noise.
This is not my favorite Sarah Dessen novel – that place in my heart is held by 2004’s That Summer – but it is leaps and bounds above any other teen targeted book I’ve read recently. In fact, I hesitate to classify any of her novels as teen, and wouldn’t, except you have to go into the young adult section to purchase them. The characters in Just Listen, are richly drawn and unerringly human, as touching as anything you’d find outside the genre. It’s definitely worth your time.
Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, by Rachel Cohn, David Levithan
Reviewed by: Amy
I recently got in touch with an old high school friend that I haven’t talked to in years. After the general catching up (15 years is a long time!), we started talking about old memories, pulling these vivid images from long-lost spaces hidden away in our brains. It was intense and gorgeous and truly breathtaking, and I found myself at times jumping up and down saying, “I can see it so clearly, I can feel it!” Reading Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist is a lot like that night.
I was utterly in love with it from the beginning, with the characters that Cohn and Levithan created. The entire novel is written in opposing POVs, with Cohn writing for jaded Norah and Levithan taking up the snarky emo Nick. All the action takes place in one night, spanning through Nick’s band performance and into the following morning. It is so energetic and true that anyone who hung out with garage bands will flashback pretty damn hard, and if you didn’t do the scene, now you know what it’s like. Nick and Norah meet and hang and run away from one another and come together in that rush of adrenaline and emotion that you know so well from high school. Megan McCafferty’s Jessica Darling series did wonders to pull non-teen readers into YA fic again, and I think Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist will reenergize readers even more.
Plan B, by Jenny O’Connell
Reviewed by: Amanda
Here’s something I just realized, right this second, as I was typing in these reviews: When I was a teen, all the books were about being a cheerleader. No, seriously. There was an entire series called “Cheerleaders,” which Amazon helpfully reminds me published its first novel in 1985. In the “Sweet Valley High” series, the coolest sister Jessica was a cheerleader, and so were all her gorgeous friends. My favorite teen series EVER, the “Class of ’88” books by Linda Cooney, even had a male cheerleader.
These days, I’ve noticed, the cool kids are all actors, pop stars or models (the cheerleaders used to model sometimes, too, but leading the football team to victory came first). If they aren’t already on the fast track to superstardom, they want to be. Or they’re related to someone who is.
This last option is the case in Plan B. Vanessa is preparing to start her senior year of high school with everything all planned out. After graduation she’ll tour Europe with her best friend and then join her boyfriend at Yale. Except it turns out that she has a half-brother named Reed that she never knew about, he’s a super-famous teen heartthrob, and he’ll be living with her family and going to her school. And this is where Plan B could get very bad, except it doesn’t. Both Reed and Vanessa start out as slightly flat characters, but grow nicely throughout the novel – a good way to show how opening up to each other makes them better people. It’s an enjoyable (though not break-through) story of learning to make exceptions for family, and finding that support comes from the places you least expect it to.
The Pursuit of Happiness, by Tara Altebrando
Reviewed by: Amanda
Three pages into this novel it struck me that Altebrando has a voice much like Sarah Dessen’s – mature but not stuffy – and her characters behave exactly like the kids I remember from high school. I knew at that moment I would like this book, and it turns out I was right.
Betsy’s mother has died of breast cancer, and her family isn’t sure how to cope. Her father neglects his writing and brings home fast food for dinner every night of the week. Her kid brother lives in limbo, unsure whether or not it’s okay to still be happy. And Betsy’s stuck working at a Colonial Williamsburg-like museum/amusement park, living in other people’s pasts every day while trying not to think about her own.
A friendship springs up between Betsy and Liza, a punk-rock girl with a gift for narrating what life was like in 1816. The two couldn’t be more different, but they need each other to learn how to grow up. The love story – played out with a surfer boy named James – unfolds painfully as he pulls Betsy close and pushes her away, afraid to hurt an old girlfriend but unable to give up on Betsy.
The language in this novel is lovely, deftly weaving a story that in other hands would seem trite. This is Altebrando’s first novel for young adults – she also writes slightly more adult fair under the name Tara McCarthy – but she has the talent to be a real gem in the genre. If you’re even a little bit interested in teen-targeted fiction, The Pursuit of Happiness is a must read.
Charmed Thirds, by Megan McCafferty
Reviewed by: Hannah
If you haven’t read the first two novels in this series (Sloppy Firsts and Second Helpings) you should read them first because they’ll make this novel work that much better and also, McCafferty’s writing is so wonderful that you shouldn’t miss it. These books are usually shelved in the adult section, probably because the heroine, Jessica, has sex without dying/getting a disease/having her heart broken/etc. and because McCafferty was savvy enough to realize that teens would discover her books even if they had to head over to the ‘fiction/literature’ section of the bookstore/library to get them.
Charmed Thirds follows Jessica Darling through college, taking us in and out of her life during her breaks from school. She has roommate troubles and boyfriend problems. Marcus, who I adored in the first and second books, does seem quite manipulative here, which I found very off-putting for a while until McCafferty had Jessica realize that she knew it and that it was what drew her to Marcus. (In real life, I’d counsel running away from a guy like this. But in fiction…well, let’s just say I can see why Kaavya Viswanathan was moved to theft and leave it at that.) This is a satisfying installment in the Jessica Darling series, and I actually liked it better than Second Helpings, which I found to be overlong.
How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life, by Kaavya Viswanathan
Reviewed by: Hannah
Yes, unlike most of the bloggers/newspaper writers/etc. who weighed in on what happened when news of Viswanathan’s plagiarism broke, I actually read her book. I’ve also read all of Megan McCafferty’s Jessica Darling books and although I would not have been able to spot the lifted lines if I hadn’t seen them in advance, it is so obvious that the plot of this book was lifted from the first two Jessica Darling books (mostly the first), plus the movie Mean Girls (which itself comes from a nonfiction book called Queen Bees and Wannabees) that I am stunned that it got published. Had no one at Alloy or Little, Brown read Megan McCafferty’s work, or did they think no one would notice?
Anyway, Viswanathan’s novel, which has been yanked from stores and will never return, is a cute read. And how could it not be? Viswanathan stole from excellent source material. And again, though I never would have noticed the directly lifted passages if I hadn’t been told about them, it was scarily obvious that Viswanathan’s love story was lifted directly from Sloppy Firsts – the first meeting, the conversations about random things and pop culture (seriously, how did no one fail to notice this?) and even the love interest’s appearance – it’s all so clearly Marcus Flutie and Jessica Darling, version watered down (and not very much) that it’s no wonder McCafferty’s fans were quick to alert her. The rest of the book is similar to Mean Girls, but then, truthfully, stories about girls who become popular only to realize it sucks and that they’ve lost themselves are popular in YA. It’s just that, again, Viswanathan seemed to have watched the movie and taken certain scenes, reworked them for about three seconds, and stuck them in the book. I read that her original book was much darker, and I can’t help but wonder what could have happened if Little, Brown had paired her with Alloy.
Naughts and Crosses and Knife Edge, by Malorie Blackman
Reviewed by: Hannah
The first book is out in the US and the second one will be available later this summer. I urge you to pick both up. They are set in a universe where black people, called crosses, control the government, and where white people, called naughts, have only recently been freed from slavery. By flipping the world in this way, Blackman is able to shine a keen eye on how pervasive racism is, and her work is one long unflinching look at how people can be endlessly, needlessly cruel to each other based on the color of their skin.
Naughts and Crosses is sort of a reworking of Romeo and Juliet — Sephy, a wealthy cross, plays with Callum, a naught, as a child, until Callum’s mother is fired from her family’s employ. She and Callum remain friends, and as violence erupts in their world when an attempt is made to integrate schools, they become enemies – but enemies who are still drawn to each other. Blackman’s writing is a bit clunky, and her dialogue isn’t always the greatest, but the world she builds is so fascinating and so well-done that you can’t help but be sucked in. The ending is not a happy one – I cried, and that doesn’t happen often, but this was a great read.
Knife Edge is even darker than Naughts and Crosses and is not recommended for anyone who doesn’t enjoy a good but thoroughly bleak book. In this novel, Blackman focuses on Jude, Callum’s brother, who has sworn revenge on all crosses, and Sephy in particular, and what happens to him when he finds himself drawn to a cross woman. Sephy, meanwhile, is not adjusting well to life with a newborn, and to her drastically changed circumstances. The society Blackman pictures here is even bleaker, and there is a great deal of violence and despair. Not an easy read, but very gripping, and in Jude, Blackman created a monster who grabs you and sucks you into his story. It’ll be interesting to see if this is toned down for US audience.
There is also a third book in the series, Checkmate, but I didn’t like it – it was horribly choppy, and clearly suffered from “people love this, and the second volume was so unhappy, so let’s give them something, okay? Please?” Read the first two, and enjoy.
Diary of a Crush: French Kiss, Kiss and Make up, and Sealed with a Kiss, by Sarra Manning
Reviewed by: Hannah
Manning, who is best known in the US for her book Guitar Girl, is quite popular in the UK (where she’s from), and although these three books are going to be released in the US later this summer, I wanted to read them now. I found them to be fun and surprisingly thoughtful. Done in journal format, they tell the story of Edie, who is 16 when the first novel opens, and is a student. She meets Dylan, who is nineteen and also a student. She falls for him, and they conduct a very typical teen courtship – all angst and making out and more angst, but it’s all done very lightheartedly and Manning has a knack for writing teenagers who act like real teens, which is quite refreshing. The second and third book are a bit more serious, as Dylan and Edie break up, make up, have sex (and the world doesn’t end!! and no one dies! or gets pregnant! or turns into a jerk!) and eventually end up traveling to America for a cross-country trip. They both mature, which Manning does a nice job of portraying, and the transition from an adolescent relationship to one that is – well, more, is handled deftly. Kudos to her for also having Edie and Dylan continue to have sex, instead of having them act like they are virgins all over again, as well as for continuing to have both characters grow. A light but well-done series, and again, I do hope there aren’t changes made to the US versions.
Pretty Things, by Sarra Manning
Reviewed by: Hannah
Manning’s second book released in the US focuses on four English teenagers: Brie, who is sweet and a bit dim; Charlie, who is sweet, devoted to Brie (even if he thinks she’s a bit silly) and gay; Walker, who has quite a way with the ladies; and Daisy, a self-assured lesbian. The four of them are spending their summer doing a theater program, and over the course of it, Brie learns that although she may not be bright, she still has talent, and that her best friend Charlie won’t ever love her like she wants him to and that he, although sweet, is not always the greatest friend in the world. Charlie learns that you can’t make someone want you as he falls for Walker and that there is perhaps more to Brie than he thought. Walker discovers he likes hanging out with Charlie and that he’s fallen in love with Daisy, and Daisy discovers that who she’s always said she is perhaps isn’t who she actually is. The characters occasionally do unlikable things, and some readers have been offended by the fact that Daisy realizes she is perhaps less of a lesbian than she thought, and that Charlie is capable of cruelty, but I think that Manning writes teenagers as they are, mercurial and occasionally cruel, and observes that sexuality can be fluid. I like Manning’s work a lot (surprise!) and this is worth checking out.
Bringing up the Bones, by Lara M. Zeises
Reviewed by: Amy
Bridget, 18, is still dealing with not only her ex-boyfriend’s death, but coming to terms with the fact that they may not have had the relationship that she had always imagined. She slowly comes out of her depression and maneuvers a relationship with a new boy, but like life, all things do not have happy endings. But it’s her small successes and realizations that keep you smiling at the end.
I’m not exactly sure what made me pick this up in the library, but man, I’m so glad I did. Zeises has such a deft touch with writing for teen characters, especially with the emotions of walking that fine line between intense friendship and love, and what it’s like when you’re the one wanting more than the other. I’m not sure if this is so much of a quick read as much as I was so consumed by wanting to know what came next that it seemed to fly by. I’m off to check out more of Zeises’ novels.
Crunch Time by Mariah Fredericks
Reviewed by: Hannah
I liked Frederick‘s first book, The True Meaning of Cleavage, very much, and her second, Head Games, was pretty good, but this one is excellent. It centers around four students who are preparing to take the SAT, and a study group they form. The usual romantic complications ensue, but Fredericks handles them in thoughtful ways, and her characters are very well-drawn. The ending ‘twist’ is obvious, but still very catchy, and the ending is like real life – things are wrapped up, but not perfectly, and though everyone comes away a little wiser, they are certainly not all happier. Despite what I just said, this isn’t a grim novel, just a thoughtful one. Fredericks isn’t a flashy writer, but she is graceful and juggles multiple POVs very deftly.
Wild Roses, by Deb Caletti
Reviewed by: Hannah
I loved Caletti’s Queen of Everything, hated her Honey, Baby, Sweetheart [ed note: I personally loved Honey, Baby, Sweetheart, but not as much as I did Queen of Everything – Amy] , and came away satisfied with this one, with one quibble. Wild Roses is about Cassie, who lives with her mother and her new husband Dino, a renowned violinist who, as the novel opens, is clearly wrestling with depression and other mental problems. Cassie is resentful of Dino and doesn’t understand why her mother loves him, or left her father for him, and life in her new household is unsettling. Then Ian Waters, who is about her age, and an accomplished violinist who wishes to go to music school, comes to study with Dino. Cassie falls in love with him, and her situation at home unravels further as Dino accuses her of disrupting Ian’s studies and wrestles with his ever-worsening mental state. Caletti shines in portraying family dynamics and mental illness, and Dino, Cassie’s mom, her dad, and Cassie herself are all well drawn, the relationships among them are explored deftly and with much grace. (Caletti is a very lyrical writer.) However, as with her other books, Caletti’s weakness continues to be teen relationships. Although Ian isn’t a jerk, which is a welcome change from her usual fare of teenage boys, the love story between him and Cassie lacks the depth found in the rest of the story, and their scenes lack spark and interest. Otherwise, this is a very engaging read.
Girls for Breakfast, by David Yoo
Reviewed by: Amy
There’s a lack of quality boy-centric YA out there, and for anyone looking for it, I point you directly to Girls for Breakfast. In fact, I point anyone who’s looking for a damn good book to Girls for Breakfast. It will make you laugh a lot, but more than that, make you really remember what it’s like to be a teenager. It’s not always pretty – in fact, it’s often not pretty – and it can be quite uncomfortable, but David Yoo has this brilliant realness to his writing. Even though his main character is Korean-American, “the only non-Anglo-Saxon student in suburban Connecticut,” his issues are so universal – wanting friends but not necessarily liking those friends, trying to figure out the opposite sex and dealing with parents that don’t get you, and, quite honestly, you don’t get.
Nick Park is not always likeable, but he is always relatable – almost embarrassingly so. But there is redemption in his life, and thus redemption for our former selves who were awkward and didn’t always make the best choices. For that pick it up, and then revel in Yoo’s bitter and hilarious words.
Target, by Kathleen Jeffrie Johnson
Reviewed by: Hannah
This is a harrowing story about a teenage boy who is raped, and what happens to him afterward. Not an easy read, but an excellent one, and very memorable. Jeffrie Johnson, who wrote the outstanding Parallel Universe of Liars, is underrated and underappreciated, and I hope her books do find the audience she deserves.
Life is Funny, by E.R. Frank
Reviewed by: Hannah
Life is a series of loosely interconnected stories about an extremely underrepresented population in YA lit – those who live in inner cities. Frank is an outstanding writer and these stories are brutal, funny, heart-breaking, and sometimes uplifting. A wonderful read.
Chicks with Sticks: It’s a Purl Thing, by Elizabeth Lenhard
Reviewed by: Amy
I have to admit that I have a problem with the premise of Chicks with Sticks – the fact that knitting is something that teen girls are embarrassed to do, and thus must find a place to do it where their friends can’t find them. Has Lenhard not heard of Stitch ‘N Bitch (both the group and the book) or Knitty? Knitting is so in that people are still looking for Martha Stewart’s jailhouse poncho pattern. (Personally, I can’t knit worth a damn, but I blame that on the fact that I learned to crochet from my grandmother when I was 4, and thus I’m much better skilled with the hook.)
However, once I got past that, I thought Chicks with Sticks was a cute read, and is certainly encouraging girls to aspire to do more than just want to be a Gossip Girl. The four girls – Scottie, Amanda, Bella and Tay – develop an honest friendship with ups and downs, and there’s a beauty in the way that Lenhard shows that while friendships change, it doesn’t mean they always change for the worst. I highly suggest getting this for a crafty teen you know, especially one who seems to be trying to figure out her place in life. I look forward to picking up the sequel that’s coming out in October (and I’m fully expecting Tay to come out because, c’mon, it’s so obvious!).
Hazing Meri Sugarman, by M. Apostolina
Reviewed by: Hannah
I’m assuming this is a spoof of all the “girl gets everything she wants, only to find out she doesn’t want it and/or there are strings attached stories,” otherwise…well, let’s not go there. Cindy Bixby, a sweet but frighteningly dim and naive girl, heads off to college, only to somehow find herself a member of the most powerful sorority on campus, headed by Meri Sugarman, a vicious girl who models her life on Jackie K’s and who takes particular delight in tormenting Cindy, who sees the attention as a gif.t (Seriously, she does. That’s why I’m assuming this is a spoof.) Eventually, Cindy wises up, and a wacky (and I do mean wacky) plot is hatched which ends up taking Meri down. Campy and fun.
Fame, Glory, and Other Things On My To-Do List, by Janette Rallison
Reviewed by: Hannah
Adorable. Jessica, who lives in a small town and wants to be an actress, gets out of work one night, heads for her car, and ends up meeting a boy in the cutest meet cute scenario. The boy turns out to be Jordan Hunter, new in town and the son of a famous movie star, and before she knows it, Jessica’s talked him into trying out for the school play (as part of his plan to get his parents back together, and hers to have the play go on and to be the star of it) and much wackiness ensues. I laughed a lot as I read this, especially when the play, West Side Story, is ‘rewritten’ to make sure no one watching will be offended. There are so many Chick Lit style teen romances out there now, and this is one of the best ones I’ve read.
Avalon High, by Meg Cabot
Reviewed by: Hannah
As you can guess, a retelling of the story of King Arthur, set in high school. Cabot’s occasional over-reliance on pop culture references isn’t in evidence here, and the story is cute and fast-moving, and the characters all fit into their roles in the myth nicely, with Ellie, the heroine filling a role that manages to end things on a happy note. A fun read.
If I Have A Wicked Stepmother, Where’s My Prince?, by Melissa Kantor
Reviewed by: Hannah
By the author of Confessions of a Not-It Girl, this is a sweet retelling of the Cinderella story. Though it’s predictable – the popular prince isn’t the right girl for our heroine, Lucy, and her family problems are neatly resolved by the end (though not too neatly), Lucy is extremely likeable and the story is fun. If you haven’t read either of Kantor‘s books, you should, especially if you enjoy cute, fast reads.
Cruel Summer, by Kylie Adams
Reviewed by: Amanda
This book, published by Pocket Books (a division of Simon & Schuster) for MTV, is part of a series titled “Fast Girls, Hot Boys.” Normally I’d just point that out and let it speak for itself. It’s like an entire culture of teens wrapped up in four short words, all the slutty outfits and promiscuous behavior all rolled into one. With a promise like that, you’d expect this to be the trashiest teen book – nay, the trashiest teen book series – ever to be published.
And, lo! This is in fact a trashy novel. Except.
Except it has characters that are very authentically teen, even as they lead their wanna-be model/actor lives. These are kids growing up in the fast-paced city of Miami, where drugs are plentiful and clothing is optional in the clubs. There’s Vanity (whose name is like an anvil of foreshadowing from the word “go”) who is gorgeous but sleeps around because she’s too insecure to actually internalize all those complements on her beauty and can’t function unless some boy is proving he wants her. There’s Dante, the hot poor ethnic boy who fronts a lot of attitude but is really just scared to disappoint his mama. There’s Max, the hot rich boy who wants to be a nice guy despite himself. There’s the girl who likes anime and the lesbian, and a lonely Brit girl who wants desperately to fit in despite not having as much money as her friends.
I’m not saying Cruel Summer is a brilliant piece of fiction. But once I got past the soon-to-be outdated pop culture references, cheesy bad text messaging slang and shocking amount of sex (I’m no prude, but these are light years ahead of the books I read in my teens), I found that I was looking forward to the next installment. Which, what do you know, comes out in August. It’s called…oh, I hate to type it, even…Bling Addiction.
Life As A Poser, by Beth Killian
Reviewed by: Amanda
Part of another MTV book series – this one the far more pleasantly titled “The 310 Series” – Life As A Poser also has a bad habit of utilizing slang that will only sound fresh in 2006 (and some that was probably outdated five minutes after Killian typed it into her manuscript). There’s also a character that speaks in the absolute worst ghetto fabulousness I have ever seen in print. It’s so bad that I physically recoiled whenever he showed up. Sample dialog: “Don’t listen to that no-neck punk, yo. You got super mad walking skillz fo’ real.”
Eva is the daughter of a washed up Hollywood starlet who won’t admit she has a teen daughter for fear of looking old. Her aunt offers to give her a leg up in the world of showbiz, but doesn’t actually have time for Eva outside of dictating how she wears her hair and who she goes out with. On top of that, she’s forced to live in an apartment with two other vapid actresses and trade emails with her best (boy) friend back home who is so clearly afraid of her changing that he’s driving her away in anticipation of her dumping him first.
Enter the aforementioned gangsta – a white rapper who calls himself Crunkmaster C or C Money or any variation – who insists that Eva is his special shorty, even though she’d rather be dead that caught in public with him. The only silver lining to this story is that her disaster of a fake boyfriend comes with a charming brother, the blessedly normally named Danny. Cute, charming, smart, witty Danny, who is exactly the kind of boy girls who read these types of novels fall in love with. Including me. I couldn’t care less about what happens to the other actresses or their rivals. I don’t care if Eva ever makes it big. But I’m sticking around to find out what happens between Eva and Danny, because their scenes in Life As a Poser are full of spark, and things can only heat up in the next installment, Everything She Wants.
2006-06-13