Mockingjay: one year later

This post was supposed to go live on Wednesday. I guess it's Friday now? Can we pretend it's Wednesday? Hey, thanks. I love you guys for a reason. (And because I love you so much I'm going to remind you again that you should enter my Maggie Stiefvater + Tessa Gratton giveaway before it ends on Monday!)

The reason this post was supposed to go live on Wednesday? I looked at a calendar and realized it had been a year since total Mockingjay madness. How is that even possible? How did we all survive? And perhaps more pertinently, how did you all survive the terrific dorkiness of my Mockingjay fangrrl posts?

It's weird to think that we're a year removed from the end of one of the most influential YA series of all time, because like Harry Potter, which didn't end until the final movie came out this summer, the movie news is saturating ALL THE THINGS and as much as I'd like to say I avoid it, I...really can't. (And yeah, I'll be tuning into the MTV Movie Awards on Sunday night to see the trailer.)

It's all the more frustrating because even now, a year later, I still haven't decided whether I think Mockingjay is the only way Suzanne Collins could have ended the trilogy, or if she dropped the ball as much as my gut tells me she did and the whole thing is really a steaming pile of crap. I haven't touched the thing since I ran to four bookstores to buy the last one in stock the day it came out. And while the experience of reading the trilogy aloud to my resident Middle Grade Monday blogger and little sister Ellie is mostly terrific, I'd be lying if I said I didn't get a little bit of a sick feeling in my stomach when I thought of revisiting it.

So, discussion time! (Sorry! I'm back in college! And they make us do this, like, ALL THE TIME!) Strong feelings for Mockingjay either way? Does anyone else feel as muddy as me? How's the whole movie debacle shaking out for you, and what perspective has a year given you on the whole crazy experience? I want to know, so please leave your thoughts in the comments!

Review: The Near Witch

The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab
Goodreads | IndieBound | Barnes & Noble

• Why I read it: fantasy, witches, moors, good old-fashioned creepy
• Disclosure: Received a review copy from the publisher via NetGalley. Thanks!

Goodreads blurb:

The Near Witch is only an old story told to frighten children.
If the wind calls at night, you must not listen. The wind is lonely, and always looking for company.
And there are no strangers in the town of Near.These are the truths that Lexi has heard all her life.
But when an actual stranger—a boy who seems to fade like smoke—appears outside her home on the moor at night, she knows that at least one of these sayings is no longer true.
The next night, the children of Near start disappearing from their beds, and the mysterious boy falls under suspicion. Still, he insists on helping Lexi search for them. Something tells her she can trust him.
As the hunt for the children intensifies, so does Lexi’s need to know—about the witch that just might be more than a bedtime story, about the wind that seems to speak through the walls at night, and about the history of this nameless boy.
Part fairy tale, part love story, Victoria Schwab’s debut novel is entirely original yet achingly familiar: a song you heard long ago, a whisper carried by the wind, and a dream you won’t soon forget. 

Review:


Remember that book? This spring? The one that killed my childhood and almost drove me to quit book blogging entirely? Yeah. That one. Well, if Two Moon Princess was everything I hate about fantasy, then The Near Witch is (almost) everything I love about it. It's sweeping. Epic. Chilling. Bizarre. I get happy tingles just thinking about it. In other words? I'm happy I didn't quit book blogging. Very.

I try really hard while writing reviews not to make comparisons to other books, and I've already made one. But I'm going to make another anyway, because it really excites me: I kid you not when I say I see the same sort of raw debut talent here that I see when I go back and read Ballad by Maggie Stiefvater. Not quite in the same way - Stiefvater captures more of a modern, snarky voice, while Schwab sticks to straight-up high fantasy on the moors - but the whole time I was reading The Near Witch, my spider sense was tingling. Because I really think this book and this author are going places.

Nowhere did I find this more evident than in the romance, which despite being of the Mysterious Beautiful Stranger variety (which I usually hate), was entirely charming and consuming. I don't like the emphasis so much YA seems to be placing on romance lately - I don't always think it's necessary, and forced romance is 100x worse than no romance at all - but the knack for writing romance well is an excellent one to have and it was so nice to see an author deploy it in a high fantasy story, where any romance tends to be of the bumbling cringeworthy variety.

Schwab showed her chops in the setting, too, which was one of the most startling and memorable that I've read in a long time. There was a constant dread that pervaded everything that reminded me of nothing more than Wuthering Heights, except it also (importantly) never got to the point of depressing. The mystery unfolded at the perfect pace and, really, the whole thing was just astonishingly good. Right up there with What Can(t) Wait in terms of the quality of the debut, and it's so nice to see that the fantasy/supernatural romance genre can still pack a punch when done right (because it's been just about done to death).

It has its flaws, but I don't feel the need to enumerate them, except for one which is not at all the author's fault: that cover. There is no way that cover would stand out to be in a bookstore or that I would want to be seen with it in public. Bad color scheme, odd model, doesn't seem to fit with the story, and just...huh. I'm getting awfully tired of this White Girl In Pretty Dress Making a Face trend on YA covers, publishers. Take note. THIS GIRL IS TIRED.

All in all, it's a gorgeous read that has a lot of merit on its own as a story but perhaps has even more as a showcase of an author to watch. Bravo, Victoria Schwab! Five out of five stars.

Middle Grade Monday: Ten Miles Past Normal

For today's Middle Grade Monday, it's Ellie and I's first double review! We both really enjoyed Ten Miles Past Normal by Frances O'Roark Dowell: you can never have too many farm girl stories, in our opinion. Check out our reviews below!


Ten Miles Past Normal by Frances O'Roark Dowell
Goodreads | IndieBound | Barnes & Noble

• Why we read it: goat poop, hobby farms, first day of school stories, civil rights movement, an overrated normal
• Disclosure: Received a review copy from the publisher. Thanks!

Goodreads blurb:

Janie Gorman wants to be normal. The problem with that: she’s not. She’s smart and creative and a little bit funky. She’s also an unwilling player in her parents’ modern-hippy, let’s-live-on-a-goat-farm experiment (regretfully, instigated by a younger, much more enthusiastic Janie). This, to put it simply, is not helping Janie reach that “normal target.” She has to milk goats every day…and endure her mother’s pseudo celebrity in the homemade-life, crunchy mom blogosphere. Goodbye the days of frozen lasagna and suburban living, hello crazy long bus ride to high school and total isolation—and hovering embarrassments of all kinds. The fresh baked bread is good…the threat of homemade jeans, not so much.
It would be nice to go back to that old suburban life…or some grown up, high school version of it, complete with nice, normal boyfriends who wear crew neck sweaters and like social studies. So, what’s wrong with normal? Well, kind of everything. She knows that, of course, why else would she learn bass and join Jam Band, how else would she know to idolize infamous wild-child and high school senior Emma (her best friend Sarah’s older sister), why else would she get arrested while doing a school project on a local freedom school (jail was not part of the assignment). And, why else would she kind of be falling in "like" with a boy named Monster—yes, that is his real name. Janie was going for normal, but she missed her mark by about ten miles…and we mean that as a compliment.
Frances O’Roark Dowell’s fierce humor and keen eye make her YA debut literary and wise. In the spirit of John Green and E. Lockhart, Dowell’s relatable, quirky characters and clever, fluid writing prove that growing up gets complicated…and normal is WAY overrated.

Ellie's review:

Dowell does a good job on the story, characters and the scenery. I was able to keep reading this book and enjoying it. It was targeted for an older audience, but that did not change my opinion.
I liked how it was not a perfect world, but sometimes it would seem so.
This  book was just what I was looking for: farming, trying to fit in and of course GOATS (by the way goat poop does not stink).The only thing I did not like was how the farm seemed quite unreal; it was too clean.
All and all I would give this book: Four and a half stars out of five. 


My review: 


This book was so sweet, fun, and breezy, all my complaints seem too minor to even bring up. In fact, I really didn't have any complaints. Sure, everything wrapped up neatly and it was all very pretty and there wasn't a lot of grit to it, but the author won me over completely when she chose to write about a farm girl with an unconventional life style who wasn't a freak. I wanted to give Janie a hug and a high five the whole way through! Especially because of the way she handled her relationship with Monster. That was the biggest "Awwww" I've gotten out of a YA all year. I also enjoyed the civil rights subplot, which felt like a natural part of the story instead of window-dressing.

In short, THIS is the kind of book I'd like to see more of on the YA market. I think the skill it takes to write a book as light and lovely as this one is severely underestimated by too many people, and that's something that needs to change. The perfect book to share with your kids, younger siblings, or any young people in your life! Five out of five stars.

One week left to enter my Maggie Stiefvater + Tessa Gratton giveaway!

Read the recap here. Find the form here. There are signed copies of Forever and Blood Magic involved! And, if I make it to 150 followers (that's only 2 away from where I am now), I add more prizes. WIN-WIN. Also, this picture is semi-related to everything so I like to share it:

Loki. AND ME.

Have fun entering, folks, and I can't wait to count up the entries in a week. Tell your friends!

**EDIT** I did break 150 followers already! Because you guys are awesome! I'll do an update post with the extra prizes shortly. **EDIT**