Burned

Title: Burned by Ellen Hopkins
Genre: YA
Rating: 3/5

Pattyn Von Stratten comes from a extremely religious family, one ruled by an abusive and controlling father. The oldest of seven girls, she is expected to help raise them but as her home life continues to decline, she begins to question the ideas that she's been taught by her father and her church. And when she's caught in a compromising position with a boy, particularly one who is not a Mormon, she is sent to live with her aunt for the summer so as not to bother her once-again pregnant mother. There she finds love and acceptance, but what will happen when school starts again in the fall?

I really rather enjoyed Burned. The story was very interesting and it was difficult not to feel for Pattyn. The difficulties she faced and every horrible thing that happened to her really tugged at your heartstrings. You wanted her to overcome the obstacles in the way of her happiness, to get away from her abusive father and from a church that would side in his favour. I was surprised by the ending and don't really feel like everything was resolved. But that's not necessarily a bad thing as it kept me thinking for a while after I finished the book.

As for the text itself, it's laid out in the form of bad poetry. Visually, it's rather appealing and Hopkins has done some interesting stuff with it but there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to why she's ended lines where she has except for the visual effect. They do, however, wonderfully mimic how a high school girl would likely write poetry. Overall, Hopkins does an incredible job portraying this angst-ridden young girl and I would recommend Burned to anyone willing to try something a little different.

The Foretelling

Title: The Foretelling by Alice Hoffman
Genre: YA
Rating: 1.5/5

Conceived when her mother was raped by fifty men, Rain is destined to be the next Queen of the Amazons. But her mother can't bear to touch her or look at her and leaves her upbringing to the rest of her Amazon sisters. A born warrior, Rain raises a bear-cub as a sister and dreams of a black horse. Then she begins to see a life beyond what she has been taught and begins to wonder about the forbidden...love, peace, mercy.

I've got to admit I wasn't overly impressed with The Foretelling. The story of the next Amazon queen seemed like such an interesting idea, but it just didn't live up to its promise. The narrative felt like a continuous stream of consciousness with little dialogue, which eventually became kind of annoying. And I found it difficult to relate to Rain so I didn't really care about what happened to her. However, I did find the design of the book to be very interesting. Each chapter had an image, like a pictograph, which related to the chapter and was used in place of asterisks in order to indicate lapses in time. Overall, I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone unless they were extremely interested in Amazons and their depiction in literature.

The Friday Night Knitting Club

Title: The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 5/5

Single mother Georgia Walker is the owner of Walker and Daughter, a yarn shop in New York City and home of the Friday Night Knitting Club. Made up of six very different women (and one daughter), the club quickly changes from a place to receive knitting help to an opportunity to share the stories of their lives and find the comfort and companionship they were missing.

Truthfully I found The Friday Night Knitting Club a little slow to start. The first eighty pages were entirely from Georgia's point of view and was filled with her complaints. But as she slowly accepted the club and loosened up, she started to grow on me. And then we got to know the other characters and I was hooked. She introduced each character's personality quirks little by little, letting us get to know them without bombarding us with information. I love the knitting advice that precedes and directly relates to each section; who knew that life could be so easily reflected in a craft? The ending was absolutely moving and truly surprising, and I'm not normally caught off guard by much. The Friday Night Knitting Club is a book that I will recommend often, and I can't wait to read the sequel.

A Place Called Here

Title: A Place Called Here by Cecelia Ahern
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 3.5/5

When Sandy Shortt is ten years old her classmate Jenny-May Butler disappears. Ever since, Sandy has been obsessed with finding put where missing things go. It's not like a sock just grew a pair of legs and wandered off, is it? Now in her thirties, she runs a missing persons agency and has agreed to help Jack Ruttle look for his missing brother. But on the day they are to meet, Sandy disappears and finds herself in the world of missing things. Now all she wants to do is find her way home.

For the most part, A Place Called Here is a good book. It's no where near as good as PS I Love You but it does have a very intriguing premise. Who hasn't wondered what's happened to the matching sock that disappeared in the wash? And the idea that not just physical objects but actual memories of individuals go missing is interesting but also absolutely heartbreaking. I liked the way flashbacks were used to reveal information and develop Sandy's character but it felt a little like the majority of the story was back story. The weakest part of the story was the ending. It felt rushed after the leisurely way the flashbacks had occurred up to that point. It was also somewhat unbelievable. Overall, A Place Called Here is a good vacation read but not something I'd necessarily read again.

Missing You

Title: Missing You by Meg Cabot
Genre: YA
Rating: 4/5

Missing You is the fifth and final book in Meg Cabot's 1-800-Where-R-You series. It picks up a couple of years after Sanctuary left off. Jess Mastriani, who developed psychic powers after being hit by a bolt of lightning when walking home from school, is living in New York, power-free thanks to a case of post traumatic stress syndrome from helping locate terrorists in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, her attempt at a normal life is cut short when her ex shows up on her doorstep asking for her help in finding his missing sister.

Overall, it's a good book and wraps up the series in a neat little package.. You can tell that there was a gap of time between the writing of the first four books and this one, Cabot's writing style has shifted somewhat, but it's not necessarily a bad thing. Jess has matured since the last book, she's no longer a hit first, ask questions later kind of girl. As well, the content is slightly more mature in regards to the romantic relationships of the characters, though I'm sure it will please most fans of the series. Cabot toots her own horn at one point, mentioning the tv series that was based on this series, but she makes it work, Jess claiming that it was a result of all the media interest in her talent, which had been mentioned in the past books. Missing You is a great conclusion to the series and fans will love it.