THE CORRESPONDENT by Virginia Evans

 

The world probably doesn't need another review of this book. It was the must-read of the summer for most of the middle aged ladies I know. It's an epistolary novel - which is a favorite format of mine. And the full-cast audiobook was a real treat. It's the story of a retired prosecutor who is prickly and loves to write letters. She considers her correspondence to be a way of achieving immortality. Her words will live on beyond her lifespan, even if they are spread to the winds. Which I think is a lovely sentiment. 

Sybil VanAntwerp is going blind and reassessing her life and choices in the letters she writes. She has an ex-husband who is dying overseas, a few kids with whom she has complicated relationships, a sister-in-law who is going through a lot, a garden club festering with drama, a couple suitors, a stalker, former co-workers, a closer than normal relationship with a customer service agent, a young man who needs her far more than either of them realize, and a mysterious recipient of an unsent letter. 

She also writes to writers - Joan Didion, Ann Patchett and Larry McMurtry are all name-checked. (I was inspired to revisit LONESOME DOVE and regret nothing!) - with confidence and respect. She's a good writer (both the character and the author) and her correspondents are fleshed out and lively. There is a narrative arc, and it works, but what kept me reading is the way the letters seem random, but slowly reveal a life that is finally examined. 

IT'S ONLY DANCING by Jasmine Guillory and RADIO FREE TEXAS by Libba Bray were lovely gifts

 I went to ALA back in June and it was bittersweet. I have gone for the last 4 years on MSLA's dime and every time I have found myself both overwhelmed and right at home. I mean, book people are my people and it is so easy to strike up conversations when you are in line to get a book signed by an author you love. I was lucky enough to get to attend a lunch where 5 or 6 middle grade and teen writers presented their new titles with an adorable readers' theater presentation. Two of them were all time favorites Jasmine Guillory and Libba Bray. I was thrilled to get to see them in action. (SO much charisma!) And I was even more thrilled when I was going down the escalator later that day and went by them as they were heading up. Like a loon, I pointed at them and breathlessly said, "It's YOU!!" They both smiled and I was never so inclined to run up a downward heading escalator in my life! (Of course, I didn't because of physics...)

Anyway, I finally got around to reading the books they were presenting and both of them were absolutely wonderful! So full of truth and nostalgia, I could barely put them down. 

First. up was Jasmine's IT'S ONLY DANCING. (We basically met on the escalator, so I am confidently first-naming.)This is a subtle retelling of DIRTY DANCING that hits on so many levels. I am sure you don't need to be familiar with the classic film to enjoy it, but it definitely adds to the pleasure if you are. Kitty (or Kat, if you don't want her to roll her eyes at you) was a devoted student of ballet before the microaggressions and body-shaming of her teacher and classmates made her turn in her toe shoes. She has vowed not to dance anymore and is focusing on her college application process. Well, she is actually using that as an excuse to spend time along while her family is attending an all-ages camp the summer before her senior year. 

You're not going to believe this, but when she is out exploring, she comes across a dance party for the employees of the camp and meets a hot and sweet dance teacher and his partner and forms a friendship! At first she thinks Jordan and Toni are romantically involved, but she learns that they are just besties and dance partners. Well, shockingly, it seems that Jordan needs a dance partner for a big performance and Toni has another obligation so guess who volunteers to step (ha!) in and learn hip-hop dancing in a very small window of time. Guess!! Yep, it's the Sheldrake all over again. 

Sparks fly, misunderstandings are overcome and this book is shockingly not at the mercy of bad communication between the potential lovers. I adore Jasmine's adult romances (ROYAL HOLIDAY is the best post-menopausal romance ever written and I will fight anyone who says otherwise) and was thrilled that she nailed a younger demographic. This book was a joy to read  - touching on themes of reinvention, acceptance, obligation, and, yes, romance. 

While IT'S ONLY DANCING looked like fluff but contained more depth, RADIO FREE TEXAS looked like it was going to be depressing as hell, but made me laugh consistently and made me believe that this crazy story of kids running a pirate radio station in 1980s small-town Texas might just have been true.

Okay, Libba Bray is a YA goddess. My YA students at Salem State regularly reference BEAUTY QUEENS as a perennial favorite and UNDER THE SAME STARS was transcendent. This one is firmly entrenched in both the nostalgia and the brown grit of a Texas setting and there is a realism that I have never seen from Bray before. And she fucking nails it!

Bowie begins his senior year taking the fall for a prank by Comet, a new likely-MPDG who is trying to get expelled, and is forced to perform community service at a local radio station run by Marlon who is just the drunken drug-addled Mr. Miyagi he needs. He ends up corralling a group of his peers (including Comet)  to help out at the station and it changes the tenor of the town. Yes, the kids are out of control and the powers-that-be in the town force things to a head and everyone learns and grows, but in the best possible way. 

There is friendship, romance, and really well-written adults who have depth. Except for the principal. He really sucks. Is there a "happy" ending? Not conventionally. And there is a subplot about suicide that (dare I say) feels a little tacked on, but these kids felt so real to me and I kept staring into space trying to decide where I would fit into the group. (Maybe the chubby, funny girlfriend of one of the Boston boys?) The music references had me hitting YouTube for the songs every 10 pages or so and I loved every minute of it. What on earth is she going to do next?

A SEASON FOR FALLING by Kate O'Shaughnessy comes out September 22

 Yes, I look at the Goodreads ratings sometimes when I am reviewing a book and can't remember anyone's names and need a little refresher. And so, I can see why this has less than 4 stars, even though I adored it and am, of course, giving it 5 stars. I loved everything about it except for the inevitable scene where just SAYING HOW THEY FEEL would shave 50 pages out of the narrative. Alas, plot devices... But whoever write the blurb deserves a smack for saying "Gilmore Girls-esque". Yes, it takes place in Connecticut. Yes, there is a single mother who is maybe a little on the younger side, but honestly, not a single GG vibe was felt by me the entire time I was reading it. 

Also, not for nothing, most pre-reviewers are really stingy with the stars. I think they read more so their expectations are higher, maybe? I loved FAKE SKATING by Lynn Painter and nominated it for MTCBA, because I am the romcom girl and I will be nominating romcoms with my last dying breath. Well, someone sent an email to the whole nominating committee about the dangerous heteronormative gender roles in the book and everyone nodded in agreement and it fell off the board. Now that was probably the right choice, but now it is making me nervous about nominating this one because it is a cis/het/white couple at the center of the romance. I will surely be nominating it anyway, but I will brace myself. 

But perhaps I should just review the book? It ticks so many of my boxes - child actors, friends to lovers, bad stage parents, single moms, siblings with different popularity levels at the same school, secret identities, friendship & honesty - and it also had a really nice current about children's agency and the need for them to be protected. Clare used to be a child actress, she is retired and lives under a different name in Stars Hollow-light and now her former costar who is a big up-and-coming movie star is coming to town to film what is likely to be an career-defining role and he looks her up. All kind of shit ensues. 

The high school setting didn't set off any alarms, the parent stuff was solid, the sibling relationship was actually MORE delightful than usual. I just want kids to behave like siblings, but this book went beyond in showing how important it is to be able to rely on one another. And the romance, while stalled to allow for a big old grand gesture at the end, was pretty sweet and respectful. 

WISH YOU WELL by Jamie Sumner came out four days ago and I should have reviewed it WEEKS ago!

 

But you know me. Just forgetting stuff all the time. So I loved THE FAULT IN OUR STARS and I can't help but compare every sick kid book to that and often find it wanting because it lacks humor. I mean, I will fall in love with a kid and watch them suffer as long as they at least get to be snarky. 

Well, Violet is very, very snarky. She is also going blind. She does all the teenage things like hide issues about her health from her mother and her doctors because sometimes kids are stupid. And she is so, so angry. She has cut ties with most of her friends because they don't know how to deal with her and they try to be sympathetic, which is her kryptonite. Then she meets Wyatt and Noor at a hospital picnic and they decide to use their Make-a-Wish wishes together in the weirdest possible way and it is wonderful. 

This is another of those importance of community books that I love so and it really helps that it is hilarious. It is also realistically the viewpoint of a kid, but shows nuance with most of the parent interactions. The kid doesn't see nuance, but the reader does. Nicely played, Sumner! I also love that Noor out-snarks Violet. (Wyatt is pretty positive, but he can't eat hot dogs for shit...)

This book has a bit of everything and it all comes together perfectly. It feels a little caper-y in that they are planning the wishes on the sly, but that is really just the structure used to absorb the healthy example of unhealthy kids. Will I nominate this for MTCBA? You bet your sweet bippie I will. Will someone snark that it is middle grade. Of course they will. But whatever, it's a damn near perfect book and I loved it.