Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Sweet Valley High: Spring Break by Francine Pascal
More dreck though the terror is more physical and less psychological than in Nightmare Hall: Guilty. The books could be written by the same person and in fact a coming review is of a book by Francine Pascal which has a remarkably similar plot to Nightmare Hall.
Spring Break features the American twins Jessica and Elizabeth arriving in France for a cross-cultural spring break. They are housed with a mother and son; the mother welcomes them but the son makes nasty remarks about Americans and makes trouble for the twins. What could possibly have caused his hatred and mistrust of Americans? Does it have anything to do with his missing father? Meanwhile Elizabeth crushes on the son and quietly meets wonderful people while Jessica searches for FUN and finds trouble...which she compounds by pretending to be ELizabeth. There is some unhealthy one-sided sibling rivalry here that leaves a nasty taste in my mouth.
In the end, Jessica gets a good scare and each girl gets her man. Meanwhile, back in America, the French exchange student has stirred up all sorts of drama by being the spitting image of a recently dead girl.
Spring Break features the American twins Jessica and Elizabeth arriving in France for a cross-cultural spring break. They are housed with a mother and son; the mother welcomes them but the son makes nasty remarks about Americans and makes trouble for the twins. What could possibly have caused his hatred and mistrust of Americans? Does it have anything to do with his missing father? Meanwhile Elizabeth crushes on the son and quietly meets wonderful people while Jessica searches for FUN and finds trouble...which she compounds by pretending to be ELizabeth. There is some unhealthy one-sided sibling rivalry here that leaves a nasty taste in my mouth.
In the end, Jessica gets a good scare and each girl gets her man. Meanwhile, back in America, the French exchange student has stirred up all sorts of drama by being the spitting image of a recently dead girl.
Nightmare Hall: Guilty by Diane Hoh
Nightmare Hall: Guilty is dross. It is both lightweight and emotionally manipulative. Despite the reviews at Amazon the plot was unbelievable and the mystery was not hard to decipher.
Shy straight-laced Katie comes to college, meets an outgoing cute boy, and becomes a fun loving whispy headed girlfriend. She ignores her best male friend from high school and loves being part of a close group of her boyfriend, his sister, her friend from high school, and a few other cool kids. Her boyfriend takes a risk that almost kills Katies and he ends up dead. Katie changes her name and acts out in risky ways.
Note: unbelievable that her parents are almost non-existant in the story, they let her return to college and the college does not insist on post trauma counselling nor do they take her bizarre behaviour into account though her friends are worried and say so repeatedly. Katie also skips class and fails her work but her professors do not take the problem to her advisor or her parents.
Someone starts stalking Katie. Oooh, scary. Who could it be? Is she going crazy? It couldn't be her supportive friend from high school, he adores her. It couldn't be her boyfriend's sister because she has forgiven Katie.
People are crazy. Murder is attempted. Sheesh!
Shy straight-laced Katie comes to college, meets an outgoing cute boy, and becomes a fun loving whispy headed girlfriend. She ignores her best male friend from high school and loves being part of a close group of her boyfriend, his sister, her friend from high school, and a few other cool kids. Her boyfriend takes a risk that almost kills Katies and he ends up dead. Katie changes her name and acts out in risky ways.
Note: unbelievable that her parents are almost non-existant in the story, they let her return to college and the college does not insist on post trauma counselling nor do they take her bizarre behaviour into account though her friends are worried and say so repeatedly. Katie also skips class and fails her work but her professors do not take the problem to her advisor or her parents.
Someone starts stalking Katie. Oooh, scary. Who could it be? Is she going crazy? It couldn't be her supportive friend from high school, he adores her. It couldn't be her boyfriend's sister because she has forgiven Katie.
People are crazy. Murder is attempted. Sheesh!
Gingerbread by Rachel Cohn
Gingerbread stars Cyd Charisse. Cyd lives with her parents (Sid and Nancy - groan) since she was recently expelled from a fancy boarding school. At school, Cyd was in an abusive sexual relationship with a cool boy; they were caught and Cyd took all the blame. Cyd is suffering not from the loss of school and boyfriend but from a previous betrayal by that boy.
Cyd has a new boyfriend, Shrimp the surfer, and dreams of a wondrous "normal" life with her bio dad. When life at home becomes too awful and tense, Sid and Nancy do send Cyd to her bio father's home in New York City.
Cyd sees that her bio father wasn't everything she dreamed but she builds a good relationship with her half-siblings and comes to see the love and support that Sid and NAncy give her. Learning the back story of her birth shakes her life but it then settles into something more solid.
Lots of sexual references, groping of strangers, and quaffing of upscale coffee.
Cyd has a new boyfriend, Shrimp the surfer, and dreams of a wondrous "normal" life with her bio dad. When life at home becomes too awful and tense, Sid and Nancy do send Cyd to her bio father's home in New York City.
Cyd sees that her bio father wasn't everything she dreamed but she builds a good relationship with her half-siblings and comes to see the love and support that Sid and NAncy give her. Learning the back story of her birth shakes her life but it then settles into something more solid.
Lots of sexual references, groping of strangers, and quaffing of upscale coffee.
The King's Shadow by Elizabeth Alder
The King's Shadow tells of the hard life of a Welsh lad during tumultuous times. Evyn, is a young serf who has a beautiful voice; he plans to be a singing storyteller for his Lord. Unchecked violence by a neighbouring Lord's sons costs Evyn his voice and his family. When he thinks things can't get worse, his uncle sells him as a slave. The loss of Evyn's freedom is a huge blow and for years he is almost unable to function.
A monk teaches him to read and write and this become not only his ticket to communication but his window into the goodness that can be in people. Evyn, later called "The King's Shadow", lives in a time of war and shaky alliances and this story chronicles some of the subtleties of the time.
A monk teaches him to read and write and this become not only his ticket to communication but his window into the goodness that can be in people. Evyn, later called "The King's Shadow", lives in a time of war and shaky alliances and this story chronicles some of the subtleties of the time.
In no particular order
because I know that once I get started I'll be fine. There are large stacks of read books on each floor of the house.
