Review: Five Flavors of Dumb by Antony John

From Goodreads: The Challenge: Piper has one month to get the rock band Dumb a paying gig. The Deal: If she does it, Piper will become the band's manager and get her share of the profits. The Catch: How can Piper possibly manage one egomaniacal pretty boy, one talentless piece of eye candy, one crush, one silent rocker, and one angry girl? And how can she do it when she's deaf? Piper can't hear Dumb's music, but with growing self-confidence, a budding romance, and a new understanding of the decision her family made to buy a cochlear implant for her deaf baby sister, she discovers her own inner rock star and what it truly means to be a flavor of Dumb.

My Rating: 3 hearts 

Thoughts on the Novel: Since I enjoy reading about disability issues, Five Flavors of Dumb by Antony John was a book I had in my TBR pile for a long time because it features a deaf protagonist who’s the manager of a band. I was curious to see how Piper got her position and how she interacted with others given her situation.

For me, Piper’s deafness was the most interesting part of the book because it really affected her family dynamics. Although Piper can read lips and can speak normally (because she lost her hearing at the age of six), her preferred method of communicating is through American Sign Language (ASL). With her deaf baby sister just getting a cochlear implant and her mother, a hearing child born to deaf parents, having to work more, Piper can’t help but feel neglected because her father doesn’t sign and her brother only signs when he wants something from her.

After she becomes the manager of a band, her parents and others view her deafness as a limitation, which Piper refuses to believe (and takes advantage of if she can do so). At the same time, Piper herself learns to look beyond physical appearance in order to appreciate some of the people that she’s surrounded by.

I wasn’t such a fan of the music aspect on the other hand because I found it extremely hard to believe that a high school band that could play a limited range of notes and was continuously fighting amongst themselves would ascend to fame so quickly and impress other well-known musicians. It was also hard for me to care about Piper going on a tour of famous dead musicians’ houses so that she could appreciate music for itself rather than for the potential of earning money.

Five Flavors of Dumb was released in November 2010 by Dial Books. 

Comments About the Cover: The cover isn’t something that would cause me to pick up the book.  

Review: The Treachery of Beautiful Things by Ruth Frances Long

From Goodreads: The trees swallowed her brother whole, and Jenny was there to see it. Now seventeen, she revisits the woods where Tom was taken, resolving to say good-bye at last. Instead, she's lured into the trees, where she finds strange and dangerous creatures who seem to consider her the threat. Among them is Jack, mercurial and magnetic, with secrets of his own. Determined to find her brother, with or without Jack's help, Jenny struggles to navigate a faerie world where stunning beauty masks some of the most treacherous evils, and she's faced with a choice between salvation or sacrifice - and not just her own.

My Rating: 2.5 hearts 

Thoughts on the Novel: The Treachery of Beautiful Things by Ruth Frances Long was a book that captivated me immediately because its beginning reminded me of Natalie C. Parker’s Beware the Wild. I had no idea that this was a faerie book though, which I typically avoid. But, Long’s writing was lovely, and I was soon drawn into the story.

Over the course of the novel, however, I became annoyed by Jenny’s decisions. For example, she chooses to trust Jack for no apparent reason (and then develops feelings for him quite suddenly too), runs off by herself whenever her feelings get hurt, and decides to rescue a baby fairy because it's a baby. Uh no, a baby fairy is still a fairy!

As well, the ending was really confusing. I didn’t really understand what was going on, and I still have no idea how it became possible for Jenny to get her happy ending.

The Treachery of Beautiful Things was released by Dial Books in August 2012. 

Comments About the Cover: It’s a pretty cover, but the main character didn't go into the woods in a dress.

Mini Reviews: My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick and Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

From Goodreads: The Garretts are everything the Reeds are not. Loud, messy, affectionate. And every day from her rooftop perch, Samantha Reed wishes she was one of them ... until one summer evening, Jase Garrett climbs up next to her and changes everything. As the two fall fiercely for each other, stumbling through the awkwardness and awesomeness of first love, Jase's family embraces Samantha - even as she keeps him a secret from her own. Then something unthinkable happens, and the bottom drops out of Samantha's world. She's suddenly faced with an impossible decision. Which perfect family will save her? Or is it time she saved herself?

My Rating: 4 hearts 

Thoughts on the Novel: Although the ending felt a bit rushed, I found Huntley Fitzpatrick's My Life Next Door to be a fun read featuring a very cute romance and a family that's easy to fall in love with. The YA novels I read tend to have dysfunctional families or absent parents so it was really nice to see how close-knit the Garretts were. There were eight Garrett children, and Fitzpatrick made each one of them seem like individuals. Jace may be the one I was supposed to swoon over (and I did), but George and Patsy quickly became my favourite Garretts.

My Life Next Door was released by Dial Books For Young Readers in 2012. 
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From Goodreads: Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky. In a dark and dusty shop, a devil’s supply of human teeth grown dangerously low. And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war. Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she’s prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she’s about to find out. When one of the strangers - beautiful, haunted Akiva - fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself? 

My Rating: 4.5 hearts 

Thoughts on the Novel: After seeing so much praise for Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke and Bone series, I finally decided to give it a try. Despite a tiny bit of predictability and a romance that had a touch of insta-love, I ended up loving Daughter of Smoke and Bone. I can’t believe I waited so long to read it! The story was absorbing and beautifully written, and the description of Prague and all the places Karou traveled to were incredibly vivid. Taylor’s own fantasy world of Eretz seemed as real a place as her earthly settings because of how well developed it was. I also loved how Taylor managed to make each character important in their own right since none of the secondary characters felt like they were there simply for convenience.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone was released by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers in 2011.