Quick and dirty book blurb update

[daemonluna]

What I've read in the past few months and haven't blurbed here yet:

(in essentially reverse chronological order)

Sonny's House of Spies- George Ella Lyon (historical young YA, 60's Alabama, Sonny's dad took off a few years back and there's a lot that goes unsaid. )

Shopaholic and Sister by Sophie Kinsella (floofy, wearing a bit thin, still kinda fun)

Good in Bed by Jennifer? Weiner (Connie broke it off with her boyfriend of three years--and then he writes a magazine article on loving a larger woman. Wry humour with some serious undertones. Less floofy than Shopaholic, enjoyed this one)

The Grand Tour by Caroline Stevermer and Patricia Wrede (period fantasy, much-awaited epistolary sequel to Sorcery and Cecilia, still lots of fun.)

A Scholar of Magics by Caroline Stevermer (much-awaited sequel, good but not nearly the depth of the first book)

Smoke and Shadows by Tanya Huff (Spin-off of her Vicki Nelson books. Whee! Gay protagonist, Nicholas Lea clone, just fun!)

Deafening by Frances Itani (WWII historical Canadian, slow but not without merit)

How NOT to Spend Your Senior Year by Cameron Dokey (fluffy, occasionally contrived, kinda fun YA)

Blood Secret by Katherine Lasky (Multi-period historical YA, family and heritage and Judaism, v. good)

The Beckoners by Carrie Mac (YA angst-drama-tension about cliques, peer pressure, bullying, and abuse, chilling but good, minor point of interest, gay best friend)

Becoming Ruby by Kathy Stinson (YA Canadian historical set in the... er... 50s or 60s, good, solid read, young girl's coming of age story)

Story Time by Edward Bloor (strange, quirky YA satire involving standardized testing and a possessed library)

Girl Coming in for a Landing (YA prose poem story, not as good as Make Lemonade, etc, but cool book design)

Bindi Babes (younger YA, notable for being about contemporary East Indian-American (or whatever the right term is) girls and non-angsty. Except for dead-mother angst. But it's still on the fluffy side.)

Molly's Family by Nancy Garden (woo-hoo! Molly has two mommies, and it's a really good, straightforward picture book about such, with a supportive teacher (unlike Asha's Mums, where the teacher's not understanding felt really contrived) and nice, gentle watercolour illustrations)

The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen (teenage girl finds self after the death of her father by working for a chaotic catering company. Good drama and cahracters, but had a major plot quibble which I'll get back to later)

Blue Jasmine by Kashmira Sheth (about a young girl whose family immigrates from India. Contemporary, relatively angst-free, and there's some gorgeous language and imagery, but nothing happens! No conflict! More of a cultural comparison than a novel.)


Okay, that's about two-thirds of the books I hadn't gotten to. Heh. I'll probably come back to some of these later, to either rant or rave.