Review: Beast

BEAST
Brie Spangler
Contemporary Young Adult
336 pages
Knopf
Available October 11th
Source: ARC from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Tall, meaty, muscle-bound, and hairier than most throw rugs, Dylan doesn’t look like your average fifteen-year-old, so, naturally, high school has not been kind to him. To make matters worse, on the day his school bans hats (his preferred camouflage), Dylan goes up on his roof only to fall and wake up in the hospital with a broken leg—and a mandate to attend group therapy for self-harmers.

Dylan vows to say nothing and zones out at therapy—until he meets Jamie. She’s funny, smart, and so stunning, even his womanizing best friend, JP, would be jealous. She’s also the first person to ever call Dylan out on his self-pitying and superficiality. As Jamie’s humanity and wisdom begin to rub off on Dylan, they become more than just friends. But there is something Dylan doesn’t know about Jamie, something she shared with the group the day he wasn’t listening. Something that shouldn’t change a thing. She is who she’s always been—an amazing photographer and devoted friend, who also happens to be transgender. But will Dylan see it that way?

MY THOUGHTS
Beast is a beautiful contemporary retelling of Beauty and the Beast, calling into question the standard definitions of both words as we look through the eyes of a young man struggling to find any semblance of comfort in his own skin.

We're treated to Dylan's point of view throughout, his self-deprecating sense of humor making us laugh right out of the gate even as we hurt for him, feeling the sting of casually flung words that strike far deeper than likely intended. He loathes his appearance, wanting desperately to be shorter and smoother so that his days might not be filled with laughter directed at him but rather with him thanks to packaging that better reflects the man he feels he is. He's a sympathetic character from the beginning, and we can't help but feel as overprotective as his adorable (and text-obsessed) mother when those around him tear at his self-confidence with insult-tipped claws.

He meets Jamie in group therapy, and having a gorgeous young woman actually talk to him–rather than look at him in fear and then recount her close encounter with the Beast to her friends later–gives him cause for a genuine smile instead of a forced one. He misses the fact that Jamie is trans when she admits it in group, but thankfully that misunderstanding doesn't continue too long, and we're spared the drawn-out suspense of knowing something Dylan doesn't while his relationship with Jamie unfolds. Though he doesn't handle it well in the moment, he does make a valiant effort to apologize to Jamie, and we get to spend the latter half of the book watching as Dylan gets out of his own way and lets his heart do the thinking.

Overall, Beast is a quick read with a truly lovable male protagonist who gets tripped up by perception and the opinions of others, but manages to get up again and walks away seeing clearer for having done so.

Rating: 4/5

Find Brie:

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This book was sent to me by the publisher  free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

Review: Holding Up the Universe

HOLDING UP THE UNIVERSE
Jennifer Niven
Contemporary Young Adult
400 pages
Knopf Books for Young Readers
Available October 4th
Source: ARC from publisher for review

THE STORY (From Goodreads)
Everyone thinks they know Libby Strout, the girl once dubbed “America’s Fattest Teen.” But no one’s taken the time to look past her weight to get to know who she really is. Following her mom’s death, she’s been picking up the pieces in the privacy of her home, dealing with her heartbroken father and her own grief. Now, Libby’s ready: for high school, for new friends, for love, and for EVERY POSSIBILITY LIFE HAS TO OFFER. In that moment, I know the part I want to play here at MVB High. I want to be the girl who can do anything. 

Everyone thinks they know Jack Masselin, too. Yes, he’s got swagger, but he’s also mastered the impossible art of giving people what they want, of fitting in. What no one knows is that Jack has a newly acquired secret: he can’t recognize faces. Even his own brothers are strangers to him. He’s the guy who can re-engineer and rebuild anything in new and bad-ass ways, but he can’t understand what’s going on with the inner workings of his brain. So he tells himself to play it cool: Be charming. Be hilarious. Don’t get too close to anyone. 
Until he meets Libby. When the two get tangled up in a cruel high school game—which lands them in group counseling and community service—Libby and Jack are both pissed, and then surprised. Because the more time they spend together, the less alone they feel. . . . Because sometimes when you meet someone, it changes the world, theirs and yours.

MY THOUGHTS
Holding Up the Universe is both an extraordinary and everyday story, one about young people who struggle to get through their day sometimes but who wake up and strap on their armor anyway, ready to battle the dragons that await them.

Libby and Jack's story opens with a letter from Jack letting us know he's about to do something that will surely not endear us to him, and as soon as we meet Libby on the following page, it doesn't take a huge mental leap to guess it's going to have something to do with her weight. Despite having lost hundreds of pounds, Libby is still overweight and returning to high school for the first time after being homeschooled due to her health issues, and we can't help but want to give Jack a resounding smack in the face for the stress he causes us (not to mention the fear and humiliation he causes Libby) as we wait for the event he mentioned in his letter to come to pass.

Though it sounds as though it will be easy to hate Jack for inflicting emotional pain on someone whose had her more than her fair share of it already, Ms. Niven lets us in Jack's head for nearly 70 pages before "the event' takes place, and our time there lets us see that he's dealing with his own unique battle. While that of course doesn't excuse his actions, his affable nature and sincere apology to Libby go a long way in earning our forgiveness, as does Libby's reaction to him. Where she could hold a grudge and seek to hurt him the way he hurt her, she instead proves herself to be the bigger person (no pun intended) and looks more closely at him in a way that everyone around them fails to do for them both.

What unfolds after they're forced to do community service for the school is a beautiful friendship and eventual romance, both of them so impressively good-natured despite their struggles that we can't help but smile along with them as they put brave faces on for the world but allow one another a peek behind the curtain.

Rating: 4.5/5

Find Jennifer:

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This book was sent to me by the publisher  free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

Review: How To Hang A Witch

HOW TO HANG A WITCH
Adriana Mather
Paranormal Young Adult
368 pages
Knopf Books for Young Readers
Available Now
Source: BEA

THE STORY:
Salem, Massachusetts is the site of the infamous witch trials and the new home of Samantha Mather. Recently transplanted from New York City, Sam and her stepmother are not exactly welcomed with open arms. Sam is the descendant of Cotton Mather, one of the men responsible for those trials and almost immediately, she becomes the enemy of a group of girls who call themselves The Descendants. And guess who their ancestors were?
 
If dealing with that weren't enough, Sam also comes face to face with a real live (well technically dead) ghost. A handsome, angry ghost who wants Sam to stop touching his stuff. But soon Sam discovers she is at the center of a centuries old curse affecting anyone with ties to the trials. Sam must come to terms with the ghost and find a way to work with the Descendants to stop a deadly cycle that has been going on since the first accused witch was hanged. If any town should have learned its lesson, it's Salem. But history may be about to repeat itself.

MY THOUGHTS
How to Hang Witch gives us a look at how quickly mass hysteria can build and mob mentality can take over, and though it's not a story meant to be a profound examination of current affairs through the lens of the past, it's something that deeply resonates nonetheless given the tragic events around the world this year.

While we can't help but draw comparisons between the prejudice and hatred running rampant in Salem during the witch trials with that of today, this story also gives us an intriguing family curse to try and solve right alongside Sam and the mean girls clique that is the Descendants. The mystery surrounding the families with direct ties to the trials is well done, small clues given here and there to keep us interested, with Ms. Mather mixing just enough history with the paranormal to have us itching to do more in depth research once we close the back cover.

Though unraveling the family curse makes for the rapid turning of pages, older readers of YA like myself will likely find themselves needing to channel their inner teenager with regards to Sam, trying to see her fiery temper, snap judgements and impressive ability to push people away with a few cruel words through our younger eyes in order to keep from getting overly frustrated. In addition to Sam's youthful drama we also have a love triangle in which one point of said triangle is dead while the other two are living, and a group of high school girls who are a bit over the top in terms of nastiness, making it a bit hard to really settle in character-wise.

That being said though, those looking for something more story-driven than character-driven will likely appreciate this as a quick read and a fascinating take on a tragic event in our history, made even more so due to the author's direct link to Cotton Mather.

Rating: 3/5

Find Adriana:

Website • Twitter • Goodreads • Amazon

This book was sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.