Book Review: THE GHOST OF GREENWICH VILLAGE by Lorna Graham

Eve has always dreamed of living in New York City, just like her mum, and now she finally is--in a Greenwich Village apartment inhabited by the ghost of beatnik writer Donald Bellows, who wants to dictate his stories to her. Meanwhile, Eve tries to figure out a way to keep her apartment and her incorporeal roommate. If only Donald would agree to write his memoirs instead of the experimental BS he makes Eve write now!

In case you haven't guessed already, this novel is an adaptation of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir--except instead of a roguish sea captain, Eve gets an irascible beatnik. I thought the beginning was charming and very The Devil Wears Prada-ish. Eve gets a job interview at a morning talk show as a writer, only she has no idea what she's doing. I enjoyed learning about the world of TV writing with Eve--that was actually my favorite part of the book.

But as the novel went on, the questions and inconsistencies in my mind started to build, most of them having to do with Eve. She is really an impossible character to like, and if I had to list all the things that drove me crazy about her, this would be a long-ass post. This supposedly 38-year-old woman has zero life skills, one ex-boyfriend she was lukewarm about, doesn't know anything about current events, makes fun of people who speak German, is an irresponsible dog owner, and doesn't have a TV, cell phone, or a computer. Her home telephone still has an answering machine instead of voicemail. I can see someone going without two of those things, but all of them? You'd think a "writer" would at least get a typewriter.

And that brings me to Donald. Truth: the only things I know about beatniks come from Funny Face. Did beatniks work in awesome-looking bookstores, wear black, and do funny dances in front of Fred Astaire? As far as I know, yes. So obviously I'm not the best judge of these things, but Donald's story seemed really bland, like you could pick it up and insert it into any time period in history. This book tries to be about loving history, but it feels like it's faking it--Eve isn't walking in the shoes of young artists in the 1950s, for one thing; she's too much of a square. She calls Donald's experimental writing confusing and denigrates him for it, then does a complete 180 on the opinion scale when someone else says he was good. So lame. For another, I don't feel like I know any more about beatniks or Greenwich Village now than when I started this book.

Since I knew this was an adaptation of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, I was expecting some relationship... dare I say romance?... to develop. But there wasn't any romance in this novel. Eve goes on several dates with guys who are kind of cringe-worthy and that's about it. But the romance in Mrs. Muir wasn't so much a romance as a metaphor for writing itself and how characters are a part of the writer. I kept looking for some sort of similar extended metaphor in this book, but didn't find one beyond "people create community." Which = duh.

I'm not saying this is a bad book--it's a very quick read, and I did find it for the most part enjoyable. I just wish the author had gone for the jugular with it, made it tighter and smarter. If it wasn't for Annoying Eve, I would have liked it a lot more.

Guess what? The publisher is offering one copy of this book if you're interested! Fill out the form below or click here to enter. Thank you to TLC Booktours for giving me a chance to review this novel!

Book Review: HALO by Alexandra Adornetto

Bethany is an angel sent to battle the forces of darkness in a quaint seaside town, along with her brother and sister (I'm assuming those titles are honorific), Gabriel and Ivy. Unfortunately, unlike the other two angels, Bethany enjoys her experiences as a human way too much--especially when the cute captain of the high school, Xavier, starts paying attention to her. Alas, humans and angels cannot fall in love! What will these two crazy kids do?!?

The first half of this book was actually pretty good. I was impressed by the amount of research Adornetto put into angelology and how she made the inhuman angels seem completely believable as characters but most definitely otherworldly. The chemistry between Beth and Xavier wasn't exactly burning the pages up, but it was there. Plus it was fun seeing a complete innocent like Beth face the mysteries of hurdles like drinking and boys being attracted to her. I was engaged, I wanted to know what would happen, I was caught in the midst of teen angst. That's just about everything I ask from a YA novel!

Then came the second half of the book, and everything went downhill. Since the angels are on an "urgent mission" to battle the forces of darkness, I kept expecting, you know, something bad to happen. But the only sign of the devil in the little town Bethany and Xavier inhabit is a super-obvious sneering demon from England (where else?) who shows up in the second half, so that story line was really boring. Even more troublesome, the characters remained very shallowly sketched throughout the entire book, especially Xavier, whom I really wanted to understand better. Why is he so attracted to Bethany? Why is she attracted to him? I still don't know. And in the second half, Xavier becomes so "protective" (feel free to read that as "controlling") he makes Edward Cullen look like a neglectful baby sitter.

Then again, Bethany does magically lose the sentient part of her brain in the second half, so perhaps Xavier's justified in treating her like a 3-year-old.

Plus there are alllll these inconsistencies of logic to deal with. Beth had to step out of class during slide presentations because her skin sparkles in the dark, yet she goes to beach parties at night where people are sure to notice--one would think--her sparkly skin. The angels have all human knowledge at their fingertips, yet Beth still has to learn things for class and they can't figure out how to pay an electric bill. They're supposed to be humble messengers of God, but they live in a posh mansion and don't have to work. And so on.

There is a strong religious thread in this book. Religion in books doesn't necessarily bother me--in fact, in books about angels, I get annoyed if the concept of God isn't at least brought up--but here I became a little concerned because the religion espoused seemed very fundamentalist. Bethany says her "family" supports family values (which I've always taken as code for "barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen"), and there's a strong message that sex before marriage is BAD. Nearly all the girls who have sex in this book are killed. I am NOT even joking. The threat the "forces of darkness"--i.e., the one kid who cartoonishly embodies Bad News--present is ridiculous and difficult to take seriously. There are no crises of faith and no deeper layers of what's right and wrong. What you see is what you get.

Yet at the same time the innocence and simplicity of this novel is refreshing, especially in the beginning. It has a 1950s retro vibe to it, like Pleasantville before everyone got color. Xavier even drives a classic car, and I have zero trouble picturing Bethany in a poodle skirt and cardigan.

Considering that Adornetto is 18 (or was when this book was published), I'm impressed with her ability to write appealing characters and a good story, and I definitely wouldn't be adverse to reading more of her work. Unfortunately, though, this book is too long, and everything in it is treated very shallowly. I don't think there was much depth to the characters, even major characters like Xavier. There are also a lot of convenient plot devices roiling around in here. So this book was okay... ish, but I was really really glad when it was over.

Musical Notes: "Crazy In Love" by Beyoncé

Check Me Out at Wordsmithonia

I'm guest posting at Ryan's blog, Wordsmithonia, about one of my favorite re-reads in the history of the world. Check it out!

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Author Fan Letter: JOSH LANYON

A draft of a letter found in the recently renamed law offices of English, Sheridan, and Doyle:

Dear Mr. Josh Lanyon,

We here at English, Sheridan, and Doyle have recently become aware of your numerous novels, novellas, and short stories; and the preponderance of characters therein named after ourselves and our associates, such as Devlin, Marlowe, and Crisparkle.

Given our litigious careers, you may be expecting this to be a cease-and-desist notice--and we were seriously considering it--but after reading your books, we have reconsidered. Instead, we have become what the intrawebz refers to as "fanboyz" and would like to offer you representation, pro bono publico. See the following for our reasons:

• Variety Although most well-known for your contemporary mystery series (the Adrien English series in particular, which our own senior partner, Mr. English, particularly enjoys), you write in a wide variety of genres such as fantasy, paranormal, romance, adventure, and even non-fiction. Furthermore, your novels are set in many different locations and time periods: WWII Los Angeles, contemporary Los Angeles, a fantastical city that resembles Los Angeles... all right, so maybe the settings don't have THAT much variety. The point is, there's something in your books for everyone!
  
• Smart As Mae West once said, "It isn't what I do, but how I do it." All the settings in the world wouldn't matter if your books weren't smart, full of witty dialog and intelligent characters. But they are, and we like this.
  
• Bibliophilic In almost every story you write, there is a writer or reader who loves books. Nuff said.
  
• Characterful In addition to being smart, your characters are multifaceted. They seem like real people. People we like! People we want to be friends with! People that we root for and characters that carry us through to the end of the story.
  
• Entertaining Regardless of whether your stories are comedic or have a more serious tone, they're distractingly entertaining and enjoyable to read.
  

Because of the above, we are willing to read over all your future manuscripts with an eye towards avoiding legal infractions. Before we begin what is sure to be a fruitful partnership, however, we would like to raise one issue that's bothering us: you have many cop and PI characters, but why so few lawyers? We are very literary and intelligent, and are a vast source of entertaining storylines, as proved by The Practice, Suits, and John Grisham. Think about it.

Sincerely,

The partners of English, Sheridan, and Doyle

The Author Fan Letter Blog Crawl is hosted by Kassa at three am and celebrates authors every day in June. To read yesterday's letter, visit Babbling About Books, and More! Tomorrow, make sure to check out I Love Books.

Nerds Heart YA: PAPER DAUGHTER vs WHAT MOMMA LEFT ME

Nerds Heart YA is a bracket-style tournament for under-represented books in YA literature. This year I'm a first-round judge and the two books I read were Paper Daughter by Jeanette Ingold, and What Momma Left Me by Renée Watson. Only one of these books will move on to the next round of judging.

These books were great for comparison, because they both take place in the Pacific Northwest--Paper Daughter in Seattle and What Momma Left Me in Portland--and they deal with very similar issues. Both main characters, Maggie and Serenity, have recently lost a parent before their stories start, and as a result have to deal with issues of identity. They question who their parents were and what that means for them and their own life choices.

I have to say, I have considerable fondness for Paper Daughter, even though it takes longer to get into than What Momma Left Me. My absolute favorite scenes involved Maggie's internship at a newspaper, where she starts off doing everything wrong. I also found the world of the newsroom itself fascinating--who knew writing sports would require so much expertise?? Not me. That being said, the whole mystery with Maggie's dad seemed a little far-fetched; and even though I can understand why Ingold included the scenes of Fai-yi Li's life, they tended to interrupt the flow of the narrative.

What Momma Left Me, meanwhile, felt entirely authentic from cover-to-cover. I think this is due in large part to the characters, who felt like real people to me. I connected with Serenity immediately. Unlike in Paper Daughter, where I felt as if the teenager behaved too much like an adult, Serenity's feelings and experiences were true to that of a thirteen-year-old--from dealing with peer pressure to being attracted to the cute bad boy. Even though her life with her mom was wickedly depressing and messed-up, the way Watson told the story made me want to know every last secret that Serenity harbored about her family. I also think the writing style in Momma was very lyrical, and I loved the inclusion of poetry into the text.

So even though Paper Daughter was good, I was blown away by What Momma Left Me and am advancing it to the next round of competition. Renée Watson is a very talented writer and I'm happy I got a chance to read her work!

Curious to see what book will be competing against What Momma Left Me in round two? Check out Melissa's choice at Book Nut!

Listed: The Gothic Reader

A few weeks ago, Anastasia from Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog posted a review of Rebecca where she lamented the fact that she couldn't get into Gothic romance. Admittedly, the tropes of Gothic romance can be pretty tiresome--the young ingenue unsure of her suitor's love and of herself, etc.--but I think... no, I know that done right, Gothic romance can be fantastically awesome! So I started to think of books that might lure Anastasia into admitting Gothic romances have their merits. I don't think they're what she would expect!

• Lord of Fire by Gaelen Foley--Innocent Alice Montague travels to Lord Lucien Knight's estate--I forget why--and finds herself embroiled in a Hellfire-type Club with a whole bunch of sexxxoring going on. Shocking! Then she stays for a while and Lucien broods. There are atmospheric trees and cliff faces. Win!
• The Scarletti Curse by Christine Feehan--It takes place in Italy. Don Scarletti is drawn to the village healer, but ruh-roh, there's a curse upon the Scarletti men! That involves the women they love dying! I think they turn into something, I'm not sure.
• Wings of the Falcon by Barbara Michaels--Michaels wrote a heck ton of Gothic Romances back in the '80s. Wings is one of my favorites. It takes place in Italy and is about a young English woman who moves there and becomes fascinated with the mysterious figure of The Falcon. Fun!
• The Ivy Tree by Mary Stewart--Stewart is another person who's written a load of Gothic romances. In this one, a mysterious woman shows up claiming to be a billionaire's long-lost daughter and heir to his fortune. But is she really? Or is she just an imposter out for the old man's money? Great story telling!
• Nevermore by Kelly Creagh--Definitely one of my favorite recent reads! Varen, a broody goth, and Isabelle, a perfect blonde cheerleader, are partnered together on an English assignment. A great Gothic atmosphere and lots of chemistry between the two main characters makes this one of the best Gothics I've encountered recently.
• Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen--This is one of my favorite Austen novels. I just love Mr. Tilney! Anyway, Catherine Morland, the heroine, loves Gothic romances, but her life conspires to keep her away from anything interesting and salacious until she meets someone who own a properly crumbling abbey.

Do you read Gothic romances? What favorite Gothic roms have I missed?

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Imaginary Cookbook: SASSY GAY FOOD--The Recipes Every Girl Needs from the Sassy Gay Friend Every Girl Needs

After my review of 100 Recipes Every Woman Should Know, I started to think of other cookbooks that could be marketed to women. Naturally, my mind jumped to Sassy Gay Friend, the man who leaps in to save literary and historical characters from their own folly. What would SGF make to wake the intervention-hungry world up?



MiO Mojito: Because why add kool-aid to water when you can add it to alcohol?

Stupid Bitch Bundt Cake: Real Housewives make bundt cake, and then they rub the other housewives' face in it.

What, what, what are you doing?! Risotto: You need a time out. Stand over the stove for an hour stirring rice and think about your life. Is this what you want?!? No, you want to eat risotto in a restaurant like a reasonable human being. Stop wasting your time!

Look at Your Choices Chicken: Girl, what is wrong with you? Do you not watch Martha Stewart? Put a sauce on that or something, unless you want to be choking on stringy chicken for the rest of your days! Do you want to be the stringy chicken girl??

Pity Party Pita: Boo-hoo! I'd feel sorry for myself too if all I had in the fridge was vodka, cat food, a package of 3-week-old bread, and a container of hummus. Look at your life, look at your choices. I think you're a 30-year-old woman who can't feed herself. For god's sake, take a cooking class and flirt with some chefs.

He Broke My Heart Blueberry Cobbler: Really?!? This is the guy were really planning to marry? He's been in jail 3 times! He should be kissing your feet that someone as good as you would even consider sleeping with him, and what does he do? Make you feel pathetic to give himself an ego boost. You can do better. Wake up!