Review: The Clearing

Book: The Clearing
Author: Heather Davis
Pages: 228
Published: April 12th 2010 by Graphia
Source: netGalley

Amy, a sixteen-year-old recovering from an abusive relationship, moves to the country to start a new life with her aunt–all she wants is for everything to be different. In the clearing at the back of Aunt Mae’s property, she makes an amazing discovery—Henry, a boy stuck in the endless summer of 1944. Henry and his world become Amy’s refuge and she begins to learn that some moments are worth savoring. But when the past and present come crashing together, both of them must find the courage to face what is meant to be, even if it means losing each other forever.

I have been looking forward to this book since I first heard about it (and that was a while ago, okay?) and I was so excited when I finally got it. I was a little worried at first -- The Clearing got mixed reviews from a lot of the blogs I've seen, but I had nothing to worry about.

So I was really impressed with how I immediately got a sense of both Amy and Henry's characters from their alternating perspectives. I felt so extremely sad for Amy; I can't imagine what it would be like to have to deal with an abusive relationship and still be so…well, I can't exactly say hopeful, because that's not really what she was, but I don't think she lost herself. She frustrated me a few times, but I think that was just her being stubborn. Henry was such a sweet guy, I completely loved him and the way he helped 'fix' Amy, in a sense, after what happened to her.

I thought that their relationship could have been a bit better developed. It was so sweet and pure, but I thought that a lot of their relationship was them apart, longing for one another. I was really interested in Henry's eternal summer thing -- it confused me a lot at first, I had a bit of trouble keeping up, but luckily that got cleared up later on, though I do wish that it had been explained better nearer to the beginning. I thought the plot was evenly paced, and I think my favorite parts were the ones with the clearing (kinda obvious, I guess). The ending…oh my god, it broke my heart and made me so extremely happy at the same time. I think it's amazing when an author can do that to you.

The Clearing was an impressive book and I'll definitely be looking out for any future novels of Heather Davis's, as well as her previous book, Never Cry Werewolf.

Overall: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Cover: I love this cover. It's so beautiful and simple! The colors are amazing and I love how the red dress that Amy's wearing stands out (it really is actually quite significant in the book) against the paler colors. I love the font and the boy at the bottom over there (Yeah, I didn't see it at first either), who I assume is Henry. Gorgeous!

Review: Nothing But Ghosts

Book: Nothing But Ghosts
Author: Beth Kephart
Pages: 288
Published: June 23rd, 2009 by HarperTeen
Source: Bought copy

Ever since her mother passed away, Katie's been alone in her too-big house with her genius dad, who restores old paintings for a living. Katie takes a summer job at a garden estate, where, with the help of two brothers and a glamorous librarian, she soon becomes embroiled in decoding a mystery. There are secrets and shadows at the heart of Nothing but Ghosts: symbols hidden in a time-darkened painting, and surprises behind a locked bedroom door. But most of all, this is a love story—the story of a girl who learns about love while also learning to live with her own ghosts.

General Overview: I loved the idea of this painting holding the key to the mystery. I found that so cool! When I was younger, my dad always used to take me to museums and I'd imagine hidden codes and secret passageways hidden within paintings. The whole mystery of this woman having disappeared for so long was intriguing, and I thought Beth Kephart executed it very well.

Characters: Katie was an interesting, complex character. You get this sense of grief around her, because of her mother, and yet there are these little moments when you almost feel like everything is going to be normal again. She wasn't a particularly brave or adventurous heroine, but I thought that she was extremely intelligent and mature for her age. I liked that she wasn't obsessed with boys or make up or clothes like so many other teenagers in books are -- that was refreshing for a change. I thought she could've been a little more developed -- there were times when her mother became more alive than she was, which you see through Katie's flashbacks.

Plot: So, this is a mystery. And you definitely get that element. Some parts do tend to drag a bit, those few parts where they're just digging, but other than that I thought that the plot was always kept alive by this whole missing-persons mystery. I thought the mystery element, while still pretty good, could have been executed better. Usually, when the hero/heroine solves the case, I get this feeling of satisfaction like "YES! OMG! I KNEW IT!" or "OMG I DID NOT SEE THAT COMING!", but for NBG, I felt like the mystery wasn't very well developed. I didn't get that satisfied feeling. I couldn't understand how she suddenly solved it, and it took me a while to figure that out.

Writing: Beth Kephart writes in a way that absorbs the reader and leaves some things to the imagination instead of just telling you everything. A lot of books are like that, but NBG was absolutely not. I especially loved the flashback scenes; those were gorgeously described and written flawlessly.

Cover: This cover isn't really what interested me at first. I don't really get what significance the window and the curtain has to the story, but I thought it was a nice cover all the same -- it just didn't contain that WOW factor that really makes you stop and walk back to take a second look.

Overall: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Review: The Help

Book: The Help
Author: Kathryn Stockett
Pages: 451
Published: February 10th, 2009 by Putnam Adult

Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step...
Aibileen is a black maid in 1962 Jackson, Mississippi, raising her seventeenth white child. She's always taken orders quietly, but lately it leaves her with a bitterness she can no longer bite back. Her friend Minny has certainly never held her tongue, or held on to a job for very long, but now she's working for a newcomer with secrets that leave her speechless. and white socialite Skeeter has just returned from college with ambition and a degree, but, to her mother's lament, no husband. Normally Skeeter would find solace in Constantine, the beloved maid who raised her, but Constantine has inexplicably disappeared.
Together, these seemingly different women join to work on a project that could forever alter their destinies and the life of a small town -- to write, in secret, a tell-all book about what it's really like to work as a black maid in the white homes of the South. Despite the terrible risks they will have to take, and the sometimes humorous boundaries they will have to cross, these three women unite with one intention: hope for a better day.

General Overview: An enlightening, touching book. I don't normally read books like that, but I'd just heard so many good things about it that I had to -- and now I'm glad I did. It made me appreciate so many of the things in my life and the people in it.

Characters: The characterization in The Help was flawless. I connected with all three of the narrators and I hated Hilly! Jeez that woman really irritated me. I wanted to slap her in the face. The characters' each had such a distinct voice, and they were as different as different could be but yet they became friends anyway, despite social boundaries and even certain laws. I loved how deeply I was able to feel with these characters and how passionately I was able to hate some of them.

Plot: There were a few times when this book dragged, I will admit. I felt myself losing interest a couple times, but luckily Kathryn Stockett intrigued me again by throwing in a plot twist or some new atrocity that captured my attention. I was worried about how this book would end; there were a number of ways this book could've ended, but I think Stockett chose the best way for each of the narrators to end their narrations in this book.

Writing: Some of the words in this book are written phonetically, particularly the narrations of Minny and Aibileen, but I thought that added more dynamic to the book and made it more unique. I had no problem understanding it and I felt like Stockett was so able at making her characters and her ideas stand out. I could imagine what living in Jackson, Mississippi, would be like, for both whites and blacks and I didn't like it at all, I think that's the way Stockett wanted her reader to feel.

Cover: I think it's kind of passable, but its simplicity contradicts the complexity of the story and that was interesting for me. I like how there are three birds that could be interpreted as our narrators: two of them are darker, and close together on one end of the stick, while the third is pale and on the opposite end, yet you see them moving closer together. Very symbolic.

Overall: 3.5 out of 5 stars