Overall rating: 3.38/5

 

Individual ratings:
You are the Prom Queen, Dance Dance Dance by Elizabeth Craft: 4/5
All She Wants by Cecily von Ziegesar: 2/5
In Vodka Veritas by Holly Black: 3/5
Your Big Night by Sarah Mlynowski: 3/5
Off Like a Prom Dress by Billy Merrell: 4/5
"Mom called, she says you have to go to prom" by Adrienne Maria Vrettos: 5/5
Better Be Good to Me by Daniel Ehrenhaft: 4/5
Three Fates by Aimee Friedman: 5/5
The Question: A Play in One Act by Brent Hartinger: 5/5
Shutter by Will Leitch: 2/5
Geechee Girls Dancin', 1955 by Jacqueline Woodson: 1/5 - really weird, couldn't finish
How I Wrote to Toby by E. Lockhart: 3/5
A Six-pack of Bud, a Fifth of Whisky, and Me by Melissa de la Cruz: 3/5
Primate the Prom by Libba Bray: 1/5
Apology #1 by Ned Vizzini: 3/5
See Me by Lisa Ann Sandell: 3/5
Prom for Fat Girls by Rachel Cohn: 4/5
Chicken by Jodi Lynn Anderson: 3/5
The Backup Date by Leslie Margolis: 4/5
Lost Sometimes by David Levithan: 4/5
The Great American Morp by John Green: 5/5

I thought this was a very sweet book in nature with a great concept. It's definitely a wonderful book for younger girls an adults. It shows how girls can do anything, and that you shouldn't let someone stereotype you because of your gender. It also shows a cute little love story and how the person who loves you most might not be who you expect it to be.

 

Elaine is the main character and she is a feisty thing, her best friend is Morgan, King Arthur's sister. Elaine meets Guinevere, who isn't as lovely as everyone thinks she is. Elaine and Guinevere are in love with the same guy, which adds to their troubles! It's up to these two girls to save the day, but they might not be able to work together. 

 

 

Now, before anyone jumps to conclusions, I didn’t necessarily hate this book. There were things that really made me upset and exasperated and that caused a lot of eye rolls, and everything else I was mostly indifferent to. So while I didn’t despise every moment of it, I was also given no reason to give it anything more.Continually, I seem to be disappointed by young adult Arthurian books. This one was incredibly inaccurate with character personalities, and what bothered me most was the ending relationship Elaine found herself in. It didn’t match, in any regard, any Arthurian legend I’ve ever read, and while I’m all for Elaine having a happier ending than the one she’s usually stuck with, only in a completely alternate universe could she be the way portrayed in this book. I was exasperated with the majority of this story, and it just made my disappointment worse to read the author’s note and learn how much Sandell loves Arthurian history, too. (In fact, I think I enjoyed the author’s note immensely more than the actual novel.)Read more?http://thaliasbooks.tumblr.com/post/36229498540/song-of-the-sparrow-review

I read Song of the Sparrow last year, but it’s only now that I’m posting my rating and review because, in truth, I was nervous. I have good friends who all seemed to fall into passionate, swoony love with Lisa Ann Sandell’s verse interpretation of the Lady of Shallott. And I.. did not. So I held off. Did I really want to be the lone lukewarm drop in the bucket of adoration? And maybe it was me. Maybe I was just a philistine with no literary taste. While reviewers and critics alike praise this book, I just didn’t feel the magic. After some thought, I suspect that verse novels are just not my particular “thing”. Like when my friends are talking about how aesthetically pleasing Gerard Butler is and I’m just sitting there with my ”Um, what?" face on. Or when people say that rocket is the best salad green, and I say “I hate rocket” and everyone goes quiet. (I have a complicated and ridiculous relationship with salad leaves, but that's a rant for another day). I feel a similar awkwardness in admitting that I don’t enjoy reading verse novels. As I read Song of the Sparrow, I remember having two very distinct, recurring thoughts. (1) “I wish this story was written in prose, not poetry” and (2) “I just want to be finished with this”. I’d flick forward to check how many pages I had left to read – not a good sign. I was loathe to give up and DNF it, because I thought that maybe, just maybe, I’d reach some incredible passage and see the light. Become a verse convert. Write a review testifying to the brilliance of this book. But I can’t. Don’t get me wrong – I think this is a good book. Very good, even. I enjoyed Sandell’s particular take on the characters and the way she wove threads of the original legends, myths and historical texts into her own richly imagined story. This more “realistic” take on King Arthur, Lancelot et al is definitely to my taste. Likewise, I appreciate that Sandell wrote strong, interesting female characters who took initiative and demonstrated courage. I liked the way she developed the relationship between Elaine and Gwynivere, from initial coldness and apparent antagonism to mutual respect and friendship. On the other hand, I found the romance between Elaine and Tristan very sweet, but not particularly compelling. Although, yes, I liked Tristan :) It may just be the history geek in me, but I wanted more detail. More battle, more blood, more description, more dialogue. Basically the elements that would appear in a work of historical fiction/fantasy, but don’t necessarily lend themselves to the flow and syntax of a story told in verse. To be honest, I found the rhythm of the poetry distracting rather than immersive. I can see why people adore this book, and if you’re a fan of verse novels, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this one. As for me? Well I’m sorry, verse novels (and rocket. And Gerard Butler.) It’s not you. It really is just me.

The implosion of a family after a death, and how it starts to come back together. There, the short summary. It doesn't really do justice to the book, though. Cora's troubled older brother Nate dies in a car crash, and her world stops. Her father withdraws completely. Her mother becomes a nightmare helicopter parent, thinking that virtually locking Cora up will, somehow, keep her safe from everything. Cora's best friend, Rachel, is pulling away from her to have a more clothes-and-boys filled high school. Both of her parents blame Damian, who was Nate's best friend, for his death: he was in the car with him, and he walked away, so it must be his fault. But when Rachel finds out that only Damian can give her the key to who her brother really was, her parents' hatred doesn't matter anymore.

This book just rang so true to me. I can believe Nate, and his reactions, and how his death shaped his family. Entirely true. I can believe Cora's coping mechanism, and I can believe her rebellion. And when Sandell sticks to the true core of the story, it's beautiful. But too often, she digresses. I skimmed more than a couple of paragraphs, wanting to get back to the meat of the story. But the core was just so wonderful that it kept me coming back for more.

The book doesn't tie up neatly at the end, and I greatly appreciate that. It isn't realistic that a family with this many problems could be healed overnight, and I probably would have been irritated if they had been. But there is growth here, and a new start, and that was enough for me.