Good Reads & Views

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang
Fiction

What it’s about: Stella’s a star at work, but her parents are starting to pressure her to get married. Because she’s on the autism spectrum, she finds relationships to be daunting. So she hires a male escort to help her practice romance and sex, and she falls in love with him.

Why you should read it: This book has had a lot of buzz this summer. It’s a fun, steamy romance in which two people who might never have met otherwise discover how much they have in common. The author discovered she herself was on the autism spectrum after her daughter was diagnosed.

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Geekerella by Ashley Poston
YA Fiction

What it’s about: In this retelling of Cinderella, Elle blogs about “Starfield,” her favorite science fiction show, and she’s not happy with the casting of a teen heartthrob as Prince Carmindor in the movie reboot. When a mystery guy starts texting her by mistake about an upcoming Starfield convention, they start chatting online and fall for one another…but what will happen when she finds out the mystery guy is the new Prince Carmindor himself?

Why you might like it: This is a funny and breezy read. Although the story may seem familiar at times, it’s got enough twists to keep it entertaining, especially with Elle and her coworker, Sage, on the vegan fritter food truck, The Magic Pumpkin.

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Yvain, The Knight of the Lion by M. T. Anderson
YA Fiction

In the days of knights and castles, Yvain is a swashbuckling knight of King Arthur’s Round Table who runs into trouble when he breaks a promise to his wife. A ferocious lion is his sidekick. He is suicidal until he finds a damsel in distress who gives him a cause that gives his life meaning. This graphic novel takes the famous medieval classic and turns it into a reader-friendly, if gory, story. This is an adaptation of Chrétien de Troyes’s 13th century work that greatly defined the developing fantasy genre known as “romance,” which is not today’s meaning of romance in literature. You have here all the elements of medieval romance: swordplay, courtly love (and the obligatory cruel lady), chivalry, knights errant, ladies in need of rescue, tournaments, adventure, horses. Lots of horses. And a lion. Imagine Medieval Times® with a more complicated, drawn out plot.

Me Before You by JoJo Moyes
Fiction

This is an intimate love story of Will Traynor and Louisa “Lou” Clark. Will is suddenly restricted to a wheelchair after suffering a bad accident. Lou is hired to take care of Will despite her lack of experience. Lou makes it her job and mission to find adventures to give Will a reason to live, after overhearing he has agreed to an arranged suicide in 6 months. The story is very funny and moving but never predictable. The plot contains a number of surprises and raises thoughtful and provoking questions about assisted suicide.

The Royal We by Heather Cocks
Fiction

American girl Bex goes to Oxford and winds up dating heir to the throne Prince Nicholas. Sure, the plot has been done before, but this story is set apart by the details (which will remind readers in some ways of a certain royal wedding a few  years ago). As Bex and Nick bond over bad TV and banter over improper things, they slowly grow to care for one another. But can Bex put aside her party girl ways and grow into her role as a possible princess? And can Nick set aside his views on what’s proper and declare his love for her in public? Can their love survive under the microscope of a media constantly trying to find ways to trip them up? Inquiring minds will definitely want to know.

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

YA Fiction

 

This paranormal romance is the first in Maggie Stiefvater's Wolves of Mercy Falls series. Grace has always been entranced by the wolves that live behind her house, especially since one of them saved her from an attack by the others when Grace was a child. When a teenage boy shows up, wounded and naked, on her back porch with the same yellow eyes as "her wolf," the two quickly form an inseparable bond. Unfortunately, time is short, and Sam struggles to retain his human form as the days turn colder and winter approaches. The tension mounts in this suspenseful, lyrically written novel, as other werewolves threaten Mercy Falls.

Emerald Green (The Ruby Red trilogy #3) by Kerstin Gier
YA Fiction

The Ruby Red series began as Gwyneth discovered that she had inherited her family’s time traveling gene. Each day she and the other time traveler, Gideon, are sent back in time to elapse, but strange things are going on in the Circle, and Gwyneth is in way over her head.
I'm not sure why this series is so addicting to me. The main character, Gwyneth, is kind of flaky and overemotional, the dialog is often confusing, the action is frenetic and the plot has some holes. I could do without a number of the cutesy minor characters that clutter the scenes and with a lot less of the melodrama that consumes Gwyneth’s attention. I wish the author spent more time instead showing what Gwyneth notices as she time travels each day -- smells, odd vehicles or whatever. Maybe it’s the wish fulfillment of time traveling in gorgeous clothes and attending soirees with a dashing young man that keeps me reading. In any case, it’s a quick, fluffy read.

Belle Epoque by Elizabeth Ross
YA Fiction

This YA novel is based on an Emile Zola story called Les Repoussoirs (The Foils). Young Maude Pichon escapes an arranged marriage and flees to Paris near the turn of the century, where she witnesses such marvels as the construction of the Eiffel Tower and visits cafes and art exhibitions. She struggles to survive on wages from low-paying jobs until she answers an ad for young ladies… then discovers it’s an agency which hires out ugly women to rich ladies as beauty foils to make them look better by comparison! I enjoyed this tale of a young woman falling into work that makes her a comfortable living but makes her uncomfortable otherwise. I got a sense of where the story was headed so it wasn't a huge surprise, but I still liked the characters of Maude and the friends she meets in this unusual occupation.

A Week To Be Wicked by Tessa Dare
Fiction

This book is laugh out loud funny -- a combination of a Regency romance and “It Happened One Night.” Minerva wants her discovery of a dinosaur footprint to be received at a geology conference in Edinburgh, and she’s willing to ruin her reputation by running off with Lord Payne (Colin Sandhurst) to do it ... if she can talk Payne into the idea. Payne’s a rake who bears emotional scars from the carriage accident that claimed the lives of his parents and has planned never to marry. Although their travel plans keep going awry, these two find things to admire in one another and fall in love. But can they make it to the conference on time?

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
YA Fiction

I loved this book. Eleanor’s life revolves around being bullied at school and staying as far from her abusive stepfather as she can. Park’s half-Korean heritage sets him apart from others at his Omaha high school, and he can't always see eye-to-eye with his macho dad. Eleanor is starting at a new school and ends up sitting next to Park on the bus. Their relationship builds slowly over the comic books and music they share, but the language describing their growing feelings for one another broke my heart it was so fresh and beautiful. Theirs is a star-crossed relationship but a hopeful one too.