I hereby confess: I am a member of one of the most infamous secret societies in the world.

So begins Diana Peterfreund's debut novel, Secret Society Girl, a hilarious look at what happens when 176 years of society traditions are suddenly turned upside down.

Eli University junior Amy Haskel isn't surprised when she begins receiving mysterious phone calls instructing her to be in a certain place at a certain time; it's Spring, the time when the senior secret societies on campus begin tapping members for the next class. As editor-in-chief of the literary magazine, she is a shoo-in to be tapped by Quill and Ink, the literary society. Yet from the moment she arrives for her interview, she realizes something is not right; this is far too cloak-and-dagger for Quill and Ink. The truth comes out when Tap Night arrives: Amy has been selected to join Rose and Grave, the oldest and most elite of the societies- and the only one known to still accept only males. Amy is one of six women chosen to join Rose and Grave; yet no sooner is her tap class initiated, then problems arise between the tap class, the seniors who tapped them, and the patriarchs who feel that women should not be included in their society. Amy, never one to mince words, finds herself at odds with some of the most powerful men in the country- and living to tell the tale.

I read this book last year, but recently re-read it when the third book in the series was released. And I enjoyed it on the re-read just as much as I did the first time. Amy is hilarious as a narrator, and her realization that she was tapped not for Quill and Ink, but for Rose and Grave, is particularly humorous given some of the comments she makes during her pre-tap interview. And some of her assumptions about the society are a tad outrageous, many of them based on rumors she'd heard about the Diggers before she became one. And Amy herself is quite likable; she's smart (as is true of all Eli students, seeing as the name change is about the only difference between Eli and Yale University), and the implication is that she's pretty, but she also doesn't know when to shut up, and is something of a conspiracy theorist. As she says, she's pretty ordinary compared to some of the other taps; some of them only come along once in awhile. But she's also loyal to her friends and fellow taps, and occasionally, she manages to come through in a big way.

This is my favorite kind of "chick lit"- the kind with a bit of an adventure and mystery to go along with the girl-power. Amy is a fun character and narrator, and there's an interesting mix of stock characters and unexpected characters rounding out the rest of the cast (Amy's society big brother Malcolm, the misanthropic Poe, and socialite Clarissa make up some of my favorites). This was a fun summer read, and I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a relaxing summer read.

Rating: 3 stars
Pages: 291
Publisher, ISBN: Delta Trade Paperbacks, 9780440243892
888 Category: Re-reads

Tags: 50 books 2007, 888, authors: l-p, fiction, fiction: contemporary, review, stars: 3, titles: q-u
Current Music: U2 - All I Want is You

Wow, I am way behind on my updates for this journal. I haven't been reading as much as I would like this year, but I've finished three books in the two weeks since the spring semester has been over. So now I've completed nine for the year. I need to get on it!

Books Four and Five: Pride and Prescience and Suspense and Sensibility, Carrie Bebris (reviewed together because they are a series)

Pride and Prescience begins just as Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy are married at the end of Pride and Prejudice. They are eager to begin their lives together at Pemberley (along with Darcy's sister Georgiana), but it is not to be. Just a few short days after their wedding, Caroline Bingley surprises everyone with the announcement of her engagement to an American (whose name I can't remember now because it's been several months since I read the novel), and their equally sudden wedding. Caroline seems genuinely happy, and her husband appears to love her very much. However, Caroline soons begin acting out of character: wandering down disreputable London streets in the middle of the night, completely senseless as to her whereabouts. She seems depressed, and is even found one night in the kitchen with her wrists slit. Caroline and her husband return to Netherfield Hall in an attempt to alleviate Caroline's sudden problems, and Elizabeth and Darcy join them at Jane and Bingley's request. However, problems follow them all to Netherfield, and Elizabeth works to solve the mystery of these strange occurences before things get out of control. In Suspense and Sensibility, Darcy and Elizabeth are sponsoring a season in London for Georgiana and Kitty Bennet. At one event, Kitty is mistaken for Georgiana several times over, including by Harry Dashwood, Elinor and Marianne's young nephew from Sense and Sensibility. By this time he is all grown up, and a bit of a rake (in the style of Beau Brummel, of course). In spite of the misunderstanding regarding Kitty's identity, he appears to be genuinely interested in her, and begins to mature and behave more like Darcy. However, after he has proposed to Kitty, his behavior reverts drastically, and he becomes portly, old, and more of a rakehell than ever in the span of a few weeks. Once again, it is up to Elizabeth to solve Harry's strange behavior and stop him from embarassing the Darcy name.

I was a bit hesitant with these because I fear Jane Austen sequels: the back cover summaries of most are character assassination enough for me, thank you very much. But these mysteries are more in the style of Stephanie Barron's Jane Austen mysteries than they are anything written by Linda Berdoll or Emma Tennant. No bodice ripping or out-of-character behavior. The books are definitely mysteries, and they have elements of the supernatural, which differentiates them from Austen's work, but they aren't horrid. Bebris nails the personalities, and her use of Austen's style of language doesn't seem pretentious. As a member of JASNA (Jane Austen Society of North America), Bebris seems to respect the novels on which hers are based. There is a third book to this series, North by Northanger, but I haven't yet read it. I believe Darcy and Elizabeth encounter Frederick Tilney, older brother of Henry and Eleanor, and I do intend to read it someday.

Grades:
Pride and Prescience: B
Suspense and Sensibility: B

Book Six: The Prada Paradox, Julie Kenner

The Prada Paradox is the concluding novel of Julie Kenner's Play.Survive.Win. trilogy, which began with The Givenchy Code and The Manolo Matrix, both of which I read last year. In these novels, unsuspecting people are thrown into a real-life version of an online game, Play.Survive.Win. In PSW, there are three roles: the target, the protector, and the assassin. The target and his/her protector must work to solve a series of clues in order to keep from being killed by the assassin (who essentially follows the target and protector around Manhattan until they are called off). Prada is a bit different in that the heroine, Devi Taylor, never played the online version of the game: rather, she is an actress starring in the movie version of the first story, The Givenchy Code. Also, her adventure takes place not in Manhattan, but in Los Angeles. Together with the events of Givenchy and Manolo, Prada ties together the loose ends and solves the puzzle of just who brought the online fantasy into the real world and why certain people were targeted.

On the whole, I really enjoyed this book for what it was: an escapist romp. It's like Kenner tried to write a story about what would happen if online games like World of Warcraft or EverQuest came to real-life (without the fantasy, of course). It was gratifying to see this story come to an end after having read the first two novels. I understood them, but I didn't fully get it until the end. It's definitely important to read the first two novels first, otherwise it doesn't necessarily make sense. And it wasn't high literature; this was definitely chick lit (which I've read a lot of in the last few years, I'm ashamed to admit), but it was a good read. Beachworthy.

Grade: B-

Book Seven: Wideacre, Philippa Gregory

I bought this book in early 2005 (like, January 2nd) on a trip to Borders when Christen and Christine were here. It sat on my shelves for a long time before I finally decided it was time to read it. All I can say is wow. I don't think I've ever read a book with a character as selfish and conniving as Beatrice Lacey. Beatrice was raised by her father to love the land and her estate in southern England, Wideacre. She learns all there is to know about running the estate, and the best way to do so. Her older brother Harry has no interest in the land as a child, spending all his time indoors reading with his mother- definite gender reversal. However, in the end, it is disinterested Harry who will inherit the land, not Beatrice. This revelation does not please Beatrice, who will stop at nothing to retain power over the land. Beatrice and her lover Ralph, the gamekeeper's lad from the village, conspire to murder her father, but once the deed is done, Beatrice attempts to murder Ralph. From there, she spins a treacherous web of deep deception that includes incest, false imprisonment, theft, and murder, all to maintain control of Wideacre and will it to her children. However, her web unravels faster than she can spin it or repair it, and the consequences are dire.

I have to say, the reality of Wideacre is not what I was expecting when I bought this book two years ago. Having read only the back cover, I wasn't really prepared for what I would find. Beatrice is unscrupulous. In some ways, evil is not a strong enough word for her. And yet, I oddly found myself liking her. I wanted things to end well for her. It was odd. The whole of the novel is sexually charged, yet the scenes weren't as explicit as they could have been, given the circumstances. I did find myself skimming the parts that dealt with incest, which happened a little more than I would have liked. At some points, it was only curiosity to see what Beatrice would do next that kept me reading, but in the end, I really did find the story compelling. Though the thought of more incest scares me, I do plan to read the concluding novels of the trilogy: The Favored Child and Meridon. This story is not for the faint of heart, though, so be forewarned when reading it.

Grade: B

Book Eight: The Truth About Forever, Sarah Dessen

Sarah Dessen was a bit of an accidental discovery for me. I've been weeding the young adult fiction section at work of books that are older and tired, and I came across The Truth About Forever. It intrigued me, and so I checked it out. I am now a devoted fan of Sarah Dessen. Macy Queen has a rather dull summer to look forward to: a job at the library with antagonistic coworkers (though I admit I resented the implication about library employees), her Perfect boyfriend is away at "Brain Camp," and her mother is on an all-consuming quest to avoid facing her grief about the death of her husband (Macy's father). Then she meets the crew of Wish, a catering company that works one of her mother's dinners. Macy, who never does anything impulsively. takes a job with them, and changes as a result of her association with them. In particular, Kristy and Wes are major influences on her, and it is through their friendship that Macy realizes that her life is lacking forthright honesty.

I LOVED this book. Loved it, loved it, loved it. So much so that in the week since I read it, I've purchased it. One of the things I've noticed about young adult literature is that the characters aren't always real. So many of the books being published for this market are about spoiled rich kids (The A-List, Gossip Girl, The IT Girl and The Clique series all seem to focus on these horrible, spoiled children, and it makes me sad that these books are what teens are reading. Though Macy and her mother are well-off, Macy is a real character with real issues and insecurities. Nor is Macy the alienated "I have no friends and I'm so misunderstood" type. She's one of the most real young adult characters I've read in a long time. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys good young adult literature.

Grade: A

Book Nine: Just Listen, Sarah Dessen

Just Listen is another great novel by Sarah Dessen. Annabel Greene, long driven by her desire to be nice, is beginning her school year on a rather low note: after a summer in which she sequestered herself from all of her friends, she arrives back at school to her former best friend Sophie calling her a slut. Over the course of the novel, Dessen gradually reveals what caused the end of Annabel and Sophie's friendship. At the same time, Annabel develops a friendship with Owen Armstrong, a music-obsessed classmate who doesn't believe in telling anything but the absolute truth, even at the cost of being nice.

This book, read within days of my having read The Truth About Forever, basically solidified my love of Sarah Dessen. It was a quick read, and when everything was said and done, I feel like Dessen made Annabel's struggles and frustrations incredibly believable. One of the things I like about her novels is that the ending is sort of open. Not that it would lead to a sequel, but just that the possibilities for her characters are endless. I didn't love this book as much as I loved The Truth About Forever, but I did like it rather a lot.

Grade: A-

~*~*~

Pages Read this Year: 3559

Up Next: I'm currently reading On Chesil Beach, by Ian McEwan (who I love and adore above almost all others), and I would guess that I'll probably have a lot more Sarah Dessen to read and review.

Tags: 50 books 2007, review: 2007

It's been a good year and a half since I last updated this journal and the reading lists that go along with it. But I decided that I wanted to make a fresh start in 2007, and start updating this journal again.

My goal for 2007 is to read 50 books I've never read before. Type doesn't matter; I will read fiction and non-fiction alike. In addition to reading 50 books, I am also keeping track of the number of pages I've read. I'm not participating in the 15000 page challenge, just interested in seeing how many pages I've read. Additionally, I'll actually grade the books based on my opinion of them. Don't say you weren't warned.

With all that said, here are my first reviews of 2007.

Books One, Two, and Three: The Secret History of the Pink Carnation, The Masque of the Black Tulip, and The Deception of the Emerald Ring, Lauren Willig
(reviewed together because they are a series)

Admittedly, these books satisfied the need to read something mindless and fun after the holidays. American graduate student Eloise Kelly is in London researching English spies during the Napoleonic Wars: the Scarlet Pimpernel, the Purple Gentian, and the Pink Carnation. The Pimpernel and the Gentian had long been unmasked by the French, but the identity of the Pink Carnation was never revealed, and Eloise is determined to be the one to do so. The narrative slips back and forth between 1803 and the twenty-first century, with Eloise's story taking a background to the story of Richard Selwick and Amy Balcourt in The Pink Carnation, Henrietta Selwick and Miles Dorrington in The Black Tulip, and Geoff Pinchingdale and Letty Alsworthy in The Emerald Ring.

These books teetered dangerously close to being the traditional romances that I patently despise. There was in fact actual bodice-ripping, which made me doubt my own judgement as a reader at times. I will say, however, that these scenes were kept to a minimum (The Black Tulip and The Emerald Ring were far better at this than The Pink Carnation, though). I wouldn't recommend these books to purely intellectual readers; one has to suspend belief quite a bit. It's hard to believe that any of the characters involved would know anything about spying, let alone be successful at it. The behavior of the characters is also indicative of behavior more of Lydia Bennet than Elizabeth Bennet (and considering that I adore Lizzy with all my heart, this is something of a condemnation). However, the premise is intriguing, and while the characters do have moments when they are insipid and annoying, for the most part they are likeable. Willig's writing improved as the novels went on, but at times I felt that a lot of what she was saying was forced and cliched.

Grades:
The Pink Carnation:C+
The Black Tulip: B
The Emerald Ring: B-

Number of pages read this year: 1235

Tags: 50 books 2007, review: 2007
Current Mood: relaxed
Current Music: Evanescence- Snow White Queen