The Movie Version

The Movie Version by Emma Wunsch
On Sale October 11, 2016 by Amulet Books
Rating: ★★

"Terrific? That's not how to describe Toby. He's charming and brilliant and bright and shiny. Toby is the movie star is his own movie! In all our movies!"

Amelia hero-worships her older brother, Toby, and always has. But here's the thing about building idols: when they falter, your world might come crashing down along with them. For Amelia, this moment comes when her brother starts exhibiting signs of a serious mental illness. She finds herself entirely unprepared to deal with the new reality.

In fact, most of this book is about Amelia unable to deal with Toby no longer being her cool big brother any more. That's because Amelia is an incredibly self-centered and immature character. It's obvious there's something wrong with Toby, but instead of being concerned about him, she whines about how she can't show him off properly to her new boyfriend. And that brings me to the romance portion of the book, which is awful. Amelia and Epstein have no chemistry together. She barely likes him, but she "loves" him, and they have sex... because. The sex scenes are incredibly uncomfortable and awkward. And it never seems to stop, because Amelia is constantly reminding us about it.

I didn't feel like this book had much of an ending, because nothing transformative happened. Amelia is still disappointed in Toby over something he can't control, and seems little more at peace with his illness than where she started. The only character who grew on me was Ray, Amelia's best friend, and she was the lone one in the book who put aside her own feelings to help someone else. Unfortunately, Amelia's parents are as self-centered as she is and deal with Toby's illness just about as well.

I'm not against showing drug use in YA books, but pot is pervasive in this book. It reinforces the stereotype that pot smokers are lazy bums disinterested in life, because none of these characters seemed to have any passions or plans for their future. I also grew tired of hearing about how Amelia didn't have her driver's license yet. It's mentioned about a million times throughout the book. Apparently, if you're not at the DMV the second you turn 16, there's something wrong with you.

The synopsis of this book is really misleading. I know mental illness is a popular theme in YA right now, but its one I mostly avoid. And I was disappointed in how this book used such a serious topic as a plot device. Poor Toby.

The Couple Next Door

The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena

Published by Pamela Dorman Books

On Sale Starting August 23 2016

Rating: ★★

I've read this book before.

Well, ok, not this book, but I've read many of its fraternal twins, and the gene pool is starting to feel a bit shallow to me.

The Couple Next Door has an interesting hook: a six month old baby disappears from her crib while her parents are next door at a dinner party. It reminded me of the Madeline McCann case, and I was interested to see how the plot would develop. However, reading this book was at times like playing thriller bingo. The couple that seems perfect from the outside but is hiding deep, dark secrets? Check. A hyper-emotional, weak-willed woman who struggles with basic life skills and is increasingly made to feel unattractive and irrelevant by her seemingly loving husband? Yep. A cast of unlikable characters and a local police force that can't solve its way out of a wet paper bag? You bet.

But this book has problems beyond being derivative. The story starts strong, but deteriorates as it progresses. The writing is lackluster. Marco is a uniquely unsympathetic character, and I was so disappointed at the author's decision to portray him as a victim. What had the potential to be a compelling plot dissolves into a macho pissing match between Marco and his father-in-law. Poor, missing baby Cora gets lost in the fray. While this book certainly isn't horrible, it's impossible for me to recommend when there are so many other, similar thrillers that are executed better.

New Release: Frayed

I'll just cut to the chase: I didn't like this book. However, I decided to include a review for it on my blog, because I think it's a good example of how a "surprise ending" isn't always a something to strive for. You won't see the final twist in this book coming. But it's a surprise in the vein of surprise! your sister was actually killed by an intergalactic assassination force or surprise! your sister is really still alive and ran off to join the Israeli army. I can't give away the ending, of course, but I can say the author invoked a mental illness that remains controversial and debated to this day, which was another problem I had.

A good ending to a thriller has to have bread crumbs. Readers have to have a *chance* of guessing it. Now, if everyone foresees the twists and turns, that's a concern. But it's all a concern if no one could possibly. For me, the best-selling Girl on a Train is a good example of how a story can still be masterful and page-turning without a shock ending.

Title: Frayed
Author: Kara Terzis
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Release Date: 6/1/16
Version Reviewed: digital ARC courtesy of NetGalley
Rating: ★★

This book starts with a girl writing a letter to her murdered sister. For the most part, it goes on to be exactly what you'd expect from the genre. There's the dead sister who was hiding all sorts of secrets. There's the twin pillars of the bad boy who isn't all that bad and the good boy who isn't all that good. And, of course, an incompetent police force. Added to the mix is a criminally sophisticated girl gang that's also kind of cultish. The ending twist comes out of left field and is implausible. The author is young, this is a debut novel, and there is definite potential here. I just don't think this was ready for publication.