Hidden In A Masquerade

Do you ever wonder what it would have been like to live hundreds of years in the past? Maybe in the Egyptian times, or medieval England, or the Italian renaissance. Well, that last one came true for Lucien Mulholland in British author Mary Hoffman’s first book in the Stravanagza series, City of Masks. Lucien, after falling asleep, is transported to a wondrous, and dangerous, place called Talia. Talia seems to be a parallel version of our Italy, and many things in this world are reversed, like they value silver, whereas we value gold. But, there are more disturbing things going on in this beautiful place.

Lucien has cancer, a pretty bad one, too.  He is bedridden and can’t go to school or see any of his friends. His cancer may be getting better, but Lucien still feels weak and somewhat lonely. One day his father brings home this marbled-covered notebook from some lady’s garage/take-what-you-want sale. Lucien in amazed by it, and when he falls asleep dreaming of lagoons and canals, he wakes up in Bellezza. Bellezza is a city, much like our own Venice, and he arrived on a sacred day where anyone who was not born in the city will be executed.

When he arrives he meets an island girl named Arianna who snuck onto the island to become one on the Duchessa’s gondoliers. But she is wearing a disguise, dressed like a boy, because it’s illegal for a girl to scull a gondolier. But by saving Lucien, and giving him her boy’s disguise, she has to wait another year before she can sneak on again. She quickly takes him to a public place and they talk over some light food. Arianna explains where he is and the significance of the day. He tells her that he in from Anglia, or England, and she tells him that he should go by Luciano instead, because it’s a native Talian name.

He is accidentally picked to be one of the gondoliers, instead of Arianna, which makes her furious and she leaves him. He is escorted to a room and falls asleep, only to wake to his own bedroom. At first he believes it’s a dream but, when he returns to the palazzo, he realizes it isn’t. Then, Signor Rodolfo, Senator of Bellezza, and a scientist, calls for Lucien to come to his laboratory. Rodolfo is a kind man who knows of Lucien’s abilities. This is where Lucien learns of stravagation, and is taken in under Rodolfo as his apprentice. But, he must do all the scientific work as well, to pass as an actual apprentice, but during the day he is free to explore the city with Arianna, who is given the punishment of spending awhile with her aunt in Bellezza.

This book is pretty good for all the sides of me. The little kid in me is fascinated by the concept of time travel and just going back to such a time period. The teenager in me loves the action, danger and the problems that Lucien is faced with every day, not only in his world, but in Talia, too. The adult in me loves listening to how life was back in this historical period, and how it affects his life in this world. I have grown to love some of these characters like Lucien, Arianna, and Guido; depending on where you are in your book and if you’ve found Guido. There is a lot of good writing in here, and it seems so far a good start in the stravaganza series.

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The Ultimate Cure

Sometimes I wonder how some people can still survive after everything they have been through. People go through horrible events like family death, horrific car or plane crashes, a medical disaster and they are still completely alive. Of course, a part of that person dies with whatever experience that occurred, but they make it through without being broken. This is what happens to Mia Pearlman in Margo Rabb’s novel, Cures for Heartbreak. In the book, Mia has just lost her mother to cancer within such a short time; twelve days. It shows how she recovers from the death, to coping with her broken family’s problems, and maybe a few of her own on top of that.

Mia and her mother got along so well. They were very common, unlike her sister who was more like their dad, and went on trips out of New York City to smaller towns to visit friends. They talked and were well-liked by each other. The book tells how she deals with some of the secrets of her mother before she died. Like how she had a secret love before her father, and how she found one of her old boyfriends before everything.  Mia learns that there was a lot she didn’t know about her mother, but that doesn’t make Mia miss her any less.

Mia’s dad was always a quiet man, and he never said much. Not even when Mia’s mother would scream at him to say something, he wouldn’t. But after her death, her father seems different. At first he has a medical emergency of his own just months after his wife’s death. Mia wonders for a while whether she will be an orphan in less than a few months. But her father turns out ok, but stays on an unusual health kick from then on and even gets involved with other people. Including a strange psychic named Sylvia. Mia wonders what he dad is getting into, but she finds out more than she bargained for.

Then, there is Sasha, a very-ill nineteen year old boy in the hospital. He shared a room with her father for a while, and she went to his 19th birthday party, solely because they shared a room. But she bonds with Sasha’s mother, Gigi, who seems too young and lively to be his mother. Mia and her sister, Alex, call him ‘cancer boy’, which seems pretty bad, but Mia actually might have a crush on him. But after he’s out of the hospital, Sasha goes on a trip to Europe, and isn’t back for quite some time. Mia at first thinks he’s dead, but she learns that he isn’t. She’s pretty happy about that.

This is a beautiful, heartbreaking, poignant novel. Everything I love about a story of forgiveness and learning to get through the hard times is in this book, and I loved every minute of it. It makes you want to reevaluate your life and family, and if you do, you’ll find that they aren’t all that bad, just a few flaws. If you think about what you’d do without them, though, you can probably say that you’re glad that you have them, no matter how bad they are to you. Family is a thing you can’t break, and I’m glad that Margo Rabb was able to put that message in such a smart, funny novel.

Cures for Heartbreak by Margo Rabb

RED’S ALL STAR REVIEW: 4/5 stars. It was such a funny, poignant novel; you can’t help but love it.

MASS APPEAL: Girls probably like it more, but it is good for those who have been through this kind of thing.

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Extraordinary Secrets and Lies

I am so sorry, readers! I seem to have been distracted by other things. So, BONUS! I’ll give you two blogs today! Okay, so for number one:

I have finished The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May & June by Robin Benway. Three sisters receive extraordinary gifts that enable them to some significant task, one that is unknown to them. April, the oldest, can see visions and dreams of the future.  May, the middle child, can vanish and June, the youngest, can read peoples’ minds. Together they try to find out the extends of their abilities and try to help each other.  But when things start to come between them, these sisters need to stay together or It could mean disaster, and the possibility of death for one of them, or someone their close to.

                April had visions of her with a boy she’d never met early on in the book. Soon after she met him and instantly thought that she was going crazy. But after confronting him and eating lunch with Julian, she feels a little better. She tells herself she is only going to hang out with him because she wants to keep an eye out for him after she saw him in the vision she had of June. But it seems that she is now really starting to like him, although she tries to hide it.

                Things are so complicated with Henry and May. When she was invisible, she heard him say to a group of people that he didn’t like her at all. This made her really sad and angry; at first it seems like she hates him because he’s a jerk, but then it’s obvious that it’s because she liked him. She’s so distressed by it that even when he calls her the next morning, she blows him off. Then May goes into hiding, literally. She barely comes out and it’s only when Henry shows up that her house that things get bad. But everything has to get bad before it can get good.

                June is completely out of control. She is out to be Mariah’s best friend, even though she may not even like Mariah. She uses peoples’ thoughts to turn Mariah on them, so she’ll like June more.  And it works, June ends up Mariah’s best friend, but that’s not exactly the best thing.  Mariah starts to skip school, and gets June to tag along, then she starts going to parties with Mariah and her drop-out, cheating boyfriend. June starts to do anything for popularity, even though April had warned her extensively. She’s also cutting herself out of the family by going out more, and not caring about her sisters. If she’s keeps doing it things will end badly.

                This book is such a 101 guide to high school.  If you’re like June, it warns about what happens to you when popularity becomes everything. If you’re like May, it warns what happens when you take yourself away from everything. There’s no way to be the perfect person in high school, but this is a pretty good way to see your flaws. I loved the book especially how you adds powers on top of regular high school problems, which makes life more difficult for them. It also teaches the power of family; that you can always count on them. It’s a good lesson that most teens need to hear.

The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May & June by Robin Benway

RED’S ALL STAR REVIEW: 3 ½ out of 5, if not more. A light, funny book that I enjoyed reading. Not a huge climatic scene or anything, but fun for a light read.

MASS APPEAL: Girls, pretty much only, but still a good book. It’s a funny fantasy super-power book crossed with normal teenage girl issues, so obviously a good read for teens.

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Keep Your Power Secret

What if one day you woke up and had superpowers? What would you do with them; how would you use them? Would you use them to your own advantage, or to help others? Would you be able to keep a normal life with them? This is the dilemma for sisters April, May and June.  In The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May & June by Robin Benway, these girls find themselves with abilities on a journey home from school. April, the eldest, can see the future in dreams and visions. May, the middle-child, can literally vanish in front of people. And the youngest, June, can read anyone’s mind. They start to disagree though, on how they are going to use these powers.

These abilities get them into a lot of trouble; combine that with the troubles of high school, and they’ve got quite a mess. April goes completely limp and can’t use her senses while she has a vision, so she automatically brings attention to herself.  The visions she sees are usually confusing, only making sense when they happen, often making them difficult to predict. She also sees some things that she’d rather not see, and tries to stop them from happening, but after a while, it’s clear that they will happen no matter what she does.  But still, a horrible vision of June keeps coming back, haunting April, and she’ll do anything to protect June.

May has so much difficulty with her powers, but in a different way. Being a middle-child, and already emotionally damaged, makes it easy for her to disappear from everyone and just hide. She hides from all her troubles, including the incredibly annoying June, the bossy April, her disappointing father, and most especially from Henry. He is her history tutor, and the opposite of her. He is always decked in Stanford gear, is a study bug and thinks she’s a slacker. She doesn’t seem to be a huge fan of him either, especially after a party goes wrong when he confesses something to a whole room of people.

June however, is the only sister who views the gifts as, well, gifts. She loves the fact she can read peoples’ minds, figure out their secrets and then use it to help her earn the respect of Miss popular, Mariah. She just wants to be popular and then she’ll finally be happy, or that’s what she says. Being liked is all that matters to her, not what she does to people. April and May are always telling June to be careful who her friends are, and that using your powers for your own benefit will come back at you later. June dismisses their ideas immediately and continues her selfish ways.

I’m currently halfway at chapter 11 on page 113. Its good so far, and it makes me wonder what I would do if I had powers like that. How would I use them and how would they affect my life? I am also fascinated with the characters themselves. I look at these characters and see them in real people that I know, minus the abilities. I, myself, find that I am slightly like May in the way that I am not popular and have no desire to be, and I hide from my feelings a lot. This book is the high school equivalent of X-men, and I’m enjoying every minute of it.