North of Beautiful by Justina Chen

As he continued to stare, I wanted to point to my cheek and remind him, But you were the one who wanted this, remember? You're the one who asked-and I repeat-Why not fix your face? 

It's hard not to notice Terra Cooper.

She's tall, blond, and has an enviable body. But with one turn of her cheek, all people notice is her unmistakably "flawed" face. Terra secretly plans to leave her stifling small town in the Northwest and escape to an East Coast college, but gets pushed off-course by her controlling father. When an unexpected collision puts Terra directly in Jacob's path, the handsome but quirky Goth boy immediately challenges her assumptions about herself and her life, and she is forced in yet another direction. With her carefully laid plans disrupted, will Terra be able to find her true path?

Written in lively, artful prose, award-winning author Justina Chen Headley has woven together a powerful novel about a fractured family, falling in love, travel, and the meaning of true beauty.

My Thoughts:
Something bothered me about this book. The whole time I was reading it I felt wary. Maybe I was expecting something else to happen. Everything that did happen, though, was just so ordinary. So normal. 

Our main character, Terra, has a large birthmark on her face. People stare at it. She gets made fun of. She feels it defines her. This made me kind of mad because a) she's able to hide it with makeup so no one sees it anyway and b) WHY SHOULD THAT DEFINE HER???

I've grown up with multiple moles on my face. People stare at them. People ask about them. And then they leave it alone. Granted, mine don't take up half my face, but I feel like a birthmark just isn't a huge obstacle. A missing limb or something, sure. Her friend with the cleft palette, yeah. But a birthmark that she's perfectly capable of covering up? I just don't have much sympathy for her, I guess. Especially since half of this book is dedicated to theme that beauty is only skin deep. Which is a pretty played-out theme. 

The whole storyline with her parents, though, was really quite interesting to read. Terra's dad was just an all-around jerk and made his entire family cower before him and feel really insecure. The way that Chen was able to flesh-out his character without giving too much away was beautifully done. And Terra's mother as well; we learned a lot about her and how her mind works but it was done fairly subtly. The way Chen tackles the subject of cruel words and their effects on others was very well done. I understood why Terra's mom stayed with her dad. I understood why Terra stayed with a boyfriend she didn't really care about. It made sense and it was very well thought-out and applied. And now this review is sounding very much like it was a school assignment. I don't what it is, exactly, but something about this book makes me want to be super formal. Allow me to rectify that:

Ok, so Justina Chen writes a decent, well-developed character (all except for Jacob, who felt just a bit flat). But reading this book felt like she'd just swallowed a few too many encyclopedia entries about maps. There was map terminology all over the place and references to famous mapmakers and discussions about elements on maps. I mean, it was everywhere. By the end of the book this theme felt a bit played-out. More than a bit. I did actually learn a lot about maps, not being a map person myself, but I started getting irritated when an interesting fact popped up about maps. Even if it was interesting. Does that make sense? Probably not. The art thing was almost the same way. Almost. But I like art more than maps so that aspect made more sense to me.

I picked up this book originally looking for a cute Christmas read. The first half of the book takes place around Christmas but the latter half of the book is a long, cathartic vacation through China. That has nothing to do with Christmas. The fact that I wanted a Christmas read and only got half of what I wanted may have also tainted my feelings toward it. But I understand the appeal, even it didn't completely appeal to me. This book was pretty clean and it tackled themes of inner beauty and outer beauty and the effects of words and insecurity and discovering self. I would totally recommend this to teenage girls.

Sexual Content: Mild (kissing and a vague impression that characters had sex at some indeterminate point)
Language: Mild
Violence: Mild
Drugs/Alcohol: Mild

French Kissmas by Cathy Hapka

For Nicole Larson, the Christmas season in Paris is more than just a romantic interlude—it’s also a homecoming. Nic studied abroad in Paris a year ago, and is back in town with her friend Annike to spend Christmas and New Year’s in the City of Light. Of course, now that Nic is there, the chemistry she once had with Parisian hottie Luc instantly reignites. But why fuel a romance that has only three weeks to survive? Nic would rather spend time with her new buddy Mike . . . until it becomes clear that Mike is also interested in being more than just friends. With a backdrop of twinkling lights on the Champs-Elysées and Parisian Christmas carols, it’s going to be difficult for Nic to deny the romance around her.

My Thoughts:
I picked this up because I was looking for a cute Christmas read. This just wasn't. Cute, I mean. It is a Christmas book. Young people studying abroad at Christmas time. Sure. And apparently it's a sequel, which makes sense. But with all the recapping and allusions to the first book I don't feel like I need to go back and read it at all.

Not much happened in this book. I started out reading every word then got really bored and skimmed the entire book in two hours. I probably should have just stopped reading but I thought, "Cute little Christmas read in Paris! What could go wrong?"

For starters, the main storyline was completely ridiculous and contrived. The drama didn't need to exist at all. It's like the author thought, "You know what would sell a book? A love triangle! Now, how do I work in one of those?" Because there was an unnecessary, unbelievable love triangle. Nicole could have spent a lot more time having fun and a lot less time whining about her love life if she'd just gone with her feelings in the beginning. And what was with Luc, the French guy? He seemed to spend all of his free time with Nicole when he was a local. Did he not have regular friends? Holiday plans? Family nearby? How could he suddenly drop his entire life to hang out with a girl he a) wasn't dating, b) hadn't seen in a year, and c) would only be in town for a few days? Doesn't. Make. Sense.

And the boys acted like girls. This is SUCH a HUGE problem in YA literature!! Massive! It annoys me so much that I have to mention it every time I see it in a book. Grrrr. At one point, Mike, who is one-third of the love triangle, says his buddies will be so excited to hear that he went to the French ballet. Um, no they won't. They're guys. They will call him gay and possibly rag him about it for years. So dumb. And everyone info-dumps in their dialog. EVERYONE! I know way too much about how these characters feel about everything.

So, in short, this was dumb. I shouldn't have wasted my time and you probably shouldn't, either. HOWEVER, it was a completely clean read that I would feel absolutely safe recommending to a pre-teen if asked for a sweet holiday book to read, especially if they're into Paris or travel. Because it was nice. It was just waaaaaaayyy too immature for me. I'm sure a pre-teen girl would find it cute and endearing and fun. And maybe not quite as corny or contrived as I thought it.

Sexual Content: Mild (some kissing)
Language: None
Violence: None
Drugs/Alcohol: Mild (one scene of drinking champagne)

Let It Snow by Maureen Johnson, John Green and Lauren Myracle

Sparkling white snowdrifts, beautiful presents wrapped in ribbons, and multicolored lights glittering in the night through the falling snow. A Christmas Eve snowstorm transforms one small town into a romantic haven, the kind you see only in movies. Well, kinda. After all, a cold and wet hike from a stranded train through the middle of nowhere would not normally end with a delicious kiss from a charming stranger. And no one would think that a trip to the Waffle House through four feet of snow would lead to love with an old friend. Or that the way back to true love begins with a painfully early morning shift at Starbucks. Thanks to three of today’s bestselling teen authors—John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle—the magic of the holidays shines on these hilarious and charming interconnected tales of love, romance, and breathtaking kisses.

My Thoughts:

A YA Christmas book! Yay! This book is actually three different stories, told by three different authors, about a bunch of inter-connecting people who get stuck in a huge snow storm. Since they're three different stories I feel like I have to review them separately.

Maureen Johnson's story, The Jubilee Express, was pretty hilarious. It took me a couple of pages to get into the voice of Jubilee but once I found her voice I loved it! She was quirkily adorable. And sweet and fun. Jubilee's story begins with her parents getting tossed in jail on Christmas Eve. Her suburban, nice, normal, law-abiding parents. For fighting over ceramics. Right off the bat this story is funny. And it just keeps getting crazier. Until Jubilee meets a boy at a Waffle House and decides to accept his offer when he asks her to go home with him. I mean, everything turned out fine, but just the fact that she was willing to go home with some random guy she'd known for two minutes rubbed me the wrong way. Not a good message to send young girls. Anyway, Jubilee has every reason to be depressed and weird on Christmas because nothing is working out the way she wanted it to. And, yeah, she has her pity-party moments but mostly she's entertaining. She moves a little too quickly for me from one guy to the next, but it is a short story. And it's cute. And clean. And I grinned a lot while reading it.

John Green's A Cheertastic Christmas Miracle was my favorite of the three. I just love the way he writes! I'm gonna have to read some more John Green books. This story follows three best friends who are hanging out together on Christmas Eve who get a call from another friend asking them to drive through a snowstorm to come hang out with him and a bunch of cheerleaders. Everything was just so funny! All the dialog was hilarious and witty. I liked the characters. I mean, I really liked the characters. I wanted to hang out with them. I want to be friends with fictional characters. Or maybe just with John Green, who is a real person. We could be buddies. Anyway, I loved this storyline. Everything progressed perfectly, characters were believable. The plot was silly, of course, but fun. And I want these characters as friends.

Lauren Myracle's The Patron Saint of Pigs was my least favorite. If not for this third story, the book probably would have gotten four stars. I've read one book by Lauren Myracle and hated it. Hated! Loathed, even. It was really bad. This wasn't that bad but I'm still not a Myracle fan. Her writing is just so whiney. The main character was a horribly selfish, foolish, immature person. I really didn't like her at all. Things are over-explained. There's lots of info-dumping. This story has all the characters from the other stories meeting up somehow at the end, which is kind of nice, only I wish a different author would have done it because Myracle just doesn't do them justice. I didn't like this storyline. Nothing happens here except for Addie re-hashing her failed relationship and being annoyingly stupid and whiney. I thought all of Myracle's characters were dumb. I skimmed through most of this story because it was just so bad.

So definitely read this book if you're into clean, sweet, contemporary YA romance novels set at Christmas time. The first two stories are just so cute. I loved them! The third, you have my permission to skip. There's no real reason to read it. Merry Christmas!

Sexual Content: Mild
Language: Moderate
Violence: Mild
Drugs/Alcohol: Mild