Latte Rebellion by Sarah Jamila Stevenson 4/5 Stars



Delish cover art, LITERALLY, I want to inhale it!

 I chose this book from the YA Debute Author Challenge because I am raising racially mixed children, then as I was reading I realized that it was my story as well!
Without giving too much of my own story, I really identified with the narrator of the novel.  All of the expectaions, whether negative or positive, of your family, your classmate, your co-workers, teachers and society as a whole places on a person, or group of people based on their ethnicity or race.
The narrator really lets us share her anger, fear and angst of being a racially mixed teenager. She lets the reader know what she is thinking at all times, but holds back a lot from her friends and family for fear of hurting them or because she thinks she may sound dumb. 
The back story to the novel is how sometimes friendships grow apart, people grow in seperate directions.  While I was hurting from the main character, Asha, I was also happy that she was growing so much as person to realize when you have to move on.
Since I have this on my Kindle, I really hope to share someday with my own kids.  I'm not sure about people who got their copies in print, but the Kindle version had quite a few typos.  It's didn't take aways from the story in anyway, I'm just sayin...

Quick Summary:
A senior in high school of mixed ethnicities realizes, after an altercation with another student, that there aren't any clubs at her school that address the needs of the student population of mixed ethniciites and starts one. There is and Asian Club, a Black Club and a Chicano Club, none of which she and her two other friends feel they identify with.
At first it starts out as a way to make some extra cash, with a catchy phrase and some t-shirt sales, but as the message reaches more people she realizes that its a real issue.  That 60 years before she was born, her parents may not have been allowed to marry.
Some people don't like her group's message and this is where the conflict begins. Also, she feels that her parents wouldn't understand the devotion to the movement, much less if it's taking time away from her being the perfect straight A student.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

So so so so good. Incredibly good! 

This is a story about two women that keep a friendship going from the the time they were 7 until one of the dies. The friendship starts win the early 1800's in rural China.

I really enjoyed this novel, I got a history, culture lesson and a good story.  There were certain aspects of the story that made my stomach clench, foot binding!  That was an education! I really didn't understand what was involved and the reasons why it was even done.

The story starts with Lily, in her 80's, narrating her whole life.  She says that she can now tell the story because everyone is mostly dead so she wouldn't be bringing anyone shame.  I had a hard time with the story because there was hardly any dialogue, and I love dialogue.  She tells the story of how she and Snow Flower come to be life long friends, arranged by a local matchmaker, and the whole process of being "trained" to be wives. They became laotong, life-long pairs. Their relationship is supposed to be the closest of friendships ever, with contracts written at the age of 7.

Lily grows up in poverty and is taught how to take care of a home and everything that goes wit it.  Snow Flower comes from an affluent scholar family that has great social standing.  They trade knowledge to be able to secure good matches.  This works well for both of them, but once married their lives become very different and one of their husband's family prohibits the other from socializing with the other.  Status is very important to the citizens of the villages and everyone has a role to play.

A women's role during this time is invaluable but definitely not acknowledged, by anyone, not even to themselves.  A mother will tell her daughters how worthless they are, then she goes to her husband's home and and is told by her mother-in-law that she is worthless. A pregnant woman prays that she will not have a girl because they know how hard their loves will be and also because they are worried about themselves. Her only value is to produce sons, the household believe that feeding girls them is a waste of resources.  Although this was one of the most engaging parts of the story, it was also one of the most disturbing. The relationship between Lily and her mom hurt me.  I found this to be more hurtful than the footbinding. No wonder these girls sought solace with eachother. 

I would definetly read more Lisa See novels.

So Shelly by Ty Roth



Beautiful Cover Art-Made me swoon.



As I was investigating the February list for the Debut Author Challenge, the cover for this title struck me first.  I loved the dark romance of it. I was then further intrigued by the author because he was a English high school teacher and college professor.  I figured that was why his main characters were named after romantic authors of the 16th century: Shelly, Keats and Byron...little did I know.

    The story was very scandalous and I couldn't believe that this was considered a YA title.  Really! It was a lil' on Jerry Springer side.  There was some bbisexuality, incest, molestation, terrorism, underage sex and prostitution.  And, yes, all three main characters were writers.

    It seems that lately all the books that I have been reading have not had a linear storyline.  They all go back in forth, or start in the present and then start go back, or just go back in forth throughout the book as in the case of So Shelly.

     The story is narrated by the Keats, whose life mirrors in many small details the life of John Keats, the romantic poet.  He is telling the story as it was mostly told to him. What he actually saw happen was minimal...so it wouldn't hold up in court.

    This is a modern version of the lives of the romantic poets.  It's their stories, modernized for for today, which seems to be a trend with YA authors.  There's texting, emailing, blogging and DVD's and no birth control. 

     Roth conveniently has his writers all attend the same HS.  Shelly dies and leaves instructions for the other two in case of her death.  When Shelly was alive, both Byron and Keats were friends of hers, but not friends with each other  In death, she made them work together and the reminiscing begins.

     I know I have complained about storytellers not being linear in the narrating, but I didn't mind it so much here.  I think Roth did very well.  I like that his narrator explained that he was gifted, because honestly, on of my pet peeves is when adult authors forget that they are telling the story from the point of view of a teen.

     I got a history lesson with a great story.  Bryon's fictionalized character lives up to his the real Lord, club foot and all.  I would recommend this dark and brooding story, there was a short period of about 5 pages where I lost interest, but it was a fast read because there was always something hot happening. 

    Read it!