review: ghosts of manhattan by douglas brunt

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In Ghosts of Manhattan, Douglas Brunt profiles a Bear Stearns bond trader in 2005.  Although Nick has a seven-figure salary, it’s just not enough, especially when compared to some of his coworkers.  Nick is married, but that doesn’t stop him from going out drinking with the other guys from work which often leads to strip clubs, hookers, and drugs.  He recognizes that his lifestyle is detrimental to the marriage, but Nick also can’t figure out how to not need the money he makes.  This alone was an interesting story, but Brunt pushes it into the fantastic category by incorporating signs that everything is about to crash.  The brokerage firm had hired a man named Freddie to assess the risks of its dealings; Freddie correctly predicted the forthcoming crash, but Bear fired him after he made the report.  The book is fiction, but Brunt convinced me that much of this is based in reality.  It’s easy to believe the recession was due in large part to many greedy people who were having far too much fun partying to pull even a little from the substantial risks that were taken.  The characters were realistic too.  Nick’s coworkers were completely believable in their debauchery while the actions of Nick and his wife, Julia, were understandable.

5/5

Review copy provided by the publisher, Touchstone.

review: dear teen me edited by e. kristin anderson and miranda kenneally

Dear Teen Me features letters from authors such as Carrie Jones, Stephanie Kuehnert, and Sara Zarr to themselves as teenagers (although Lauren Oliver and Elizabeth Miles, who were childhood friends, write to each other instead of themselves).  Some letters are heart-breaking, but all are encouraging.  And while many of the letters indicate these authors had some pretty awful childhoods filled with eating disorders and abusive parents, there are a few that even people with remarkably great childhoods can relate to; really there’s something for everyone in this collection.  Interspersed throughout are brief Q&A’s on fun topics like celebrity crushes and first job to lighten the mood from frequently heavy subject matter.

4/5

Review copy from Amazon Vine.

giveaway winner: the gemini virus

Dawn is the winner of The Gemini Virus.  Congrats!

review: capital girls by ella monroe

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The Capital Girls were four friends at a private school in Washington, DC, but as the first book in the series begins, one of the girls is already dead.  The back cover indicates there’s a mystery surrounding Taylor’s death, but the payoff is weak.  First off, the girls don’t even realize anything’s amiss until the book is more than half done.  At that point, Jackie (who the story centers on) learns the truth, but tells no one because she’s far more concerned about the related betrayal.  Instead of being about the mystery, Capital Girls is primarily about Jackie’s romantic entanglements and the difficulty of being in a high-profile relationship with the President’s son.  There are a few subplots to involve the others, but those don’t get much attention.  The other characters aren’t well developed, which makes their actions confusing at times.  Why do the girls other than Jackie accept newcomer Whitney?  Why is Whitney so willing to act as a spy for her gossip columnist mother?  More development was definitely in order. 

2/5

Review copy from Amazon Vine.

review: l.a. fadeaway by jordan okun

The unnamed protagonist of L.A. Fadeaway is a young man working his way to being a Hollywood agent.  Despite being the son of a well-connected former talent agent, he’s going to make it on his own using the standard method of “hard work or by making [his peers] look bad—whichever’s quickest.”  He and those mailroom peers along with their higher ups are unscrupulous.  They lie, cheat, and steal—whatever it takes to get even the slightest bit ahead.  Although a work of fiction, I got the feeling that much of L.A. Fadeaway was based on the author’s own experiences in the ICM mailroom.  The story flows well enough, but it was hard to connect with characters who behave so atrociously.  If this is representative of the typical 20-something male in Hollywood, I’m glad I’ve never met any.

3/5

Review copy provided by the publisher, Touchstone.

author interview: francine pascal

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Back in 1983 Francine Pascal created the series Sweet Valley High starring identical twins, Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield.  A number of spin-off series (following the twins not only in their early years, but eventually moving on to college life) came after that and there was even a TV show that briefly aired.  Now decades later, the twins are back!  Their creator took some time to answer questions about Sweet Valley.

The first Sweet Valley High came out nearly 30 years ago and inspired many spin-offs.  What’s kept the saga going?

The characters.  Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield.  Everyone could identify with at least one of them and wish they were the other. Even though the twins were blond and from Los Angeles, girls all over the world loved them and their adventures. I didn't expect that, but I should have because some many teenage girls were going through the same feelings as the twins no matter where they lived or who they were. 

Diablo Cody is adapting Sweet Valley High for the big screen.  What are your thoughts?  Have you been involved with the screenplay?

I'm delighted that Diablo is adapting the books. She's a very good writer and particularly good with teenage girls. Up until now I've had little to do with the screenplay, but now that I've read it I've given them some of my ideas and they seem to like them so I will be more involved.

Which of the many Sweet Valley characters is your favorite and why?  

Elizabeth. I identified with her because she was closer to my teenage life than Jessica or any of the others. We both wrote for the school paper and I gave her many of my own feelings. 

What book (your own or someone else’s) has had the most impact on your life?  

The Wandering Jew by Eugene Sue. He was the French Dickens and his novels had fabulous characters and stories.

Any more adventures planned for the Wakefield twins? 

Well, now that The Sweet Life has done so well, perhaps I will do more. I liked the novella style and writing the serial was fun for me.