I was pleasantly surprised by this one. Gateway is such a simple, yet appropriate title for this book . The story was not bad, but I was really distracted by the Chinese names and words. They weren’t complex enough. I will say the book satisfies the Asian girl’s dream of being with a white guy. (Or is it White guy?) Her ending is just right and doesn’t feel rushed at all, which I keep finding in a lot of books nowadays. Sadly I haven’t been feeling too energetic the last couple of days so I’ll make this a short one even though I do like this story. It’s not a rom-com, but I suspect mostly girls will be interested in reading this book. Maybe I’ll do some guy-friendly YAs in the future, but for now, I do love a good love story and this one has one. It would be cool to go on an adventure like the one Daiyu goes on, but it would not be fun to have to deal with the memory part. I think the biggest question the book poses is what are we without our memories? Who are we when we can’t remember what happened to us? I think it’s a pretty simple answer and I’m truly glad that Daiyu was able to find her way back to Kalen in the end, even if his name changed to Caleb. It’s his new St. Louis identity. That’s one way to look at it. Well, if you want to read more, you can check out my book review of it on my Examiner...

I am so glad I read this right after my last YA. There’s a satisfying happy ending and the book is amazingly not completely predictable. I love the fact that Jane actually has two love interests and it ends well with both, yet leaving it open in the end so you don’t know who she ultimately ends up with. It’s up in the air. She’s definitely a lucky girl! Both guys really care about her and no one is a jerk. It’s so refreshing because a lot of love stories have one couple that starts out well with a guy friend on the outside, waiting for his shot, until the girl realizes her boyfriend’s a jerk and ends up with the nice guy. Animal Attraction, however, comes up with two really great guys who don’t fall into the stereotype they seemed to be typecasted in and Jane ends up with a pretty tough choice. Now, I don’t like the fact that there’s still the whole mean girl aspect of it. Girls who are all best friends suddenly has a friend who used to be a best friend and is not anymore. In fact, she’s out of the group and the mean girl. That was too boring and predictable. I also don’t buy it that Crystal starts crying when Jane yells at her and tries to get her to think of Melanie again. I think Ponti did a fantastic job developing Alex and Grayson, but not so much the girls with the exception of Jane. Even so, this was a fun read and finally, someone has verbalized Radio Karma! I was excited for that because I always wondered if anyone else believed in the radio predicting what may happen to you when you start the ignition in your car. I’m also glad that the book delivers a positive message to girls. The person you should be with should be someone you can be comfortable around, not the hottie who you have to try so hard not to fart around. But that’s just me....

The question of the evening is, are you It’s taken me a while since my last post to write about the next YA I read because this one hits way too close to home. So close I was actually really upset right after I put the book down, no joke. For Paula Yoo’s debut, it’s not bad. I’m not Korean American, but the whole Asian-please-your-parents theme is pretty clear. Good Enough reads realistically, with some unbelievable parts like when Patti Yoon wins her concert master challenge even though she didn’t practice. Come on. She’s already getting straight A’s and is going to HarvardYalePrinceton. You’ve got to put something in there that makes her human. Also, if she’s so busy taking 5 million AP classes, doing SAT prep, going to youth group and playing the violin, where is she getting the money to buy all those magazines with Jet Pack on the cover? I didn’t like the first sentence. I didn’t find the viola jokes funny. I kept reading because I could relate to being an Asian American girl in high school trying your best not to let your parents down. I couldn’t relate to all the spam recipes, but this book made me want to try them for sure. I already know kimchi tastes yummy. I couldn’t relate to youth group, at least not directly. But you can tell that she’s for real. It just struck me as amazing how much Asians put pressure on themselves to be so perfect that it’s the end of the world if even one thing goes wrong. Amazing, yet made me feel angry at the same time and I’m not sure I can explain it in words. What upset me the most was BEN WHEELER. Patti calls him Cute Trumpet Guy because when she first notices him, it’s at her All-State audition and he plays a note too loud for her to concentrate on trying to get first chair for another year in a row. It’s the typical Asian girl-White boy crush. I won’t go through all the details, but what I never got was how he could flirt with her, burn a CD for her, ask her to jam with him on Saturdays and...

I have to return this book to the library today, so I’ll be quick. It has not stopped me from wanting to read more of her, but nevertheless, I am a little disappointed. This is not as good as The Ex Games, but it followed the same basic format. Erin has red hair, like Hayden did. Erin and Hunter fought back and forth the way Hayden and Nick did. This turned me off because I think Echols does a better job with development of Hayden and Nick’s story. This time around it just felt recycled. Ironically, even though these two are in college, they are both virgins and therefore the sex scene was downplayed, which is very different from Forget You. It’s pretty neat that the story is about one creative writing class, yet unbelievable that the kids in that class can become so close over the course of one semester. As someone who took several writing classes while at uni, I can assure you no one became that close with their classmates. The style for the workshop is realistic. Writers are supposed to read the set of stories for each class and provide comments while authors sit and listen and don’t say a word until the very end. Gabe wasn’t a very in-control instructor though. Most all of my writing classes were commanded by confident teachers who had no problem interrupting or telling you what they thought and I appreciated that. I also find it hard to believe that two people would be sending each other hidden messages in stories they write for class. I do believe the guys would gang up against the girls when talking about what is good writing and what is not. This is not her best work, but was still an enjoyable...

The Ex Games is a work of genius. No, seriously, it is. I know from the cover you might not think so. I know I didn’t when I first picked it up at the library. My thought was confirmed when I read the blurb on the back cover. This was going to be another typical teen rom-com where the two most unlikely people to get together end up falling for each other in the end. Blah, blah, blah. Bleh. That’s not to say that that didn’t happen. It did. It was how they got there, no, how Miss Echols got them there, that was pure genius. Hayden is a redhead who comes with all the bells and whistles of being one. She has no problem with exploding in Nick’s face whenever he provokes her with a Hoyden name-calling or something else inappropriate like that infamous fire-crotch incident. Nick and Hayden are the exes in question and they were an item in the seventh grade. It is now junior year, but Hayden hasn’t let go of that humiliating moment in the movie theater right after Nick kissed her when she found out that he had been dating her only to win a bet that no girl would be interested in him for him and not his money. She’s All That anyone? He didn’t exactly apologize for it either. So here we are, four years later, still holding a grudge over the most popular, best-looking dude in school (as if we really needed the reminder from a now teenage Hayden about the nice shape of his ass and chest muscles to figure this out). Since our heroine does not possess the stellar grades needed academically to go to college, her only hope is her one true passion. There’s just one problem. She needed to get over her fear of heights so she can land that jump that will make her one step closer to becoming a professional snowboarder. And everyone is so supportive, from stepping in to come up with raps (her little brother who has hopes of going pro himself with the help of big sis no less) to challenging her in a comp for Poser tickets (only the hottest band who will...

  I don’t think I’ll be able to switch it up. When I start reading one YA author, I have this incessant need to read all the books by that author before switching it up. That’s a sign of a successful YA author. So here I am, having finished Jennifer Echols’ Going Too Far. I have to say, my experience reading it may have been slightly tainted just because the copy I borrowed from the library smelled like perfume the whole time. I couldn’t get it out of my nose the whole time I was reading it which may have affected my opinion of the book, which is a pity because things like that really shouldn’t influence you while you read. Oh well. I find it interesting that an eyebrow piercing is supposed to signify “bad girl.” The part of her describing the cop she rides with was very confusing for me, though maybe Echols meant it that way. At the beginning I didn’t know if he was young or old, or if he had a wife and family already or something like that. Though, to Echols’ credit, Meg wasn’t sure either. I just can’t imagine a 19-year-old young man looking like he’s 40. That just doesn’t make sense to me. I also didn’t find the ending to be satisfying. I couldn’t believe Meg had cancer. That wasn’t realistic. So Johnafter never goes to college to pick up art instead? He remains a cop forever in this town everyone else is so desperate to escape? This is not one of my favorites of Echols, but she has not lost my attention yet. This past weekend I checked out two more of her books. Have no fear. I will continue to read her. On a totally side note, I never seem to know the right things to say. I know I already said this in my Xanga, but I can’t help it....