RIVAL by Sara Bennett Wealer

Title: RIVAL
Author: Sara Bennett Wealer
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: February 15, 2011
Number of Pages: 336
Source of Book: Won from The Contemps Challenge
Author's Website: www.sarabennettwealer.com

Goodreads Summary:
What if your worst enemy turned out to be the best friend you ever had?

Meet Brooke: Popular, powerful and hating every minute of it, she’s the “It” girl at Douglas High in Lake Champion, Minnesota. Her real ambition? Using her operatic mezzo as a ticket back to NYC, where her family lived before her dad ran off with an up and coming male movie star.

Now meet Kathryn: An overachieving soprano with an underachieving savings account, she’s been a leper ever since Brooke punched her at a party junior year. For Kath, music is the key to a much-needed college scholarship.

The stage is set for a high-stakes duet between the two seniors as they prepare for the prestigious Blackmore competition. Brooke and Kathryn work toward the Blackmore with eyes not just on first prize but on one another, each still stinging from a past that started with friendship and ended in betrayal. With competition day nearing, Brooke dreams of escaping the in-crowd for life as a professional singer, but her scheming BFF Chloe has other plans. And when Kathryn gets an unlikely invitation to Homecoming, she suspects Brooke of trying to sabotage her with one last public humiliation.

As pressures mount, Brooke starts to sense that the person she hates most might just be the best friend she ever had. But Kathryn has a decision to make. Can she forgive? Or are some rivalries for life?
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All right Gleeks - this is your book (and you've got two more weeks until a new Glee episode - just enough time to read RIVAL!) Before I start raving too much about the book, I just have to share that I read this book on a plane flight, and I am now typing my review based from my notes on airplane beverage napkins as I didn't have any paper with me (what was I thinking?!)

I ADORE this book about the roots of friendship, and popularity, and the fleetingness of acceptance in the high school social hierarchy. It's about figuring out what one really wants, what's really important, and who really matters. Both of the main characters have voices that were so true and honest. It was refreshing that they were both well-rounded and the focus wasn't on boys (although boys do, of course, play a secondary role to the main point of the story-this is YA after all!), but it was refreshing that wasn't the main focus - it was about this friendship, why it started, why it failed, and if it could be saved. It was about girls and the pressures they feel about friendships and rivalries, even if they don't want them that way. It was one of the most interesting contemporary books that I have read recently and the vocal music piece added another level of sophistication to it and heightened the drama.

I love that we get to hear the story from both Brooke and Kathryn's points-of-view in alternating chapters, and that it alternates sections from senior year and junior year (when it all went down). It was a very effective way to tell this story (instead of strictly chronologically) to leave the reader in a bit of suspense as to why these two girls are such staunch rival - and then to find out that they were friends at one point. Tension built throughout the story as we get clues and eventually get the full story of what happened and what turned these two girls into friends and rivals. The big competition looming at the end adds the perfect prize at the end. Wealer writes in a straight-forward and engaging style as we see into the minds of both girls and how they perceive the same situations so differently. One of my favorite lines from this book highlights the writing style and voice and gets to one of the themes in this book about rivalry, "But I don't shatter; I'm not made of glass. Anyway, the parts that break aren't on the outside."

Ultimately, this book shows that sometimes you really don't know someone else, nor can you see yourself clearly as others do. It's a fascinating look into perceptions and intentions and misperceptions and true desires. This is a fantastic new addition to the contemporary genre - and a great YA book! I highly recommend getting this one - it will be a quick read because you won't want to stop until you find out who wins the big competition at the end.

4.5 STARS for RIVAL

PROM & PREJUDICE by Elizabeth Eulberg

Title: PROM & PREJUDICE

Author: Elizabeth Eulberg

Publisher: Point (Scholastic)

Release Date: January 1, 2011

Number of Pages: 231

How I Got It: Bought the Hardcover because of the author

Author's Website:  www.elizabetheulberg.com

Goodreads Synopsis:

After winter break, the girls at the very prestigious Longbourn Academy become obsessed with the prom. Lizzie Bennet, who attends Longbourn on a scholarship, isn’t interested in designer dresses and expensive shoes, but her best friend, Jane, might be — especially now that Charles Bingley is back from a semester in London.

Lizzie is happy about her friend’s burgeoning romance but less than impressed by Charles’s friend, Will Darcy, who’s snobby and pretentious. Darcy doesn’t seem to like Lizzie either, but she assumes it’s because her family doesn’t have money. Clearly, Will Darcy is a pompous jerk — so why does Lizzie find herself drawn to him anyway?

Will Lizzie’s pride and Will’s prejudice keep them apart? Or are they a prom couple in the making?  

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I really enjoy Elizabeth Eulberg's books.  I loved her debut novel, THE LONELY HEARTS CLUB (read my thoughts here), and thoroughly enjoyed PROM & PREJUDICE as well. There's just something so easy about her writing style - it's comforting and familiar. Her books are quick reads and so enjoyable. They're just happy books. Sometimes (especially on a snow day) I just really want a light-hearted book, and that's what Elizabeth delivers, but always with a good message. Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice is a classic for a reason, and with PROM & PREJUDICE, Elizabeth has delivered a cute contemporary twist on the classic. Some scenes were so familiar from the many interpretations I've seen and read of Austen's original work, but with the new Lizzie, Darcy, and Jane, they all felt like friends I would have wanted to have in high school and it felt so contemporary. 

The importance placed on getting a prom date at Longbourn Academy is entertaining, and setting it in a boarding school gives the perfect background for analyzing class differences and the problems that can cause. I found myself rooting for all of them to figure it out and see the goodness in each other. There are issues of prejudice by many in this book - and it's really about misconceptions and assumptions made before one knows the person or gives them a chance to prove themselves different and worthy of positive thoughts...hmmm, maybe something we should all take away from a book. I like how Elizabeth writes her characters - they're flawed and real and make mistakes and are easy to relate to. Another aspect that was subtle was the love of piano playing that this Lizzie has. Elizabeth places references to several classical music pieces throughout as a part of Lizzie's identity as a scholasrship student due to her gift at playing piano. As a former cello player, I always appreciate references to classical musicians such as are scattered throughout this book. I thought it was interesting that both of Elizabeth Eulberg's books feature music as a prominent piece of the action. PROM & PREJUDICE is a really cute contemporary reboot of the classic story and you'll read it quickly and enjoy every page.

4 STARS for PROM & PREJUDICE

I can't wait to see what Elizabeth has planned for her next book!

FIVE FLAVORS OF DUMB by Antony John

Title: FIVE FLAVORS OF DUMB

Author: Antony John

Publisher: Dial Books

Release Date: November 11, 2010

Number of Pages: 352

How I Got It: Hardcover to review for Book Divas

Author's Website: antonyjohn.net

"For the record, I wasn't around the day they decided to become Dumb." So starts the story of high-school-senior, Piper, and how she came to be the manager of her school's resident rock band. Piper promises them she can get them a paying job within one month of being their manager, but how can one manage a ragtag group of "musicians" and wanna-be rock stars while keeping all of the egos and high school dramas in check? Oh, and Piper can't actually hear their music because she's deaf. But Piper is determined (one of her most endearing characteristics) to show everyone around her, including her family who don't seem to understand her, that she is more than just deaf, she is complicated, conflicted teenager and all that entails. As we meet the five flavors (band members) of Dumb, Piper is taken on her own journey to discover rock music in Seattle through the stories of Nirvana's Kurt Cobain and Jimi Hendrix. She learns how hard it can be to manage a band, but also how rewarding it is to accomplish something yourself and be taken seriously. Misunderstandings abound, and not just for the girl who can't hear the music, but the journey these teen's make to self-discovery is worth it. But in the end, will they make it to the big stage?

Antony John has written a witty, smart, funny, humble, honest, heart-wrenching, and soul-pounding ode to rock music and contemporary coming-of-age novel all in one. His writing style is comforting and honest. He's written real characters with real flaws all within a sensitive handling of the main character's deafness, which at times puts her at odds with those around her, but is it really about them or about her? That's the journey Piper takes in this story. She figures out more about who she is and wants to be, but she learns much more about those around her as well. She's authentic. She has problems and misunderstandings with family, friends, a boy, and high school social dynamics. In wanting to prove herself, Piper finds who she really is and learns not to hide.  It was engrossing following along as Piper learned to come out of her shell and developed into her strong voice. And how could I write about this book without mentioning the awesomely designed cover - it's so rock star! Just reading it myself I had students asking me about it when they saw the cover. I'll definitely be recommending it to them. Piper's voice deserves to be heard, and you'll enjoy discovering it, so put this one at the top of your to-read pile!

4 1/2 STARS for FIVE FLAVORS OF DUMB

A book that feels similar to recommend next: THE LONELY HEARTS CLUB by Elizabeth Eulberg

THE LONELY HEARTS CLUB by Elizabeth Eulberg

Sometimes I really want a light-hearted book without all the angst and drama of a lot of the popular YA books/genres out there right now, and to get a good girl-power message - even better. That's exactly what I got with Elizabeth Eulberg's debut novel, THE LONELY HEARTS CLUB, plus I got a little Beatles nostalgia along with it. I was drawn to it as soon as I heard the plot summary, but of course, the cover sold me on getting it in hardcover - it's so fun!


This book is a story with an independent high school junior girl main character who gets treated badly by a boy she's had a crush on for a long time. The girl - Penny Lane (a Beatles song of course since her parents are huge fans) - decides she's not going to deal with one more boy treating her badly, so she swears off dating for the rest of high school. Thus starts the lonely hearts club (inspired of course by the Beatles' Sargeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band). Once word gets out, other girls decide they don't want to deal with immature boys who treat them badly either, and they see how much fun the girls in the club are having, so the club gets a reputation around the school.


There's a really important message coming out of reading this story - it's not just about not dealing with the boy drama, but it's more about what it means to be a good friend to the girls around you.  It's about keeping your friends honest, being there for each other, and not letting boys change your priorities. The club's rules say that a girl can't change who she is for a guy, she can't ditch her friends for a guy, she can't let a guy take over her whole life and forget about her friends - what a great message to send teen girls who need to remember that when they get to high school and boy drama and pressure becomes so much more of a part of their lives. 


I think the highlight about this book for me was that even though it deals with the typical boyfriend drama of high school girls, it's done in a unique way in which the girls still get to be strong characters. I do wish some of the secondary characters had the chance to be developed a little more fully because they had the potential to really add to the story more than they were able to with the length of the book, but it was it will be an accessible book for many adolescent girls - and it doesn't cross the line into mature content. I loved this book for it's light-heartedness, great message, and fun story (with a Beatles twist) and am glad I found it.


4 1/2 STARS for THE LONELY HEARTS CLUB