Viola in Reel Life by Adriana Trigiani.

Viola in Reel Life by Adriana Trigiani.
First in a Series
Young Adult, 288 pages
Published September 1, 2009 by HarperTeen

'I'm marooned.
Abandoned.
Left to rot in boarding school . . . '

Viola doesn't want to go to boarding school, but somehow she ends up at an all-girls school in South Bend, Indiana, far, far away from her home in Brooklyn, New York. Now Viola is stuck for a whole year in the sherbet-colored sweater capital of the world.

Ick.

There's no way Viola's going to survive the year—especially since she has to replace her best friend Andrew with three new roommates who, disturbingly, actually seem to like it there. She resorts to viewing the world (and hiding) behind the lens of her video camera.

Boarding school, though, and her roommates and even the Midwest are nothing like she thought they would be, and soon Viola realizes she may be in for the most incredible year of her life.

But first she has to put the camera down and let the world in. - from goodreads.com

I feel like maybe I am being too harsh to these poor books. I mean, three 2-star reviews in a row? Better reviews books will be coming shortly, I promise. To be honest, Viola in Reel Life is not my typical sort of book. On a friend's recommendation, I thought I would branch out a little because isn't the best sort of reading done outside our comfort zone's? Well, I tried. Viola is a perfectly nice book, with an ordinary story true to life and all that. I just like a little more surrealism and fantasy in my books, so it didn't do much for me.

I felt like a had a connection with Viola before I even started reading the book. I am from Indiana, so I now how being dumped in Indiana feels. I'm more like trapped here, but that's a different story. Just kidding! I love Indiana (Go Who's Ears!). The fact that this book was set in Indiana made it attractive to me in the first place. Books set in this state are few and far between let me tell you. Viola also gets corralled into attending a boarding school. Freshman year, I started to attend a private school that I was less than happy about going to, but my parents 'strongly encouraged it.' So I could definately understand where Viola was coming from when she was distant from her new room mates. It took me a while to make new friends at my school, just because I was so persistent on not liking them. But I feel like the author missed one crucial aspect of a prestigious girl's school: the uniforms! I would have like to see her write some little funny things about them. We complain about them enough at my school to fill a whole novel.

Throughtout the story, Viola sees a reappearing image of a young woman dressed in clothes from the 1930's (about that time, I don't remember exactly). She believes this is a ghost but isn't quite sure and gets opinions on the subject from some of her friends. The ghost story integrated throughtout the plot blindsided me. I did not see a ghost being any part of this story, and even when she first showed up I thought she was just going to be some minor elemenet. It wasn't anywhere on the back of the book, and the back of the book never lies! I think it was a nice blurb to add. It might sound strange to put in a book about a girl growing up, but it didn't take away from the book at all. It was really more about how she acted once she learned about this ghost woman, than about her interacting with her.

Little inconsistencies in Viola bothered the perfectionist inside me. Like in the beginning of the story when Viola is reading MacBeth in English class, they have to write a paper on the belief in ghosts or something like that. A friend asks Viola if she believes in ghost, and she says yes. But then towards the end, she says that she is too practical to believe in ghosts, even though her and her friend have been worried about whether this woman Viola is seeing is real or not. Not that big of a deal, but it concerns Viola's belief in a major part of the plot. And Viola muses about how she wishes her skin was like he mother's, who spends all the time on her skins and not her hair, then her Grand visits and Viola remembers that her mother never spends time on her skin (?). The conversations were unrealistic as well. Nobody talked like they would in real life. The teenage girls Viola roomed with, and Viola herself, were way too candid when they talked. NO teenage girl is that honest, especially with someone she just met who is acting like a witch to her. I could see maybe one character being this (maybe Marisol), acting as the center of truth to bring the other girls out of their cattiness, but all of them is not believable.

Viola in Reel Life was a sweet, relaxing, feel better about life sort of story. I did enjoy it, much more so than Betraying and Bewitching Season, just because the writing and characters were much better written. However, the plot was too drab for me; I need a little more action in my real life stories. Although they wouldn't be very real anymore, would they?

Reviewing Next: The Claidi Journals series by Tanith Lee.

Betraying Season by Marissa Doyle.

Betraying Season by Marissa Doyle
Second in a Series
Young Adult, 336 pages
Published September 29, 2009 by Henry Holt and Co.

Penelope Leland has come to Ireland to study magic and prove to herself that she is as good a witch as her twin sister Persy. But when Niall Keating begins to pay her court, she can’t help being distracted from her studies. Especially when she learns that the handsome young nobleman is reputedly an illegitimate cousin of the new young Queen Victoria, her friend and idol, whom her sister saved from an ambitious wizard’s control spell the year before.

Niall Keating has strict orders from his sorceress mother Lady Keating: to make young Miss Leland fall in love with him so that she can be convinced to use her magical powers to help reconcile him to his true father, the Duke of Cumberland, Queen Victoria’s uncle. Niall is delighted to comply until he discovers his mother’s true aim: to assassinate Queen Victoria by magic and put Niall’s father on the throne of England.

Penelope is thrilled when Lady Keating reveals her powers and offers to tutor her in magic. But Niall has fallen deeply in love with the lovely young woman. Even if he halts his mother’s evil plans, will Penelope be able to forgive him for trying to seduce her into a plot against her beloved queen? -from goodreads.com

Oh, I am so contrary! When I put down Betwitching Season, I thought 'Well I got through it; it held my attention, but so what?' and proceeded not to think about it again. But I did not know about the sequel. So imagine my surprise as I'm making a quick stop at the library and see Betraying Season. I saw my hands reach out and snag it, my mind vaguely flickered in interest, and suddenly I was checking out with Betraying in hand. So here we are, after I had dissed Bewitching Season, the book had succeeded in doing what it was supposed to: make me more interested, make me interested enough to grab for the sequel. Although, I will not, not (do you hear me fingers!) buy these books. Take that publishers, muahaha! Only pathetically check them out at libraries...

Back into the world of Victorian England full of witches who buy kid gloves and whatnot, Betraying Season focuses on a character that was a little neglected in the first book: Penelope Leland. She was mainly there as the driving force between Lochinvar and Persy's relationship, and as a little bit of a bother for Persy when she was confused about her feelings for Lochinvar. But all that tiring relationship drama is over and done with: Persy and her beau are married, which leaves Pen..., well she doesn't exactly know where. She spent her first season worried about her twin messing up her one true love and trying to find a husband for herself as well. She failed to find a husband and neglected her magical studies in the process, though she had neglected those most of her life. Now that Persy has all that she desires and more, Pen feels like she should concentrate on her own life so that she might find those things as well.

I did enjoy this book a little bit better than the first. There was more emphasis on the magical aspect of the Leland's life, and we got a glimpse into what other people with magical abilites to to train this, not just what Ally teaches Persy and Pen. In the first book, Lochinvar talks about how a professor at school found him and taught him the ways of magic (?). How did he find him? Do magical people send of waves that can be detected by more skilled wizards? It just didn't make sense to me, and still doesn't. But it was nice to see what magic classes are really like. I also enjoyed the emphasis and the Three Goddesses, who are a very interesting topic in my opinion and added a little more depth to Marissa Doyle's magic.

The plot wasn't as easy to guess as the first was. There were a few points that I didn't see coming, which surprised me pleasantly. However, the characters are still horrible. Not one wasn't a Mary-sure cookie cutter character, and frankly they all bored me to tears, but maybe that's how Marissa Doyle likes to see the world: one-dimensional. I think Lady Keating showed the most promise, and she was the villain. I think the author could have explored a little more of the 'why' of Lady Keating. She was a powerful woman in an era when woman such as herself where not looked well upon. Especially being a woman with magical abilities, she must have run across boundaries in her life that would have frustrated her. Expansion on her history and personality would have made her much more interesting, and not just the 'big bad woman' to defeat.

As before, interesting to read but not much is written between the lines, which is how I enjoy my books. The kind that make you think long after you are done. Or are just so surprising and inventive, they make me wish I had the author's brain. Neither, I'm afraid to say, are in Betraying Season.

the first review: Bewitching Season.

Bewitching Season by Marissa Doyle
First in a Series
Young Adult, 352 pages
Published April 29, 2008 by Henry Holt and Co.

In 1837 England, young daughters of viscounts pined for handsome, titled husbands, not careers. And certainly not careers in magic.

Twins Persephone (Persy) and Penelope (Pen) Leland are anticipating their first London season with mixed feelings. Pen can't wait for the balls and parties and crowds of handsome young men to flirt with, but Persy would far rather stay home with their governess, Ally, and continue her magic studies. The only thing drawing her to London is the prospect of seeing Princess Victoria, her and Pen's idol.

But then Ally disappears from a busy London street and the twins are drawn into searching for her...and find that her disappearance is linked to a dastardly plot to enchant the soon-to-be Queen. Persy also discovers that a good lady's maid is hard to find, that one should never cast a love spell on anyone after drinking too much brandy punch at a party, that pesky little brothers can sometimes come in handy, and that even boys who were terrible teases when they were twelve can mysteriously turn into the most perfect young men. -from goodreads.com

I actually finished this book a long time ago, but I thought I would post about it now since I just finished the second book and thought it would be too confusing to skip the first. Anyway, I picked up Bewitching Season because for some reason I thought this would be a little like A Great and Terrible Beauty. Gorgeous old England with the flowing dresses, balls, with a little bit of magic thrown in to spice things up. I must have been confused by the Doyle on the front of the book. This reminded me of a sixth-graders attempt to accomplish that. Bewitching Season was extremely juvenile; it was fun, I must admit that. But it had no real depth to it, and I just couldn't give it more than two stars.

The whole book felt like wish fulfillment for me. The Leland sisters were too perfect. They had no faults it seemed. Penelope wasn't really fleshed out, but the author was saving her for a sequel. Persephone just annoyed me. She was the typical (and rather overdone) 'bookish, shy, afraid of boys, balls, talking etc.' type of character. I was not impressed. Maybe her only fault was that she was shy? I don't find that a fault, thank you very much. Lochinivar felt like he fell from a Disney princess movie, smack into the pages for Marissa Doyle, I mean Persy to angst over.

The so-called twists and turns I saw coming a mile away. I think from the first chapter I could tell everything that would happen at the end. It just didn't hold me to the edge of my seat. I browsed the pages, watched t.v., got a snack, skipped ahead, and still managed to comprehend all that was going on. That's not good writing.

Overall, it was a fun book that I would have loved in elementary school. But as I am older, the book just didn't do much for me. However, I did read the sequel so what does that say about me? And I enjoy a good Gossip Girl every once and awhile as well.