Girl Parts - John M. Cusick

Girl Parts was a very interesting novel. I received an ARC of it a while back, but after a few false starts trying to read it, I gave up and put it back on the shelf. I only recently discovered it again, and decided to pick it up and give it a good shot this time. What really drew me in is the cover: the girl on the front has the NICEST color of red hair!

The book begins with a suicide scene. The girl committing the act does get a name, and while this is her only real appearance in the book, she is crucial to the story. I liken her to Drew Barrymore’s character in the movie Scream: she is only in the beginning, but she is really the catalyst that sets the whole plot in motion. In this case, the girl committing suicide is doing it online, via webcam. Many of her classmates come across her webcast, watching her die right there, live on their computers at home.

David’s parents find out via his computer history that he took part in viewing this webcast. Even though David came across this webcast by accident, he didn’t call the cops or anything to report what he was seeing; he just watched it, the same as everyone else. His parents get in touch with his school therapist, who diagnoses David as “dissociative” and prescribes a very strange solution: a sort of living doll, created to be a companion to David and help him have become less dissociative. Of course, David sees this as a different kind of companion, and keeps interacting with it in hopes that it will eventually become a sex doll. This takes him a while, however, as Rose (the companion) is built with a reward-and-punishment system: good behaviour is rewarded, but bad behaviour (such as kissing before Rose is ready) is punished with an electric shock. Eventually, David gets to the point he wants with Rose, but is enraged by a discovery about her and sends her away. Enter Charlie, another dissociated boy who is very different from David. Rose connects with him, and they begin a friendship.

Girl Parts has some flaws, as most books do, but was an overall well-written book once you get into it. The ARC I was given describes the book as "hilarious", which I don't agree with. I went into this book expecting some sort of a comedy, but it was instead mostly serious. As for characters, they all came across the way they were meant to, I think: Rose was my favourite, gaining her own personality and feelings as the book went on, and coming-of-age in her own right. Charlie was nice and sweet, though a bit strange sometimes, and David was - well - a jerk.

The technology in the book was well-described, and it was a nice little satire of the age we live in today. A robot designed to help teens become more social? Ironic, but Cusick makes it work. The book was clearly well thought-out, and managed to give its message without cramming it down your throat.

The ending, however, left something to be desired. With the fates of the boys pretty much given to us (though still somewhat ambiguous), I was left wondering what happened to Rose. Will there be a sequel, or are we just supposed to forget about her? "Okay, we've explained what's happened to David and Charlie. Maybe they'll just forget about Rose."

A good book overall, with some reread value. But this isn't one that I'll keep I think - I have too many books that I like more that need a space on my shelf.

SCORE: 6.5/10
IF YOU LIKE: Flip (Martyn Bedford), Absolute Boyfriend (Yuu Watase)

Betwixt - Tara Bray Smith

It's pretty much a given for me that if a book is about teens and something paranormal, I'll read it, and probably love it. Bonus points to the book if it's already on sale, as this one was. This book was very intriguing even just from the dust jacket: one character seems to have a dark secret, one can make paintings come to life (what even??) and the third can see halos of light around those who will be dying soon. Immediately I started to speculate on what the plot would be about... Casters? Psychics? Something entirely new?

Well, I was partially right. This book is about fey, but the idea of what you know about fairies has been taken and twisted so much that it can hardly be called fey anymore. The book begins very promising, and the characters are introduced in a way that makes the reader want to continue discovering more about them. While some of the characters do posess powers, none of them know how to use them or why they even have them in the first place. The characters begin talking about a summer rave in the woods fairly early on in the book, and anyone can see that this is where their fates will start to be revealed.

And this is where the book began to lose me. For the first two hundred or so pages, we are given tiny teases of what lies ahead, but not much more. In fact, the first third of the book mostly revolves around the two main girls in the book planning throwing a party. This party serves as an introduction for other characters who will become more important later, but feels like a completely different book entirely. There are not many revelations made about the characters in this first part, and it feels somewhat like filler.

About 200 pages or so in, we finally make it to the secret rave in the woods. At almost 300 pages in, the main teenagers have finally left the party. Do you see where I'm going with this? The book definitely had its moments, but it seemed to drag on and on with not much direction until the very end. The climax definitely had me turning the pages to see what would happen next, but led to a very disappointing ending. Will there be a sequel? I'm not sure, and I'm not sure the author knows either. The ending feels like the ending of the first season of a television show: the writers want to make sure that all loose ends and major plot points are tied up, so that it has closure if the show is cancelled, but leave enough questions and "what ifs" so that a second season can be made if need be.

The book was confusing, and the plot could have been a lot better. Many portions of the book were very promising, and the powers that the teens had were for the most part very unique. However, the book dragged on, and felt more like a chore to read than I would have liked. Normally a book with a plot like this and of a similar length would take me about a day to read; this book took me over a week.

One last thing I'd like to mention: what's with the character names? Morgan D'Amici is normal, but the other two characters leave something to be desired. Nix Saint-Michael sounded like it was trying too hard to have a 'cool' name... I didn't like how the author shortened "Nick" to "Nix" for no reason. The one that bugged me the most, though, would have to be Ondine Mason. Ondine is a Latin name, I know, but it felt made-up to me. Who would name their daughter Ondine? There are much prettier names out there if you want to go for a mythological name that has some historical meaning to it. Really though, a parent is not going to name their daughter "Ondine" and their son Max. You either name your kids weird things, or you don't. Not to mention - the characters in the book were constantly commenting on how weird the names "Nix" and "Moth" (short for the character's last name, Motherwell) were. REALLY? Those are weird, but ONDINE isn't?

Anyways, /end rant. The book wasn't great, but it was somewhat readable if you really like the teen paranormal genre. Not recommended to the average reader, but if you're of the type who must read every book of the genre like I am, go for it. Just don't expect great things. If you go into it with lower expectations than I did, who knows... you might like it!

SCORE: 4.5/10
IF YOU LIKE: Wicked Lovely (Melissa Marr), Tithe (Holly Black)