Review: Winter White by Jen Calonita

Title:  Winter White
Author:  Jen Calonita
Series:  Belles #2
Publisher:  Poppy
Publication Date:  October 9, 2012
Source:  Southern Book Bloggers ARC Tours
Purchase:  Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Isabelle Scott and Mirabelle Monroe are still reeling from the revelation that they share more than just the roof over their heads. The media has pounced on their story and the girls are caught up in a flurry of talk-show appearances and newspaper interviews. They've put on a happy public face, but someone is leaking their true feelings to the press, and while it seems like the world is watching their every move, at least they have each other.

But with cotillion season right around the corner, Izzie and Mira have barely had time to process their newfound sisterhood. Mira has dreamed of making her debut in a gorgeous white gown forever-now, if only she could find an escort. Izzie, meanwhile, is still struggling to find her place in Emerald Cove and it's seeming ever more impossible with EC mean-girls, young and old, doing their best to keep her down. As cotillion preparations heat up, though, there are dance steps to learn, manners to perfect... and secret initiations to complete? As if sophomore year wasn't hard enough!

It's time for the gowns to go on and the gloves to come off.

I was really hoping Winter White would redeem the Belles series for me.  But it’s books like these that had me believing for so long that I wouldn’t ever enjoy a contemporary novel.  Sure, I now know that isn’t true, that there are some really superb YA contemporary novels to be had.  I’ve even reviewed some of them here.  But the Belles series simply continues to fall short for me.

First of all, it feels like these books lay on the Southern drawl just a tad too much.  I’m from Texas.  We have a bit of twang and drawl in our regional dialect, but there are only a few of us who sound anything remotely similar to the characters in these books.  I thought that maybe it was a fluke with Belles because I listened to the audio for that novel, but it’s still ever-present in Winter White and therefore not the product of whimsical narration on the audiobook.  It was cute at first, but after awhile, it begins to wear on one’s soul.

Also, I understand that these girls lead privileged lives and money is no matter, etc., etc.  But all of the brand name-dropping and product shilling is reminiscent of the House of Night series, and it’s just too much.  I read the first book in that series and the first chapter of the second book before I called it quits.  So, I guess that says something for the Belles books…that even though so much of the story perturbed me, I was able to read till the end of the second novel and not throw the book across the room.

So, on to the actual story.  It mostly focuses on the family’s troubles after the revelations at the end of Belles and how it all affects their father’s campaign and vice versa.  I think what troubled me the most was the fact that what Bill Monroe did, what information he withheld from the family, he did so at the behest of his imprudent campaign manager and out of his own misguided belief that he was doing the right thing.  And yet the girls simply can’t forgive him.  He’s been a pretty great father and uncle up to this point, and yet they just can’t let it go, can’t see it from his perspective.  Ah, to be an arrogant, selfish teenager again.  Well, I guess when I look at it like that, maybe the author did get that particular outlook correct.

I wanted to read Winter White because Belles left me curious at the end.  But just like Belles, Winter White was terribly predictable.  I had already anticipated the twist and how it would all turn out by the time I was a third of the way into the book.  And just like in Belles, just as everything seems to be wrapping up nicely at the end…blammo!  There are a couple of curveballs thrown in the last chapter, just enough to make you curious for the next installment.

There’s quite a bit more I could say, most of it of a derogatory nature, but I don’t want to rag on this novel any more than I have since I know plenty of people who enjoy this type of book.  Pretty much, this book wasn’t for me, but it might be more your style.  Regardless, I contemplated giving this novel only two stars, but the fact that I still kinda want to read more (assuming there is another book -- couldn’t find anything on Goodreads or on the author’s website) of Izzie and Mira’s story forced me to tack on another star.  Damn my curiosity!

Rating: 

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Labels: arc tour reviews, belles, contemporary, hachette, jen calonita, reviews, southern book bloggers

Teaser Tuesday #23: The Diviners by Libba Bray & Winter White by Jen Calonita

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!


This week's teaser comes from the following books...yes, plural:

Title:  The Diviners
Author:  Libba Bray
Series:  Diviners, book 1
Publisher:  Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date:  September 18, 2012
Source:  ARC won from author Claire LeGrand
Purchase:  Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Evie O'Neill has been exiled from her boring old hometown and shipped off to the bustling streets of New York City--and she is pos-i-toot-ly thrilled. New York is the city of speakeasies, shopping, and movie palaces! Soon enough, Evie is running with glamorous Ziegfield girls and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is Evie has to live with her Uncle Will, curator of The Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult--also known as "The Museum of the Creepy Crawlies." When a rash of occult-based murders comes to light, Evie and her uncle are right in the thick of the investigation. And through it all, Evie has a secret: a mysterious power that could help catch the killer--if he doesn't catch her first.

My teaser:

  "You can't blame a fella for kissing the prettiest girl in New York, can you, sister?"  Sam's grin was anything but apologetic.
  Evie brought up her knee quickly and decisively, and he dropped to the floor like a grain sack.  "You can't blame a girl for her quick reflexes now, can you, pal?"  -- p. 34 of ARC

Okay, so I cheated a bit...again.  :0)  But this book is soooo much fun.  It's all, "See here, doll," and "Everything's jake, Pop."  LOVE the twenties!  I'm savoring this one...not that it isn't long enough to hold me over for awhile, as it is.  :-P

Title:  Winter White
Author:  Jen Calonita
Series:  Belles #2
Publisher:  Poppy
Publication Date:  October 9, 2012
Source:  Southern Book Bloggers ARC Tours
Purchase:  Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Isabelle Scott and Mirabelle Monroe are still reeling from the revelation that they share more than just the roof over their heads. The media has pounced on their story and the girls are caught up in a flurry of talk-show appearances and newspaper interviews. They've put on a happy public face, but someone is leaking their true feelings to the press, and while it seems like the world is watching their every move, at least they have each other.

But with cotillion season right around the corner, Izzie and Mira have barely had time to process their newfound sisterhood. Mira has dreamed of making her debut in a gorgeous white gown forever-now, if only she could find an escort. Izzie, meanwhile, is still struggling to find her place in Emerald Cove and it's seeming ever more impossible with EC mean-girls, young and old, doing their best to keep her down. As cotillion preparations heat up, though, there are dance steps to learn, manners to perfect... and secret initiations to complete? As if sophomore year wasn't hard enough!

It's time for the gowns to go on and the gloves to come off.

My teaser:

"I thought you were hiding something from me," Izzie said, starting to calm down. "I don't trust people that easily and I trust you, Brayden. Finding out you lied to me..." -- p. 165 of ARC

Uh oh!  Sounds like trouble in paradise!


So, I'm reading two books and couldn't choose which one to tease.  Did you have the same trouble this week?  Share your teaser(s) in the comments!  =D

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Labels: belles, contemporary, diviners, hachette, historical fiction, jen calonita, libba bray, teaser tuesday

Audiobook Review: Belles by Jen Calonita

Title:  Belles
Author:  Jen Calonita
Narrator:  Julia Whelan
Series:  1st book in the Belles series
Publisher:  Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Publication Date:  April 3, 2012
Source:  purchased audiobook
Purchase:  Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Audible

Fifteen-year-old Isabelle Scott loves her life by the boardwalk on the supposed wrong side of the tracks in North Carolina. But when tragedy strikes, a social worker sends her to live with a long-lost uncle and his preppy privileged family. Isabelle is taken away from everything she’s ever known, and, unfortunately, inserting her into the glamorous lifestyle of Emerald Cove doesn’t go so well. Her cousin Mirabelle Monroe isn’t thrilled to share her life with an outsider, and, in addition to dealing with all the rumors and backstabbing that lurk beneath their classmates’ Southern charm, a secret is unfolding that will change both girls’ lives forever.

Okay, I had some reservations about this book, but then I read some great reviews, and I thought, "Why not give it a try?  You've liked every contemporary you've read so far this year..."  And Belles was fun.  It was a nice, light, fluffy read. 

And therein lies the problem for me.  It lacked depth...especially considering the issues that were being dealt with in the book.  But that's not to say that I didn't like it.  This storyline would be perfect for the CW...or a soap opera, but those are kind of one and the same.  Just when there's a lull in the story and things seem to be working themselves out -- BAM -- life throws another curveball at our belles.  It made for an entertaining story, but even so, it was terribly predictable.  Before I was even a third of the way through the book, I pretty much had the whole plot figured out.

The characters were terribly one dimensional and stereotypical, from the jocks on the football team to the cliquish best friends.  Even the unpopular kids -- the ones Izzy will inevitably befriend because of her less than stellar social status -- are as expected, scholarship kids who will never fit in with Mira and her "mean girl" friends.  Izzy and Mira do go through a metamorphosis of their own, but sadly, it was a product of circumstance, not actual character growth. 

But I'm hoping the character growth will come with the revelations at the end of Belles, and so, even though this isn't my favorite contemporary novel this year, I still enjoyed it enough to pick up Winter White when it's released in October.  This rags-to-riches story is full of promise and heartache and I can see why so many people have loved this book.  It just wasn't quite the book I was hoping for.  However, I will say that the narrator was perfect for this novel...her twang was dead-on, and I felt like I really was listening to some Southern Belles throwing hissy fits.  :)

Rating: 

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Labels: audiobooks, belles, contemporary, hachette, jen calonita, reviews