How often do you run across a classic YA novel … for boys?  Not very often.  Typically, a YA book for boys is all about machismo and action and fighting, but rarely dealing with emotions of love – further propelling gender stereotypes. But E. Van Lowe’s YA book, Moondancers, breaks through the barriers and offers up a really enticing set of characters and story.

Josh Butters is going on sixteen.  His best friends are Alan and Conner.  They are the stereotypical teenaged boy nerds.  They think about, fantasize about, the really good-looking girls at school, but the very thought of actually talking to any of them makes the boys panic.  But a new girl, Alexia, has moved in next door to Alan, and she’s the most beautiful girl any of the young men has ever seen.  Alan tries to impress her with some antics in his pool, but when he doesn’t come back up Lara, Alexia’s cousin comes to his rescue before the boys even see her move.  But when he does see her, Josh is spellbound.  He knows, in his heart, that Lara is his one true love.  But Lara and Alexia harbor an ancient family secret that could prevent the boys from ever getting close to the girls.  But when the secret is out, the boys are needed to help protect the girls from a long-time evil.

This is really one of the better YA books that I have read (and I’ve read a few of them).  In part it’s because this really captures the feelings of the geeky, awkward, teenaged boy.  I know…I was one of them.  The constant thinking about girls.  The dreaming about those found so attractive, but the failure to step up and actually talk to one of them.  Not every boy is an athletic star and confident in himself.  Especially at that age, and this book really identifies with those young men.

And while the boys do talk about their feelings and their passions and finding a soul-mate, they are also able to step up and become heroes to fight for the ones they love.

And best of all…they understand and respect the friendships they have among themselves.  Too often boys in books are the masculine meat-heads who fight for the girl but don’t really want to show the ‘feminine’ side.  These boys are 100% male, but recognize the tight bond that they’ve developed over the years of being friends and that this isn’t just tossed away when a boy/girl relationship begins.

This is so smooth!  I am so excited to have found a book that understands and can convey this.

And the story is thrilling.  Monsters and enchanted creatures.  Domineering and clueless parents.  True, unrequited love.  Fights.  Brain over brawn.  This story has it all.  I felt that I could have been any one of these boys – would certainly have liked to have been when I was that age – and so I understood them.  They were real to me and I suspect that a lot of young boys would find it the same.

Which brings me to … the cover.  This is a GORGEOUS cover, as seen above.  But this screams “girl’s YA book” to me.  Girls should like it.  There are some powerful young ladies within.  But this doesn’t look like the sort of book that will grab a hold of those young boys who would want to read it.  In fact, it will be embarrassing for those geeks to take a book off the shelf with a pretty girl on the cover like this.  I know that’s a shame, but that’s the life of a teenager.

Do everyone a favor, and put this book in the hands of every boy ages 13-17.  Make them read the first chapter and they will immediately be involved and they will read the rest on their own.

Looking for a good book?  Moondancers, by E. Van Lowe, is an exciting YA book that should appeal greatly to teen boys especially.

I received a digital copy of this book from the author, through the publicist, in exchange for an honest review.

Please read the guest blog post from the author published this same day, on this blog.

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Moondancers

author: E. Van Lower

series:  The Beautiful Creatures Of Beverly Hills #1

publisher: EViL E Books

ASIN: B01BPKEPK4

Kindle Edition, 204 pages

Pawn, by Aimée Carter, is a classic Young Adult sci-fi/fantasy/dystopian novel.  If you’ve followed my reviews at all you’ll know that I identify classic YA as having a female protagonist, usually in love with someone but from whom she has been separated and she agrees to the separation for the good of all, heaping martyrdom upon her tortured soul.  She is filled with pathos and gloom and doom and a bit of resiliency.

Kitty Doe is a III – a ranking in her society that guarantees a life of misery and drudgery.  It will also separate her from her boyfriend Benjy.  But after her test in which she was placed as a III (because she’s bad at test-taking) she is approached by a representative for the Prime Minister who offer to make her a VII (a nearly unprecedented ranking for anyone not a member of the ruling family).  The catch?  Kitty must become a double for Lila Hart, the Prime Minister’s niece, much beloved by the people, who died recently, though her death was never released to the public.  Kitty is selected because of her unique blue eyes which are so close to Lila’s.  But Kitty must undergo a “Masking” process in which her entire body is physically changed to resemble Lila’s.  Even her voice is changed.

What Kitty discovers is the usual dysfunctional ruling family and a level of inequality that she couldn’t have imagined.  She has her allies on the inside, who teach and lead her, and when Benjy is brought in to be an assistant to Knox (Lennox Creed) a member of the ruling family who was mostly famous for his partying (and also Lila’s fiance).  As much of a shock as this is, Kitty’s biggest shock is yet to come.

Author Aimée Carter’s writing is very slick and easy to read and the story really moves along quickly.  It was because of her writing that I enjoyed the story as much as I did.

Plot-wise…I wasn’t terribly impressed.  First, there’s the whole idea of the ‘masking’.  In this world there is the technology available to completely change a person’s appearance (they even made her legs longer) and implant something in the voice-box to change the sound of the voice … why was Kitty necessary?  Couldn’t they make these changes to anyone? Ah, yes … it was because of her eyes.  The technology exists to change everything … height, voice, facial structure … but they can’t come up with a way to change eye color?  That’s a real level of suspension of disbelief that is being asked of the reader.

The world-building itself never really makes sense.  It’s okay to not explain away everything … to reveal things as we go, but this world is never explained.  Only the immediate actions and consequences are explained.  But how did we get here?  Who are the Blackcoats?  It’s as though it’s just a bad world, or a bad time in our world (doesn’t really matter, apparently) and that’s supposed to be enough for the reader.

Most of the plot isn’t terribly unique.  Girl is in love with guy.  Loses guy.  Must marry wealthy, handsome other guy to save everything she loves. Girl rebels against it in every way she can, while strictly following the rules.  Does this not sound like every other dystopian YA book out there (including Hunger Games and Divergent).

There is a twist that I have to admit that I didn’t see coming which definitely added some intrigue, though probably more-so for the next book(s) in the series.

Overall, it was easy to read, which was certainly pleasant, but the world-building and characters didn’t pull me in enough to make me anxious for the next book.

Looking for a good book?  Pawn, by Aimée Carter, is a dystopian YA novel (ala Hunger Games) with a couple of twists and easy to read, but doesn’t reach too deep or gather a lot of steam in this book.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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Pawn

author: Aimée Carter

series: The Blackcoat Rebellion #1

publisher: Harlequin Teen

ISBN: 0373210558

hardcover, 343 pages