Let's Bust a Recap : Live Your Best Lie

Many moons ago when facebook was just a fledgling student networking site, I was attending a teeny tiny college where everybody knew everybody and we all gossiped—in person!—about everybody's business. One of my fellow coeds was Jessie Bell who is now Jessie Weaver, and exactly one month ago today, her debut novel was published. Live Your Best Lie is a young adult murder-mystery which will keep you guessing right up to the end. 

When Summer Cartwright, famous teen Instagram influencer, turns up dead at her own Halloween party, the suspect pool is immediately narrowed down to four of her so-called friends when a strange post shows up on her Instagram account shining the spotlight directly on them. As the story switches back and forth between their four different points of view, Instagram posts from Summer's page, and flashbacks to different interactions she shared with each of them, the reader is left wondering what dirt Summer had on all of them to give them motive to kill her. But they're not the only ones with reasons to want Summer dead. And when the four of them decide to work together to find more suspects to offer the police, tensions are high and the stakes even higher. 

First of all let me just say: I am a notoriously slow reader. But when I picked up Jessie's book late last Monday night, I could barely put it down until I finished it Wednesday morning. And while, yes, of course I wanted to know who the killer was, what really kept me turning the pages was finding out what secrets Summer was holding over the different people in her life. (And by the way, I did not figure out who the killer was before the actual reveal. And I was trying.)

Secondly, I'll comment on the genre. YA is not one I frequent very often, and this was my first YA murder-mystery. Never have I felt so completely ancient while simultaneously being profoundly grateful not to be growing up in our social media saturated world. When I was the age of the teens in this book, the extent of our internet savvy extended to dial-up, our new Juno email addresses, and chatting with strangers on AIM. Jessie managed to create teens in Live Your Best Lie that felt like real teenagers having real teenage reactions to being suspected of murder, and having those reactions under the very public pressure of social media scrutiny. The fraught, teenage hormones flying around were believable and it stressed me out. The influencer culture described in the book was spot-on and one of the reasons why I quit Instagram myself.

Lastly, would I recommend Live Your Best Lie?

In a heartbeat.

I liked the diverse cast in this book—characters of different ethnicities and characters with disabilities. I was glad to see adults represented well—single moms, blended families, involved and uninvolved parents. The teens in this book weren't little adults running around with total autonomy, and that was refreshing. I appreciated that we weren't subjected to any sexual scenarios. While the book wasn't completely devoid of romance, we didn't have to read about teens sleeping around, even though you could infer the different experience levels of certain characters. 

But I do have a caveat.

While the language in the book was pretty mild and definitely realistic to the way teens talk, there was just enough of it to make me hesitate to recommend this book to actual teenagers. I definitely would have read and loved this book as a teen, and I don't think any teen reading it today would find anything shocking in its pages, no matter how sheltered he or she may be. But the auntie in me wouldn't be able to recommend this book to a teen without a short diatribe against the normalization and perpetuation of using rude language, particularly the casual misuse of God's name. 

Other than that though, this is one to get your hands on and Jessie Weaver is an author to watch. When my turn rolls around in book club, Live Your Best Lie may be the book I end up choosing. 

Let's Bust a Recap : Skating Shoes

Skating Shoes was on my 2022 book list, but was one of four books from that list I didn't get around to reading last year. I was intentionally saving it for the end of the year because ice skating evokes all things Christmas-y to me, but between getting sick—twice!—and watching the World Cup, I didn't manage to pick this one up. It ended up being the perfect February read though, and all my thanks to Amy for choosing a book off my 2023 list for book club. 

If you missed out on my Ballet Shoes recap from a couple years ago, pause and go read it real quick. I'll wait. 

Are you back? If you—like me—are not one to follow explicit instructions, the main point is: I have acquired and begun reading Noel Streatfeild's Shoe Books solely on the recommendation of You've Got Mail's Kathleen Kelly. 

And I'm loving them. 

In Streatfeild's 1951 Skating Shoes, we meet the Johnson family who are barely making ends meet by living off the unwanted produce their Uncle William sends them to sell in the store. Harriet Johnson, our shy little protagonist, has been seriously ill, and her doctor recommends ice skating as a way to strengthen her legs after her long confinement. Her big brother Alec takes up a paper route so they can afford for Harriet to rent her skates, and off she goes to the rink where she ends up befriending Lalla Moore who is destined—according to her Aunt Claudia—to follow in her late father's footsteps and become a champion figure skater. The book follows this unlikely friendship as Lalla helps Harriet on the ice, and Harriet invites lonely Lalla into her happy family. 

Ballet Shoes was delightful, but I loved Skating Shoes. The way the Johnson family interacted in the book was a thing of joy, and watching all the adults in Lalla's life—her nurse, her tutor, her skating coach, even her Aunt Claudia's husband Uncle David—care for her well-being, despite Aunt Claudia's well-intentioned but misplaced goals for Lalla, was heartwarming. I love a book that makes me giggle, and Skating Shoes provides merriment for days. I particularly found the Johnsons' reactions to littlest brother Edward's lovable but insufferable remarks hilarious. This would be a fun read-aloud with the children in your life, and I highly recommend it. 

Yes, Kathleen Kelly, Skating Shoes is completely wonderful, and it's easily my favorite of the two Shoe Books I've read so far, though it's not as widely acclaimed as Ballet Shoes is. We'll see how it holds up once I've read my other two Shoe Books, but I have a hard time believing either of them could top this one. 

Which one next: Theater Shoes or Dancing Shoes?

Let's Bust a Recap : The Emily of New Moon Trilogy

Hello again! How's your 2023 going now that we've got almost two months under our belt? Here in Western North Carolina, it's been cold and grey and dreary and this Florida girl has been feeling a bit blue lately. After finishing up Polk and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea at the beginning of January, I decided to snuggle in with one of my favorite authors and picked up the first Emily of New Moon book. I flew through this charming trilogy the last week of January though I have to admit: Emily of New Moon is my least favorite of Lucy Maud's leading ladies to date. My friend Ereina once told me that if Montgomery's Anne books are the sun, then her Emily books are the moon. After having read them, I'd say that's an apt description and as for me and my house, we'll take the sunshine of Anne Shirley over the moonlight of Emily Byrd Starr. 

Emily of New Moon, Emily Climbs, and Emily's Quest were published in 1923, 1925, and 1927 respectively. At the beginning of Emily of New Moon, we meet eleven year old Emily Byrd Starr who is unceremoniously informed by her hateful (but well-meaning) housekeeper Ellen that her father is going to die any day. Unfortunately, Ellen is telling the truth, and after two glorious last weeks together, Emily is left an orphan. Her mother's people are the proud Murray clan whom Emily has never met because they disowned her mother for eloping with her father. Their pride won't allow them to leave Emily to the care of others, so shortly after her father's death, they descend upon her to decide who will be responsible for her upbringing, and the duty falls to stern Aunt Elizabeth, sweet Aunt Laura, and simple Cousin Jimmy of New Moon. Emily discovers a world of beauty at New Moon and befriends her wild next door neighbor Ilse Burnley, the artistic Teddy Kent, and Perry Miller the hired boy from Stovepipe Town. Throughout the trilogy, we see these children grow into men and women, determined to turn their dreams into reality. Emily in particular is an aspiring authoress, and we get to see her earn the respect of her family as her writing develops and is eventually published. 

Montgomery, as always, brings her signature wit and poetic prose to Emily's story, and I enjoyed it very much, particularly the middle installment, Emily Climbs. Her ability to create a colorful cast of unique characters leaves nothing to be desired. However, there were times when Emily's letters to her father and diary entries—devices Montgomery employed a lot to fill out this narrative—seemed to drag a bit for me, and by the third book, Emily's Quest, I was ready to shake the Murray pride right out of our moody protagonist. But even so, I had a lovely time in New Moon. 

Nevertheless, I won't be the frequent visitor there that I am at Green Gables.

Any recommendations for my next book by Lucy Maud?