Because It Is My Blood

In All These Things I've Done by Gabrielle Zevin, Anya Balanchine ends up in juvie.  She "belongs" there because of all the things she's done to protect her older brother and younger sister.  Worst of all, though, is her relationship with the son of NYC's DA.  The Balanchines have been a crime family for a couple of decades.  Nuff said.

At the beginning of Because It Is My Blood, Anya is released and her life has changed.  Her family is fractured; her Nana dead, her older brother hidden away.  Only her younger sister is still around.  Anya wants her life to go back to pre-crime days when she tried so hard to keep everyone safe.  No school wants her.  The Legalize Cacao Movement is the only group who welcomes her and Anya needs to avoid them.  An indiscretion lands her back in Juvie and suddenly Anya is in hiding in Mexico.  When she, her younger sister and her brother are all threatened on the same night, Anya must return home to a family business in chaos and a bucket of grief.  The peace, freedom and deep friendship that she found in Mexico makes the violence and loneliness of her real life dismal in contrast.

An then there is Win, the ex-DA's son, who has never given up on their love.  And her best friend, Scarlett, has made a "pact" with one of Anya's devils.  It's a mess!  And a fabulous read!

Anya thinks like a very intelligent 17-year-old.  Getting through high school seems like such a HUGE problem to her, when everything else in her life is in shreds.  Anya's tunnel vision is so believable.  I mean, her life is in constant disarray and danger.  And yet, getting into a school and graduating with her class looms so large in her plans.  It overshadows the conspiracies and treachery in the family business that need her attention.  So, tell me, what would YOU do in Anya's place?  I think she's awesome, myself.

So read the book.  It's in bookstores on September 18th.  Pre-order it at your favorite Indie bookstore now.

Shhh, I'm reading The Violinist's Thumb

That's what I've been doing.  Reading.  Because It Is my Blood by Gabrielle Zevin, the second book in her Birthright series (due out next month I think);  A Fistful of Collars by Spencer Quinn - I'm still working on this one.  When the narrator is a dog, it takes a little longer to solve a crime (due out on Sept. 11).  Also, The Applewhites at Wit's End by Stephanie Tolan. I loved Surviving the Applewhites.  This book is almost as much fun as the first.

 And Sam Kean's The Violinist's Thumb.  That last one might take me a whole month to finish.  It is an AWESOME but very detailed history of the exploration into DNA and genetics.  Kean bounces all over the timeline relating gene studies to grammar and math and spelling and 16th century explorations and just about everything you can think of.  And he pulls in the stories of scientists whose studies into fallible hypotheses laid the groundwork for later solid research.  I got the e-galley and I hope it's one that stays on my reader because I'm sure I will need to re-read this book. 

So, that is what I have been doing.  Expect reviews of the other titles soon.  Zevin is a fabulous author.  Chet the Dog can sure, um, tell a story. (I wonder, could Spencer Quinn be a pseudonym for a dog who has learned to type? And how would that work, dogs typing?) And the Applewhites once again rise victorious from chaos. 

All These Things I've Done

I finished All These Things I've Done by Gabrielle Zevin.  I was not disappointed at all and, although this book could be a stand alone, there are questions that crop up that could foreshadow another book, or maybe two.  For instance, just what did Mouse do to get 1000 days confinement in juvenile detention?

When I read a book that I hope others will want to read, I don't want to give too much information about the plot.  This book is sort of "The Godfather Lite" in subject matter.  I mean, really, the controlled substance is chocolate.   The plot is a teensy bit similar to Gordan Korman's Son of the Mob, but Zevin's book is not nearly as slapstick as Korman's work.  There are clever, smart ass remarks and funny moments in All These Things I've Done.  While both books address the complications of being a member of a crime family by birth and not by choice, Zevin goes into the decisions and their consequences more deeply.   Of course, Anya is an orphan and her guardian is dying - that tends to sober the whole mood, right there.

ENOUGH!!!  Read the book when you get the chance.  It comes out on September 6th so go to your library of choice.  Corner the YS librarian and tell him or her to ORDER this book.  Then put a hold on it.  More holds, more copies!!  That's the way it works in most public libraries.  Suspense, romance, crimes, injustice, - all of that and more wait for you in All These Things I've Done.

Nice surprise

I opened my front door last night and a package fell into the living room.  It was an Advance Reader's Edition of Gabrielle Zevin's All These Things I've Done.  I think AREs or ARCs or galleys or whatever they are called are the best things to find in the mail - except for long chatty letters from far-flung family and friends. (Hint, hint, far-flung friends and family!)

Zevin got rave reviews for her earlier book Elsewhere.  Elsewhere examined the afterlife of a girl who died at fifteen.  It was such a sad, thoughtful, wry and hopeful book that I couldn't wait to get my hands on All These Things I've Done.

I haven't gotten too far but I have learned an appalling aspect of the world in this book.  Caffeine and chocolate are both outlawed.  This book must be a HORROR story.  I swoon to think of a world where chocolate is a controlled substance.

The heroine, Anya Balanchine, is the daughter of a notorious - and dead - crime boss.  And the new delicious boy at school is the son of the new District Attorney of the city.  Oops!  Set somewhere in the not-too-distant future, this book promises a good read.  And since the author is Zevin, I'm sure there will be some surprises.