Book Review: Sass & Serendipity by Jennifer Ziegler

Posted on by

Sass and Serendipity cover imageGabby is 17 years old and has her feet firmly planted on the ground. She holds no illusions about the imperfections of those around her, and she’s determined not to make the same mistakes her mother has by letting romance get in the way of what she wants to accomplish. Gabby’s 15-year-old sister Daphne is just the opposite. She sees the world through rose-tinted glasses, and she’s sure that the way to find true romance is to expect it.

Each girl is confident that her approach to life is the best, and her sister is wrong. The situation is ripe enough for conflict, but when you throw in recently divorced parents, a loyal best friend who may be interested in more than friendship, the family’s struggling financial situation and more, Gabby and Daphne want to declare war on each other.

Sass and Serendipity by Jennifer Ziegler explores the family dynamic through sisters with two very different personalities. Gabby and Daphne not only have different views of the same events, they also choose different ways of coping with these events. Like Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, Sass and Serendipity explores the relationship between sisters and other family members, the pitfalls of making snap judgments without knowing more than one view of a story, and the drawbacks to being rigid in whatever outlook you tend to favor. Mother-daughter book clubs with girls aged 14 and up will find lots to discuss.

To learn more, check out the interview where Ziegler talks about her writing life, her characters, and the challenges of adapting a Jane Austen story for modern times. You may also want to know about out a giveaway Ziegler is featuring on her website. Here are the details:

To learn more about Jennifer, visit her website: http://www.jenniferziegler.net/index.html or blog: http://www.jenniferziegler.net/blog/.

The author provided me with a copy of this book to review.

Save

Interview with Jennifer Ziegler, Author of Sass and Serendipity

Posted on by
Jennifer Ziegler photo

Jennifer Ziegler

You can count me among the legion of Jane Austen fans. That’s why I was so intrigued to find out about a new book by Jennifer Ziegler called Sass & Serendipity, that’s somewhat based on Austen’s Sense and Sensibility. Tomorrow I’ll be posting my review of the book (hint: I like it!), and today I’m featuring an interview with Ziegler. Read on to find out about her writing life, books she liked to read when she was growing up, the challenges of re-imagining a classic, and more.

To learn more about Jennifer, visit her website: http://www.jenniferziegler.net/index.html or blog: http://www.jenniferziegler.net/blog/. Now on to the interview.

How did you decide to become a writer?

JZ: I grew up in a family of storytellers, so I learned narrative form even as I learned to talk. I shared a room with my younger sister and would make up stories at night, when we were supposed to be sleeping, to see if I could make her laugh. At some point I had an epiphany that there were people who did that sort of thing as a job. That blew my mind–the notion that making up silly stories could translate into a career! From then on it was my deepest desire.

What do you like best about being a writer?

JZ: Writing combines all of my skills and interests. It’s a job where daydreaming counts as research and pajamas can be work wear. Where being perpetually sixteen might be regarded as a preferred qualification. Where you seclude yourself for long stretches at a time, but it never feels lonely because you interact with made-up people.

However, the best part would be the connections I make. Meeting fellow book lovers and discussing stories that enrich our lives. And when someone lists one of my novels among them? Well, that’s just beyond amazing.

What is you least favorite part of writing?

JZ: Writing takes a lot out of you–especially that super-focused, nurturing type of energy that I use with my children. Thus, sometimes I’m tapped out after a day of writing, and feel that I’ve given my best self to fictional people instead of my real life loved ones. I can’t exactly say that I hate this part of writing, but it is the part I struggle with the most.

What were some of the favorite books you read when you were a teen?

JZ: I loved all kinds of books of all different genres, but my favorite authors were Judy Blume, Paula Danziger, Paul Zindel, S.E. Hinton, Richard Peck, Norma Fox Mazer and Harry Mazer. Young adult fiction didn’t have as many offerings back then, so I also read a lot of books by Kurt Vonnegut, Douglas Adams, Erma Bombeck, Steven King, Philip Roth, and John Updike.

Sass and Serendipity is loosely based on Jane Austin’s Sense and Sensibility. Were you an Austen fan when you were growing up?

JZ: I discovered Jane Austen as a teen. In fact, Sense and Sensibility was the first book of hers that I read and I absolutely adored it. I’m ashamed to say that teenage Jennifer stayed away from the classics, assuming (erroneously) that they were dense, boring, and only beloved by English teachers. Jane Austen changed all that. I found her writing to be lively and funny, her characters to be real and relatable, and her depiction of sisterhood to be very much like my own.

How difficult was it for you to re-imagine the story for modern times?

JZ: It had its challenges. I knew it wouldn’t be as simple as just updating the setting. The scope of the novel would have to be streamlined and some plotlines and characters would have to go. Most of all, I knew I shouldn’t even try to imitate Austen’s writing style–not only because it would appear forced and unnatural, but because it had to have me in it. If I didn’t feel ownership, the story would suffer. Thus, the hardest part was figuring out my approach. Once I decided to stay away from the original material and simply work from the themes and plots that had been burned into my memory, I was freed up to both imagine and re-imagine.

Daphne and Gabby couldn’t be more different than each other. Do you believe that a special bond exists between sisters even when they have dramatically different personalities?

JZ: I do believe it’s possible, yes. My sister and I appear to be very different. However, most of that disparity is topical or was played up when we were teens in order to appear distinct from each other. Deep down, we are very much alike. And beyond all the similarities and differences, we can’t help but understand each other so thoroughly simply because we grew up together. There’s a certain security in that.

All the characters in Sass and Serendipity seem to be stuck in the way they perceive the people and circumstances around them. Do you believe that it’s difficult for people in general to change how they perceive their world?

JZ: It just might be the most difficult thing ever. It’s as if we’re all riding on a vast ship, and each of us are peering out from our tiny portholes and assuming that the scene in front of us is the same for everyone else. I don’t think it’s possible to truly see what someone else sees, but we can remind ourselves over and over that no one has the same line of sight–that the assumptions we make about others are based on our limited perspective and could be wrong. Everyone has an incomplete picture, so the best thing we can do is listen and empathize. I also think that reading books, both fiction and non-fiction, opens up the world and presents different viewpoints, thereby widening our own view.

What are some of the key issues you see book clubs being able to address when they discuss your book?

JZ: I think the issue of point of view, as mentioned above, is a big one. Readers are in the heads of both protagonists, so they have the big picture. Meanwhile the characters are making guesses about each other that are often wrong and unfair.

Other discussion points can be the themes of love and friendship, the way the story compares and contrasts with Austen’s book, and the characters of the two sisters. One girl is so reserved it prevents her from truly connecting with others. The other is so open she risks extreme hurt. Which is better? Which approach can they better relate to?

Is there anything you would like to add for readers at Mother Daughter Book Club. com?

JZ: I would just like to thank you for featuring me and to commend you on having such a wonderful site. Book clubs are a fantastic way to exchange ideas on books and, therefore, the world. When mothers and daughters analyze the same book, it can’t help but lead to a greater understanding of each other, too. What a perfect way to bond and grow together.

Save

Book Review: Ultimate Game by Christian Lehmann

Posted on by

Here’s a guest book review written by author Christina Hamlett

Ultimate Game cover imageTitle: Ultimate Game
Author: Christian Lehmann
Published: 2000 (originally published in French in 1996)
David R. Godine, Publisher

I’m clearly not the target demographic for Christian Lehmann’s gripping YA thriller, Ultimate Game. To begin with, I’m over 50, female, have never played a computer game beyond an occasional solitaire, have never seen “TRON,” and am daunted every time my husband upgrades our cell phones, computers, kitchen appliances or stereo systems. I often tell him, in fact, that he must never die because he’s the only one who knows where the “on” button is or how to troubleshoot pesky glitches when I can’t access my email. In a nutshell, if I were to find myself in the dark recesses of computer warfare such as the three friends in Lehmann’s novel, I would likely never be seen again.

The book is a fast-paced read (I finished it in one evening) and embraces two dark, very real themes. The first is the obsessive nature of virtual gaming and the insularity it breeds in young people whose time might be better spent reading books, playing outdoors and interacting with friends. Having interviewed a number of educators for magazine/newspaper articles as well as my own books, there’s a growing concern that communication skills are diminishing as students spend more and more time in front of their monitors or vigorously texting.

Secondly is the anesthetizing effect that violent video games and movies have on impressionable young minds. It’s almost as if they see it on such a regular and graphic basis that there’s a disconnect between the gore and horror of what’s on the screen and the realities of violence and bloodshed that exists in the real world. In Lehmann’s novel, it’s entirely plausible that the young pals would get caught up in their latest find—a single diskette with content that surpasses their wildest fantasies about daredevil deeds, destruction and death. It would make a good candidate for a book club read and discussion because of its undercurrent of morality issues and the underlying threat of becoming so obsessed with unhealthy pasttimes that you lose all sense of personal identity.

Save

Book Review: Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy by Carlos Eire

Posted on by

Waiting for Snow in Havana cover imageCarlos Eire was born during the 1950s into a fairly well off family in Havana on the island of Cuba. The son of a judge, Carlos and his brother learned to expect special privileges that came from being the children of a well-respected and powerful man. But everything in his life began to change when Fidel Castro waged revolution and toppled the Batista government. In the early 60s, at the age of 11, he and his older brother were sent to the U.S. to keep them safe. They never returned to Cuba.

Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy is Eire’s memoir of those magical days he spent as a boy in Havana. He and his friends roamed the neighborhood freely, playing games, lighting off firecrackers, tormenting lizards, and generally living a carefree life.

Eire’s recollections paint a vivid picture of times in Havana both before and after the revolution. He tells of grand parties and palaces, and resisters he knew of who were imprisoned and tortured. He talks about a cast of larger-than-life characters he remembers, like his father who claimed to be a reincarnation of King Louis XVI of France and his cousin Fernando who  worked against the revolution.

We learn about how pervasive American culture was in Cuba in those days—Coca-Cola and  American movies were favorites. The tale is both enlightening and fascinating about the times, and it is also heartbreaking to read about the way of life that was lost forever for so many.

Like Eire, around 14,000 children were sent the U.S. during those days. Their parents hoped to bring them home after a short amount of time, or join them later. Most never returned, and many parents were never able to leave Cuba. This story is about that exodus as well. I recommend it for ages 14 and up as well as adults.

Author Christina Mandelski Talks About Making Cakes and Shares a Recipe for Fondant

Posted on by

When I read Christina Mandelski’s book, The Sweetest Thing, I had a constant desire to make cake. But Christina says it’s a great inspiration to get book club members to try their hands at making cake as well. As someone whose “ugly cakes” have been famous with my friends and family for years, I could stand to have a few lessons myself. So I was happy when Christina offered to share a few thoughts about cake-making and a recipe with readers at Mother Daughter Book Club. Here’s her essay.

Let Them Eat Cake!

By Christina Mandelski

Hi there fellow book lovers—my name is Christina Mandelski, author of the young adult novel, The Sweetest Thing. I’d like to extend a big thank you to Mother Daughter Book Club. com for having me on the blog today.

The Sweetest Thing is the story of a gifted teenaged cake decorator named Sheridan Wells. She’s so good, that she’s become the go-to girl for cakes in her small Michigan town. Unfortunately for Sheridan, the rest of her world is a complete mess. You can read more about Sheridan’s story in the Mother-Daughter Book Club review here.

As the author of a novel about cake decorating, you can imagine that the number one question I get asked by my readers is: “Are you a cake decorator?”

And the answer is no, I am not. What I am is a big fan of cake artists. In fact, the idea for the book was born after watching the Ace of Cakes TV show with my own daughters. These days there are a ton of other cake shows and in our house we’ll always sit down to watch Cake Boss, or Cupcake Wars, or the Food Network Challenges (what those people do in eight hours is unbelievable!).

While I am not a cake artist, I did, however, do my research. While writing the book, I took a class at a local cooking school to learn the basics of cake decorating. I had a great time but what I took away from the class was this: cake decorating is HARD! It requires artistic ability and a great deal of patience (and I’ve not especially been graced with either). Still, I gave it a try…

Here is one cake I made for the class:

Cake with fondantIt wasn’t exactly Ace of Cakes material, but my daughters will tell you, at least it tasted good!

If you’ve read or are planning to read The Sweetest Thing for your book club, I’d encourage you to try to incorporate some cake decorating into your meeting. Fondant is fun and easy (think flexible, edible Play-doh) to make and work with.

If you want to give it a whirl, here’s a great recipe (you can also find it in The Sweetest Thing book club guide on my website). Make it before your meeting and store it in an airtight container. Make sure you have cornstarch when you’re working with the fondant, so it doesn’t stick to your surface.

You’ll need:

  • 15 oz. mini marshmallows
  • 2 tablespoons water
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons lemon juice
  • 2 teaspoons light corn syrup
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½ teaspoon lemon extract
  • 7 cups (approximately) confectioner’s sugar

Directions: Grease microwavable bowl and wooden spoon with shortening. Pour in marshmallows and water. Microwave on high for 40 second intervals, about two minutes total. Mix should be soupy.

Immediately add corn syrup, lemon juice, salt and extracts. Sift in five cups of sugar, one cup at a time. Mix with greased spoon. Grease hands with shortening and knead in sixth cup of sugar in bowl. Grease work surface and take out mixture. Regrease hands and knead in the last cup of sugar. If too soft, more sugar may be added. Shape fondant into a mound and coat with shortening. Double wrap in plastic wrap and store in a plastic freezer bag, pressing out extra air before sealing. Allow to rest for at least two hours.

Bring the fondant to your meeting and maybe each mother-daughter team could try making their own bow (trust me, it’s easier than it looks!). Here’s the result of “fondant night” at the class I took:

Cake with fondant bowWanna give it a try? Here’s a step-by-step video that might help.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vcVtBfgG8Y&feature=related

If you’d rather not mess with gooey marshmallows, why not encourage each girl and mom team to design a killer cake that represents a theme? Start a cake sketchbook like Sheridan uses in the book and see what you come up with (your only limit is your imagination!)

Christina Mandelski photo

Christina Mandelski, author of The Sweetest Thing

I’d love to see the results of your Sweetest Thing get-together, so feel free to email me pictures at [email protected], or post them on The Sweetest Thing’s Facebook page here.

And of course, no matter what activities you end up enjoying at your meeting, make sure cake is somehow involved—and have a piece for me!

 

Save

Book Review: The Darlings Are Forever by Melissa Kantor

Posted on by

The Darlings Are Forever cover imageJane, Victoria and Natalya have gone to the same New York City school since day one, but now that they’re about to enter high school, they’ll all be headed to different places. Super smart Natalya got a scholarship to a prestigious school, artsy Jane was accepted into the performing arts school and quiet Victoria is headed to the same high school her sister graduated from with honors.

To quell their nerves at starting new adventures, they remind themselves that Jane’s grandmother had once advised them to do the thing they’re afraid of doing. That spirit of adventure carries throughout The Darlings Are Forever, a first in a new series by Melissa Kantor.

While I had a little difficulty remember details about each girl at the beginning, before long I was right there with each of them as they dealt with issues like making new friends, meeting boys, trying out for productions and testing the boundaries they’ve grown used to in many ways.

The issues that arise should resonate with many girls aged 12 and up: Can I welcome new friends into my life while staying close to old friends? How do you communicate to your parents that you’re growing up and ready for more responsibility? How do you find your voice to be your true self instead of what those around you expect you to be?

The Darlings, a nickname Jane’s grandma called them, manage to work out their issues in the end with just enough mystery left over to leave you looking forward to the next book in the series. I recommend it.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher, Hyperion. Please see my review policy for more info.

Book Review and Giveaway: Spinning Out by David Stahler Jr.

Posted on by

Today I’m reviewing Spinning Out by David Stahler Jr., a book for young adults that I recommend for both guys and girls. As part of the author’s blog tour, I’m offering one copy to give away to a reader who comments here by midnight (PDT), Wednesday, July 20. (Please note: the giveaway is closed. Congratulations to Laura on winning.)

Here’s my review:

Frenchy and his friend Stewart are known for being goof-offs who pull pranks at school, and Frenchy expects his senior year to go by just like all the others so far. But Stewart has a different plan, and since Stewart is usually the one to come up with the ideas, Frenchy gets pulled along in his latest scheme: playing Don Quixote and Sancho Panza in the school’s production of Man of La Mancha.

At first Frenchy thinks this is just another elaborate prank Stewart has dreamed up, but as the production continues, Stewart seems to get deeper and deeper into his role and further from reality. He rails against the windmills set up outside of town, vowing to take them down. Frenchy begins to see signs that he is slipping away. Like Sancho, Frenchy has always liked playing the sidekick. Now he must decide whether he can step out of his comfort zone to help his best friend.

Spinning Out by David Stahler Jr. is a gripping story that looks at teen mental illness from several different angles. Frenchy is the best one to recognize what’s happening with Stewart, because his own father committed suicide after returning from fighting in Iraq. Yet, even he is unsure if what he’s seeing is normal stress or something more. Stewart’s parents want to believe everything is okay. The school counselor doesn’t see the issue unless other problems surface.

Frenchy is a down-to-earth character with problems of his own. He’s smart, but he figures if he doesn’t try too hard, it will be easier for him to succeed. And he won’t have to disappoint others if he fails. His dad’s suicide has affected him a lot, but he puts on a happy face so others won’t feel awkward around him. He’s sensitive about his mom and how she’s coping, but he doesn’t say much about it.

Like a play, Spinning Out is divided into acts, starting with the exposition, going on to rising action, climax, falling action and dénouement. The organization helps move the story along while giving the reader clues as to what to expect in the next section. Be aware that the main characters spend a lot of time smoking marijuana for some of the book, and there’s lots of foul language. Even so, I really enjoyed reading Spinning Out, and I believe it is a compelling story that shines a light on some important issues. I recommend it for guys and mother-daughter book clubs with girls aged 14 and up.

Publisher Chronicle Books provided me with a copy of this book to review.

Book Review: Really, Truly, Everything’s Fine by Linda Leopold Strauss

Posted on by

Really, Truly Everything's Fine cover imageToday I’m featuring a guest review by author Christina Hamlett

Title: Really, Truly, Everything’s Fine
Author: Linda Leopold Strauss
Genre: UA
Marshall Cavendish Publishing, 2004

In Linda Leopold Strauss’ YA novel, Really, Truly, Everything’s Fine, the sins of the father are unexpectedly visited on a bewildered teen daughter just when she thought that all was picture-perfect in her quiet suburban world. Although she’s not so innocent as to believe that her parents’ marriage was made in Heaven, the young heroine has nonetheless put her father on a pedestal and is, thus, shocked beyond words to learn he has engaged in criminal behavior. Strauss’ title choice is a good one in that it aptly reflects what I believe people of all ages try to tell themselves when life has served them a less than idyllic situation. Not only must Jill weather the embarrassment of facing her peers at school, the annoyance of well-meaning teachers and neighbors trying to counsel her, and the ongoing frustrations of dealing with her unhinged mother but also the challenges of trying to protect her clueless little brother. Add to this mix a strange new friend whose path might never have crossed Jill’s if the latter had not begun to see herself as a kindred outcast rather than one of the “cool” kids who has everything under control. My only criticism of this book is that professional intervention came along much later than it should have. Nonetheless, it’s a good read for mother-daughter book clubs because of the discussions that its core themes about confidence, integrity and personal responsibility will generate.

Christina Hamlett
www.authorhamlett.com

Save

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...