Some thoughts on New Adult ...

Can we talk for a minute about New Adult as a romance genre?

Well, how about I blog for a bit and you can either read on or click away – that work for you?

Ok. Cool.

So, way back in 2013 when I was a regular online columnist for Kill Your Darlings, writing about youth literature topics, I wrote this piece called Adults: Young and New. It was an overview of this emerging ‘New Adult’ genre, and because I was writing from the ‘youth literature’ camp, there was an undercurrent of criticism to the piece. Take, for example, this line; “It’s left people questioning if the new adult readership is bridging age-gaps, or introducing young adults to adult themes much too soon.”

In many ways I stand by the piece, especially as it was me just throwing questions out there about who the genre was actually targeting, and whether or not it should be for teens … particularly as, when I wrote that article, I had just received a book for review that was marketed as young adult, but came with a parental-advisory warning label on the cover (from memory, it was Rebecca Donovan’s Reason to Breathe – which I had issues with anyway) and I discovered that in America the book was being labelled as ‘New Adult’ – a newfangled term I was coming to grips with, which prompted the article.

I was also grappling with a 2011 book called Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire, which was really my first encounter with ‘New Adult’ and further confused me because I’d seen it marketed and reviewed as Young Adult (even today on Goodreads it has confusing genre tags; with 2,311 users labelling it as New Adult and 1,212 users Young Adult). That book was okay, but I had some issues with how the relationship played out and the hero’s possessive demeanour and, again – because I was writing from the youth lit angle – I had concerns about teens (especially teen girls) reading such sexualised content and somewhat unhealthy relationships presented as HEA.

To paraphrase from my KYD piece; I am cool with sex in YA books. I encourage it, even. Especially YA books that positively depict sexual relationships between consenting individuals, and YA books which offer a broader inclusion of gender, sexuality and sexual orientation. But, in the KYD piece, I said the new adult books I was encountering seemed to have more in common with porn; “with poor narratives designed to prop up sex scenes rather than actual storylines.”

That wasn’t right of me. In all honesty, I was probably too focused on the youth-lit angle, and the article would have benefited more from looking at what teen readers gain from venturing into romance reads – which is increasingly what I see new adult doing, in bringing YA readers into the genre … or even just an exploration into the difference between new adult romance VS. new adult erotica, that I think many people were confusing at the time as the label was just starting to take off.

So allow me to take this opportunity to re-evaluate my stance on new adult romance. Because I do think that I was wrong in a lot of that KYD piece – not all of it, but some of it was too critical of a genre I was only just starting to read and understand (and that publishers themselves were still trying to figure out the marketing for).

I’ve now come to really love and admire this genre, as I’ve read more widely. I am sorry for some of the negativity I laid at new adult’s feet in my 2013 piece. Luckily I know the romance community to be a wonderfully inclusive and thoughtful one, that encourages us to grapple with our thoughts and feelings and grow into ourselves as readers … so this is me, growing, and figuring myself and my tastes out the more I read. And what I’ve figured out is that I love reading New Adult and college contemporary romances.

I’ve found new adult to be amongst the most responsive romance genres to real-world issues. I think part of that may be that some of the most successful writers in the genre are self-publishing, so there’s quick turn-around and free-reign to explore what matters to them … the likes of Sarina Bowen in her brilliant ‘The Ivy Years’ series writing about slut-shaming and rape culture on college campuses in her fourth instalment ‘The Shameless Hour’, at a time when such discussions have reached fever-pitch in the US.

I also see that part of New Adult’s success is thanks to the storylines increasingly reflecting what matters to millennial readers. There's more diversity - in the types of romances – background of characters and authors. Sarina Bowen, again, hooked me big time when her first ‘The Ivy Years’ book featured a disabled heroine in ‘The Year We Fell Down.’

It definitely feels like a genre that’s responsive to the #WeNeedDiverseRomance conversation – take Courtney Milan’s NA ‘Cyclone’ series for instance, the first book of which touched on topics of mental health, and while the first instalment featured a heterosexual interracial pairing, the much-anticipated second book in the series (coming 2016!) ‘Hold Me’ will feature a trans heroine. Likewise, while the first two books in Bowen’s ‘The Ivy Years’ featured heterosexual romances, the third beloved book ‘The Understatement of the Year’ had a male/male HEA. Bowen has also paired with author Elle Kennedy to write a spectacular LGBTQ+ book called ‘Him’.

It’s even the fact that I’ve found more body and sex-positivity in the New Adult genre. I’ve found more heroines of every size (Kristen Callihan and Kylie Scott particularly champion body-positivity!) and there’s fewer virginal heroines, but more virginal heroes (again, ‘The Shameless Hour’ and now Kristen Callihan’s ‘The Game Plan’ both of which feature inexperienced men, and women with healthy sexual appetites).  Now I know you wouldn’t think a flip of the “traditionally” virginal roles is that progressive, but you’d be surprised, particularly in college-settings.

Funnily enough, one of the positives I find of New Adult is also one of the reasons so many readers unfairly malign the genre (and refuse to even try it) – and that is the young age of the protagonists.

I’ve heard of romance readers who resoundly refuse to read books featuring heroes/heroines in their 20s. A universal dismissal of young protagonists is kind of insulting, I mean – we were all young once, right? But I have found so many readers who’ve only ventured into the romance genre because of New Adult – they’re mostly carried over from Young Adult, and I think that’s wonderful. The new influx of romance readers was evident at the recent Fictionally Yours Melbourne event, which featured a heavy line-up of New Adult authors and consequently had a huge number of attendees in the 20-30 age-bracket; an (purely personal, anecdotal) indication that New Adult is helping grow the romance audience generally.

I’m also changing my mind on teen readers discovering New Adult romance … but generally I think teens would benefit from reading more romance that combats the disturbing trends found in pornography. Romance explores relationships between consenting adults and emphasises mutual attraction and respect, sexual positivity and in particular female satisfaction (versus the degradation of women in pornography). If teenagers are coming into romance via New Adult well, I don’t think that’s such a bad thing – let them discover the wonderful broader community via gateway books from the likes of Australian C.J. Duggan, and her wonderful ‘Paradise Road’ and ‘Paradise City’.

Look, I think some of the negativity around New Adult comes down to the mockability factor (which I also did in my KYD piece: “what’s next – Geriatric Adult? Sub-Adult?” Gosh. You could play a drinking game by that article. Sorry!). But mostly I see people hating on NA because they don’t read it, and refuse to try it. It’s an infuriating stubbornness, and you’d think those in the romance community would be especially aware of the irony in rejecting an entire genre out of hand – since our community gets enough of that from those who still think romance is strictly bodice-rippes and Fabio-covers.

I’m here to tell you that I was one of those stubborn readers, who not that long ago resoundly rejected the newfangled New Adult and its seeming plethora of books about the illegal underground college fight scene. I joke – but I was quick to judge and it’s only from reading, and reading widely, that I’ve found my romance world expanded. I’ve also discovered a wonderful new community of romance readers – some veterans and some newbies – to geek out with, over this genre that’s refreshingly challenging and diverse.

'The Year We Fell Down' The Ivy Years #1 by Sarina Bowen

From the BLURB:

The sport she loves is out of reach. And the boy she loves has someone else. What now?

She expected to start Harkness College as a varsity ice hockey player. But a serious accident means that Corey Callahan will start school in a wheelchair instead.

Across the hall, in the other handicapped-accessible dorm room, lives the too-delicious-to-be real Adam Hartley, another would-be hockey star with his leg broken in two places. He’s way out of Corey’s league.

Also, he’s taken.

Nevertheless, an unlikely alliance blooms between Corey and Hartley in the “gimp ghetto” of McHerrin Hall. Over tequila, perilously balanced dining hall trays, and video games, the two cope with disappointments that nobody else understands.

They’re just friends, of course, until one night when things fall apart. Or fall together. All Corey knows is that she’s falling. Hard.

But will Hartley set aside his trophy girl to love someone as broken as Corey? If he won’t, she will need to find the courage to make a life for herself at Harkness — one which does not revolve around the sport she can no longer play, or the brown-eyed boy who’s afraid to love her back.

‘The Year We Fell Down’ is the first book in Sarina Bowen’s contemporary romance series … what some may call ‘New Adult’, because as the series title suggests, ‘Ivy Years’ takes place at Harkness College.

I’m an idiot. Adele (Persnickety Snark) recommended this book to me when it came out back in March this year. I bought it as an ebook, and did intend to read it … and then didn’t, until now. ‘The Year We Fell Down’ marks the tenth or so reading-rec from Persnickety that I’ve held off on reading, only to be proved foolish when I finally do get round to cracking it open … and, as I’m doing with Sarina Bowen’s book, adding it to my list of this year’s favourites.

Part of the reason I so loved this book is that it’s a refreshingly different romance – wherein our heroine Corey Callahan is attending College one year after suffering a back injury that sees her unable to walk unassisted. Corey gets around in a wheelchair, or with the aid of crutches and meets the hero Adam Hartley when they are assigned to the same disability-friendly housing and are across-the-way neighbours. Adam, ‘Hartley’ as he is known (and he in turn, calls her ‘Callahan’) is on the mend after breaking his leg in two places, the result of a drunken accident.

Callahan is instantly attracted to Hartley, not least because they both share a love of ice-hockey … Hartley is getting grief from his coach for the injury which has benched him for a season, and Callahan is still grieving for the sport she loves but can never play again. Callahan and Hartley bond over their aches and ailments, and playing video game versions of the sport they can’t currently play in real life.

But Hartley is off-limits as more than a friend for Callahan. For one, he has a girlfriend – sure, she’s currently on exchange overseas, but he’s clearly besotted as evidenced by their frequent phone-calls and his endearment of her as his “hottie”. Furthermore, Callahan can’t envision the good-looking, popular Hartley ever being interested in her … not as she is now;

“It’s …” I tried. “I was …” 

He only held me tighter. “This was a mistake,” he whispered. 

I shook my head. “No, it’s good,” I bit out. “It is. But before …” I shuddered. “It’s so hard … to accept.” 

“I’m so sorry,” Hartley said, his own voice breaking. “I’m so damned sorry.” 

“I was perfect,” I said. “And I didn’t even know.” 

“No,” he whispered into my ear. “No, no. Perfect isn’t real.” I took a deep, shaky breath, and the feel of his strong arms around me began to feel steadying. “There’s no more perfect, Callahan. Now there’s only really damned good.”

Corey Callahan is the real standout in this book, and for more than just her being a point of difference in the romance genre as a heroine with a disability. She’s refreshing because she’s funny and a tomboy, loyal and down-the-line honest, and these are all the things that attract Hartley to her. Bowen writes their rapport beautifully, and rather than boring ‘love at first sight’ clichés, she writes their evolving friendship and attraction with real finesse.

Of course, Callahan having a disability also makes this a somewhat unique read. I appreciated that Bowen explored all aspects – from Callahan being frustrated by people’s sympathy, to her questioning her own sexuality in the wake of her injury and even simple things like her and Hartley having to gain access to the cafeteria via a service-elevator because accessibility is poor. This is a more interesting book because the heroine has a disability, to be sure, but I especially loved that this is still a romance, and Bowen crafts Callahan’s injury and history into the narrative. Callahan questions her own attractiveness against the able-bodied women Hartley is clearly attracted to, and she wonders how different her love life will be in the wake of her injury.

When the romance does start bubbling up, it is good. Partly thanks to Sarina Bowen beautifully teasing out their friendship first, when Hartley and Callahan do cement things it’s heated and glorious, but also honest and sweet.

‘The Year We Fell Down’ is going down as one of my favourite books of 2014, for sure. Books #2 and #3 in ‘The Ivy Years’ series are currently available, and I’m reading book #2 ‘The Year We Hid Away’ which features Hartley’s best friend and love-rat teammate, Bridger McCaulley … right now, only a small ways into the book, I don’t think it has anywhere near the same gravitas or panache as Hartley and Callahan’s romance. But I am excited for #3, ‘The Understatement of the Year’ which features a romance between two male students.

5/5

'Game. Set. Match.' Outer Banks Tennis Academy #1 by Jennifer Iacopelli

Received from the Author 

From the Blurb:

Nestled along the North Carolina coast, the Outer Banks Tennis Academy is the world's most elite training facility. In this pressure-cooker environment, futures are forged in blood and sweat, and dreams are shattered in an instant.

Penny Harrison, a rising female star, is determined to win the French Open and beat her archrival, Zina Lutrova. But when her coach imports British bad boy Alex Russell as her new training partner, will Penny be able to keep her laser-like focus?

Tennis is all Jasmine Randazzo has ever known. The daughter of two Grand Slam champions, she's hell-bent on extending her family’s legacy and writing her own happily-ever-after...until her chosen Prince Charming gives her the just-friends speech right before the biggest junior tournament of the year, the Outer Banks Classic.

With a powerful serve and killer forehand, newcomer Indiana Gaffney is turning heads. She’s thrilled by all of the attention, especially from Jack Harrison, Penny’s agent and hot older brother, except he keeps backing off every time things start heating up.

With so much at stake, dreams—and hearts—are bound to break. Welcome to OBX: Where LOVE is a four-letter word, on and off the court.

Indiana Gaffney is returning to tennis after a year hiatus, following her mother’s death. She’s taking up an offer from legendary coach, Dom Kingston; US and Australian Open winner, twice over. Indiana ‘Indy’ will be moving to North Carolina and boarding at the nation’s most prestigious tennis training academy (founded by the Randazzo’s themselves!) Outer Banks Tennis Academy – reverently nicknamed OBX. 

Indy gets off to a bad start with her fellow junior girl OBXers . . . and then things get progressively worse. She manages to piss off OBX Queen-Bee and tennis-royalty, Jasmine Randazzo, without even trying. And while she makes fast friends with new tennis star, Penny Harrison, Indy’s instantaneous crush on Penny’s 23-year-old brother/agent, Jack, is anything but convenient. 

Seventeen-year-old Jasmine Randazzo has just tanked in the first round of the Madrid Open; this is a particularly hard blow, since Jasmine is the daughter of tennis’s most famous couple and great things are predicted of her. 

And to top off a bad week; Jasmine decides to profess her unrequited love to her best friend, Penny’s twin brother and OBX-Lothario; Teddy Harrison . . .  only to have him shoot her down, hard. Now she has to watch as Teddy continues lusting after everything with boobs (except her, that is, because he doesn’t want to wreck their ‘friendship’). Adding salt to the wound is Teddy expressing interest in the new OBX girl, Indy. 

Penny Harrison is marked as the new golden-girl of US tennis. She’s just beat the World #1 in the Madrid Open, and now the scene is set for an explosive French Open showdown. Penny is willing to do whatever it takes to win, but when Coach Kingston suggests a new training partner in Alex Russell, Penny is more than a little hesitant. . . 

Alex Russell is the British bad boy of tennis. At 17 he was the first British man to win Wimbledon since 1936 and the youngest man to do it, ever. But as easy as his climb up the tennis ranks was, his fall down was even grander – marked by alcohol-fuelled nights, paparazzi snaps with supermodels, a knee injury from a motorcycle accident and the loss of all his sponsorship deals. But that’s not what’s making Penny pause – rather, it’s the fact that she and Alex had a heated one-night-stand at the Australian Open, and haven’t talked since.

The Outer Banks Tennis Academy is a cut-throat environment; everyone wants to be the best and beat the best. But these up and coming star players are quickly coming to realize that tennis is as much a physical sport as it is a mental game – and, sometimes, life and love get in the way of a good match. 

‘Game. Set. Match’ is the first book in a new contemporary young adult/new adult sport series from debut author Jennifer Iacopelli.

I used to play tennis – from age seven to 17 – and I'd like to think I wasn’t too shabby at it. I had a killer backhand, passable serve but I'd always choke in my smash . . . still, I played smart and would make the other player work for me; I was great at strategic placement and consistent-hits. I still love tennis, and occasionally have a hit when the mood takes me. I love watching the Australian Open, and I’ll forever think that it’s the most interesting sport to watch live. So when I got wind of this new young adult sport series based at a tennis training academy – I got crazy excited. This made perfect sense to me. Tennis, like most sports, is one of those industries that churns out young protégées who have to be dedicated to the game throughout their teens if they hope to win Grand Slams. And, tennis has produced some fine-looking young players over the years (Marat Safin, Andy Roddick, Anna Kournikova and Ana Ivanovic. . . to name a very few). A tennis young adult/new adult series just struck me as fertile ground for competitive melodrama in a pressure-cooker environment and featuring attractive young players. I had high-hopes for this series going in, based purely on my belief that tennis is fascinating on the court, so it must likewise be on the page . . . and, luckily, Jennifer Iacopelli has proven me right. 

First off, much as I looked forward to reading a sports series that laid the ground-work for competitive friendships and heated courtships, I wouldn’t have been interested if it didn’t deliver on the sports front (as some novels have disappointed me in the past). This is especially important since three female protagonists are carrying this series – and I'd have hated to read only about their romantic entanglements, with tennis being a convenient plot backdrop to the boy-drama in their life. I'd have had no interest in such a series, so I was relieved to read Penny Harrison smashing it at the Madrid Open within the first few pages. And within a few paragraphs, Iacopelli showed that tennis would most certainly be a serious focus in this book. She writes some great, tight and punchy paragraphs detailing the games being played, and as a tennis fan I have to say she nailed the adrenaline information; 

One bounce, then two, three and four in perfect rhythm. Her body weight shifted forward and then back, arms up, racket ready, the ball suspended above her head. She pushed into the ground then sprung up and out, racket face hammering a clean stroke, skimming it off the white chalk T in the centre of the court.

As the story progresses the girl’s heads get clogged with real-life worries that they can’t help but bring onto the court. Iacopelli does a really good job of clouding the commentary and bringing life metaphors into the game; 

There was no way to predict how a player would respond to the pressure of an important match. Some players, like Penny, were immune to it. Others battled with the nerves until they learned how to deal with them, and some players, no matter how talented, never overcame the fear of the big moment.

All three girls are in it to win it. Penny, Jasmine and Indy are all competitive and egotistical about their game (as they should be!) these are real tough sportswomen and I loved that Iacopelli gave them serious ambitions coupled with guts and determination. Sure, the boy-drama is there. . . 

Long before there were sponsorships and British bad boys, there had just been tennis and her simple love for the sport. She still loved it, of course, but everything was just so complicated now.

. . . But I never once thought that any of the girls were sacrificing their careers for their love lives, and that made them stellar heroines, and turned this into one of the best sports series I've read in a long time. 

Now, as to the girls – Jasmine was my favourite, for a number of reasons. I feel like when the book opens, Jasmine is on very unsteady ground and her status as OBX queen-bee and royalty is in question. When we first meet Jasmine she’s presented as this underdog – home after bombing out in the Madrid Open, turned down by the boy she has been crushing on for ages, and pitted against the new girl at the academy. Funny thing though, is that we then learn she’s the daughter of the two most famous tennis players – the Randazzo name being reverential in the tennis world. We get the impression that prior to all this upheaval, Jasmine had it pretty sweet and easy. I loves me an underdog, but an unconventional underdog is even better. And I appreciated the fact that the Randazzo name hangs over Jasmine’s head – I sympathised that, while she loves tennis and trains her heart out, the natural talent is just not there and she has to work twice as hard. Jasmine just fascinated me from the beginning – her famous name and losing streak, the boy who turned her down and the love she still has for him. I’m definitely Team Jasmine.

Indy and Penny, on the other hand, I thought were verging a bit on Mary-Sue at times . . .  these are the two girls who Coach Kingston thinks have the most natural talent. These are also the two girls who seemed to have only minor-hiccups in their boy-dramas and who are repeatedly referred to as gorgeous, beautiful and basically, are a sponsors’ wet dream. But I admit – that was only my first impressions, and my opinion changed towards the end of the book. Penny’s boy drama ratcheted up a notch with Alex Russel (who’s basically Andy Murray, only; better looking, not Scottish and he didn’t choke at Wimbledon). 

I will say that Penny’s love life didn’t gel with Indy and Jasmine’s romantic trials – Penny talks about great sex and an intense love affair, but Jasmine admits to not having kissed many boys and Indy is all about longing looks and shy advances . . . Penny is definitely where the ‘new adult’ aspect comes into it, but Jasmine and Indy’s story felt young adult and that was a clash for me (sometimes I even wondered if Penny’s story was needed in this first book  - or if we could have just focussed on Indy and Jasmine?) 

Only in the last few chapters does Iacopelli hammer home the fact that Indy recently lost her mother, and is all but estranged from her father. This is actually kinda a big deal and if I'd felt Indy struggle with this more throughout the book, I probably would have warmed to her character quicker – but Iacopelli leaves explorations into Indy’s sad history for the end, and it came a little late for me. 

I raced to finish this book, because I was so engulfed in the game, the dramas and the girls’ respective sagas. I’m definitely excited to read Outerbanks Tennis Academy #2 and I’m making an early declaration that Jennifer Iacopelli’s YA sports series is one of the best out there – with tough girls who have their eye on the ball and boys at their beck and call – I’m definitely coming back for more.

4/5 

'Penelope' by Rebecca Harrington

Received from the Publisher 

From the BLURB:

When Penelope O'Shaughnessy arrives on the Harvard campus she is amazed: she has never seen such a vast and majestic Au Bon Pain. She has also never met anyone like her fellow freshmen. Everyone is overwhelmed and overworked, striving to get into the right social clubs and frantically pulling all-nighters at the library - and classes haven't even begun.

Penelope's roommates aren't exactly the soul mates she had hoped for (Emma is a social climber intent on punching The Pudding, while Lan is a misanthrope who paints her room black). Meanwhile, her 'Images of Shakespeare' class seems mostly to involve angry discussions over whether or not the Bard was overweight; the dorm room 'pre-game' sessions never seem to lead to a real game; and the aristocratic upperclassman she has admired from afar never seems to be eating in the freshman dining hall, where she might woo him alongside the make-your-own waffle bar. When Penelope finds herself roped into a production of Camus' Caligula, she begins to worry that her entire college experience is beginning to resemble an absurdist play.

Penelope O'Shaughnessy is a quirk of a girl; she still harbours her childhood crush on Hercule Poirot, prefers playing Tetris on her phone to social encounters, feels a spiritual kinship with Whitney Houston and knows Morse code by heart. It’s no wonder her mother is concerned that Penelope is now a freshman at Harvard; where she’ll have to share a dorm with other girls, make new friends and generally ‘interact’. . . so she gives Penelope the advice to be herself (but not too much). 

Now Penelope is at Harvard – the beginning of the rest of her life. Except she’s been roomed in Pennypacker; a notorious ‘outcast’ dorm above a radio station with a girl called Lan who continually paints her room and a social butterfly with a barking laugh called Emma. 

Across the hall are a collection of boys who have ‘pre-games’ every night and drink whisky from morning till noon. One of the boys is Ted, of the curling Roman bangs, who latches onto Penelope early on, much to her curious surprise.

Penelope expected Harvard to look like it did in the catalogues – with Abercrombie models playing rugby on the quad, where men dress down in bowties and boat hats to stroll around leisurely with their sweaters tied around their shoulders and girls participate in random games of croquet. Just about the only person who fits this description is a mysterious and handsome student called Gustav, who wears white linen suits and talks about his family’s arboretum (they have wheelbarrows decorated with a crest!). 

Just about the only thing that saves Penelope from a semester of isolated boredom is her participation in a modern interpretation of the absurdist play ‘Caligula’ – questionably improved to include a marionette act and light show. 

Penelope may have no people skills to speak of. She may be a social outcast of the highest order – but that doesn’t mean everyone around her isn’t absolutely absurd.

‘Penelope’ is the debut novel by Rebecca Harrington.

This book is a pretty impressive amalgamation of other things I love. The omniscient narrator reminded me of the voice in ‘500 Days of Summer’, with a pinch of Wes Anderson storytelling style (think: 'Rushmore'). There’s a certain whiff of ‘Gilmore Girls’ for Rory’s college days, particularly her interactions with the ‘Life and Death Brigade’. It’s also a modern spin on the ‘Brideshead Revisited’, but instead of depicting a Golden Age, Harrington is more pointing out the insipid, over-educated middle-classers of the modern Ivy League era (there's a character called Bitty, nuff' said). In short: this book is brilliant, I think Penelope is my fictional soul-mate and I pretty much want to live inside Rebecca Harrington’s brain, (if that isn’t too weird). 

I’m calling this book ‘New Adult Satire' – because it’s really the first young adult/new adult book I’ve read that isn’t all about the complications of love and sex in your early 20’s, but is rather an absurdist look at the entire university experience, through the eyes of an astute social outcast who is thrown into the societal deep-end at University. Needless to say, shenanigans follow. 

One of Penelope’s more unfortunate qualities was her tendency to view social occasions, such as parties, as cataclysmic events that would shape her destiny. She was often disappointed. Disappointment, however, did not lead to greater insight. Penelope still applied her eyeliner with a certain fatalism even before the most banal of activities, such as grocery shopping.

Penelope is sublime. She’s an exaggerated version of me (and every other bookworm misfit) who deadpans to perfection, has a ‘Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights’ poster (P.S. – I own the DVD and soundtrack!) and has never really understood the concept of ‘friends’ or how to acquire them. And, really, Harvard is the worst possible place for Penelope to learn the in’s and out’s of human interaction – because all her fellow classmates are high-strung over-achievers who have been planning their careers since they were in the womb. 

“Did you hear about Nikil?” asked Catherine, encasing Penelope’s arm in a viselike grip. 

“Um, no?” said Penelope. 

“He didn’t get on the Crimson Business Board. He got cut.” 

“Oh, that’s too bad,” said Penelope. 

“He’s really upset,” said Catherine with relish. “I feel awful for him.” 

“It’s too bad that even things that seem so un-fun are also so competitive,” said Penelope, “This was why I have always been against the Olympics, as a rule.”

Then there are the upper-crust darlings for whom Harvard is a pleasant jaunt between gap-years and settling into a cosy job in their parents business, never to work again. Unfortunately, Penelope falls for such a character in the illusive-fop, Gustav, and with him she encounters her first stirrings of lust and wanting; she hasn’t felt this intensely about a person of the opposite sex since Poirot! 

But, really, ‘Penelope’ is all about mapping the rough terrain of friendship. It’s blown hilariously out of proportion for Penelope, who’d rather play Tetris than interact with people at a party, but everyone who has made the transition from high school to university can appreciate that dreaded moment when you ask yourself; “how do you make friends again? Do handshakes work? What did I do on the playground in primary school? Should I hold up a sign? Put out an ad?”

What was the secret? How do you have friends? How do you make people want you around? Penelope always thought that if a person just said “Hello!” and “Cool” and “Awesome” and didn’t get mad that everyone would like that person, because what can you say about them except for positive things? They were inoffensive, like a beloved butler or cook. But even that didn’t guarantee anything. Maybe you were just the type of person that people liked well enough but not well enough to invite you to an arboretum. It was almost as if they didn’t like you at all. 

Harrington’s writing is sublime – her absurd characters are pitch-perfect and it’s not at all surprising to discover that she is Harvard alum. She’s sometimes uncomfortably astute, particularly when it comes to capturing voice, so you’ll find yourself wincing from the accurate overuse of words ‘like’ and ‘literally’. Example: “I literally don’t even know why. They were like my really good friends.” 

I’m recommending this book to all my friends as a must-read for the sake of our friendship. Seriously; ‘Penelope’ is the sort of divisive book to obsess over that will make-or-break a friendship if they don’t love it as much as you do. I’m calling it as a favourite book of 2013, and I’m crossing my fingers for a trilogy (Penelope as sophomore and senior – just MORE PENELOPE, please!) 

5/5

'Just One Day' by Gayle Forman

From the BLURB:

When sheltered American good girl Allyson "LuLu" Healey first meets laid-back Dutch actor Willem De Ruiter at an underground performance of Twelfth Night in England, there’s an undeniable spark. After just one day together, that spark bursts into a flame, or so it seems to Allyson, until the following morning, when she wakes up after a whirlwind day in Paris to discover that Willem has left. Over the next year, Allyson embarks on a journey to come to terms with the narrow confines of her life, and through Shakespeare, travel, and a quest for her almost-true-love, to break free of those confines.

Allyson Healey should be having the time of her life. That’s what the brochure said, and no doubt what her parents intended when they gave her a European ‘teen tour’ package holiday as part of her graduation present. But this adventure is not all it’s cracked up to be, at least not for Allyson. The Trevi Fountain was crowded, there was a McDonald's at the base of the Spanish Steps and so far this whole experience has been more ‘European Vacation’ than ‘Roman Holiday’. And the worst came when the Paris leg of the trip had to be cancelled, because of a transport strike.

Allyson’s best friend, Melanie, is having a grand old time and taking full advantage of the teen tour guide’s lack of nighttime supervision. But if these are meant to be the best years of Allyson’s life, then she shudders to think what adulthood has in store for her. But this holiday will be her last little slice of freedom before she has to buckle down and start college, living out her mother’s dream that she be pre-med.

In the spirit of ‘making the most of a bad situation’, Allyson convinces Melanie to a break in schedule, missing out on a Royal Shakespeare Company play and instead walking to a riverbank where a promised ‘Guerilla Shakespeare’ play will be performed. And it’s here that Allyson first lays eyes on Willem De Ruiter – a handsome and talented Dutch actor in Twelfth Night, who tosses a coin at Allyson when he takes his bow.

The next day Allyson can’t stop thinking about the handsome actor, even as her mind is churning with preparations to return home . . .  until she bumps into Willem on the train. 

Their spark is undeniable, and when Willem offers her one day to make up for her lost Paris tour, she can’t resist. Against her better judgement and Melanie’s cautions, even though she’s not even close to being that type of girl . . . Allyson agrees to one day with Willem, in Paris.

What follows is a mad-cap expedition to the heart of the most romantic city in the world – all with Willem at her side. And while he introduces her to the city, he also gives her a glimpse behind his easy-going exterior. The two of them discuss their hopes and fears, the questionable consumption of chocolate and bread, how lust is like a smudge and love a birthmark . . . and all the while Willem calls her ‘Lulu’, for she reminds him of the famous silent film star Louise ‘Lulu’ Brooks. 

Allyson is giddy on the romantic impulsiveness that comes with being ‘Lulu’, and Willem, and what he brings out in her.

But after one perfect day Willem vanishes. . . leaving Allyson lost in the city of love, and with a bitter aftertaste of their short time together.

What follows is Allyson’s year of trying to forget the best and worst time in her young life. As she struggles with a difficult college course, her drifting friendship with Melanie and her mother’s smothering.

Half-way through the year, Allyson is convinced to swap a few of her heavier courses (that she’s failing) for a class on Shakespeare. It’s here that Allyson reopens Lulu’s old wounds, and tries hard to get over Willem . . . but she also meets the fabulous Dee, one man who’s not afraid to be himself no matter what others think.

Allyson had one perfect day with a guy who doesn’t even know her real name. Their short time together had consequences that Allyson is still trying to heal. . . 

‘Just One Day’ is the new novel from Gayle Forman. 

I was warned about this one before I started reading. Persnickety Snark kindly lent me her advance copy, and before I even cracked the book open she let me know that the sequel, ‘Just One Year’, would be out in September 2013. Now, knowing that Ms Forman is the queen of the teen heartbreak I knew this was a warning to brace myself – which I did, but even forewarning couldn’t properly guard my heart against this wonderful story.

‘Just One Day’ is undoubtedly of the ‘New Adult’ genre. Allyson has graduated high school and when we meet her, she’s on her first big adventure before she goes away to college – granted, it’s a rather sanitized and pre-packaged adventure, courtesy of her parents and a strict ‘teen tour’ schedule. But it’s not this adventure that makes ‘Just One Day’ new adult. Rather it’s the fact that Allyson deviates from the schedule, and goes against her normal behaviours, taking a chance on a handsome Dutch actor with a lazy smile and charming eyes who whisks her away to Paris. This is the moment when ‘Just One Day’ leaps from ‘young adult’ to ‘new adult’, when Allyson challenges herself and is eventually burned by the consequences. What follows is a year of her trying to get over the one perfect day that ended in heartache, all while coping with her mother’s expectations of who she is meant to be and losing the last vestiges of her childhood when her best friend, Melanie, cuts herself out of her life.

I feel like ‘Just One Day’ is sort of a perfect example of everything ‘new adult’ should be. There’s a lot of talk around this emerging readership that’s not quite ‘young adult’, but not ‘adult’ either – it’s that middling point, when young adult readers start growing up but still cling to the stories and authors that hooked them in the first place. ‘Just One Day’ explores this beautifully, when Forman includes the very trigger-moment that sends Allyson from childish things, to teetering on the very edge of adulthood – if only the defining moment of her transition wasn’t haunting and holding her back. 

Part of me knows one more day won’t do anything except postpone the heartbreak. But another part of me believes differently. We are born in one day. We die in one day. We can change in one day. And we can fall in love in one day. Anything can happen in just one day. 

I loved that Forman also explored this new adult concept in Allyson’s changing friendships. First, there’s her childhood friend Melanie with whom she shares summer rituals and a sisterly bond. But when Melanie begins college in New York, and is the only person to know what transpired during Allyson’s day in Paris (and the resulting year of moping) the two start to drift apart. Meanwhile, Allyson befriends flamboyant male student, Dee, who she meets in her Shakespeare class and who teaches her a thing or two about remaining true to yourself, and how old scars can shape us into better people. I loved Melanie and Allyson’s slow drifting apart – it’s something every person experiences as they get older and grow into themselves, and grow out of old friendships. There’s something very subtle and heartbreaking about this particular break-up between Melanie and Allyson. Meanwhile, I adore Dee. He was, hands down, my favourite character in ‘Just One Day’ – he’s one of the best secondary character I've ever read and I hope he makes a big appearance in ‘Just One Year’. 

The first-half of ‘Just One Day’ is full of that exhilarating romanticism that Forman so excels in writing, as fans will remember from Mia and Adam’s heartbreaking romance in ‘If I stay’. The Paris setting is pitch-perfect; an ode to the City of Love that’s made all the more exhilarating for the fact that we’re seeing it through Allyson’s eyes and her trip is mingled with thoughts of Willem and their whirlwind romance. Forman undoubtedly has some Parisian experience, because while she revels in the beauty of the city, she also writes of the dark underbelly found down narrow side-streets and segregated communities. And in this sense, Paris becomes another character in the story and also a perfect analogy for ‘Lulu’ and Willem’s romance – which was as light and beautiful as the city itself, but ultimately hides darker truths and imperfections.

Gayle Forman excels in writing character-driven stories, and ‘Just One Day’ is no exception. This story really hinges on readers being able to sympathise with Allyson, and understand how one day with Willem can so impact the next year of her life . . .  Forman does this beautifully by writing rich family conflicts for Allyson, whose mother is a well-meaning but suffocating force in her life. Once we understand Allyson’s background, we better sympathise with the heady excitement Willem offered with his Paris adventure. And Allyson really is so relatable – here’s a girl who is unsure of the life path she’s on, haunted by past heartbreak and desperate to overcome her own insecurities. She’s a wonderful heroine.

More of an enigma in this story is Willem. He’ll be a dividing character, for sure – readers will either love him or hate him. We only read Willem through Allyson’s eyes, and Forman leaves a lot of his deeper character building for second book ‘Just One Year’, when the story will be continued from his perspective . . . I really look forward to this, both for the many questions that will be answered but also so that Forman can change my opinion of him. 

‘Just One Day’ is a triumph, and already a favourite read of 2013. I loved this book, and I can’t wait for Gayle Forman to visit Melbourne for ‘Reading Matters’ in 2013 (I think there will be many audience questions about Willem and his ‘Just One Year’!). This novel is one of the best examples of the emerging new adult readership; a character-driven, Parisian heartbreak story with hopes of redemption in book two. 

5/5 

Gayle Forman is coming to Australia for the Centre for Youth Literature's 'Reading Matters'!

'Holier Than Thou' by Laura Buzo

 Received from the Publisher

From the BLURB:

    'What do you want, Hol?' Abby looks into my eyes.
    'I ... I want to know that I'm using my powers for good and -' 

'You want to make a dead man proud.' 

'Whoa!' 

'You want to put bandages over severed arteries that really need to be sewn shut. You want the moral high ground.'

Holly Yarkov has a boyfriend who is a gift from the universe. She has a job that fulfils her even as it wears her down. She has a core group of friends from high school. And she has a layer of steel around her heart that is beginning to tarnish. Just as she is reaching for a future she can't quite see, Holly is borne back into the past by memories of her beloved father, and of the boy-who-might-have-been...

Grief and longing run like veins of quicksilver through this beautiful novel, at once gloriously funny and achingly sad.

All roads lead back to Jindarra Street . . .  or at least, they do for Holly Yarkov.

Holly is a social worker in the toughest town of Sydney, Elizabethtown (affectionately called ‘Befftown’). She works closely with registered nurse, Nick (affectionately called ‘Nicholarse’), and together they work the town’s toughest hood, Jindarra Street.

After Holly and Nick make a gruesome discovery at the home of one of their clients, Holly starts backtracking through her life leading up to a potential crossroads that lies before her. . .

Holly’s story is sliced between ‘now’ and ‘then’, and focuses on four important men who continue to exert their influence in her life, even though some of them are dead and gone.

There’s her beloved boyfriend Tim (‘Timbo’), who Holly has just moved into an apartment with. Nick is her co-worker; a bong-addicted nurse who is 26 to Holly’s 24, he attends circus school in his days off and Holly is becoming increasingly wary of their relationship, while also enamoured of their effortless friendship. Liam was Holly’s bus-friend at school, a year above her and apart of the ‘cool’ crowd; Holly harboured a secret crush on him for years before he became an official member of her uni gang . . .  but the story of Liam’s absence in Holly’s life now is a slow and painful explanation, and needs time to be told. And then there’s Holly’s dead father – an out-spoken Left-winger who used to crop up in the newspapers all the time (and incited the Liberal fury of a few of Holly’s classmates’ parents). Her father died when Holly was in Year Ten, and she never quite recovered from the loss.

Events in Holly’s life, from job dissatisfaction to inconvenient thoughts about her dreadlocked co-worker, have Holly questioning her life and the path she is on (and how she got here in the first place). As Holly backtracks through the relationships and death that helped define her, she battles losing touch with the very people in the present who once defined her past.

‘Holier Than Thou’ is the new Australian young adult novel from Laura Buzo.

Last year I read Laura Buzo’s ‘Good Oil’, and found a new favourite Australian author. In ‘Good Oil’, Buzo told a deceptively simple story of first-time-love and heartbreak, which was so brutally honest that it was simply sublime. However, I was somewhat disheartened by the wide-open ending of ‘Good Oil’, and asked Ms Buzo in a Q&A if she had plans for a sequel. At the time she replied with an infuriating ‘possibly’ – and mentioned that her next novel seemed to be taking up a ‘bigger canvas’, and was unrelated to ‘Good Oil’. Now having read ‘Holier Than Thou’ I feel I should say that ‘bigger canvas’ was an understatement. I should also say that, as someone who had my fingers crossed for a ‘Good Oil’ sequel, I feel that ‘Holier Than Thou’ is a logical sort-of extension of Buzo’s first book, and I am actually glad that I read this book before any sort of sequel to Amelia and Chris’s story.

‘Holier Than Thou’ is a prime example of why I love Aussie YA so darn much. Buzo’s book is exactly what I was talking about back in November 2011 when I tried to explain my affinity for the YA literature of my homeland; ‘It's about holding a mirror up, finding a spark and a connection, recognizing a little of yourself in the stories and setting. It's that 'aha!' moment, when you're sure the author is writing about you and yours, the possibility that this story could be set in your hometown and you recognize a character from your own friendship group.’ ‘Holier Than Thou’ is that spark, connection and ‘aha’ moment – it is, simply, an incredible book.

The plot of ‘Holier Than Thou’ sounds complex – so much so that after reading the blurb, I really didn’t have a clue what kind of book I was getting into. The nuts and bolts of the plot are tangled and complicated. We begin in the present, and then backtrack to one year earlier and follow Holly’s life leading up to the explosive opening chapter. But as Holly begins re-examining her life, and friendships, she starts reminiscing about the past – and her core group of high school/uni friends who are slowly starting to drift away (and in one case, vanish to Canberra) in the present. Complicated? Yes. But this is a book about that strange age of mid-20’s, when everything is changing and the ties that bind start loosening. This is a book that explores the very tangled webs of friendships and buried hurts – it is meant to be complicated (such is life). The tangles make this a tantalizing read – and even though the back and forth time-shifts sound confusing, Buzo executes them beautifully. She writes Holly’s recounting of the past like trains of thought that she is following in the present – she leaves bread-crumbs in her real-time narrative about her father’s death and ‘the one that got away’, and as readers we happily (and hungrily) follow the trail. Tangled? Definitely? Worth the journey? Absolutely.

We meet Holly when she’s 24 and past the point of ‘newbie’ in her social worker job. She is now at the part when she knows her job is to put bandaids on bullet wounds – to work long hours for crappy pay and still be expected to meet Government targets and sit performance reviews. She is starting to wonder what got her to this point, and if she’s strong enough to stay in a job that seems determined to slowly suck the life out of her. Holly’s job is a real focal point of the book, and particularly fascinating. Laura Buzo actually is a social worker, and she writes her true-to-life struggles through Holly beautifully. From the healthcare system that doesn’t care about the ‘crazies’, to people’s misconceptions about what social workers do and the patients they treat. 

Meanwhile, Holly has just moved out of home and into an apartment with her scrumptious boyfriend, Tim. For a little while there, Holly had the trifecta – her home life, love life and career in some sort of sync. But then it all starts going pear-shaped. Holly becomes more and more enamoured of her co-worker, Nick. She becomes despondent in her thankless job, and her home life degenerates into nights spent on the couch with Tim, watching telly and spying on her neighbours in the building across the way.

Holly becomes increasingly despairing of the way her life is changing, and the myriad of ways that her past is disconnecting from her present. Holly tries to organize catch-ups with her old high school/uni friends, with little success. Lara, Abigail and Daniel were her rocks in high school, particularly when her father died. But their jobs and commitments are pulling them all further and further apart. Abigail is training to be a doctor. Dan works for a corporation that deals in lay-offs, and Lara works for a law firm with dubious big-business clientele. Holly especially doesn’t want to lose these friends, since they are already one man down. Liam started as Holly’s bus-buddy in high school. Eventually, Liam slowly and thrillingly progressed into their social group – and pretty soon they were an inseparable fivesome; Dan, Lara, Abigail, Holly and Liam. But then it all went horribly wrong when Holly started to act on her long-standing crush on Liam.

Memories of Liam start creeping back into Holly’s thoughts when her casual work friendship with Nick takes on a new rhythm and connection. In Nick, Holly has an intellectual and visceral bond – much like she once did with Liam. Nick and Holly do have an enviously syncing connection – they motivate one another with ‘Gallipoli’ quotes (“What are your legs?” / “Steel springs!”) and their banter is enviably witty and warm. He affectionately calls Holly ‘Holier-Than-Thou’, for her seeming unbending moral core. But Nick is proving to be a potentially dangerous temptation;

‘A nurse and a social worker took fifteen minutes out of their shitty thankless job in the roughest corner of town, sat on a couple of milk crates drinking coffee, flopped their real selves out on the cement and both liked what they saw.’
‘Nicholarse. That’s beautiful.’ I didn’t know where to look.
‘You get me through the days, Hollier-than-thou.’
‘Likewise.’ I drained my coffee cup and our moment was shattered by the shouting of one of Nick’s clients who had spied us in the alcove.

Dissatisfaction at work has Holly thinking about what led her to becoming a social worker. One of the old-timer social workers comments that it’s past hurt which equips social workers with more capacity for caring, and that’s true of Holly. Losing her father to cancer in Year Ten left a wound that Holly is only just starting to reopen and re-examine.

‘Holier Than Thou’ is definitely going to be a 2012 favourite. It feels like I read this book at the right time – like Holly, I am 24 going on 25 and relatively settled in my first ‘real’ job. I too am dealing with drifting friendships and changing relationships. I could even relate to Holly’s touchstones and young influences; 

Finishing Year Twelve had been a blessed relief. Although, having read ‘Looking for Alibrandi’ several times since Year Eight, I was disappointed that Year Twelve did not bring me a handsome, salt-of-the-earth boyfriend and ultimate emancipation from all that ailed my teenage soul.

Funny that Buzo references Melina Marchetta, because ‘Holier Than Thou’ did remind me of ‘The Piper’s Son’. Like Marchetta’s ‘Saving Francesca’ follow-up, ‘Holier Than Thou’ is about that odd time in your life when you start growing and changing, leaving friends behind and trying to hold on tight to others. Buzo reminded me of Marchetta – they both favour gritty ‘real’ stories and they don’t shy away from teaching tough life lessons. Likewise, Buzo’s characters are like Marchetta’s in that they’re enviably quick-witted individuals who banter beautifully and make the reader wish they were real people that we could be friends with. These characters are also entirely fallible, and relatable for their imperfections. Holly makes mistakes in her friendship/relationship with Nick, not because she’s a mean person or doesn’t love Tim, but because her instant connection with Nick surprises her in its intensity, totally catching her off guard. Holly has very high ideals of how she’s supposed to be (partly to live up to her dead father’s standards). Holly reminded me of that Missy Higgin’s song, ‘The Special Two’; ‘And you make boundaries you'd never dream to cross’. Over the course of the book Holly also comes to slowly accept that she might have made mistakes in her friendship with Liam. Likewise, she is starting to realize that her friends, those people she relied on so much in her youth, are not necessarily the people she needs around her in the future. That’s a hard lesson to learn, when to cut ties and accept that the past is in the past.

‘Holier Than Thou’ is a story of tangled webs and grey areas. Protagonist Holly Yarkov is not perfect, but she is brilliant. You will wish Holly was a real person, so you could count her amongst your friends. She is caring, funny, equipped with ‘steel springs’ and an enviable backbone. Holly is an entirely relatable protagonist; she’s at that mid-way point in her 20’s when relationships start dropping off and life events begin changing us for better or worse. . . What was really incredible in this book was the beautiful melding of Holly’s past and present. We follow her memories as events in the present trigger thoughts of her dead father and Liam, her ‘one that got away’. And although we know the outcome of those memories, Buzo’s writing is so seamless and addictive that even Holly’s unfolding past-heartbreak with Liam keeps you on the edge of your seat, futilely rooting for a happy outcome, even though you know it cannot be.

Buzo has written another beautiful young adult novel that doesn’t pull punches, but tells a beautifully relatable tale of lost love, missed chances, growing up and growing apart. As good as ‘Good Oil’ and further proof (not that I needed it) that Buzo is fast becoming a powerful new voice in Australian YA.

5/5