Daisy Whitney

I read a lot of YA, and every so often, I come across a book that makes me really wish it had been around for me to read when I was in the target demographic. Because, hot damn, it's good, and it could have really affected me as a teenager.

The Mockingbirds is a book about justice, and of finding yourself again after a personal tragedy. After being date-raped, Alex turns to The Mockingbirds, Themis Academy's underground judicial court run by the students without any knowledge of the administration. I admit that when I first heard the premise, it sounded a little hokey. But Whitney really made the plot work. Her characters were very believable and real. Her Mockingbirds was incredibly thought out, and after reading the afterword, I found the story that much deeper and richer because it was Whitney's story, and personal.… (meer)

Fieldnotes:
Tokyo, Japan, Contemporary (p.2013)

1 Self-Absorbed Entitled Grieving Boy
1 Devastating Loss to Cancer
1 Adopted Sister Coming to Terms with Her Identity
1 Sudden Miserable Break-up (Past)
1 Unnecessarily Dramatic Secret

Grieving Through Rage and Destruction (Self- and Otherwise)
Belief that Having Lost a Parent Gives You a Free Pass
Entitled Conviction that His Mother's Friend Should Fix Everything He Screws Up Because...She Can?

Japan
Utter Disregard for Visa and Other Laws
1 Manic Pixie Not Harajuku Girl
1 Mystical Tea House

1 Blonde California Ex Desperate to Rekindle Their Friendship For Inexplicable Reasons
3 Keepsakes that Provoke Temper Tantrums

1 Very Good Dog
Hachiko

The Short Version
All the reviewers seemed to love the "raw emotion" in this. And the main character is grieving the devastating loss of his mother right before his graduation from high school. I understand that. But can we please be honest? A lot of times when people are grieving - they're self-absorbed assholes to other people (including others who are grieving).

So, first off, Danny acts like a self-absorbed asshole - he destroys his sister's stuff because he thinks she "quit the family", he rams a neighbors car because the bumper protruded into his driveway. He takes painkillers and shags a woman probably a decade his senior (ew, ew, ew) and holds loud, irritating parties at his house all the time. He expects his mom's best friend to take care of him - fix any fall-out from his self-destructive (or just destructive) behavior while he sulks and lashes out at anyone and everyone. Is this realistic? Quite possibly. Is an entitled, miserable, raging, destructive teenage boy someone I want to spend 250 pages with? ABSOLUTELY NOT.

On an impulse, Danny decides to go to Japan - run away from his problems and his memories, learn some more stories about his mom, throw a temper tantrum at her doctor because she chose to stop taking meds...

He apparently has no fixed return flight (which drew me up short because I'm pretty sure immigration in Japan needs proof of a return/onward flight), but ok. He does have a family apartment in Shibuya that has caretakers. He meets with the teenage daughter of the caretaker who Manic Pixie Friend Girl teaches him how to not be Sad Boi (thank goodness this isn't a romantic arc), but all his time in Japan, we're also getting him sulking about his ex-girlfriend he's still hung up on but is angry at because they broke up when she left for college even though they said they wouldn't... right...
But instead of it just being a case of them breaking up because Holland discovered the wild world of college and realized a bratty high school student wasn't her best option even if they had a nice summer, there's a DRAMATIC SECRET REASON just in case we needed additional trauma to pile on the main character.

I didn't like this. I didn't like the main character who never did get any reality check that the world doesn't owe him just because his mom died and that in much of the world most people won't pat him on the head when he throws a temper tantrum like a toddler because his life has been hard and/or other people have emotions and make decisions NOT centered around how HE feels. I had no interest in Holland getting back together with him and I got angry in what was meant to be the happy end when once again everyone decided to circumvent immigration laws so he could spend the summer with his dog without quarantine... UGH.… (meer)

Thanks to Netgalley.com and the publisher for access to this title.

There are so many things to love in this story. The romance. The magic. The chance for redemption. And an alligator that saves them all.

I really liked that this didn't start out as your typical genie story and that Aria tried to figure it out on her own before she tried to make a wish.

Although this has a little more grit, I would recommend this for fans of Janette Rallison and older fans of Lindsey Leavitt's Princess for Hire series.… (meer)