We're an Open Book
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Today, I decided to make a book jar.
What is a book jar ? Well, it’s a decorative way to help you get over a bookish slump or in my case a way to tear through your TBR pile
I originally saw this on Novel Days and the Book Jar idea has since made a splash on Booktube when MotherEffingBooks did it in April. The original idea comes from Alex In Leeds…
Synopsis : Postcard-perfect Jar Island is home to charming tourist shops, pristine beaches, amazing oceanfront homes—and three girls secretly plotting revenge. KAT is sick and tired of being bullied by her former best friend. LILLIA has always looked out for her little sister, so when she discovers that one of her guy friends has been secretly hooking up with her, she’s going to put a stop to it.MARY is perpetually haunted by a traumatic event from years past, and the boy who’s responsible has yet to get what’s coming to him.None of the girls can act on their revenge fantasies alone without being suspected. But together…anything is possible.With an unlikely alliance in place, there will be no more “I wish I’d said…” or “If I could go back and do things differently…” These girls will show Jar Island that revenge is a dish best enjoyed together
The Gist : On the small New England island of Jar Island, secrets, drama and betrayal are running rampant and at its center are three girls; Kat, Lillia and Mary. These unlikely friends are out for revenge, but what starts out as a way to get even soon becomes more than they can handle. All is not what it seems on Jar Island.
Jess’ Takeaway
“Well that took a turn.” is the one way I would describe this book, and I don’t just mean the plot twists. Nothing is ever what it seems in this book. Han and Vivian ever so slightly take tropes associated with high school and turning them around.
What really makes this book stand out for me is that this story isn’t overtly focused on a romance. Finally a YA novel where the girls characters work together and take center stage over a typical boy meets girl romance.
As for the writing there wasn’t a large attempt at trying to “sound like teenagers”, instead it felt nostalgic. They captured the everyday down and lows of being a teenager (picking prom dresses, winning high school football games, the over dramatics of being in a teen etc.)
What makes this novel a must read is pitch perfect setting of Jar Island The mix of local color and lifestyle of the residents down to the local coffee shops and tourism made it seem so real. I literally Googled Jar Island just to see if it was a real place. (BTW it’s not). I’m not a big contemporary (or is this comtep . . . ?) reader but this book was exciting and devious. I couldn’t wait to see what kind of trouble these girls were going to cause next.
Unfortunately the audiobook was kind of hit or miss. I loved how they used 3 different voices over but the recording sounded off. Mary’s voice actor’s recording sounded faraway and Kat’s voice took a little getting used to.
Kat’s Takeaway
Reminiscent of Pretty Little Liars and Mean Girls, Burn for Burn is what happens when girls stop playing victim and start getting even. This is a different type of story. As someone who reads a lot of contemporary and for me Burn for Burn was just okay. So much of the book was fueled on getting to the end, that there was no real sense of complete story. Like certain plot points were brought up, but never really resolved or discussed through the book.
I liked listening to this in audiobook form, and unlike Jess I actually like the narrator of Kat the best. I thought from the very beginning her voice had the perfect mix of attitude and snark with a dash of vulnerability
All three narrators also did a great job of mimicking the other narrator’s voices. One of my pet peeves is when a characters tone is so vastly different when a different narrator is speaking as them, so I think they handled this well. I’m not sure why the audiobook sounded so strange at times, like Mary’s narrator was far away or something, but now I’m beginning to think this was on purpose.
Overall, I thought the writing was good and Han and Vivian created a great sense of place in their writing. You can really feel the claustrophobia of having to live on a small island town and the kind of social issues it creates.
“We all laced together—a brothel madam, an English professor, a mute cook, a quadroon cabbie, and me, the girl carrying a bucket of lies and throwing them like confetti.”
― Ruta Sepetys, Out of The Easy
- Genre: Historical
- Audiobook Length: 9 hour 51 minutes
- Publication Date: February 12th 2013
- Publisher: Penguin Audio / Philomel Books
Summary: It’s 1950, and as the French Quarter of New Orleans simmers with secrets, seventeen-year-old Josie Moraine is silently stirring a pot of her own. Known among locals as the daughter of a brothel prostitute, Josie wants more out of life than the Big Easy has to offer.
She devises a plan get out, but a mysterious death in the Quarter leaves Josie tangled in an investigation that will challenge her allegiance to her mother, her conscience, and Willie Woodley, the brusque madam on Conti Street. Josie is caught between the dream of an elite college and a clandestine underworld. New Orleans lures her in her quest for truth, dangling temptation at every turn, and escalating to the ultimate test.When a book opens with the line ‘my mother’s a prostitute’ it is a sure sign this is something very different from the usual YA. Out of Easy is a historical novell that takes usto New Orleans’ French Quarter in the 1950’s.
This book is one of a kind for me. I’ve noticed that even with the popularity of YA , most non-romance based historical novels with teenage girl narrators are either sold as adult or literay fiction. Just a few this year include She Rises by Kate Worsley , The Yonahlosee Riding Camp for Girls by Anton DiSclafani and The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty. It’s actually kind of nice to see more historical books represented in the YA category
Our protagonist, 17-year-old Josie Moraine’s life in 1950 isn’t like the usual nostalgia we associate with the 50’s. With a flighty prostitute for a mother, the only parental figures in Josie’s life are the strict hard as nails brothel madame,Willie Woodley and Cokie, the brothel’s quadroon (mixed race) cab driver. Despite her upbringing Josie wants nothing more to attend a prestigious college in New England, even if she is “salted peanuts” among all the “petit fours”. But before she even begin to dream up a new life for herself a few events stand in her way; including a murder.
Throughout the story, Joise has some amazing character development as she deals with all the trials she is put through. Despite what challenges life has handed her she has such a strong resolve to not be a working girl in the Quarter. Josie is accompanied by a great group of supporting characters. Sepetys side characters felt so authentic and each gave a different perspective and take on the time.
Josie even has a few potential love interests in Patrick Marlowe, who works with her at the bookstore and Jesse Thierry, the leather-jacket-wearing-motorcycle-riding college student who calls her Motor City because he knows Josie was born in Detroit. But don’t worry, there is no love triangle here. I think Patrick and Jesse are used more to show two different sides of college boys in the 50’s and don’t necessarily compete for Josie.
This book touches on so many issues of class, identity, mental illness and of course prostitution in New Orleans. Sepetys talks about prostitution in this book in an way that isn’t vulgar or inappropriate for YA. I can imagine the topic may be hard for someone to let a 14-year-old read, but Sepetys handles it in a smart way. She does lean on theHooker With a Heart of Gold at times, but keeps most of the discussion on the effects and representations of prostitution meaningful.
Lauren Fontgang is the perfect narrator for this audiobook, she hits all the Southern accents and New Orlean’s drawl perfectly.Willie, the brothel mamdame is probably the strongest character in this novel and Lauren speaks life into her. I see on Audible that Lauren has over 250 audiobooks to her credit so she will definitely be a go to narrator for me in the future.
As with most historical fiction, I find myself in awe of the research Septeys puts into her novels, she has such an amazing approach to writing historical fiction. She visits the places she talks about, she spends time interviewing peopel and going through old news clips. Much of this book is based on the non-fiction book The Last Madame: A Life In The New Orleans Underworld by Christine Wiltz and Sepetys even went as far as to meet Wiltz and the pair have done book events together
This is a beautifully done audiobook–I didn’t want it to end. Sepetys mixes a historical and near literary writing narrative with all of the qualities of modern YA fiction creating an emotional and evocative story told by an expressive and talented voice narrator.
Audible | Amazon|Barnes and Nobles
