Three YA Novels

Girl on a Wire by Gwenda Bond began with some good ideas.  The idea of a circus rivalry and maybe some magic sounded interesting.  The family feud, however, when explained (finally) didn't work that well for me.  And there was waaay too much telling, not enough actual talking or showing.  Somehow Julietta and Remy (Romeo,  uh huh) failed to really materialize as genuine.  It was OK, but had the potential to be much better.

NetGalley/Amazon's Children's Pub.

YA.  Oct. 1, 2014.  Print length:  372 pages.

The Empath by Erica Crouch is a novella or long short story.  Gypsies, tarot, seances, psychics genuine and fraudulent.  And romance.  I think this one would have been better as a novel--it had some great ingredients for a longer narrative.  

NetGalley/Patchwork Press

YA.  Oct. 7, 2014.  Print length:  98 pages.

The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley  won the Newbury Medal in 1985, but I wonder if it would qualify today.  Aerin is a princess who is distrusted and humiliated, and her father (the King!) does little or nothing about it the way she is treated even though he appears to love her.  I mean, step up, Dad.  

The first part of the book is better that the last half, but sometimes seems disjointed and the syntax is...uncomfortable.  It isn't that you can't understand the sentence structure, just that it feels awkward at times.  

I liked Aerin's determination, but none of the characters had much depth and the weirdness of Luthe, the strange army of cats and dogs, and the less that climactic battle with her uncle left me struggling to maintain interest.

NetGalley/Open Road Media

YA.  1985, Nov. 14, 2014.  Print length:  244 pages.