Dirty Little Secret by Jennifer Echols

Mike and I are mildly obsessed with Tennessee, specifically the area around Nashville and Murfreesboro.  So when I saw Jennifer Echol’s Dirty Little Secret on NetGalley, I pounced. Country music (Mike hates it, I love it), Nashville, and Jennifer Echols? Yes please!  Tho to be fair I’m only 1 for 2 on Echols, I loved Going Too Far, but couldn’t finish Forget You. Dirty Little Secret lands somewhere in the middle.

Bailey and her sister Julie were raised on bluegrass and country music, so when the talent scouts pick up Julie and not Bailey,  Bailey is jealous and bitter. She resents that they were raised as a duo and now she’s being asked to disappear. Nobody wants the public to know about the secret sister who was ditched, so Bailey is supposed to stay home, stay quiet and above all don’t play any music.  Bailey has been moved in to live with her grandfather while her sister kicks off her tour and has taken a job playing music in the mall- some days she’s “Dolly Parton”’s sidekick, some days she’s back up for “Merle Haggard.” It’s the sort of job that flies under the radar and her parents aren’t aware of it.  Within a few days on the job tho, she meets Sam, a talented guitar player with own band who is looking to make it big in Nashville. Sam is convinced that what he needs to make it big is Bailey and her fiddle.  Sam is very persuasive and Bailey finds herself playing a gig with his band, and not surprisingly, they are good. Great, in fact. But is being in a really great band worth risking her future, and possibly that of her sister?

I really enjoyed a lot of this one. I loved the music scene and the Grand Old Opry and all of the technical music talk. I loved Bailey herself and I came to love Julie as well. Bailey is hurt and resentful, for good reason, but she progresses as the book does, and comes to realize that maybe she’s overreacted just a tiny bit. She learns to take risks that are for her future, as opposed to risks that would damage her future. Those aspects of the book are really well done.

Then there is Sam. Sam is completely manipulative, as is stated over and over, and it’s really hard for both the reader and Bailey to know what aspects are really his feelings and what things are just what he’s saying to get what he wants. Sam has exactly one focus in life- to get a contract- and he’s willing to use any connection at all to get there. It’s hard to know if what he feels for Bailey is real, or if she’s just another stepping stone. He is slick, he gets all the adults to eat out of his hand, he has his other band mates following his every lead, even when they can tell he’s using them or Bailey.  In the context of Nashville and the music parts of the book, this works very well. You can’t help but root for him to be successful.  In the context of a Sam and Bailey romance, however, I never quite felt that he really had feeeeeeelings for her. I didn’t buy into the happily ever after. The book ends on a high note, but doesn’t tie up all the loose ends. It’s a satisfactory ending and fits the rest of the book well, but I was really hoping for one that would knock my socks off with the romantic tension as Going Too Far did. It’s possible this will be that book for some people, but all I saw was the (well done)  manipulation. I suspect a lot of people will love the ambiguity, but we all know that I’m in it for the romance. 

Have you read Dirty Little Secret? What did you think?

 

This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales

I have only the flimsiest of reasons for requesting This Song Will Save Your Life from NetGalley. The title and the cover reminded me of Audrey, Wait! By Robin Benway, which I loved. I’m sure you see the resemblance.  (Yeah, I dunno, me either.) So I requested it, and I expected it to be something like 13 Reasons Why, only without the dead girl.  As it turns out, it wasn’t much like that at all, beyond being a young adult novel about suicide and bullying. Sounds lovely, no? It was terrific.  If you stopped me now and asked for my top five books so far this year, this book would be on the list.

Elise is a 16 year old girl starting a new school year.  She gets picked on for everything. She’s worked all summer to learn how to be popular, to learn the “right” things to say and do, and despite feeling like she’s made a change, the other kids (big surprise) still pick on her. Turns out, they didn’t change. So Elise goes home on the first day of school, and tries to kill herself (not a spoiler, this is very early on.)  Things really don’t get any better for Elise after that- now she’s just the weirdo who tried to kill herself. The bullying continues, both in person and via social media, and Elise feels hopeless and hates herself and everyone else. As a form of escape, she starts to sneak out of her house at night and take long walks through town, listening to music and wandering aimlessly. One of those nights, she stumbles across Start- an underground dance club- where no one knows who she is. She falls in love with the scene, and with the music, and when she gets a chance to learn to DJ she leaps at it. DJing, as it turns out, is something she is very good at. Elise meets new friends, none of whom know her past and all of whom seem to like her. Things are turning around until, inevitably, her day life and her night life collide.

Elise is a contradiction. She’s so aware of herself, in so many ways, and yet also completely naïve about the very same subjects. For example, she’s aware of why people dislike her- she dresses oddly, she’s precocious, she knows who she is- but she’s still surprised when they criticize one of those things. She’s smart and a bit weird without being a perfect student or a stereotype of the person everyone picks on. She desperately wants friends, but when she finally gets them, she doesn’t know how to interact with them since she’s too nervous about being betrayed. She can see exactly what mistakes she made to become everyone’s target, but she can’t prevent herself from making more.  Her new friends at Start don’t know any of this. They just see a normal girl without a freaky past, one is really good at reading a crowd and getting a reaction. Elise is swept away by the excitement of it while the reader waits for the other shoe to fall. I admit, this book was making me incredibly nervous near the middle. I was so sure things were going to implode in a very bad way. Instead though, the author pulls it through to a lovely satisfying ending. Not everything works out perfectly, all the ends aren’t tied in a pretty bow, but you believe that Elise is finally going to be someone who is not a target, that things really are getting better. Her problems aren't solved, but she finally has something good in her life to keep it from being so bleak.

I ended up loving this book. I kept thinking about it for days. Elise is annoying at times, and doesn’t think through all her actions, but it seemed real to me. This is how a real teenager would behave- imperfectly. I loved how Elise’s perception of other characters changed as well- her school friend Sally, her little sister, and Chas, the first boy to show her attention.  The book does have some underage drinking (it IS a dance club!) but Elise doesn’t drink. There is also some very vague sex, I think- it’s never explicitly said, but you assume it is happening.  I don’t remember a lot of swearing, but I assume it was in there too. The victim’s perspective is so well done, Elise is so human, with more to define her than just being picked on or one single moment (as in Speak) on which to hang the plot. She isn’t full of rage or revenge, but just a normal person who gets angry and sad as a person does. Overall, a really great book.

A Good American by Alex George

One of the things that I rarely read are novels that cover the span of a hundred years. I don't mind novels that play with time a little- grandma's history mixed with the present- or perhaps the majority of the life of a single person, but I rarely pick up a book that covers the history of multiple generations. Turns out, I don't enjoy it so much.

The first half of A Good American by Alex George is really interesting. Jette and Frederick immigrate to America around the turn of the century and settle in Beatrice, Missouri. They are German, as is the majority of the town. They have a couple children and then Frederick goes and joins WWI, with predictable results.  The book continues on through American history, with Jette, and her kids and grandkids. The first half, with the immigration experience and a lot of great detail about blues, jazz, and other music of the time is quite enjoyable. I loved seeing them set up a life and the struggles to keep up with the times. I often turned on Songza to a blues or jazz playlist while I read. (Turning Songza on to a blues playlist is incredibly common for me, but I have yet to learn to love jazz.)

Unfortunately, the second half, which begins about when the narrator is born, completely changes. The entire book is narrated by Jette's grandson James, so perhaps the change happens when it starts to talk about the parts of his life that he remembers, but I much preferred to read his history. The small bits of foreshadowing in the first half become and every other page bits of foreshadowing. The believable history of a family in the first half becomes a series of ridiculous people and their actions (and deaths.)  By the end, it felt like a parody of a family history. The focus on music changed, and was not longer about the love of music itself.

That said, the book does have some really great moments. I loved watching Frederick learn English, and the romance between Cora and Joseph, James's father. There's a scene in New Orleans at the beginning, where Frederick hears jazz for the first time that is wonderful. There are some memorable characters as well; Lomax, who plays music and cooks soul food; Polk, who works at the bar; Freddy, who has the best story of anyone, except Frederick himself.  There are also quite a few that seem to be there for impact; Morrie, the gentle giant, Rankin Fitch, Mrs. Fitch, the entire sub-plot of Reverend Gresham and Teddy.

I'm sure I won't stop thinking about some of the final revelations for a few days, and I'm going to have to go back and re-read a couple pivotal scenes to look for clues. Overall though, it was just ok, and I don't see myself ever choosing to read or recommend it.

You can join the discussion at BlogHer by clicking this link. The first discussion question has been posted, "What foods are are part of your gastronomic mosaic?", which you can answer here. You can find Alex George online here, and on Twitter.

This is a paid review for BlogHer Book Club but the opinions expressed are my own.

Ready, Set, RUN!

For at least the last 10 years I've said that I want to start running. I think running is so meditative, with the rhythm of the run and the solitude, but I've never actually forced myself off the couch and out the door.  But now, finally, with my new iPrecious iPhone, I have followed through on my intent to start running, just in time for the 100 Mile Fitness Challenge. I've only been twice (life got in the way of my third date with the pavement) but I can tell you that it's going to stick (at least until winter.)

How do I know this? I spent money on it. I bought running shorts (a skort! but mine is navy), a sports bra, an arm band for the phone (that doesn't fit me, but does fit Mike). I bought the Couch to 5K app AND the additional GPS app. I started collecting workout music (more on this momentarily). I'm planning to try and run on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday and take Friday and Saturday off to rest, but it largely depends on Mike's schedule. I'm so looking forward to that 45 minutes alone three times a week (yes, this may be part of my new found motivation!) I would love it if I could talk one of you into doing the C2K program with me. If you start now I'm only two days ahead of you and it would be easy to catch up.

Meanwhile, I'm looking for more running music. Here's what I have so far:

• Shut Up and Drive- Rihanna
• Lose Yourself- Eminem
• I Gotta Feeling- The Black Eyed Peas
• Boom Boom Pow- BEPs
• Rock That Body- BEPs
• Fighter- Christina Aguilera
• See You Again- Miley Cyrus
• Girls Just Wanna Have Fun- Miley Cyrus
• Song 2- Plain White T's

I know it's not a lot. Music isn't something that I've ever really collected. I like pretty much everything but don't have a constant need for music. It took me two months to finally settle on a ringtone to download to my phone!  So I need your help, what music do I need to add to my playlist? I've been diligently downloading the free song on iTunes every week, but none of those have been very workout inspiring, yet. 

So what else do I need? What music? What gear? What motivation? I'm all new to this, I need to stock up while the motivation is so high!


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Please help!

Anyone have suggestions for non-scary, not too exciting, bed time music? The Pirate suddenly wants music at bedtime and it's it's hard to find a CD that doesn't have something that scares him. I have quite the collection of Disney soundtracks, but they all have at least one scary song. (Poor Unfortunate Souls, The Mob Song, Be Prepared, etc.) His CD player is not one you can program to skip tracks. He does not want lullabies because they are for babies. Every classical music CD we've tried has something scary. The only thing that's worked so far is an Animaniacs CD. Tonight I dug out my old Enya CDs, but it's been so long since I listened to them that I don't know if there's anything that will freak him out or not. Tomorrow night, we'll try Christmas music.

Any suggestions?