Changing Partners - Elizabeth Bernard

*** - this was the inevitable crush book. As always the point of reading these is to be able to visualize the dancing - and this one actually includes a lot of dancing for the number of pages involved. The music and the dance steps were described very evocatively. Fun.

After a brief trip home Leah returns to her boarding house to discover her best friend Alexandra Sorokin in a tete-a-tete with her childhood friend (and famous Russian emigre) Andrei. Jealousies complicate Leah's already difficult life as Alex is convinced Leah is trying to steal her boyfriend while Leah firmly believes Alex is reading too much into Andrei's friendly behavior. Besides, she is beginning to feel drawn to him herself. Soon the school splits into 'sides', and matters are made even worse when both Alex and Leah are rivals for a coveted dance spot opposite Andrei.

A bit of a facile portrayal of how fifteen-year-olds react when a new handsome young man captures their fancy - and their friends'. The scenes between Alex and Leah are strained at best, and the ending wraps up a little too picture-perfect and forgiving, but the parts describing the dancing (classes and performances) truly captured my imagination despite some awkward or stilted writing, and I only read these books for the ballet anyway.

I really enjoyed the imagery Andrei used when he was choreographing. It made the feel of the steps easier to see in the mind's eye than when the author just talks about steps. I did miss most of the regular classes, though. And I know Leah is the heroine and Pam is the 'evil' girl, but it seems really rough that she never can catch a break. Clearly I have gotten too old for this series if I'm starting to think that... They were fun, nostalgic reads, but I find Leah irritates me more than I remember.

Interested in the others?
Book 1: To Be a Dancer
Book 2: Center Stage
Book 3: Stars in Her Eyes
Book 5: Second Best
Book 6: Curtain Call
Book 7: Temptations
Book 8: Stepping Out
Book 9: Chance to Love
Book 10: Rising Star
Book 11: Starting Over
Book 12: Summer Dance

The Golden Compass - Philip Pullman

**1/2 - Probably much better for someone else. It's well-written. I just can't stand the main character.

The novel is set in an alternate England where the Church has a tight grip on the government and the sciences - which are considered a form of theology (I did enjoy the 'holy relic' in the church). Young Lyra Belacqua runs wild at Jordan College in Oxford under the absent-minded care of the Scholars there. She wars with the townies, the gyptian children, and the other colleges. Occasionally she gets pulled aside by one of the scholars who tries to teach her something but gets muddled with his latest projects. And every now and then she is forced to meet with her uncle Lord Asriel - a powerful man rather frightening in his intensity. On one such occasion Lyra overhears a presentation about a mysterious substance called Dust and the experiments regarding it being conducted in the far North - and she is eager to go and see for herself.

When her best friend Roger (the kitchen boy) is kidnapped by a group known throughout England only as the Gobblers, Lyra finds her wish granted as she sets out with her daemon (a sort of soul in animal form that can change shapes until puberty)Pantalaimon to free him and her imprisoned uncle and to discover what wickedness is being done in the frozen North. With the help of the migratory gyptians, an armored bear and an alethiometer - a golden compass that measures the truth if only one can read it, Lyra finagles her way through her enemies to get ever closer to the secrets of the Dust.

I approached this book warily because of all the hype it has been given as a 'classic' fantasy trilogy. In my experience 'classic' fantasy is generally not my cup of tea at all. Plus our library at home had only the second in the trilogy which I read several years ago and was not particularly impressed with - partly due to the fact that I hadn't read the first I'm sure.

Now I'm just not that sure what to make of it, not sure what to say. I loved the idea of the daemon - a familiar sort of companion that represents a person's soul and personality, and I enjoyed the talk about how the form that the daemon settles in at puberty (once the person figures out who she wants to be) shows something important about one's personality. I am also quite intrigued by the Dust and the mysteries surrounding it and the adventures awaiting Lyra in other universes, but I don't like Lyra. For all she talks of loving Iorek and Farder Coram it's just that. It's told to the reader, but it never really shows through her actions. She's completely selfish in a very realistic childish sort of way, but it's not endearing as it is in most children. I was especially upset by the way she treated Roger at the very end. I found myself caring about the other characters, Roger, Iorek, Farder Coram and the gyptians. I cared about the witches and Lyra's daemon, but not about Lyra. And having to face two more books about LYRA without most of the supporting characters is tiresome.

Stars in Her Eyes - Elizabeth Bernard

*** - Fairly charming, but also melodramatic. Definitely meant for kids rather than teenagers. They seem pretty blatantly didactic to me now, and I've always hated that sort of thing...

The San Francisco Ballet Academy is in uproar! The Ballet Canada company is coming to town on the farewell tour of the famous dancer Lynne Vreeland. And every one of the students in the Academy is going to get the chance to share the stage with her. And she seems to be taking a special interest in Leah. Everyone is wonderfully excited - except for Vreeland's biggest fan, Kay. Kay suddenly gets ill and injured, and now it's up to Leah and her friend Alex to discover why Kay is trying so hard to avoid her idol.

The meeting of a great idol is always a tough plot device to pull off, and I found it refreshing that this idol - while becoming tarnished a little as the author shows her as a real person who sometimes makes bad or selfish decisions - doesn't end up being terrible to the girls. She's very personable and helpful to Leah in particular, and shows that even in show business there are people willing to help you share and learn.

Charming, though a bit melodramatic secret surrounding Kay takes away from it a little. There's also not nearly enough dancing in this one - and will Leah ever just mind her own business for a change? She suffers from typical - author shows how a fifteen year old ought to behave in perfect girl world, and as usual she seems terribly self-righteous in comparison to her fairly normal friends with emotions.

I sound harsh on these, and I suppose to a degree I am. They are decent children's books, and great for those with dreams of ballet and the stage, but they don't really keep up as you age.

Interested in the others?

Book 1: To Be a Dancer

Book 2: Center Stage

Book 4: Changing Partners

Book 5: Second Best

Book 6: Curtain Call

Book 7: Temptations
Book 8: Stepping Out
Book 9: Chance to Love
Book 10: Rising Star
Book 11: Starting Over
Book 12: Summer Dance

Center Stage - Elizabeth Bernard

*** - this is probably the worst of these books that I've read. The entire character of James and the weird narcissistic and borderline abusive relationship that they have going on is just really weird and seems fake. Plus it just wasn't very fun.

Leah Stephenson's life at the San Francisco Ballet Academy has been a dream. Finally she gets to spend part of every day working on her dancing! Not only that, but she is chosen to work with James - the school's rising star male dancer. The two of them work beautifully together, provoking jealousy from some of the Company members, and putting them in the lead spot for the coveted places dancing a pas de deux in school demonstrations. But when James pushes too hard and injures himself, both of the dancers' careers could be on the line.

I found this whole book fairly odd. First it seems a bit contrived that if the entire school is trying out for these few spots, most of the places go to Leah and her friends - first year students. And while I understood James' desire and determination to become the best dancer he possibly could even if it meant pushing himself and those around him to the brink of collapse, his personality was a puzzle to me. Was everything he did terribly manipulative to better the dancing? Why was he so scary and threatening? Not to mention, why was Leah so scared of him? It was a very strange dynamic and not as fun as most of the other books in this series.

The scenes describing the pas de deux are lovely - as always the dancing scenes are the best part of the book. But there are far too few of them in my opinion. And too much time devoted to everyone being terribly jealous of Leah.

Interested in the others?
Book 1: To Be a Dancer
Book 3: Stars in Her Eyes
Book 4: Changing Partners
Book 5: Second Best
Book 6: Curtain Call
Book 7: Temptations
Book 8: Stepping Out
Book 9: Chance to Love
Book 10: Rising Star
Book 11: Starting Over
Book 12: Summer Dance

To Be a Dancer - Elizabeth Bernard

*** - I was watching Center Stage the other day which led me to pick these up again. I first read them when I was in second grade and enjoyed them much more then. Upon reread Leah is pretty unlikeable - mostly because she's a cardboard cutout and obnoxiously 'perfect' in every way.

Leah Stephenson has been the star of her local ballet class since she put on her first pair of ballet slippers at age six. Now, she has one big chance to make it in the ballet world - her teacher is sending her to an audition against hundreds of girls for one of fifteen coveted spots at the prestigious San Francisco Ballet Academy.

This is the introductory novel - and it suffers from many of the problems of these. Most of the novel is spent with Leah dealing with competitiveness, losing her friends and trying to make new ones. Upon reread, I don't find Leah particularly endearing in this novel. She makes snap judgments of James, Alex, and others. She spends all of her time focusing on sizing up other dancers, angsting about her own future, and condemning her best friend from home for daring to be upset that Leah doesn't even consider the hole she might leave in others' lives and plans.

Leah is very fifteen - she's self-absorbed and insecure about everything. Including her obvious talent for dancing that everyone's done nothing but praise to high heaven since she arrived. I think this is one of my least favorite of the series - most likely because there is so little actual dancing in this one. But every series has to start somewhere. Not bad for young girls, but it doesn't hold up terribly well as anything but an introduction.

Interested in the others?

Book 2: Center Stage

Book 3: Stars in Her Eyes

Book 4: Changing Partners

Book 5: Second Best

Book 6: Curtain Call

Book 7: Temptations
Book 8: Stepping Out
Book 9: Chance to Love
Book 10: Rising Star
Book 11: Starting Over
Book 12: Summer Dance

Winter Haven - Athol Dickson

*** - I didn't realize when I requested this that it was going to be 'Christian fiction'. I'm not Christian, and all of my prior forays into this genre (because of interesting-sounding mystery or historical plotlines) have led me to run in horror whenever I see a 'Christian imprint'. I don't like to be preached at. So I certainly wasn't in the target audience for this book. But I committed myself to reviewing it, so I try here to talk about plot and writing without letting the deathbed conversion of the atheist plotline get under my skin too much. I try. Consider this a bit of a disclaimer if you will.

I received a free review copy of this book through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.

Vera Gamble hasn't heard a word from her autistic brother who speaks only in Bible verses since she watched him leave their home thirteen years ago. When she receives a phone call that his body has been found washed up on an isolated island in Maine, she travels north to claim it - only to discover that he seemingly hasn't aged in the thirteen years he has been gone. When this news comes out, the town law enforcement won't let her take the body until the mystery has cleared up, and Vera finds herself being sucked into old hostilities, tales of ghosts and menacing trees, and a very handsome man whom the other townspeople warn her may be dangerous.

The book has several Gothic elements - the ancient legends of malevolent spirits, visions, a creeping unnatural chill and fog, a black clad spirit that wanders hissing through the forest, and even the forest as a dangerous presence itself. Dickson certainly knows how to weave these elements into a creepy atmospheric spell as well (although parts of that seem over the top, particularly the bit surrounding the altar in the woods). Unfortunately, the author rarely sustains the creepy atmosphere. In one particular passage, he interrupts the mood by inserting a banal dialogue about property taxes which dispels the building tension and left me quite frustrated. The Gothic aspects could truly draw the reader into the story, if only Dickson would allow them.

The first-person point of view is a bit difficult to get into. The narrator is utterly unreliable with a heap of neuroses and a seeming incomprehension that she suffers from epilepsy not a curse of God. Not only that, but she seems to be a pushover - witness her behavior towards her boss, and her immediate gaga reaction to Evan Frost (and need we hear about his "phenomenal good looks" every single paragraph?) - and her sullen lashing out and some of her fears make her seem more like a recalcitrant child than a heroine with any sense. It is difficult to like or identify with her, particularly since she seems to communicate in snippets of cryptic references and flashbacks to the horrifying events of the past, and then moves on to the present story.

The writing includes a lot of evocative details including intriguing symbols in heat and cold - emotions and logic, but at times it also seems unnatural and stilted - particularly in the lack of use of contractions. Once Vera starts suspecting everyone and things are winding down to a close, things get better - creepier, and Vera seems less obnoxiously paranoid. The Christian elements, while not subtle, also don't generally overwhelm the story with moralizing. The resolution of the mystery is clever and original. For me, it wasn't wholly unexpected, but nonetheless satisfying. Overall, an entertaining enough story, but not for fans of true Gothic stories, nor for those who don't like those elements. A half-hearted Gothic tale.