Review: Five Days in Skye by Carla Laureano

Andrea Sullivan may have sabotaged her career with that last potential client. Now, as punishment, she has to convince TV chef James MacDonald, owner of three Michelin-starred London restaurants, that her company is perfect to help him renovate and market the family hotel he has inherited on the Isle of Skye. She has just a few days, and her job is on the line.

There is an immediate attraction when Andrea and James meet, but Andrea wants nothing to do with men, and especially wants nothing to do with a client. James has his own problematic romantic history, not to mention an even more problematic relationship with his brother, who owns one-third of the hotel.

I found all the characters to be intelligent and likeable, and I was especially impressed by the research. I’ve not been to Skye but I’ve lived in London and visited Scotland, and Five Days in Skye made me feel I was there. I had to laugh Andrea’s reaction to James calling her ‘love’. It’s a common term, particularly in the hospitality industry. Right, love?

This is a Christian novel, but the Christian element is somewhat understated. Both Andrea and James come from rural backgrounds where the Christian faith was an integral part of the family. But both have abandoned that faith, yet realise on Skye that perhaps they need to pursue God once more.

Five Days in Skye has it all: an excellent opening, a funny first meeting between Andrea and James, intelligent lead characters who are both successes in their chosen careers, excellent attention to detail, and the Isle of Skye, a beautiful and unique setting. And the last line is a beautiful illustration of the eternal romance between us and God. Recommended for romance lovers.

Thanks to David C Cook and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Carla Laureano at her website.

Review: Mason Wilson and the Dead Bird Debacle by M P Jones

It’s the end of term, and Mason Wilson has been assigned an unusual homework project for the holidays: research a conspiracy theory. Normally he’d just leave it until the last minute then cobble something together from Wikipedia, but this project is different: his teacher will submit the best project to the competition being run by a national newspaper—a competition which has a GBP 20,000 prize, a prize his family needs.

Mason knows that to win the prize he’s going to have to do something special, so he starts researching. Two ideas catch his attention: why do you never see dead birds, and what is the secret ingredient in Coola Cola? He decides that might be too difficult to find out, and when he sees a strange cat in the neighbourhood with a bird in its’ mouth, he decides to follow it …

There were quite a few English jokes that foreigners (or children) might not get, such as Clifford Machs, the public relations guru. I enjoyed the writing style and the characters, there was just the right amount of humour, the plot was well thought through, and the story had a clear Christian message without being preachy.

Children, especially boys, will be intrigued by the mystery of where dead birds go, the idea of the secret ingredient in Coola Cola … and the slightly disturbing way in which the two come together. Mason Wilson & The Dead Bird Debacle has echoes of Roald Dahl and new children’s fiction such as Diary of A Wimpy Kid. It’s enjoyable Christian fiction for 8-12 year olds who enjoy the slightly quirky nature of an English setting.

Thanks to the author for providing a free ebook for review.

Review: Doon by Carey Corp and Lorie Langdon

Doon is apparently based on the well-known musical, Brigadoon, which is so well-known that I’ve never heard of it. Maybe it’s well-known to Americans and Gleeks. I decided not to read the Wikipedia plot summary and to let Doon tell its own story, although that turned out not to matter: Doon bears little resemblance to the musical.

BFFs Veronica and McKenna have travelled to Scotland for a summer vacation following their high school graduation. Veronica keeps having visions of a blonde hottie (her word) in a kilt who introduces himself as Jamie (why are fictional Scots always called Jamie?).

The girls find two rings which transport them to the magical village of Brigadoon, which normally appears for only one day every hundred years. But they arrive two weeks before the bridge is supposed to open, so are imprisoned as witches—by Prince Jamie, the boy in Veronica’s vision. Veronica is confused, as Jamie doesn’t appear to recognise her, and virtually ignores her. McKenna, on the other hand, befriends Duncan, Jamie’s handsome younger brother. They must stay in the village until the bridge opens in two weeks—if they can survive that long.

I’m not sure what Americans find so attractive about Scotsmen. I have bad news: they don’t actually wear kilts any more. And maybe I’m a little too married, but I never noticed any ‘hotties’ on any of my visits (although that could be because everyone was bundled in layers of clothing. Even in summer). Nor did I notice any native Scots who could be described as ‘bronzed’ (not that I could see under their jeans and hoodies). I guess Doon’s bronzed hotties in kilts prove Brigadoon is a magical place.

Doon is told in the first person from the alternating points of view of Veronica and McKenna. First person present tense is pretty normal for YA, but it does rely on having a likeable narrator (and most have a single narrator). Veronica was the main narrator, and I found her much more likeable than McKenna (Sacred Stephen Schwartz!), whose narrative contained constant references to Broadway musicals and current pop culture. It got old fast, and will date almost as quickly.

Parts of the story felt contrived, particularly the final showdown (which, in hindsight, is symbolic of Jesus’s death on the cross for our sins, the final battle of Armageddon, and our ultimate destiny as His bride. If anything, this makes it worse. Making teens figure out the symbolism underlying a piece of writing should be a crime, especially when that writing is supposed to be entertainment).

I initially thought these aspects might have been parts of the plot of the original musical that just hadn’t translated well to 2013, but no. It felt as though the authors had written themselves into a corner, so they invented some new magic to get them out (at least JK Rowling had the skill and foresight to foreshadow her miracle magic. In Doon, it just appears). This shows a lack of concern for world-building (or perhaps a lack of understanding of the importance of good world-building in fantasy).

There are a number of other weaknesses in the writing, like redundancy, repetition, telling rather than showing (particularly with the pages of history of Brigadoon), and insufficient difference between the voices of the two main characters (I kept having to flip back to see who was the current viewpoint character). It’s also annoying (and atypical of YA) that the first half of the book is largely driven by narrative rather than dialogue and action. It drags. However, bad writing hasn’t stopped either Twilight or Fifty Shades from selling stratospheric quantities …

Doon has attracted a lot of attention: it’s the first book in Zondervan’s new crossover Young Adult line, Blink. Will Doon reach secular YA readers? I don’t think so. It’s not edgy enough. What about Christian teens? Will they enjoy Doon? If they’ve been raised on a steady diet of bonnet fiction and Amish romance, then Doon will seem fresh and edgy. But I’m not sure if they’ll get to read it. Those parents who wouldn’t let their children read Harry Potter or Twilight would be advised to avoid Doon for similar reasons.

Yes, there’s no sex in Doon. There’s no sexual abuse, no teen pregnancy scares, no drug-taking, and the only drinking is legal. But there is more to being a Christian than that. There’s stuff like being ‘in the world but not of the world”. And having a personal faith in Jesus. Neither Veronica nor McKenna has any personal faith in anything but themselves, and the Doon villagers sing praises to the Protector, the one who cast the enchantment on the village. It’s implied they are praising God, but it’s not clear. The Protector who can cast stronger spells than the witch could be any witch, wizard or warlock.

"Young Adult fiction isn’t about selling books to teenagers. It’s about writing books that speak to them. And speaking to them means talking about their problems."

I wanted to like Doon. I wanted it to breach the gap between saccharine Christian bonnet novels and edgy YA while still retaining a sense of a Christian world view. It has a fabulous cover. I liked most of the characters; I liked the story well enough. But I didn’t love it. It is let down by the writing, and it didn’t meet my hopes and expectations of what a YA novel should be, let alone a crossover novel. Doon is trying to sell to teens, not speak to them.

Thanks to Blink (Zondervan) and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Carey Corp and Lorie Langdon at their blog. 

Review: The End of Sex by Donna Freitas

The full title is The End of Sex: How Hookup Culture is Leaving a Generation Unhappy, Sexually Unfulfilled, and Confused About Intimacy. I read this partly as a warning (I’ve got a teenage daughter), and partly as research (what do young adults really think?). Note that The End of Sex isn’t written from a Christian perspective, and some of the content is pretty edgy.

The End of Sex is based on a survey of 2,500 undergraduate students at seven US colleges, undertaken in 2006, including public, private, Catholic and conservative evangelical Christian colleges. She notes that sexual behaviour is similar at most schools, with the exception being a ‘purity culture’ prevalent at the conservative Christian colleges. As well as the paper survey, the author also undertook personal interviews with several hundred students to provide more in-depth information. The author is unjudgemental in her approach to teens and sex, which was apreciated.

The first thing I learned that was hook-ups are not exclusively sexual. They can be anything from kissing to full sexual intercourse. It seems the key is that it’s a game: the social contract of the hookup is that it is temporary and physical, with no emotional connection and no intention to form any kind of relationship (although the author points out that often backfires when one partner—usually the woman—wants something more). Safe sex, in this context, is when one can walk away without an emotional attachment.

There is also a disturbing view that virginity is an unfortunate barrier to get over as quickly as possible (despite her finding that 21% of college seniors were still virgins—a later section categorised abstinence as Replication, which has the unfortunate implication that no true Democrat would be a virgin). What was sad was the view that virginity was not socially acceptable, and the implication that peer pressure is a major factor driving sexual behaviour. There was also a discussion about ‘technical virginity’, which almost contradicted the discussion on losing virginity. It was interesting to note that many of the students (male and female) claimed to dislike the hookup culture, despite actively participating.

These statistics seem to say either that college students are constantly acting against their own personal beliefs or they are lying about their attitudes and actions. I’m not sure which is more disturbing. Are we raising a generation who are too afraid of peer pressure to act on their beliefs (which doesn’t bode well for their ethics in the workplace). Or are we raising a generation that have no beliefs? There is also a discussion around the virtual absence of dating on many college campuses, and the corresponding lack of relationship skills among students. It struck me that romance is the top-selling fiction genre, yet romance novels are about developing relationships through dating: the very opposite of the hookup culture. I’d be interested in knowing what these college students are reading!

There some issues with The End of Sex. A study of 2,500 students undertaken seven years ago may or may not be representative of the problems. The End of Sex says Christian colleges have a ‘purity’ culture, but then ignores these colleges in the commentary. And it doesn’t address what happens when people graduate from college: do they continue to hook up, or do they learn to develop meaningful romantic relationships?

Who would I recommend The End of Sex to? I honestly think it’s going to tell a lot of people what they already know: college students spend a lot of time at parties, a lot of time having sex, and are losing the concept of relationship as a result. It’s also very American and focuses on those living on campus: those students who live at home during college may have a different experience.

But there are two groups I would recommend The End of Sex to: American who are considering what college to send their kids to (the commentary certainly explains the popularity of Christian colleges among conservative evangelicals), and anyone who feels they need a better understanding of youth culture. The End of Sex certainly provides that.

Thanks to Basic Books and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

Review: Why Leadership Sucks by Miles Smith

There are a lot of leadership books out there, a lot of them airport books. You know the kind: you get through check-in, go through security, and there’s a bookshop. It's selling the liquids you couldn’t bring through security, and some light reading for the flight: magazines, some popular fiction, a few children’s books and some grown-up looking books on business. Some of them are by recognised management gurus; others aren’t. Some were rushed through the press in the wake of the latest Enron; others were rewritten to remove all praise for Enron. Most take a top-down approach to leadership.

Smith is one of the few writers I’ve come across who looks at leadership from a servant perspective, a Christian perspective. That’s not to say that the leadership gurus who write airport books aren’t Christian: some of them are, and their ideas often reflect that. But it’s not front-and-centre in the way that Smith’s book is.

He makes a point, then provides a challenge to action that point: it’s like show-don’t-tell in novels. We need leaders who will guide us with less talk and more action. I liked that. Smith is well-read in classic and popular management texts and quotes from a number of well-known managers and leaders, and provides a reading list at the end (including Servant Leadership by Robert K. Greenleaf).

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power

- Abraham Lincoln

I particularly liked his advice on naming your business (“unless you are a personality or public figure, name your business something other than your name”—or, as my bank manager said, use your business name to say what you do not who you are). He also has a list of commonly misspelled idioms, which is O for Awesome (sorry - that's a Kiwi joke).

There was one problem with Why Leadership Sucks: Fundamentals of Level 5 Leadership and Servant Leadership: over-long paragraphs. Many were over a page long on my Kindle, and more paragraphs breaks would help readability. Thanks to the author for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Miles Anthony Smith at his website.