Review: Six Impossible Things by Fiona Wood

Six Impossible Things by Fiona Wood
Reviewed by Maggie: March 15, 2013
Originally reviewed on August 19, 2011
Published August 1, 2010 by Pan Macmillan Australia
Goodreads • Buy at Fishpond • To be published in US




I first read Six Impossible Things in August of 2011 after seeing Cath Crowley's review. When one of my favorite authors loves a book, I seek out said book. I'll stop at nothing, including 3 international calls to Australia, a PayPal Australia account, and begging. It all worked out in the end because I adored this book. This past Christmas, it was the book I chose to give out to members of my book club.

I am so thrilled it will be published in the United States later this year, and that more people will be able to read it -- without international begging even! I reviewed it on goodreads in 2011 and I'm reposting it here.

• • •

Meet Dan Cereill.

Fourteen, smart, and totally adorkable.

He’s also dealing with:
1. His parents’ divorce
2. ...on account of his father being gay.
3. Having to move and start a new school
4. ...because dad lost their savings.
5. Trying to shed his loser image and impress the girl next door
6. ...as he ends up answering to ‘dickhead’ in front of her on the first day of school.

Needless to say, things aren’t going well. After moving into his deceased aunt's house, the person he talks to the most is Howard, the judgmental poodle who came with the house.

Still, he has a list of six things, six seemingly impossible things, that he revisits and uses as a reference point to get through each day. For example, in order to cheer up his mom (#3 on the list), he confronts the school bully, Jayzo, about crank calling his house/mom's business.

Yeah, it doesn't work for Dan either.

Even as I cringed for him, I just wanted to give Dan a hug. I was cheering for him the whole way through and hoping that he'd end up taking the girl to the dance at the end.

This was so witty and heartwarming. I would be surprised that this is a debut novel except that the author is Australian. I appreciated how she tackled social issues such as homophobia without being heavy-handed or having her character rant on and on. Dan is also prone to typical 14-year-old petulance, but I loved his character's development. There was such a sweetness to how he liked Estelle.

This book took me some effort to get (Don't even get me started on Paypal vs Paypal Australia!), but it's definitely worth it. Dear Dan, Love you big time!

Rating: 5/5 stars. 

Our Bookstagram Life: March 14, 2013

Follow us on instagram: ya_anonymous

Now online: http://instagram.com/ya_anonymous

Launch Party: Also Known As by Robin Benway

We have three words for you, Robin Benway: Launch. Yo. Self.

Date: Friday, March 8, 2013

Time: 7pm
Place: Vroman's Bookstore

As you know, Mandee (Vegan YA Nerds & The Book Manicurist) and I do regular package swaps. Not only does she send me the latest and greatest Australian YA, she goes to a ton of events and gets them signed when she can. My autographed copies of Quintana of Charyn and Night Beach have their own special shelf. Next to my heart. For our next swap, I got The Reece Malcolm List autographed at Amy Spalding's launch. I also bought a few more books but was disappointed that there was only one hardcover since hardcovers aren't sold Down Under. Mandee had Also Known As by Robin Benway on her wishlist, so I preordered it and was ready to send her package out after AKA's release on February 26th. And then I remembered seeing Robin at Amy's launch and checked to see if she was also doing an event in LA. I forget that not all authors live in Australia or Portland and some are even LA based. After seeing a bunch of authors come out to Amy's launch and hearing Noelle's disappointment that no one comes out to Orlando, I decided to really make an effort to go to events, especially for local authors. Cue Tupac's To Live and Die in LA.

Anyway, now that I've rambled on about everything except Kafka's Motorbike, onto the launch!

Vroman's is a huge independent bookstore in Pasadena. It's been a while since I'd been there. I think the last time I was there, I bought a Haruki Murakami book to impress a boy and I ended up detesting both book and boy. There's a section upstairs for events, conveniently located across from the huge YA section. I got there about 10 minutes before the event -- yup, early again!

Robin came out and the first thing I noticed was that she has great hair. Like, amazing, Tami Taylor hair. The main character of AKA is also named Maggie so obviously we're meant to be best friends.

Robin read an excerpt from the book and then opened it up to questions. First, she had to give a very sweet shoutout to her mom and brother, who were in the audience, and she said she dedicates all her books to them. Her brother especially was really supportive when she decided to leave her well paying but monotonous job to write. Robin also recorded the audiobook for AKA and said Angelo is meant to be British ("sounds like James Bond and looks like Tim Gunn"), but she didn't dare try a British accent for the audiobook. Thank Madonna. The character of Roux is from her second manuscript, which her publisher passed on and remains unpublished. 

The idea of AKA came to Robin when she got locked out of her storage unit. She couldn't remember the combination to the Master Lock so she googled. A few minutes later, her storage unit was unlocked and a book idea was born. Robin recently went on a high school and library tour with Megan Miranda and Yelena Black (her blog post), and she told the high schoolers how her story idea originated. So yeah, if there's a rise in lock picking at high schools... She set the story in New York because she loved her time there while attending NYU. Gramercy Park, the private park accessible only to residents with a key, is where Maggie picks her first lock.  

As part of her research, aside from breaking and entering into her belongings, Robin contacted safe crackers to ask them questions about the job. All of them refused to divulge any information. Whatever, we've all seen The Italian Job.

SEQUEL NEWS: There is going to be one! Robin is working on edits right now and it should be released January 2014. She'll be recording that audiobook as well. She said the story came together much easier for the sequel than the original and she enjoyed revisiting the characters. 

I mentioned seeing Robin at Amy's launch and Amy was here for Robin's. I also met authors Brandy Colbert, whose novel Pointe (release: 2014) sounds all Black Swan and awesome, and Aaron Hartzler, whose memoir Rapture Practice will be launched at Barnes & Noble at the Grove on April 9, the day of its release. Author Abby McDonald and her British accent were also there. I love how supportive the authors are of one another, and after just two events, I'm already starting to recognize familiar faces. Cue California Love. 

A note on Vroman's policy for events. I am all for supporting authors and bookstores, especially independent bookstores. I bought AKA before I knew about the event, but I figured I would buy Audrey Wait and another book I need at Vroman's. However, when I got there, I was told that in order to get a ticket for the signing, I would have to buy another copy of AKA. I asked if I could buy another book instead and said I would buy 3 books in total, but I was shut down. I texted Flannery from The Readventurer since I know Flann goes to a ton of events and asked if that was the usual policy. She said no and that if you're required to make a purchase, you're allowed to at least choose what you buy. That was also my experience at the Once Upon A Time bookstore when I went there for the Summer Lovin' Tour last year. Luckily, Amy Spalding came to my aid and used her ticket to get my book signed as well. Thank you, Amy! And to Vroman's:

Lunch Table Rankings: March 8

Everyone knows the biggest honor you can bestow on someone is an invite to your lunch table, but an invite doesn't get passed around to just ANYONE....

I originally had Wolf, aka Alpha Kesley, at the Cool Table but after reading Frost Burned, I remembered Adam Hauptman IS the Cool Table!

Podcast: Our YAA Monthly Meeting

Welcome to our Monthly Meeting for fellow YA addicts, now in podcast form!  Take a listen below and let us know in the comments what you did to indulge your YA habit this week.

You can also download the mp3 here: Mediafire 

Visual Aids for this Podcast:

 

Said handsome shark:

Oh and this is Seth:

Books Mentioned in this Podcast:

Extracurricular Review: Alpha & Omega Series by Patricia Briggs

  

Cry Wolf • Published July 29, 2008 by Ace • Buy at Amazon • Kindle

Hunting Ground • Published Aug 25, 2009 by Ace • Buy at Amazon • Kindle

Fair Game • Published March 6, 2012 by Ace • Buy at Amazon • Kindle

Reviewed by Maggie: March 4, 2013, ie one day before the release of FROST BURNED

• • •

Do you have a younger sibling? If so, you know the feeling of euphoria that comes from hearing, "Of course you can go," followed by the deflation from, "...as long as you take your brother with you." Why, parents, why? I resented my brother so much for being my skinny, little ball and chain. I hated feeling handcuffed to him and having to be a package deal if my friends invited me over. Likewise, I typically loathe spinoff series, especially if they poach a favorite character or involve a storyline that affects the original series. I hate feeling like I HAVE to read/watch this other series for the sake of the original. When Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice did their crossover episodes, I had a flashback to as long as you take your brother with you and post-traumatically deleted Grey's from my DVR. Even in the recent Lizzie Bennet Diaries when Lizzie talks about going back and watching all of Lydia's videos, I was like, "I know what you're doing. YOU CAN'T TRICK ME."

So it's with this pleasant mindset that I went into the Alpha & Omega series, Patricia Briggs' spinoff of the Mercy Thompson series, my one urban fantasy love.

Surprisingly, I liked it. Unsurprisingly, not nearly as much as Mercy. Still, I marathoned these books over four days, much like I did with the Mercy books.

Cry Wolf is the first in the series and the weakest. It felt like one sidelong glance after another. Does he like me? Does she like me? Mind you, this is after Charles Cornick and Anna Latham are the werewolf equivalent of engaged so yes, you do like each other. Get over it. There wasn't a love triangle, but a lot of the book felt like two people going around in circles when an honest conversation would've cleared the air. If it hadn't been for Noelle's hints of BIG THINGS TO COME, I probably would've dropped the series and waited impatiently for the next Mercy.

Hunting Ground reminded me of the birds in Finding Nemo.

Charles to Anna: Mine! Anna to Charles: Mine! Bran to wolves: Mine! Also, werewolves and vampires loose in Seattle? We've been there, done that.

Fair Game, aka Criminal Fae Minds! Charles and Anna are their own were-BAU. And yes, it's as awesome as it sounds. A serial killer targeting supernatural victims is loose in Boston. Bran sends Charles and Anna to assist in the investigation. This is a nice change for both because Charles the emo wolf has been super emo lately. Due to his role as Bran's enforcer, he's had to carry out harsh punishments that he doesn't agree with. (He's kind of like Katsa in Graceling actually.) Boston is the territory of local alpha, Isaac. What I liked about this book that wasn't in the previous two books is how established the world is. In Cry Wolf, Anna is new to town and she and Charles spend most of their time in Charles's house and then the mountains. In Hunting Ground, they end up traveling to Seattle to oversee a werewolf summit with wolves from all over the world. Aside from a few local wolves, everyone is an out of town guest and it feels like that in the book setting as well. In Fair Game, the characters from Isaac to FBI Special Agent Leslie Fisher are fully drawn supporting characters. I actually wouldn't mind if Charles and Anna stayed in Boston and Isaac and Leslie became regular cast members instead of guest stars. Aside from Bran and Asil, there haven't been many consistent characters throughout the series. One of my favorite aspects of the Mercy books are the wonderful supporting characters like Warren, Kyle, Stefan, etc.

There are BIG THINGS in Fair Game, but after reading the chapter sampler for Frost Burned on Patricia Briggs' website, it seems like you can get away with not reading the Alpha & Omega series. However, after a shaky start, I think I'm going to stick with the series. I really liked the direction of Fair Game and Patricia Briggs' writing is so addicting. I want to see what new reason Charles will have for being morose.

If you haven't read either series, I'd definitely recommend starting with Moon Called. If you are a Mercy fan already, Alpha & Omega will help you pass the time til the next Mercy book (2 more hours!!) but thankfully, it's not a forced package deal.

Rating:
Cry Wolf: 3/5 stars
Hunting Ground: 3/5 stars
Fair Game: 4/5 stars

Lunch Table Rankings

Everyone knows the biggest honor you can bestow on someone is an invite to your lunch table, but an invite doesn't get passed around to just ANYONE....