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The Love Song of Jonny Valentine by Teddy Wayne
★★★

Jonny Valentine is a very self-aware pop-star protagonist. At 11, he completely understands that his fans love him for the carefully maintained image his manager-mommy Jane and all of his “people” carefully craft.  Jonny is still only 11 thought trying to navigate a very grown up world without a father or any close friends. His only guidance comes from Walter (his bodyguard), Nadine (his tutor), and Jane. Suddenly his absent father starts trying to teach out to him in the midst of a tour that could make or break Jonny’s career. His momager (No?) would never let him talk to his dad, he’s not even allowed to post on his own twitter. Jonny can’t imagine letting his dad go though when the possibility of getting him back is so close.

I was immediately interested when I heard about this book last year. I heard that the character was supposed to be similar to Justin Beiber and I thought it would probably be a great commentary on celebrity status in America and how absolutely absurd it is that we take them so seriously.  Instead, I got roped into a story about a tween fruitlessly masturbating and wondering when the conflict between the momager (I’m keeping it) would come to a boiling point so we could reach a resolution in that weird relationship. This book seemed to have a large source of themes to discuss. Jane’s control over Jonny is scary and strong and the book dances around the subject and has other characters actually concerned about Jonny’s well-being. However, when Jane actually does harm to herself and Jonny’s career, it never truly resolves in the wake of Jonny’s daddy drama. Jonny also touches on the mobs of fans that are “in love” with him without really knowing him and how lonely it is to be a celebrity, again though the topic is only touched on at a superficial level. The one message the book does a great job discussing, the farce of celebrity lives, is force-fed to us while we are busy digesting the other topics. Jonny’s people fake an entire relationship and “back to the beginnings” trip for him all for public approval. Jonny is whipped back and forth wildly between these scenarios and struggles to understand what he feels compared to what he’s supposed to feel. He also struggles to act the appropriate way while still being a hormonal time-bomb on the brink of puberty (as evidenced by his delight of his first pube, something I now wonder if every male in my life was as proud of). As much as I hate to say it, The Love Song of Jonny Valentine should probably has been planned into a series of books to really get a good dig in our society instead of just a singular book lobbing a bunch of complaints in such a fast and hectic way. Jonny Valentine was a brave book and I really hope Teddy Wayne continues to write in the same voice and continues to pursue important ideas like these. Maybe next time though Teddy; flesh them out a bit more for me?

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The Wicked Girls by Alex Marwood
★★★★

The hardest thing about the past is learning to forget it, for some this means getting over bad parenting and terrible exes. For Kirsty Lindsay and Amber Gordon, the past is a little bit more difficult to outrun, despite their individual efforts. One day during the last summer of their childhood, they meet and become fast friends. By the end of that day, the two have taken part in an unspeakable crime. After being charged with the murder, the two 11 year olds are separated and told they can never have contact with one another again.
 
Twenty-five years go by and the two change their identities and try to hide the awful past they share. Kirsty is married and the mother of two. She works as a journalist investigating others’ secrets while hiding her own, even from her husband. Amber has become the managing cleaner at an amusement park in a local seaside town. Their lives are brought together again in the wake of a series of vicious murders. Kirsty and Amber are shocked to find each other again, but they’ll be even more shocked as the murderer strikes too close and risks uncovering their history for everyone to see.

Amber and Kirsty were definitely refreshing female roles to read about in a world of Ana Steeles and Bella Swanns. It was great to see moments of strength in two very complex figures. What was also very interesting is that their individual strengths were shown in different ways...
[Possible Spoilers!!][I've Seen Too Much!!]
When Kirsty had an encounter with a dangerous stranger in a dark alleyway, instead of freezing in fear, she began planning her fight back. She placed her keys in between her fingers to face her attacker and to attempt to get a DNA sample. Amber showed strength when it came out that her boyfriend Vic had been cheating on her. Instead of crumbling, she got revenge on the girl and kicked him out of their shared apartment
The girls both had their faults but had character traits readers could see and want to emulate. Their likeability created a great internal struggle against the knowledge that they had done something so terrible early on in their lives. This also created a great debate topic on the subject of child murderers’ treatment in society. Such a strong steam engine of a book was really wasted on such a bland ending though. The murderer was somewhat obvious and the ultimate outcome to the conflict, while heartwarming…wasn’t terribly surprising. The Wicked Girls had such a strong lead, if only the ending was as great as the rest of the book.