Review: In Too Deep by Coert Voorhees

In Too Deep
by Coert Voorhees
Published: July 9, 2013
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Available: Amazon

Synopsis
Annie Fleet, master scuba diver and history buff, knows she can’t fight her nerd status as a freshman at her Los Angeles private school. And she doesn’t care—except for the fact that her crush, Josh, thinks she’s more adorable than desirable. Annie is determined to set him straight on their school trip to Mexico. But her teacher has other plans: he needs Annie to help him find Cortez’s lost-long treasure.

Suddenly, Annie finds herself scuba diving in pitch-black waters, jetting to Hawaii with Josh, and hunting for the priceless Golden Jaguar. But Annie and Josh aren’t the only ones lured by the possibility of finding the greatest treasure ever lost at sea. Someone else wants the gold—and needs Annie dead. In deeper danger than she ever imagined, can Annie get the boy and find the Jaguar, or is she in over her head?

Critically-acclaimed author Coert Voorhees delivers breathtaking romance and non-stop action in his newest novel, the spirited and captivating In Too Deep.

Review:
I absolutely loved the idea of this story. An adventure story with a girl who is not only the more knowledgeable, but also the one who saves the day grabbed my attention. The cover was great and I had some pretty high expectations. Voorhees did not disappoint. In Too Deep is a well developed, fast paced adventure with some great romance thrown in the mix.

Annie is a great protagonist. She is shy, geeky, and completely head over heels for a guy she doesn't think would ever be interested in her. And she stays this way. All the way to the end. There is no sudden change in her interest in treasure hunting. There is no end to her love of scuba diving. There is no disappearance of her shyness or geekiness. Not that she doesn't grow as a character, because she does. But there is no sudden 180 just because she develops some confidence. 

Josh isn't the typical hot male protag that so many YA books are focusing on. Yes he's hot and funny, but he's also a real guy, and he reacts just like a real guy would. There's no cheesy, over the top romantic gestures or words coming from him. But it didn't matter. In the end I could forgive his name dropping, inflated ego, and his lack of amazing ability at everything he does, because I believed in him as a person.

So, why the 4 star rating if I loved the story and the characters? Well, it had to do with the believability of Annie being 15 years old. I didn't buy that aspect. Not only were we expected to believe that she was a master scuba diver, but also that she had been giving lessons at her mom's scuba shop for a long time, that she was left to train people in dangerous situations, and that her parents went along with ideas of her going for extended trips not only as part of a school group, but also on one with a guy and his famous mom? I had to ignore all of the references to her age and pretend she was 17 or 18 in order to buy into these aspects.

I noticed that Voorhees has another few YA books out and I'll definitely be checking those out.

 

 

Review: Being Henry David by Cal Armistead

Being Henry David
by Cal Armistead
Published: March 1, 2013
Publisher: Albert Whitman Teen
Available: Amazon

Synopsis:
Seventeen-year-old "Hank" has found himself at Penn Station in New York City with no memory of anything --who he is, where he came from, why he's running away. His only possession is a worn copy of Walden, by Henry David Thoreau. And so he becomes Henry David-or "Hank" and takes first to the streets, and then to the only destination he can think of--Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts. Cal Armistead's remarkable debut novel is about a teen in search of himself. Hank begins to piece together recollections from his past. The only way Hank can discover his present is to face up to the realities of his grievous memories. He must come to terms with the tragedy of his past, to stop running, and to find his way home.

Review: 
I have to admit, I was expecting something more along the lines of an adventure story when I started reading. Not that there wasn't adventure, because there was, but I suppose I thought Being Henry David  would be a bit fluffier. 

Being Henry David is a coming-of-age, adventure story written for boys. Even though it could appeal to girls, Armistead clearly didn't write a 'girly' boy (by that I mean another Edward or Jacob or any other male character in a book for girls). Armistead has created a character boys will understand. Hank thinks and acts like a typical guy. He's not obsessively in love with a girl, or waxing poetic at the sight of his love interest. That fact alone had me liking this book.

There is a nice mix of adventure and literary fiction. Even if you're not familiar with Henry David Thoreau there is enough information about his life and work scattered throughout the novel that it is easy to see why Hank has connected with this long dead author.

Being Henry David would be a great book for mid- to upper teens, particularly boys. There is some violence and drug use (or at least the reference to drug use), but nothing gratuitous.

Review: Cardsharp: A Vincent Ward Adventure by Paul Westmoreland

Cardsharp: A Vincent Ward Adventure 

by Paul Westmoreland

Published: December 2010

Available: Amazon

Blurb:

Burning houses. Daring robbers. Motorway chases. Exploding boats. Flying daggers. Brutal policemen. Ruthless pirates. Beautiful women. Deadly bullets. Racing hearts. International Criminals. Narrow escapes. Tricks, stings and electrocutions. And a priceless painting by one of art’s world’s most notorious masters.

Welcome to the adventures of Vincent Ward, where getting through each day alive just isn’t enough.

Review:

Overall I thought this was a pretty good read. There was a lot of action, and the sequences were detailed and fast paced. The writing was solid, although as a Canadian American the British terms used sometimes threw me off. There seemed to be something going on with the kindle formatting of the novel as the letter l was missing consistently from words with double l, such as wall, filling, etc. 

I thought the description of the art central to the plot, a piece by Caravaggio named The Cardsharps, was well done, and I loved how Vincent was constantly seeing comparisons between himself and the young man in the painting. I think Westmoreland's ability to be so descriptive not just with the actions scenes but also with an art that is so visual is a definitely strength. 

The only aspect of the story that I struggled with was its intended audience. YA is a genre that can be hard to define, and I'm not sure Cardsharp falls into that genre, yet I don't see it as an adult novel either. First, Vincent is well out of his teens. He's graduated from university and is working full time at the National Art Gallery, a number of times he appears at a bar drinking wine (not that drinking can't be part of YA, but it needs to be realistic) and most importantly he does not deal with any young adult issues. Instead he is dealing an international theft ring, that endangers his career and life. 

That said, it is not an adult novel either. Even though Vincent is an adult, he often thinks like a child, like his continued belief that the man wearing a suit and tie, driving with a police siren is a real police officer, despite trying multiple times to kill Vincent, breaking into his hotel room, and never once identifying himself the way a police officer is legally bound to do. The love interest plot line is chaste, and the over all readability is more appropriate for a younger teen audience.


Then again, I'm not a teen age boy, and I think that is who this series is geared more for.