Maw Books

Maw Books – book reviews, book recommendations, book lists, author interviews and more!

I’m judging in the first bracket in the Nerds Heart YA book tournament and the two books I read were Feathered by Laura Kasischke and I Know It’s Over by C.K Kelly Martin.

Feathered is about two teenage girls who take the spring break trip of a lifetime from cold and wintery Illinois to the warm beaches of Cancun, Mexico and confront a situation that’s bigger than the both of them. 

I Know It’s Over is told from the point of view of sixteen year old Nick who discovers on Christmas Eve that his ex-girlfriend is pregnant with his baby.

In my book review of Feathered, I said, “I had no idea where the story of Feathered was going to take me.  It was slightly slow to get there but once it hit the crisis, the momentum was huge.  I think at one point my mouth was hanging open from disbelief of the crisis and it’s aftermath . . . Albeit, slightly heavy handed with the metaphors, Feathered, is a great mystery with a mix of magic realism”

In my book review of I Know It’s Over, I said, “I Know It’s Over is ultimately about teen pregnancy, teen culture, teen sexuality, first love, family relationships, sexual orientation, friendship, actions, decisions, and consequences of ones actions. . . I think that there is huge teen appeal in this book and that teen readers will really like it. ”

So who’s moving on.  Well, if you read my full review of I Know It’s Over you’ll see that the underlying assumptions and story line of the book is very one sided. I felt that there was opportunity for much more depth and discussion which just didn’t happen.  While the topic of I Know It’s Over is important and timely, ultimately Feathered won out.  I had written my review of I Know It’s Over before I even opened Feathered but I was only 30 pages in when I knew it would be moving on.  It’s beautifully written and poetic with a great mystery driving the story.

Feathered will be moving on to compete against Stop Me if You’ve Heard This One Before by David Yoo which was advanced against Alive and Well in Prague, New York by Daphne Grab which was judged by Lenore at Presenting Lenore and Ali at Worducopia.  This next bracket will be judged by Amy at My Friend Amy.

How have the other brackets gone?

1. My Most Excellent Year wins over The Opposite of Invisible
2. The Last Exit to Normal wins over What They Always Tell Us
3. Feathered wins over I Know It’s Over
4. Stop Me if You’ve Heard This One Before wins over Alive and Well in Prague, New York
5. Cracked Up to Be wins over The Shape of Water
6. TBA
7. The Latent Powers of Dylan Fontaine wins over Leftovers
8. The City of the Lake wins over Pretty Monsters

I can’t wait to find out how everything progresses throughout the tournament!