Switchback: Guest review

This review was written by teacher Elizabeth Cook.

Written by Danika Stone 

Swoon Reads

978-1250221650

320 pp.

Ages 12-18
2019

Warning: Do not start this book right before bedtime as you will be compelled to read until the very end...which for me was three in the morning!

Danika Stone’s Switchback is a story of two best friends in Grade 10 who are required to go on an overnight camping trip in the Rocky Mountains to earn their gym class credit.  Vale (Valeria) and Ash (Ashton) couldn’t be more different.  Vale loves learning about new topics and going on hikes with her family.  She stands up for what is right against the school bullies, Mike and Brodie, which made her an easy target and a social outcast. On the other hand, Ash is loved by everyone for his self-deprecating humour and corny jokes (“Hey, Vale.  You know how trees get onto the internet?  They log on!”) but he would never choose to be outside, preferring to spend all day inside playing D&D or video games.

The group's two-day climb up the mountain begins with a small hike followed by a lunch break during which Vale sees Mike and Brodie littering the national park with their lunch wrappers.  Worried for the safety of the animals, she convinces Ash to help her pick up the garbage, which unfortunately results in them being left behind by their group.  Hoping to reach the designated camping spot at Twin Lakes, the pair continue on the path, until the cloud cover causes them to lose their way. As the dark night sky looms and the rains begin, Vale and Ash decide to set up a shelter to keep warm and hopefully avoid the forecast snow. 

The two teens face numerous challenges in the wilderness while trying to find a way back to civilization. Their biggest concerns are staying healthy and safe. First, they have limited food and water, as their meals disappeared with the rest of the school group. Other than a couple of sticks of gum, a handful of GORP (granola, oats, raisins, peanuts), the pair must fend for themselves. They also have to fight off hypothermia–their clothes get wet when the snow comes–and tend to their hiking injuries with only the small first aid kit that Vale had packed. Moreover, the two have to worry about the many animals they encounter along the way. When it is dark on the side of a mountain, every snap of a branch sends a new wave of panic through them as they pray for a harmless deer rather than a larger predator looking for a snack.

This YA novel is a definite page turner!  I started this novel hoping I would enjoy it for a couple of days, but I loved it too much to stop. I had to know what would happen next and read through the night until I was done.  Switchback is a real nail biter and it definitely kept my heart beating fast during many scenes. The story of these two friends trying to survive in the wilderness is a story of bravery, perseverance, and true friendship!

~ Reviewer Elizabeth Cook is a teacher in the Halton District School Board. She is an avid reader and fan of Canadian literature. 

Rogue Princess

Written by B. R. Myers

Swoon Reads (An imprint of Feiwel and Friends)

978-1-256-30343-1

294 pp.

Ages 13-18

January 2020

There is no greater power than the power of choice. (pg. 175)

Delia is a princess who lives on the planet Astor. With turning 18, she must now choose a prince to marry. In fact, princes from the neighbouring planets of the Four Quadrants are gathering at the palace, ready to win her hand, including Prince Felix, a military man from Trellium, Armano from Delta Kur, Oskar from the Kalasta Belt, and the lovely Prince Quinton. Though Delia knows the importance of her ancestry and the traditions of Astor, as handed down from Arianna, the first queen of Astor, she aspires to more before she weds. This leads her to reprogram her android seamstress Marta so that she might escape, changing into the uniform of the Queen's Guard and hijacking a patrol ship.

But Delia is not alone. Unbeknownst to her, Aidan, a kitchen chore boy at the palace, has just stolen a dagger he found in a prince's room and is making his escape too. Aidan too has aspirations, helping himself to small trinkets so he might earn the money to leave behind the Dark District of Astor where he lives with his cruel stepfather and stepbrothers, Drake and Morgan.

This is Delia and Aidan's introduction to each other and one that will change their lives. He eventually learns that she is Princess Delia but, because he never tells her the truth, she believes he is a prince's bodyguard and then her secret bodyguard. Ultimately she returns to the palace and he to his home to slave to his family but they are thrown together time and time again, each trying to help the other and growing closer in their affections and admiration. But neither is as they appear. She is not the pretty princess who wishes to don beautiful gowns and live away from her people in her glorious palace. He is not just a simple servant. Together the rogue princess and the mysterious boy find their way to something extraordinary for themselves and the planet Astor.

B. R. Myers' new young adult novel of speculative fiction is dense with subplots, with nasty, odd and charming characters–I loved Delia's sister, Shania–

A double stranded necklace of colorful shells hung to his waist...He strode away, the shells clicking softly.
"I like a man who is also a wind chime," Shania remarked smartly. (pg. 13)

and with fantastic settings that my measly review cannot accommodate everything. I'd love to mention the pirates, the six-handed man, the sandworms and the plot to overthrow the Queen but there just isn't the space. But I can tell you that B. R. Myers has written a dashing version of Cinderella in which the princess doesn't need to be saved, that the bad guys are sometimes the good guys, and love can flourish under the oddest of circumstances. And she does it with humour and attention to detail that immerses the reader in circumstances rife with absurdity and tragedy.

"...but I'm hoping you can join me in dessert later."
"Join you in dessert?" Delia had an image of sitting in a large bowl of cream and berries with Prince Felix staring at her from the opposite side of the rim. (pg. 131)

The blurb on the back cover of Rogue Princess accurately describes the novel as a "gender-swapped sci-fi YA retelling of 'Cinderella'" but it's so much more. It's a romantic read in which the girl and boy save each other and a planet and their people by choosing to make paths for themselves while still honouring those who created them.

When Life Gives You Demons

Written by Jennifer Honeybourn

Swoon Reads

978-1-250-15823-9

262 pp.

Ages 13-18

July 2018

When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. When Life Gives You Demons, the kind that possess people and make them levitate and revolve their heads, you get an exorcist.  But if you're sixteen-year-old Shelby Black, who is training to become an exorcist with her Uncle Roy, a priest, sometimes you're just not the exorcist who's up for the job.

Uncle Roy doesn't like family members to be present during an exorcism. They have a tendency to freak out when they see steam coming out of their loved one's ears. (pg. 6)

There is so much for Shelby to learn about exorcising demons. She's learning how to detect them and she always carries her silver crucifix, handcuffs, and bejeweled spray bottle of holy water. She's almost got the Latin incantations right and is diligent about writing reports about the exorcisms they conduct. Shelby really wants to help out, especially as Uncle Roy is seventy and exorcisms seem to being taking more out of him now. But she's still a novice, only studying how to conduct exorcisms for the past five months, ever since her mother Robin left suddenly to train at some secret exorcism school in Italy. Unfortunately Shelby fears her mother's departure had more to do with the hurtful things she said to Robin in an argument the night before.

While Shelby seems to keep bumping into possessed beings–and even a few suspected possessions that aren't–she's crushing on her peer tutor, Spencer Callaghan. But there's some weird stuff going on with him too. Spencer's brother Mike has a tattoo of the sign of the beast i.e., 666, and a dog called Cerberus. But Spencer gives her a black onyx protection rune necklace. Does he know something? How is she going to tell him what she is, especially after she learns from her uncle that her mother had become possessed while doing an exorcism and now may be a portal to the underworld?

When Life Gives You Demons is not horror, though it could have been. There are creepy demons.

The man's face contorts, and he's spitting and foaming at the mouth. And then–oh Lord–the head starts to revolve on his neck, bones cracking and popping, until it twists all the way around and his face is on the wrong side of his body.
      I wince. I really hate it when they do that. (pg. 160)

But Jennifer Honeybourn gives Shelby a humourous sarcasm about her unconventional vocation, seemingly unimpressed by the possessed she encounters. I suppose it could get a little weird seeing demons but, to Shelby, it's more annoyance, especially when she's on a first date with Spencer.

Unfortunately, my plan to ignore the demon across from me is about to backfire, because he seems to have come out of his trance.  His face has turned a dark shade of red, and he's beginning to snort. Also, his butt is hovering a few inches off the seat, so that's just great; now he's levitating. (pg. 158)

I am not a horror fan and suspected that Jennifer Honeybourn's story might be a bit too much for me but I was wrong.  It's the right mix of teen angst–though perhaps a little different than that for most teens–with Shelby crushing on Spencer while trying to find and save her mother.  There's suspense, a little romance, some family conflict, and those demons, making When Life Gives You Demons a great YA rom-com for readers who like a little paranormal with their flirtations.