Review: Putting Makeup on Dead People

Details:
Title: Putting Makeup on Dead People
Author: Jen Violi
Publisher: Disney/Hyperion
Pub Date: May 2011
Genre: Contemporary Fiction

In the spring of her senior year, Donna Parisi finds new life in an unexpected place: a coffin.
Since her father’s death four years ago, Donna has gone through the motions of living: her friendships are empty, she’s clueless about what to do after high school graduation, and her grief keeps her isolated, cut off even from the one parent she has left. That is until she’s standing in front of the dead body of a classmate at Brighton Brothers’ Funeral Home. At that moment, Donna realizes what might just give her life purpose is comforting others in death. That maybe who she really wants to be is a mortician.
This discovery sets in motion a life Donna never imagined was possible. She befriends a charismatic new student, Liz, notices a boy, Charlie, and realizes that maybe he's been noticing her, too, and finds herself trying things she hadn’t dreamed of trying before. By taking risks, Donna comes into her own, diving into her mortuary studies with a passion and skill she didn’t know she had in her. And she finally understands that moving forward doesn’t mean forgetting someone you love.
Jen Violi’s heartfelt and funny debut novel is a story of transformation—how one girl learns to grieve and say goodbye, turn loss into a gift, and let herself be exceptional...at loving, applying lipstick to corpses, and finding life in the wake of death. -- Goodreads

My Thoughts:
The cover and title of this book really drew me in; I needed to know what it was all about. I was really hoping that the book would be awesome, but I hadn't heard much about it so I didn't have super high expectations. Putting Makeup on Dead People was amazing; I devoured it in two days.

I really connected with Donna. She's having a really hard time getting over her father's death and has basically stopped living her own life. Although I haven't experienced the death of parent, I still felt connected to her because her struggle is more with moving on after tragedy and being who you really want to be. She deals directly with her father's death, but that's not the only thing going on. She has to figure out what she wants to do after high school, how to deal with mother, and navigate through the world of dating. Donna is really lost at the beginning of the novel and slowly figures out how to move on and be who she was meant to be. This isn't an easy task and I felt the Violi created a very realistic coming-of-age story. Not everything works out perfectly for Donna and she has to make some difficult decisions, just like we all have to in our lives.

Beyond really connecting with Donna, I really liked her relationship with the Brighton Brothers who run the funeral home. They were wise, helpful mentors who steered Donna in the correct direction, but gave her freedom to figure things out in her own way. They were exactly what I'd want in a mentor.

The whole Parisi family dynamic also felt realistic to me. Donna struggles to create a meaningful relationship with her mother, feels alienated from her siblings, and fights against old family dynamics and discord. her family wasn't all good or all bad (or just missing like in many YA novels); they're a bit of both and just trying to live their lives and help Donna return to living her's.

The whole story is really wonderful, but the characters are what really made the story so good. 

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Giveaway: Unrequired Summer Reading

As promised in my IMM, I'm giving away a deck of cards and a book as part of Disney's Unrequired Summer Reading Promotion. The deck of cards is a completely usable deck with cover images of the books featured in the promotion: Girl Wonder, Mercy, Putting Makeup on Dead People, Queen of the Dead, From Bad to Cursed, Uncommon Criminals, Sharks & Boys, and The Near Witch. I really loved Putting Makeup on Dead People by Jen Violi so I am giving away a finished copy.

I'm not into complicated contests or extra entries, so this will be simple just follow the rules below, fill out the form, and ta-da you are entered. You don't have to be a follower, but it would be nice if you'd shared the contest on Twitter, Facebook, or whatever social network thingy you do (not required, but it be nice, thanks).

The rules:

• Entrants must be 13 years of age or older 
• The book and cards will be sent out by me at the end of the giveaway, so I need your address (don't worry I will delete all information as soon as the contest is over and not share it with anyone)
• The winner will be notified via email
• I am not responsible for items lost in the mail
• US residents only please (sorry international readers)

The contest ends July 11.

Review: Uncommon Criminals

Details:
Title: Uncommon Criminals  (Heist Society #2)
Author: Ally Carter
Publisher: Disney/Hyperion
Pub Date: June 2011
Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Crime

Katarina Bishop has worn a lot of labels in her short life: Friend. Niece. Daughter. Thief. But for the last two months she’s simply been known as the girl who ran the crew that robbed the greatest museum in the world. That’s why Kat isn’t surprised when she’s asked to steal the infamous Cleopatra Emerald so it can be returned to its rightful owners.
There are only three problems. First, the gem hasn’t been seen in public in thirty years. Second, since the fall of the Egyptian empire and the suicide of Cleopatra, no one who holds the emerald keeps it for long — and in Kat’s world, history almost always repeats itself. But it’s the third problem that makes Kat’s crew the most nervous, and that is . . . the emerald is cursed.
Kat might be in way over her head, but she’s not going down without a fight. After all, she has her best friend — the gorgeous Hale — and the rest of her crew with her as they chase the Cleopatra around the globe, dodging curses and realizing that the same tricks and cons her family has used for centuries are useless this time.
Which means, this time, Katarina Bishop is making up her own rules. -- Goodreads

My Thoughts:
I assumed (wrongfully) that this sequel to Heist Society would be similar to the first, in that Kat and her teenage gang of thieves would be stealing the emerald and having a few issues along the way -- basically the same general plot line of the first book just with a different item. But Uncommon Criminals was completely different, and I think I liked it better than Heist Society.

Just as with the first book, I loved Kat and her friends, especially Hale and Nick. Their characters all continued to grow and be interesting. I especially enjoyed the Kat and Hale love interest angle (which is introduced in the first book, but is nicely expanded upon in the second book). Their possibly budding relationship felt very true to life to me; Kat is struggling to figure out who she is and what she wants and Hale is simply complicating that. She really struggles to figure out what she wants and if what she wants is Hale.

Beyond characters, I loved the plot twists. The whole book is full of little twists and changes, which really kept it exciting and different from the first installment. I loved that it wasn't just a heist story -- Kat does steal things and her gang comes up with crazy plots and schemes to get the emerald, but the core of the story is about Kat struggling with being a thief and what that means to her.

Don't know when the next installment will be released, but I'm looking forward to more adventures with Kat and her gang.

Rating:

Review: Heist Society

Details:
Title: Heist Society (Heist Society #1)
Author: Ally Carter
Publisher: Disney/Hyperion
Pub Date: February 2010
Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Crime

When Katarina Bishop was three, her parents took her to the Louvre...to case it. For her seventh birthday, Katarina and her Uncle Eddie traveled to Austria...to steal the crown jewels. When Kat turned fifteen, she planned a con of her own—scamming her way into the best boarding school in the country, determined to leave the family business behind. Unfortunately, leaving "the life" for a normal life proves harder than she'd expected. Soon, Kat's friend and former co-conspirator, Hale, appears out of nowhere to bring her back into the world she tried so hard to escape. But he has good reason: a powerful mobster's art collection has been stolen, and he wants it returned. Only a master thief could have pulled this job, and Kat’s father isn’t just on the suspect list, he is the list. Caught between Interpol and a far more deadly enemy, Kat’s dad needs her help.
For Kat there is only one solution: track down the paintings and steal them back. So what if it’s a spectacularly impossible job? She’s got two weeks, a teenage crew, and hopefully just enough talent to pull off the biggest heist in her family’s (very crooked) history—and, with any luck, steal her life back along the way. -- Goodreads

My Thoughts:
Ally Carter's books have been on my to-read list for a while, but I just hadn't gotten around to reading them for whatever reason, but I should've read them sooner. Heist Society was a fun, exciting light crime novel.

I really like Kat and her whole family of criminals; everyone's a thief, but you can still relate to them and picture them as regular people who just happen to steal precious art. The whole crime family dynamic was great -- it was fun high risk, not Godfather killing people scary high risk. Although Kat's father is in danger and she's dealing with an evil criminal, the book stay's light and fun (which was perfect for me). I generally don't read crime novels or watch thrillers because they're too much for me. I like my crime light and fun like Heist Society. Not to say that Heist Society didn't have edge-of-your-seat-page-turner moments, because it did and you worry about Kat being able to really pull off the heist.

The plot itself was a bit different from what I was expecting. I assumed the book would be about a girl who's part of an art-stealing-family who has to steal a few paintings to help her father, but there's a whole lot more than that going on. Kat and her teenage friends and family members are the ones trying to figure out how to get her father out of trouble. And Kat herself is struggling with her criminal past and trying to figure out if she even wants to be a part of the family.

Although the book has nothing to do with summer, it was the perfect summer reading opener for me. Exciting, light, and full of art (I studied art in undergrad). And lucky for me I had Uncommon Criminals sitting on my bookshelf, so I could jump right into Kat's next adventure.

Rating: