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As the only remaining girl in a family of boys (one father, three older brothers, one honorary older brother/neighbor), Charlotte "Charlie" Reynolds really can't help being a tomboy.  Without a mother around (the car accident that killed her still haunts Charlie's nightmares), there's no one to teach her about the frilly things in life.  Not that the 16-year-old wants lessons on how to color coordinate her wardrobe (everything goes with jeans) or correctly apply a bunch of goop on her face (she would sweat it all off on the playing field, anyway).  Charlie would much rather spend her time running, massacring her brothers at mud football, and driving too fast along curvy oceanside roads. 

It's this last bit that changes things for Charlie.  Forced to get a job to pay off her speeding tickets, she begins working at a tony little boutique, which leads her down a path strewn with all the girly things she eschews.  Pleasant side affect to acting like a girl?  The attention of an über attractive boy who thinks of her as a delicate feminine flower, not a trash-talking jock.  Not so pleasant side affect?  Having to hide her new-found girliness from the men in her life (they would so not understand).  Leading a double life is starting to wear on Charlie—between that and the haunting flashbacks of her mother's accident that plague her dreams, she's going a little crazy.  The only thing that helps is her late-night chats with her brothers' buddy, Braden, across the fence that separates their houses.  Problem is, the more time she spends with him, the faster she's falling for him.  Will Braden ever see her as more than a bratty little sister?  And exactly how quick will her brothers pulverize him if he does start coming around?  As life grows ever more complicated, Charlie has to decide what she wants—and how much she's willing to risk to get it.  

Between its summer-y cover art and July release date, you can probably tell that On the Fence, the newest contemporary YA from Kasie West, is an easy, breezy, beach-y kind of book.  The plot never gets too complicated, the themes too dark or the characters too angsty.  With an equal mix of the constant ribbing and intense loyalty that defines the best brother/sister relationships, the Reynolds family feels strong and real.  Their bond lends the whole story a warm, playful overtone that makes it a happy, hopeful novel.  Sure, it's cliché and predictable, but On the Fence is also lots of fun.  As long as you don't expect too much depth, you'll enjoy this light, easy read about not just discovering who you are, but also finding the courage to be that person, in spite of the consequences. 

(Readalikes:  Reminded me of the Dairy Queen novels [Dairy Queen; The Off Season; Front and Center] by Catherine Gilbert Murdock and a little of Playing Hurt by Holly Schindler) 

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Jane Solis is done—done with the mental hospital she's been confined to since she tried to kill herself last year, done with pretending she's cured, done with life.  This time, her suicide will be successful.  Not to mention special.  She'll wait to swallow her toxic mix of pills until she's on the plane headed home to New Jersey, then just fade out while soaring above the clouds.  It's fool-proof.  Perfect.  

Before Jane gets the chance to put her plan into action, however, the plane hits some serious turbulence.  As the aircraft takes a nosedive, everything goes black.  When Jane wakes up, she crawls out of the wreckage into a wilderness covered in snow.  She's horrified to find she's one of only two survivors—the other is a cocky Canadian ski instructor named Paul—and that they're stranded in Montana's remote Bob Marshall Wilderness.  As the weather worsens, it becomes clear that help won't be coming.  Their survival is up to them—and suddenly, unexpectedly, Jane realizes how much she wants to live.  But will her new-found determination be enough to save her, let alone both her and Paul?  As the days wear on, that's looking less and less likely ...

The back cover blurb calls Survive, a debut novel by Alex Morel, "Hatchet for a new generation."  I'd have to agree.  It's a gritty survival story that pits two determined teens against a storm-ravaged wilderness that's ready and willing to claim both their lives.  Exciting and unexpectedly heart-breaking, Survive tells a tense, action-packed tale about a girl who's facing her imminent death even as she's finally learning to live.  Although the story and prose are sparer than I would have liked, I still enjoyed this quick, compelling read.  

(Readalikes:  Reminded me of The Raft by S.A. Bodeen and a little of Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick)

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 To the FTC, with love:  I received an ARC of Survive from the generous folks at Razorbill.  Thank you!

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Ivy Darling enjoys all the trappings of a successful life.  She's been married for three years, works at a job she likes, and thrives on the strength of her tight-knit family (if not her in-laws, who've never quite warmed to her).  There's only one thing she needs to be truly happy:  a child.  Her struggles with infertility have left her feeling raw and vulnerable.  Ivy's ready to move on, ready to grow her family through adoption.  If only her husband would agree.  Determined to have "his own" child or none at all, Nick has become increasingly distant and hostile.  Ivy can't stand the constant tension between them, but she's not willing to give up on her dream of being a mother—even if it means doing it without Nick.

When an African-American family moves into the ramshackle house next door, Ivy's interest is piqued.  The single mother and three children look like no one else in tiny Copper Grove, Maine, which doesn't stop Ivy from trying to welcome them to the neighborhood.  She soon realizes why her friendly overtures are being rebuffed—the kids don't want her to know how often they are left by themselves.  When their mother fails to return from work one day, leaving her children scared and locked out of their home, Ivy can't stop herself from intervening.  Taking the trio into her own home, Ivy pours all the love in her mothering heart into their well-being.  Despite Nick's vehement protests, the situation is looking more and more permanent.  Ivy couldn't be happier with the arrangement, but what will it do to her fracturing marriage?  And how will her heart heal if the children are taken from her?  Does Ivy dare risk it all in the hopes of finally creating the family she's always wanted?

The first in a planned series revolving around the Darling Family, All Right Here by Carre Armstrong Gardner, is a hopeful, inspiring novel.  Although it's classified as Christian fiction, the religious aspects of the story feel natural, not heavy-handed.  The story's focus really is family—the warmth, the conflict, the joy, the jealousy, the love, etc. that exist in every large brood.  It examines some weighty issues, but does so in a way that is both realistic and PG-rated.  While I appreciated all of these elements, there were a few things that bugged me about the story.  The altering viewpoints, for one.  I get that, while All Right Here zeroes in on Ivy's story, it's meant to be an introduction to the whole Darling clan.  Which is all well and good, as long as all the different narrators have distinct voices and problems that are intriguing in their own right, something that doesn't really happen here.  I was most interested in the story's main conflict and found it distracting to head-jump.  As the adoptive mother of a bi-racial child, I identified most with Ivy, although there were definitely aspects of her experience that didn't ring very true.  Still, my biggest problem with All Right Here is that, in general, I found the Darlings—the whole lot of them—underdeveloped and just not rounded enough to really live and breathe inside my head.  Considering all of this, the novel ended up being just an okay read for me.  Disappointing, because I wanted to love this one.  Ah, well.

(Readalikes:  I can't really think of anything.  Can you?)

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