CBR4 Book 91: "Dreaming of Amelia" by Jaclyn Moriarty

Page count: 592 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Date begun: October 4th, 2012
Date finished: October 11th, 2012

This is the fourth (and as far, as I know, final) Ashbury/Brookfield novel. It can be read completely independently of the others, but as many of the characters in this book were introduced in previous books in the series, it may be more enjoyable if you've read at least Finding Cassie Crazy and/or Becoming Bindy Mackenzie, where several of the characters in this book were first introduced.

Like all the previous novels in this series, the book is entirely epistolary, telling the story of the graduating year of high school at the posh Ashbury high. Two new scholarship students have been accepted to the school, Riley and Amelia, and no one seems to know who they are or where they come from, only that they are a couple, and enigmatic and glamorous doesn't begin to describe them.

Told through the exam essay accounts of Riley, the girls Emily and Lydia (both introduced in Finding Cassie Crazy), their friend Toby (introduced in Becoming Bindy Mackenzie), various meeting transcripts from the scholarship committee, and the occasional blog entry, we are given the story of how Riley and Amelia arrived at Ashbury, how they at first seemed completely unwilling to engage in anything, but slowly revealed themselves to be brilliant at swimming, various academic subjects, drama and music.

As always, Moriarty captures the voices of the various teenagers brilliantly, as well as those of the adults in the books. I'm truly sorry that this is the last of the books, as I'd grown so very fond of these characters, and would've loved to read more about them, and Riley and Amelia, who I only got to spend time with in this book.

Though the cover of the book is bright and pastel-coloured, don't let it fool you. This is also a Gothic novel, complete with hidden rooms, dark and mysterious pasts, drama, jealousy, deception and manipulation, unhappy love affairs, self-serving plots, and of course, ghosts. The American title of this book is The Ghosts of Ashbury High, and the students writing exam papers all have to write with reference to the Gothic fiction they have read during the term.

As Emily begins her paper: "Lighting struck! There was a howling of wind, as if wolves roamed about, howlingly. Thunder crashed! Lightning struck again. 

It was the first day of year 12. I had set out that morning with trepidation. I did not, in all honesty, see a crow, a raven, or any other black bird on the way to school that day. And yet! I was trepidatious."

It therefore fits perfectly into the R.I.P VII challenge, and is probably my favourite of all the books I've read for the challenge so far. Highly recommended to everyone.

CBR4 Book 67: "Becoming Bindy Mackenzie" by Jaclyn Moriarty

Page count: 496 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Date begun: June 20th, 2012
Date finished: June 21st, 2012

Because it's been nearly three months since I read the book, I'm going to include the book blurb from the author's own website:

The Motive
Bindy Mackenzie is the most perfect girl at Ashbury High. She scores in the 99.99th percentile in all her classes. She holds lunchtime advisory sessions for her fellow students. She keeps careful transcripts of everything said around her. And she has been Kmart casual Employee of the Month for seventeen months straight. No wonder somebody wants to kill her.

The Suspects
Bindy is horrified to learn that she must take part in the Friendship and Development project - a new class meant to provide a "life raft" through "the tricky seas of adolescence". Bindy can't see how airheaded Emily Thompson, absentminded Elizabeth Clarry, mouthy Toby Mazzerati, malicious Astrid Bexonville, silent Briony Atkins, narcissistic Sergio Saba and handsome, enigmatic Finnegan Blonde could ever possibly help her. (Well, maybe Finnegan could).

The Crime
But then Bindy's perfect life begins to fall apart. She develops an obsession with the word "Cincinatti". She can't stop feeling sleepy. She fails an exam for the first time ever. And - worst of all - she just doesn't care. What could be the cause of all these events? Is it conspiracy? Is it madness? Is it...murder?

The Truth
Lots of people hate Bindy Mackenzie - but who would actually kill her? The answer is in Bindy's transcripts. The detectives are the members of her FAD group. But Bindy has made every one of them into an enemy...and time is running out. 

Another great book in the Ashbury/Brookfield series, written entirely in diary entries, notes, e-mails and quite a lot of Bindy's insanely detailed transcripts. This may have been the hardest of the books for me to get into, because Bindy really is a rather unlikable girl, even though she is completely oblivious to the fact. However, Moriarty is a gifted storyteller, and soon, I couldn't help but feel sorry for Bindy and got caught up in the mystery at the centre of the novel. Is someone actually trying to kill Bindy? Or has the pressure of being the cleverest girl in school finally got to her, and she's losing her mind as a result?

Moriarty has done a brilliant job of continuing her epistolary style, while creating an engaging suspense/mystery novel for teenagers. Yet again she brilliantly depicts teenage life, and I'm so glad I discovered these books. I still have one more to go in the series, and I'm saving it until the days get long and dark, so I have something to comfort myself with.

CBR4 Book 56: "Finding Cassie Crazy" by Jaclyn Moriarty

Page count: 384 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Date begun: May 17th, 2012
Date finished: May 18th, 2012

Cassie, Em and Lydia are best friends and go to Ashbury High. Because their English teacher is all about forging friendships across school boundaries and The Joy of the Envelope, he makes his class write letters to pupils at the nearby Brookfield high school. While and Lydia appear quite lucky with their pen pals, and strike up tentative friendships and even flirt through their letters. Em tries to help the boy she's writing impress a girl he likes, and as their letters progress, she even offers to take him on practise dates. Lydia and her pen pal give each other secret missions and challenge each other to perform dangerous and even borderline illegal feats of daring.

Cassie, whose father died the year before, and who is still grieving, is less lucky with her pen pal. What starts out as abusive messages and threats that she refuses to respond to with anything but sunny cheer, take a turn for the dark and sinister when the boy she's writing to seemingly warms to her, and suggests they meet. When Em and Lydia finally find out what Cassie has been hiding from them, they are furious, and soon the two schools are in all out war against each other.

Just as Feeling Sorry for Celia, Finding Cassie Crazy is an epistolary novel, made up chiefly from the letters between the Ashbury girls and the boys of Brookfield. However, the story also unfolds in diary entries, e-mail, notice board announcements at the two schools, reports and Lydia's creative interpretations of the "lessons" given in the So You Want to be a Writer journal her father gave her for her birthday. 

Jaclyn Moriarty is brilliant at depicting teenagers, and the seemingly mundane realities of their lives. The previous book centred on only girls, whilst in this book, the Seb and Charlie (the two boys who write to Em and Lydia) are just as important, and as fully realized as the female characters. This book's got a larger cast of characters, but you feel deeply for all of them, and the growing unease Moriarty develops through Cassie's diary entries and correspondence makes it even more satisfying when her loyal friends finally discover the truth and utilise everything at their disposal to find out the true identity of the creep who hurt her, and in getting revenge.

While I didn't adore this book as much as Feeling Sorry for Celia, possibly because this book didn't quite so much remind me of my own teenage years and writing to a best friend, it was still a book that I had trouble putting down. I'm very glad I have the final two Ashbury/Brookfield novels lined up on my reading list.

CBR4 Book 55: "Feeling sorry for Celia" by Jaclyn Moriarty

Page count: 278 pages
Rating: 5 stars
Date begun: May 16th, 2012
Date finished: May 17th, 2012

Elizabeth Clarry is a pupil at the posh Ashbury Academy, where her new English teacher has decided that the pupils need to be introduced to the fine art of letter writing. Each of the pupils are to write letters to a pupil at the neighbouring Brookfield school, in order to improve relations between the schools (Ashbury students think that the majority of Brookfielders are delinquents and drug-dealers, while Brookfield students think the Ashbury kids are spoiled, vacuous and snooty).

Elizabeth lives with her mother, who is absent a lot, but communicates with her through the medium of hilariously written all-caps notes that she leaves around the house. Elizabeth also seems to receive a large amount of snarky letters from her own subconscious, addressed from the Cold Hard Truth Association, or the Association of Teenagers (who feel that she is a dismal failure, both in her lack of rebelliousness and never having had a boyfriend and it would be easier for everyone if she just climbed into a fridge and died). Elizabeth's parents are divorced, and her father used to live in Canada, but has now moved back to Australia temporarily, and keeps wanting to see her and spend time with her. When Elizabeth isn't worrying about her distinct lack of coolness, her non-existent love life or her missing friend Celia, she tries to keep both parents happy, and she also enjoys long distance running.

Elizabeth's best friend Celia is clearly a rather unusual person, and in her letters to Christina, Elizabeth talks about the many different antics Celia has got up to in the past. This time, she's gone missing, though. Celia's mother seems to think everyone around her is overreacting, and that it's perfectly natural for a teenage girl to want to spread her wings and find herself. After a while, Elizabeth starts receiving post cards from Celia, who's run away with a circus.

Christina comes from a big family, and confides in Elizabeth about her wish for some privacy on occasion, which is difficult when you share a room with your younger sister, and her boyfriend troubles. While Elizabeth has little experience in the romance department, she advises Christina as best she can, and the two strike up a close friendship through their correspondence, encouraging each other, comforting and helping each other, without ever meeting face to face.

As the book progresses, it becomes clear that all is not well with Celia on her circus adventure. Elizabeth, with the the help of a boy she's been running with, goes to rescue Celia, but their friendship isn't the same anymore, for a number of reasons, and Elizabeth really struggles to come to terms with this. When she and Christina finally meet, it's under fairly dramatic circumstances, where several story line threads have come to a head.

This is a really difficult review to write, because when trying to describe the plot of the book, not that much seems to happen, but it's an absolutely delightful novel, made more interesting because of the epistolary device. All the characters are incredibly well fleshed out, even the supporting characters like Elizabeth's parents, or Christina's boyfriend Derek, and the two main characters are both wonderful girls, who you'd be lucky to have as friends in real life. There are also several unexpected twists in the narrative (which while a bit dramatic, nonetheless seem plausible), the first being the reveal that Celia's run off to join a circus.

I absolutely loved this book, probably not helped by the fact that I got to know my best friend Lydia through old timey correspondence (back in the days when we didn't really have regular access to Internet and e-mails), and the entire book made me miss the joy of writing letters. I'm just not very good at writing about books I feel really strongly about (I never seem to get across exactly what's so great about them), but take my word for it, this book is a complete delight, and I will try to get as many people as possible to read it.