The Hijab Boutique by Michelle Khan

Farah has been assigned a project about her mother for International Woman's Day.  The problem is that Farah thinks her mother is boring, much more so than the other moms of her classmates.  As Farah struggles to find something to bring to class, she learns more about her mother.

Well, this was a cute book.   The language was very simple and it read like a 10 year old wrote it.  In fact it brought memories back of my 5th grade journal.  It was funny that Farah thought her mom was so boring and couldn't think of anything interesting about her.  Very typical.  But the lessons is really that it's hard to know who your mother is outside of your relationship.  And Farah really knew very little about her mother.  So I enjoyed Farah's discoveries of her mother's past.  And I liked the explanation of why her mother choose to wear the hijab and all the different styles of hijab.  It made the story different than my usual reading fare.

Won from LibraryThing

Matched (Matched #1) by Ally Condie

Cassia lives in the Society where everything is perfectly controlled from leisure time to food to who people marry and how many kids they have.  Cassia is excited to finally be Matched but when the screen flashes a face different than the boy she is Matched to, Cassia begins to wonder about the choices people in the Society don't have. 

I was kind of  hoping to be blown away.  I've heard such good things and I waited so long to read it.  And while I liked it a lot, in the end, it felt like a cross between The Giver and the Uglies series.  The writing was good and it flowed smoothly for me.  It was a quick read despite being a little lengthy.  I didn't really connect with the characters much and I never really felt a connection between Cassia and Xander.  I know that they are best friends for years, etc. but she really spends so little time with him and when she does, all she can think about is Ky.  So I didn't get a sense of her love for Xander at all.  Condie did a nice job setting up the love story for Ky and Cassia, but I feel like she neglected the relationship between Xander and Cassia for it.  Thus the love triangle didn't really work for me. 

Conceptually it is definitely part of the new YA trend for dystopians.  Society controls every aspect of the lives of its citizens who are, in turn, willing to be controlled in order to maintain a safe life.  There were a few aspects that stood out to me, like the pills that everyone carries around and the artifacts they are allowed to have from the before times (or whatever they call them). And I will probably read the next in the series (due out in November) because I am curious by the events at the end of the book.  

Won from Library Thing

Alphabet Challenge
Take a Chance
350 Page
Off the Shelf

Imaginary Girls by Nova Ren Suma

From Goodreads:
Chloe's older sister, Ruby, is the girl everyone looks to and longs for, who can't be captured or caged. When a night with Ruby's friends goes horribly wrong and Chloe discovers the dead body of her classmate London Hayes left floating in the reservoir, Chloe is sent away from town and away from Ruby.

But Ruby will do anything to get her sister back, and when Chloe returns to town two years later, deadly surprises await. As Chloe flirts with the truth that Ruby has hidden deeply away, the fragile line between life and death is redrawn by the complex bonds of sisterhood.

I'm pretty excited about this book.  It was different from a lot of the books that are out there right now.  Going in, I wasn't sure about it and I put it on hold right after starting it to finish the Betsy-Tacy series.  Picking it up, I was resigned to another "sisters' book.  And there is a lot of that in this book.  There is a whole lot more though. Ruby and Chloe are all each other has with Ruby acting as the mother figure to Chloe.  When Chloe comes back from her father's and begins living with Ruby again, they try to take up where they left off.  But Ruby's determination to get Chloe back results in her making a deal to return everything back the way it was, exactly and that leads down a strange and mysterious road, one I was happy to journey down.  The way the story unfolded and the mystery in the town was ah-mazing. 

I don't want to give too much away so that makes this harder to review.  Needless to say that I simultaneously wish I knew more and am happy with what I know.  There is a very large element to the story that is something that always intrigues me* and I was happy to see it explored in the story.  Excellently and beautifully written, I have to say that Imaginary Girls is in my top 5 of summer books.

* SPOILERS (highlight) ** I am always intrigued by god-like characters who control small towns.  I know that might be weird.  So, much like the Mayor in Bleeding Violet (Reeves), Ruby hit the right button to interested me.  What is she?  I know what her mother said about her and how the town people feel about her.  They seem afraid and disgusted by her, being made to love her and do what she says.  I love the idea of her and her need to keep the town the same as something both for amusement and her security.  I love that Chloe is really not afraid of her and is barely disturbed by her sister's abilities.  It was interesting that Ruby needed Chloe to adore her and wanted Chloe to really love only her.  There were a lot of elements that really worked including the town of Olive.  I'm still a bit confused on that point but, in the end, I was just like Chloe, waiting for Ruby to resurface.  **

From LibraryThing
What's in a Name