The A-Word

April 15, 2014
Sassy, smart-mouthed, cowboy-boot fan Jenna Samuels is back once again, fighting evildoers with the aid of her angelic cohorts. Following on the heels (or maybe wings) of The Sweet Dead Life (2013), Jenna, now 15, is hoping for a little calm in her life--but wherever Jenna goes, trouble seems to follow. Her newly deceased-cum-angel brother, Casey, and his equally angelic mentor, Amber Velasco, are still earthbound. Jenna decides to try to help figure out exactly what caused Amber's untimely demise; could that be what's keeping her and Casey from moving along? Together with a roguish angel named Bo Shivers, they soon find themselves embroiled in yet another nefarious plot, related by Jenna with her signature angst in journal entries. While this sequel has many of the elements that made its predecessor so much fun, the mystery feels contrived, and it unravels at a glacial pace. The big reveal--which follows a surfeit of vague, portentous remarks--is too similar to the last installment's to satisfy. Those who enjoyed the previous paranormal-without-romance aspect, be warned: Jenna now finds love, and while her new beau is quite the character, much of her narrative revolves dizzyingly around her romance. This series seems to be in a bit of a sophomore slump; here's hoping subsequent volumes will again take flight. (Paranormal fiction. 13-16)

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April 1, 2014

Gr 8 Up-Texas freshman Jenna Samuels has a lot going on. She's turning 15, her parents have split up, she's looking forward to her learner's permit and her first boyfriend, and a nefarious chemical company is inexplicably bent on testing mind control drugs on everyone in town. And, her brother Casey's been dead for a year but is still in residence as her guardian angel, making breakfast tacos and yearning for his old girlfriend. Jenna spends a lot of time hanging out with him and his angel bosses, a tough but distraught EMT/bartender named Amber, and a mysterious old coot with a storied past named Bo Shivers. Things are not quite right in their town and a mysterious "something" is coming. Between the Angel Management and the looming menace of Texicon, Jenna and her team have their hands and retracted wings full. In this follow-up to The Sweet Dead Life(Soho Teen 2013), Preble keeps the tone light, snarky, and heartfelt. The plot development is exposition-heavy, but it rolls along cheerfully through Halloween pranks, high school football, investigative reporting, angel-powered action, and a very realistic amount of aimless driving around. The relationship between the surprisingly self-possessed Jenna and the suave but frustrated Casey, especially their frank affection and determination to stick up for each other, gives this story some real heart. Casey's struggles with being dead are touching, and details such as Jenna's pleasure that her cupcake-baking boyfriend-to-be spells out all the words in his texts, provide the characters with likable individuality. Some of the plot twists and pop culture notes are jarring (there's an unforgivable "badonkadonk") and the supernatural rules are unclear and poorly thought out, but the book succeeds on its own goofy terms.-Katya Schapiro, Brooklyn Public Library

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