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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
AMAZING, August 19, 2010
This review is from: The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May, & June (Hardcover)
April, May and June were three normal sisters, at least they thought they were until their parents divorce. Now they seem to have recovered special powers from when they were youngsters. April can now see the future, May can make herself invisible and June can read everyone's thoughts. These special powers have April and May freaked out, but June thinks she can use her powers to her advantage to gain friendships at a new school. When April starts seeing trouble in the form of red flashing lights and her sister's face she knows something needs to happen so she can save her sister. April's vision aren't always that clear though and she may need her sisters' help more than she could imagine.
I don't even know where do begin to describe how awesome this book is. I loved the three sisters and how different they were but what a great relationship they had. The dynamic between the sisters was just amazing, you could taste the sibling tension in the air. They fought, they loved and most importantly they (more or less) stuck together in all their glorious weird-ness. The fact that they had special powers was a nice twist to this otherwise "realistic fiction" novel. This book talked about a lot of things that kids have to go through; divorce, changing schools, having parents move really far away, and puberty-like superpowers. Robin Benway manages to make these teen girls very easy to relate to despite the fact that most of us do not have incredible mind powers. The girls still had to cope with ordinary things like school work and boys, parties and making friends. I loved how this story was told in alternating viewpoints from the three sisters and how they told it like they were telling you about it not writing it down. Near the end the alternating got a little less personal than in the beginning. When they first start switching who tells the story they say things like "April always makes the whole thing sound so dramatic in the beginning." which gives you the feeling that you are all hanging out and they are telling you about "this one time when we first moved here." This was just a really excellent book and I will certainly be buying a hardcover soon(it's very attractive). Each time the viewpoint switches, the page begins with the sister's name and a quote they will say in the up-coming part. I really enjoyed this and the quotes often led me to read the next chapter just to see it in context. The only thing I wish there was more of would be the girls' childhood. I feel like we got a quick glimpse at it and then abandoned it. I mean I don't feel like we missed out on anything, I just think it would be nice. If you weren't excited about this book, get excited because it's definitely not one to be missed. This book certainly goes in my top 5 of the year, it was just fantastic from start to finish. The alternating viewpoints kept the story fresh and exciting, the romantic tension made you uncomfortable and your head fuzzy, and the superpowers made you wish you could come down with a case of them. So go buy it now, because I declare this a must read.
First Lines:
"I hate being the oldest. I hate it because I'm the one who has to experience everything first. And even if I haven't my sisters still think I know everything. Which I sort of do, but that's not the point."
Favorite Lines:
"Of course his name was Chad. Of course it was. Nothing sounds douchier than Chad."
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Witty, Articulate Fun, October 4, 2010
This review is from: The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May, & June (Hardcover)
Is there anything more disconcerting for a teenaged girl than enduring her parents' divorce only to move out of her childhood home, away from her friends, and have to learn her way around a new house, a new town, and a new school? April, May, and June Stephenson would say "yes." If typical adolescent angst weren't enough, each of these sisters has a new psychic ability she must learn to control while maintaining the appearance of a normal life. Talk about pressure!
April is the studious, responsible, and family-oriented oldest sister who can see the future. It's perfect for helping keep her sisters out of trouble. May, the middle sister, is the angst-ridden teen who feels overlooked in her family and life in general. It's no surprise when her gift turns out to be the ability to turn invisible in more than a metaphoric sense. June is determined to be everything her sisters are not - fashionable, popular, and "cool." The power to read the minds of those around her is June's dream come true. Now she will know exactly what people think about her style and adjust as needed to fit in with the kids who rule the school.
Robin Benway's The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May & June is clever and fun, packed with laugh-out-loud funny moments. Each chapter is from the perspective of a different sister and Benway has succeeded in giving each girl a distinct voice. The major drawback of the book is that the characters are too typical. Throughout the book, I kept wanting to slap the vapid, superficial June and tell her to grow up and get over herself. Likewise, May makes the gloomiest emo kid seem bright and shiny as a new iPod full of Justin Bieber tunes, and April is so invested in the role of mother hen I felt like she was going to lay an egg any minute.
Despite the occasional flatness of the main characters, I enjoyed The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May & June enough to forget I was reading a Young Adult novel. The only other criticism I had was the use of adult language. Extraordinary Secrets is billed as suitable for readers age 12 and up but, as a mother, I'm not sure I want my kids reading so much swearing. Maybe I'm old-fashioned to think young teens are exposed to enough cursing at school and on the street; they don't need to be innundated with it in media too. This book seems better suited to readers 15 and up.
Robin Benway attempts to set The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May & June within the ranks of (and poke a bit of fun at) paranormal young adult genre powerhouses by having her characters draw comparisons between themselves and predecessors such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Harry Potter. While I don't foresee Benway's book rising to the juggernaut status of Joss Whedon's or J. K. Rowling's creations, Extraordinary Secrets is still a worthy read.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Calendar Girls, January 2, 2012
This review is from: The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May, & June (Hardcover)
Who better to share your secrets with than your sisters? May was born 13 months after her older sister, April. Baby sister June came along 13 months later. Though they sometimes got on each other's nerves - such is the life of close-knit close-born siblings - they always got along. So did their parents. Fast forward fourteen years, where the story begins. The girls' parents are separated, and as their father readies to move to Houston, all three girls move from Orange County, California to the Valley with their mother. The night before their first day of school, bubbly June is excited about being a freshman; the unmoved middle child May tunes into her iPod to tune out her inquisitive little sister; and eldest girl April wants to throttle her sisters when they bug her and misses them when they leave her room. A few weeks later, something extraordinary happens, something both frightening and delightful: the girls suddenly develop unnatural abilities...or perhaps they are natural - natural to them - as June is convinced this is a reawakening of skills they had as young children. Each girl has a power which suits her, for better or worse, and which she uses, for better or worse, to varying degrees of success and distress. Curious June can read people's minds, and while she uses this insight to get chummy with the popular crowd, she realizes that people aren't always as nice as they seem. May becomes invisible, but not always at will much less fully from head to toe. April sees things that haven't happened yet, and her visions include some horrible things that are horribly unclear. Having such abilities can be frustrating. Confusing. Awkward. Illuminating. Uncomfortable. Amazing. Earth-shattering. Just like a test can be frustrating. Just like being a teenager can be confusing. Just like having your first crush can be awkward. The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May & June by Robin Benway will appeal to those who like their superpowered-stories served up alongside a healthy dose of real life -- perhaps like the first season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer minus the monsters. AM&J's powers are tied to their emotions and their minds; their actions, strengths, and defenses have nothing to do with weapons (or capes, though June might wear one if it was trendy and matched her outfit). As much as I like a good story about superheroes and villains, I tend to prefer stories in which characters hold powers which reflect themselves, and the monsters they have to defeat are internal. Stories such as this. This is a story of sisters. They challenge each other, they bicker, they call each other out, they keep secrets, they share truths, and they stick together. As the girls attempt to gain control over their abilities, they grow as individuals, and they grow closer. Robin Benway's Extraordinary second novel is just as good as her 2008 debut, Audrey, Wait! While the plots are quite different - Audrey, Wait! had music and public fame where April, May & June has powers - both books are great. Great dialogue, great interaction between characters, great pacing, nice reveals. Towards the end of April, May & June, the sisters have an incredible fight which is a wonderful example of Benway's realistic writing. That scene with the girls' verbal disagreement is just as loud and as tense and as frank as it needs to be, and novelists and screenwriters would be wise to take note of it.
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