Becky's View: Because It Is My Blood by Gabrielle Zevin

Because It Is My Blood by Gabrielle Zevin
♦publisher: Farrar, Strauss, & Giroux
♦released: September 30th, 2012
♦hardcover, 350 pages
♦intended audience: Young adult
♦series: Birthright, book 2
  review of All These Things I've Done (book 1)
♦source: from publisher for honest review

“Every time I think I’m out, they pull me back in.”- Michael Corleone, The Godfather 

Since her release from Liberty Children's Facility, Anya Balanchine is determined to follow the straight and narrow. Unfortunately, her criminal record is making it hard for her to do that. No high school wants her with a gun possession charge on her rap sheet. Plus, all the people in her life have moved on: Natty has skipped two grades at Holy Trinity, Scarlet and Gable seem closer than ever, and even Win is in a new relationship.But when old friends return demanding that certain debts be paid, Anya is thrown right back into the criminal world that she had been determined to escape. It’s a journey that will take her across the ocean and straight into the heart of the birthplace of chocolate where her resolve--and her heart--will be tested as never before.

Review: That quote from The Godfather above almost perfectly sums up this book.  Because It Is My Blood is a fantastic follow up to All These Things I've Done and there were some especially great parts that made me wonder if I didn't like this one just a tiny bit more!

Once again, Anya is relaying her story as she is released from Liberty and tries to get her life back on track.  I love her POV, such a great mix of sensibility, frustration, wit, and the mafia-mentality that has shaped her life.  I did think it was a bit awkward when Anya addressed the reader directly---I think because it's a story that's being told 70 years in the future,  it somehow seemed off and disrupted the flow for me.  But that is literally my one and only complaint.  Once again, for a story that is just about a girl trying to get her life back to normal, the pace of this story just flies.  You really can't help but feel for her, in her fight against crooked politicians doing what ever they please with her to further themselves (one of which is her boyfriend's father) to her family of even more crooked gangsters vying for their chance to either take over the Balanchine empire...or take it down. As the story goes along, the people around her drop one by one from the already short list of people she can trust. 

One of my favorite parts about this story was Anya's time spent learning the cacao business in Mexico.  I loved the peek inside this exotic culture and seeing how a cacao farm was run, but I loved even more the introduction of Theo and his family.   Though these characters had a fairly quick spotlight in the story, they really made an impression---on me and definitely on Anya by giving her a glimpse of such a strong loving family. Theo and Anya had such fun chemistry and while they remained friends, I think their connection was so much more irresistible to read about than Anya and Win's, and while I'd hate to see it turn into a full-on love triangle, I do hope we get more of Theo in book 3!

There are some great emotional surprises (one in particular that brought me to tears!), some really interesting twists and discoveries and moral dilemmas as we head into the final chapter of this series.  Actually, I loved the fact that, while I knew a third book was planned, I finished Because It Is My Blood with enough satisfaction and knowledge of where each character was headed that it almost could have ended right there and I would have been completely happy.  Still, I've grown so attached to these characters that I can't wait to see what happens and what new surprises pop up in book 3.

Find Gabrielle Zevin online:  Website  •  Twitter  

Purchase Because It Is My Blood:  Amazon  •  BN.com  •  BookDepository  •  Indiebound

Waiting on Wednesday

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. It lets us all gush about what soon-to-be released books we are jumping-up-and-down excited for.

Because It Is My Blood
by Gabrielle Zevin

hitting shelves September 18, 2012 from Farrar, Straus, & Giroux

(cover shown may not be final)

description:
Since her release from Liberty Children's Facility, Anya Balanchine is determined to follow the straight and narrow. Unfortunately, her criminal record is making it hard for her to do that. No high school wants her with a gun possession charge on her rap sheet. Plus, all the people in her life have moved on: Natty has skipped two grades at Holy Trinity, Scarlet and Gable seem closer than ever, and even Win is in a new relationship.But when old friends return demanding that certain debts be paid, Anya is thrown right back into the criminal world that she had been determined to escape. It’s a journey that will take her across the ocean and straight into the heart of the birthplace of chocolate where her resolve--and her heart--will be tested as never before.


My thoughts: I know it had some pretty mixed reviews, but I personally loved All These Things I've Done (here's my review). Zevin has such a unique writing style. And as much as I loved the simple chocolate heart on the original cover, this new stylish design is pretty cool. Here's the matching paperback copy of All These Things. Definitely eager to see where this series goes!

Review: All These Things I've Done by Gabrielle Zevin

All These Things I've Done by Gabrielle Zevin

publisher: Farrar, Straus & Giroux

release date: September 6th, 2011

hardcover, 354 pages

intended audience: Young adult

rating:




source: from publisher for honest review

description:
In 2083, chocolate and coffee are illegal, paper is hard to find, water is carefully rationed, and New York City is rife with crime and poverty. And yet, for Anya Balanchine, the sixteen-year-old daughter of the city's most notorious (and dead) crime boss, life is fairly routine. It consists of going to school, taking care of her siblings and her dying grandmother, trying to avoid falling in love with the new assistant D.A.'s son, and avoiding her loser ex-boyfriend. That is until her ex is accidently poisoned by the chocolate her family manufactures and the police think she's to blame. Suddenly, Anya finds herself thrust unwillingly into the spotlight--at school, in the news, and most importantly, within her mafia family.

Review: I think the synopsis of this one will really hit a chord with a lot of people. I mean, really...who out there can imagine their day without the morning cup of coffee or tea. Or even more horrid, who can imagine a day when that little nip of daily chocolate (writing this as I crunch, crunch on my frozen thin mint cookies!) is grounds for arrest?? But the outlawing of these little luxuries that we all take for granted daily is not what this story is really about. This story is about Anya. I absolutely loved this character. She was so genuine, not perfectly brave or perfectly admirable by any means---but just authentic; sometimes flawed but doing her best by the people she cared about. As the oldest daughter of the former crime boss of chocolate, the girl had a lot to deal with, that is for sure. A crazy ex-boyfriend that unwittingly becomes the victim of mysterious chocolate poisoning, a lovely new boy whose father is the new assitant DA that can think of nothing else but how her name will look next to his in the papers, a grandmother who is on her deathbed, and a brother and sister, whom she fiercely cares for and does what she can to protect. Oh, and a gaggle of relatives that are still in the "business" and trying to rope her older (but younger minded) brother in. For one teenage girl, I'd say that's quite a handful. In spite of that, I think making the story about a girl trying to live down an ugly reputation, protect her family, and juggle in mundane things like school, boys, and vying for a spot at an exclusive summer camp, made her all the more easy to relate to, despite her unusual situations.

I love how with just the banning of two little things like chocolate and caffeine, Zevin created a world that had almost a throw-back feel to prohibition and the 20's. The chocolate manufacturers have become the new gangsters and mafia families, there are hot little speakeasies where chocolate and coffee are served up in secret, and grandma's got a hidden safe full of chocolate bars and loaded guns. The whole concept made for such an entertaining read. It was also interesting to read a dystopia where things aren't so far in the future that our own recognizable world has been erased. Anya's best friend's grandma still remembers using the term "omg", though no one can remember what it means. We even get a surprising little glimpse at Lady Liberty. I'm not really sure I would call it world-building...after all, it's only 70 years into the future. It's more a speculation on how little tweeks in our society might change the way our world works.

This was a really great book. Read, enjoy...but keep a little chocolate close by! :)

Visit Gabrielle Zevin's site here.

Purchase All These Things I've Done at: Amazon • BN.com • BookDepository • Indiebound

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