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Summary
Summary
Marnie Wells knows that she creeps people out. It's not really her fault; her brother is always in trouble, and her grandmother, who's been their guardian since Mom took off is...eccentric. So no one even bats an eye when Marnie finds an old tea-leaf-reading book and starts telling fortunes. The ceremony and symbols are weirdly soothing, but she knows and hopes everyone else does too - that none of it's real. Then basketball star Matt Cotrell asks for a reading. He's been getting emails from someone claiming to be his best friend, Andrea Quinley, who disappeared and is presumed dead.
Author Notes
Emily Arsenault worked as a lexicographer at Merriam-Webster for four years after graduating from Mount Holyoke College. She and her husband were US Peace Corps volunteers in South Africa and now live in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts, with their daughter. This is her first young adult novel.
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
In high school junior Marnie Wells's small town, the disappearance and presumed death of star athlete Andrea Quinley is sad but old news. Andrea's onetime best friend, Matt Cotrell, remains haunted by her disappearance, and he turns to Marnie, hoping that her rumored ability to read tea leaves might provide new insight or that she'll be a sympathetic shoulder. (Marnie is all too familiar with concerned glances and alienation after her brother's overdose.) The tea leaves that Marnie reads foretell something sinister, and eerie anonymous emails begin arriving as the two unravel the intricate threads linking Andrea and their peers in increasingly unexpected and potentially dangerous ways. Mystery writer Arsenault makes a solid foray into YA, though the story moves more slowly than some readers might expect. Marnie is a well-developed protagonist whose concern with how others perceive her family is immensely relatable, but the book's secondary characters are less memorable. The incorporation of tea-leaf reading, including the ceremony and symbolism of the art, adds a distinctive element to a mystery that's well worth a read. Ages 14-up. Agent: Laura Langlie, Laura Langlie Agency. (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
Tea-leaf reading was just supposed to be a silly hobby. It was something Marnie got into on a whim when she found an old book, and her main client is boy-crazy Cecilia, who just wants to know about her romantic prospects totally harmless. But then Cecilia's friend Matt asks for a reading. Matt's best friend, Andrea, has been missing for months and is presumed dead, but Matt hasn't given up. Even weirder, he's been getting e-mails from someone claiming to be Andrea. Marnie knows better than to get involved, but she finds herself drawn to Matt, even as her readings start to become suddenly, eerily accurate. Despite her attraction to him, there's something off about Matt, and as Marnie gets more entrenched in his search, she starts to realize the mystery surrounds her own family as well. More eerie than frightening, this is an atmospheric tale laced with hints of magic. Thoughtful, careful Marnie and her hobby-turned-calling will endear themselves to readers looking for a slowly unfolding mystery.--Reagan, Maggie Copyright 2017 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
Smart and zany, "The Go-Between" is the Y.A. book we could all use right now, set in a milieu rarely seen in pop culture: that of privileged Mexicans who don't have to sneak across the border - they have private jets. Camilla del Valle, the 16-year-old daughter of a telenovela star, never gives her ethnicity a second thought until her family relocates from Mexico City to Beverly Hills. At her boho private school, the other kids assume she's poor and on scholarship - which she does nothing to clear up, at first for fun and then because she doesn't know how. The result is plenty of comedy (she pretends to take the bus but secretly calls Ubers) but also cleareyed observations about race, class, identity and assimilation. Chambers (the Amigas series, "Plus"), who has co-authored memoirs by the chefs Eric Ripert and Marcus Samuelsson, even works in a captivating side plot about Cammi's developing passion for cooking, sparked by the school's hip African-American chef. The novel's characters may help readers see the complexities behind labels like "white" and "Latina," in a refreshingly un-preachy way. "Sure, they were a little racist," Camilla says about her Los Angeles friends. "But maybe we all are." THE LEAF READER By Emily Arsenault 230 pp. Soho Teen. $18.99. (Ages 14 and up) An occult thriller about tea-leaf reading may sound campy, but fear not - this first Y.A. novel by Arsenault ("In Search of the Rose Notes") is nothing like the movie "Ouija." Marnie, a high school junior, is self-conscious about her "bag lady" status. Her mother is AWOL, her brother just got out of rehab and her grandmother is a hoarder. When Marnie finds an old book about tasseomancy, she starts playing with fortunetelling. "I'd always liked the idea that your brain - or maybe the universe - could be trying to tell you secrets with little signs or symbols," she says. At first Marnie doesn't even believe her own readings. But her prophecies are on target, leading a star athlete, Matt, to ask for a reading. He's been getting emails from a female classmate who went missing months ago. There's a lot going on in this very skillfully constructed novel: the mystery behind the missing girl, the back story of Mamie's family, the fraught dynamic between Matt and Marnie (does he really like her or is he just using her?), the punishing class divisions of a small town. Arsenault never pushes the supernatural angle too hard, letting Marnie, and the reader, skate on the suspenseful edge of skepticism and belief. MIDNIGHT AT THE ELECTRIC By Jodi Lynn Anderson 272 pp. Harper Teen. $17.99. (Ages 14 and up) You could say that human history features two types of people: those who stay and those who leave. Anderson's ("Tiger Lily") moody, mesmerizing novel, an unusual hybrid of science fiction and historical fiction, is devoted to the restless souls who want to get the heck out. ft's 2065 and the Earth is dying because of climate change. Adri, a 16-year-old orphan, is training to join a team heading to Mars. Smart and resourceful, she's unable to relate to others. Sent to the Kansas home of a relative, she finds a journal and letters that tell the stories of Catherine, a teenager who lived there in 1934, and Lenore, a young woman in war-ravaged 1919 England determined to escape to the States. It's hard to forget Catherine's parched Dust Bowl farm, where even the morning toast and eggs are coated with grit, and fans of futuristic fiction will be drawn to Anderson's vision of flooded cities, space travel and inventions like the KitchenLite, used to print edible eggs and bacon. As the connection between the three women is satisfyingly revealed Adri, drawn to the long-dead strangers, begins to understand the human instincts to love, connect and leave something behind. Mars, she realizes, "would have a history one day too, and she would be a part of it." JUST FLY AWAY By Andrew McCarthy 260 pp. Algonquin. $17.95. (Ages 12 and up) Women who came of age watching John Hughes movies hold a special place in their hearts for McCarthy, a.k.a. the sensitive dreamboat Blane in "Pretty in Pink." Now a well-regarded travel writer, TV director and occasional actor, he has published his first novel - and it's fantastic, even if you're too young to have given a hoot about those twinkly eyes of his. Lucy Willows, who's 15, learns she has an 8-year-old half brother living right in her New Jersey town, the result of a brief affair her father had. Outraged by her father's betrayal and furious at her mother's seeming complacence, she hops a train, landing unannounced at the Maine home of her grandfather, a man she's met exactly once before. The story's unexpected turns will keep readers rapt, and Lucy's voice - reserved, blunt, sarcastic - feels as bone true as that of any Y.A. character in recent memory. McCarthy has real insight into the way adolescents withdraw emotionally, wrapping themselves in protective cocoons of silence. He captures that fleeting moment when a teenager knows she's doing something stupid but can't help herself. "The worse 1 felt, the more difficult it was to respond to him," she says of her boyfriend, a decent guy she cuts off without explanation, ft's a debut as stark and striking as the Maine landscape. WANT By Cindy Pon 327 pp. Simon Pulse. $18.99. (Ages 14 and up) Yep - it's another Y.A. novel set in a brutal future where society has been divided into haves and have-nots. And bingo! ft's up to a gutsy young have-not to take on the system. But before you dismiss Pon's book as yet another "Divergent" wannabe, stop and smell the pork buns. The novel's setting is a futuristic Taipei, vividly conjured: Markets sell live snakes for medicine, music blares in Mandarin, Taiwanese and English and characters chow down on steamed dumplings, rice porridge, eggplants in oyster sauce and stir-fried long beans "slathered in garlic and scallions." This is a dystopian thriller with flavor. Taipei's society is split into the wealthy you and the underclass mei. The you wear special suits and helmets that protect them from the city's pollution and viruses; the mei are destined to die by age 40. Our protagonist, the orphaned Jason Zhou, is part of a group determined to destroy Jin Corp, the pollution-generating company that manufactures the suits. Posing as privileged, Jason infiltrates you society, only to fall for Daiyu, daughter of Mr. Jin himself. While there's not a lot of nuance in this world of moral certainties, Pon does a bang-up job packing in skyscraper-scaling, flying (on airborne mopeds), hand-to-hand combat and hightech espionage. The world she's created is positively chilling. "Seeing each other face-to-face like this felt odd," Jason thinks, on first meeting Daiyu. "We'd become a society that barely showed our faces to strangers anymore." ONCE AND FOR ALL By Sarah Dessen 357 pp. Viking. $19.99. (Ages 12 and up) The world of high-end wedding planning might seem like a stretch for a Y.A. novel. Then again, from the view of a teenager, what is a wedding but the ultimate party, complete with open bars, conga lines and a chance to meet a cute stranger? Dessen has been turning out Y.A. best sellers since the '90s, and her storytelling has a breezy, Hollywood-style polish. Louna Barrett is the 17-year-old daughter of a society wedding planner. She's cynical about romance, prone to world-weary quips about delusional brides - partly because she's grown up in the wedding biz, partly because a year earlier a mysterious trauma left her with "a hard little rock of a heart." Then she meets Ambrose, a girl magnet whose "lazy, rich boy smile" rubs her the wrong way. We know they'll end up sparring, flirting and falling for each other, but the plot is buoyed by crackly dialogue and the comical series of over-the-top weddings the two help produce, which serve as foils to their own budding relationship. The story is bogged down by overwrought melodrama during flashbacks to our heroine's major tragedy, but still, it's a satisfyingly escapist rom-com that knows what it needs to deliver. "Attention from a cute boy," Louna muses. "You could power the world with it." ? CATHERINE hong, a contributing editor at Elle Decor, blogs about children's books at mrslittle.com.
School Library Journal Review
Gr 7 Up-Marnie doesn't fit in with any of the groups at her school. She has decided that she will own her uniqueness and has discovered that she is good at reading tea leaves. She's soon asked to do a reading for Matt, who is looking for answers to the disappearance of his best friend, Andrea. He has been receiving anonymous emails and just wants to know if Andrea is alive or dead. Arsenault shows the nuances of leaf reading without making the book about the supernatural. Gardner's narration is smooth and accessible. Whether readers like to suspend belief or keep their feet firmly rooted on the ground, this book is an enjoyable escape with a satisfying conclusion. VERDICT A compelling mystery and with just a hint of the supernatural and romance, this will make a solid addition to a middle school, high school, or public library collection.-Elizabeth L. -Kenyon, Merrillville High School, IN © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
A teenager's sixth sense opens up a world of intrigue.In her first novel for teens, thriller-writer Arsenault (The Evening Spider, 2016, etc.) here delves into the psychic realm, choosing as her protagonist Marnie Wells, a high school junior drawn to the ancient art of tea-leaf reading. Marnie's interest in tasseomancy initially stemmed from a desire to distance herself from her absent parents and the troubles of her elder brother, out of rehab after an overdose; from the embarrassing hoarding tendencies of her guardian grandmother, who teaches at their high school; and from a family home that literally "screams trashy from the outside." Narrator Marnie admits: "If I couldn't be perfect or athletic or Yale-bound, I could at least be weird." When her eccentric tea-leaf prophecies actually begin to come true, Marnie soon finds herself being consulted by members of the "in" crowd, including Matt, the star basketball player desperate for clues explaining the messages he's received from someone claiming to be his best friend, who vanished the year before. As Marnie grapples with the disturbing reality of her clairvoyance, her visions bring her and Matt closer to even more frightening and unimaginable truths. Arsenault paints a vivid picture of the haves and have-nots of this seemingly all-white small town. Arsenault's page-ripping whodunit not only will send readers running for their tea kettles, but packs the thrill of self-discovery and acceptance amid base adversity: a rich, rewarding teen debut. (Thriller. 14-18) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.