Cheva, Cherry - She's So Money

Maya's trying to keep her A average while spending hours working in her parents' Thai restaurant, but soon, a mistake she's made means her family may lose the restaurant if she can't get enough money to save it.

Enter Cameron King, all-around skeevy but very popular guy, who wants Maya to do his homework for him...

I am generally ok with YA about teens doing skeevy things, but part of me was still horrified about the cheating. I think it is high school and college brainwashing, but my instinct was: "OMG! YOU CANNOT CHEAT!" That said, I liked how Cheva handled it, and part of why I read the book so quickly was my morbid fascination with how Cam and Maya were going to get caught.

I very much liked that the protagonist was Thai American without it being a big deal at all. There are some incidences, which strike me as real, but it's about her trying to raise money for the restaurant, not how conflicted she feels about being Thai. Ditto with her brother. On the other hand, I wish that the other main nerd/geek guy weren't the Asian Stereotyped Geek in Glasses, particularly when it seemed like the majority of the secondary characters (Cameron included) were white. On a side note, I suspect the cover got white washed, though I am willing to be convinced otherwise.

I also liked how the author doesn't do the usual geeks vs. cool crowd; Cameron's gang aren't necessarily people I'd be friends with, but it was nice to not have the popular crowd demonized.

Maya in particular was fun... Cheva writes for Family Guy, and she gives Maya great, snappy lines. I love how Maya is never intimidated by Cameron, despite his supposedly higher social status. That said, I didn't completely buy the ending, though it was worked out much better than I feared it would be, given the enormity of Maya's problem.

This was a fun and fast read, and I'll be looking out for Cheva's next book.

Links:
- magicnoire's review

Joyce, Lydia - The Music of the Night

Sarah Connolly, formerly Sally from Voices of the Night, is now a respectable ladies' companion. Unfortunately, while her employers are visiting Venice, Sebastian Grimsthorpe, Earl of Wortham mistakes her for someone else and uses her to get his revenge on someone in her employer's household.

Despite the extremely skanky set-up, I actually liked Sarah and Sebastian as a couple a lot, largely because Sebastian is one of the more sympathetic of Joyce's heroes (I would say most, save for his extremely stupid revenge plot). Plus, he gives her things that he thinks will make her happy, as opposed to trying to manipulate her to do whatever!

Sadly, possibly because of this, the middle section didn't have nearly as much tension and also isn't quite as sexy, though there is body calligraphy (sadly, despite liking body calligraphy, I found myself thinking "ouch" more than "oooo").

Also, like all of Joyce's other books, while I liked the characters a lot, the ending goes straight from believable characters who actually talk to each other into insane plot territory. Alas, it is not Yuki Kaori or Laura Kinsale type insane plot, but merely the type that makes the reader think, "Huh? Where did that come from?" and "Wow, I completely don't believe that."

Also also, more negative points for the miracle pregnancy in the epilogue (so not a spoiler, given the genre).

Still, I like Sarah and Sebastian, and I giggled a little at the Phantom of the Opera call outs.