Book Review: Faking It

Faking It
By Jennifer Crusie
****

“If you can't be a good example, you'll just have to be a horrible warning."
-Gwen Goodnight 

This super-cute rom-com was so fun to read! I picked it up after reading a few gut-wrenching YA novels because I needed a bit of an emotional break. Crusie is my go-to for a fun read. Now, nothing can compare to her Agnes and the Hitman (seriously, if you haven't read that one, go get it right now and get started! I promise, you won't regret it!), but honestly, nothing can.

Faking It is the story of the Goodnight family, who own an art gallery and are having trouble making ends meet. Some things happen and a painting that should never have been sold was sold. This is a bad because that painting could prove that some other paintings were forgeries. So, Tilda, the most normal member of an abnormal family, has only one choice: steal the painting back. As she's in the process of stealing said painting, she hears something and hides in the closet, where she meets another thief. Davy Dempsey is a con man trying to steal money back from the woman who stole it from him, after he stole it from her. Something like that. Shenanigans ensue.

I really enjoyed this book. Cons, heists, forgeries, crazy family members, and art fill all the pages. For some reason, and I don't know what this says about me, but I am intrigued by art forgery, cons, and heists. Don't worry, I'm completely incapable of doing any of those illegal activities, even if I wanted to (which I don't), but I find the art and practice of it fascinating. That's one reason I loved Leverage so much (RIP, Leverage. You were the best of TV shows, though you were sadly unappreciated. I will miss you.). Anyway, the romance was what you'd except from a chick-lit rom-com, with an added bonus of lovely secondary characters, three additional romances, and comeuppance to the nasty characters. If you're looking for a quick, light read, you can't go wrong with a Crusie, and Faking It doesn't disappoint!

Manga Review: Ouran High School Host Club

Ouran High School Host Club (18 volumes)
By: Bisco Hatori
(5 out of 5 stars)

Let me preface this post by saying I am a total noob (aka newbie) when it comes to manga and anime (graphic novels and comics, too, for that matter). My friend, Mike, is always sending me links to anime clips and giving me lists of stuff I should watch. Most of the time I think it's completely wackadoodle (like the one where there's a princess who is a ballerina who turns into a duck...something like that...). I was hanging out with Mike and my other librarian friend, Lauren, and they teamed up and forced me to watch the anime of Ouran High School Host Club. We watched maybe two episodes before they had to leave, and the whole time I'm watching I'm thinking that this stuff is cray-cray. This was Sunday.

By Tuesday, I'd watched all 26 episodes.

Within 2 weeks I had read manga volumes 1-17, minus 4 and 8; volume 4 was missing from the library and had to be reordered and volume 8 was checked out. When I got to the end of 17, I was all "This is how the story ends?!? NOT COOL!" Then I found out there was one more volume, and it was going to be published within the month. (This is not the first time I've lucked out with book series and publishing dates; I didn't start reading the Harry Potter series until about 6 months before The Order of the Phoenix was published. Unlike most other HP fans, I didn't have to wait years after Goblet to find out what happened when He Who Must Not Be Named came back!)

See, here's the thing: every now and then I completely geek out over stuff. When I was in college, I watched the first two Mummy movies and the first two HP movies on a loop. My roommate would come into our dorm and just look at me, roll her eyes, saying without words, "Again?" Since then, other obsessions have included the new Doctor Who (this obsession is ongoing and is unlikely to ever stop), Leverage (an awesome TV show on TNT), the Marvel movies (I heart Tony Stark!), and most recently, the Ouran series.

Here's the deal:

A girl from a low to lower-middle-class home is super smart and gets into the uber-elite Ouran Academy in Japan. She's a girl with a plan for her future and she's determined to succeed. Since her dad doesn't have a lot of money, she couldn't afford one of the super expensive uniforms, so she wears some slacks and her dad's old sweater. Combine that with a short, shaggy haircut and old glasses, Haruhi's gender isn't apparent on first - or second - glance.

Trying to find a quiet place to study, she enters what she thinks is an empty music room. Alas, it isn't empty. Haruhi has mistakenly wandered in to the Host Club head quarters. (At this point, I should probably attempt to explain a host club. In this story, the Host Club is a group of super-rich and gorgeous guys who basically cater to the whims of the girls at Ouran by spending time with them at the club, telling them how pretty and talented they are, and basically being what every girl wants in a guy...while they're at the club. All this happens without dating or any kind of real relationships.) So while in the music room, Haruhi accidentally breaks the club's vase worth $80,000 and finds herself beholden to the club. The club president, unaware that Haruhi is a girl, decides that she will act as a member of the club to pay off her debt. Chaos and hilarity ensue when the boys realize Haruhi is a girl, but make her pretend to be a boy to continue paying off her debt.

So the plot sounds almost as wackadoodle as the princess-ballerina-duck story, but it's really well written (and illustrated) and there's so much character growth and emotional interactions that this series really is fully realized and a lot of fun. Over the course of the story, both Haruhi and the boys learn a lot about each other, friendship, and what's really important in life. I love the characters and the way they develop throughout the story, and the final book wraps up the loose ends and feels very satisfying (though I kinda wish she'd keep writing - it's always sad when a great series ends!).

I totally recommend this series, both the manga and the anime. I did enjoy the manga more, though - the anime was completed long before the manga series ended, and I like where the manga story went more than the anime version. That being said, they were both fun. This series may appeal a bit more to girls, but manga lovers will dig it, whatever their gender.