Anna Jarzab

A swimmer’s quest to make the Olympics was the main draw for me with this one, I purposely read it during a week of watching Olympic swim trials on television and it proved a great pairing for that, I feel like my understanding of the sport deepened through reading this.

I loved that this delved into so many of the areas I find interesting in sports (as very much a non-athlete), different coaching styles (one of which is toxic) as well as the emergence of female coaches, training methods, show more the adjustments athletes have to make as their body changes with age, the perseverence needed and the psychology that can swing wildly from super confident to massive self-doubt.

There are times where Susannah isn’t the easiest character to like, and I was good with that, it felt truthful which is what I most want from contemporary fiction. When someone is under the kind of pressure Susannah has on her, it seemed real that she might have selfish moments, moments where she’s less aware of what’s going on with those around her than a good friend/sister/girlfriend would want to be, basically, she’s behaving in the single-minded kind of way you see pro male athletes praised for on TV broadcasts all the time.

Throughout the book Susannah’s involved in her first serious romance with fellow swimmer Harry. Their chemistry wasn’t off the charts for me, but it did grow on me more and more as the story progressed. My interest here was less about lovey dovey moments and more about the complexity of both of these characters (Harry very, very seriously so) dealing with mental health issues and the challenges of navigating a romance through that. I thought that was very well-conveyed and I felt for both characters.

There was one thing I craved throughout this book that I didn’t receive until the bonus short story (included in the paperback version) and that’s Harry’s POV. I know there are readers who aren’t fond of more than one character’s POV in a book and this is ultimately Susannah’s story so it makes sense that her POV would win out, plus Harry’s going through some truly harrowing stuff in this book which at times was already a difficult experience just through Susannah’s eyes, so I do get the decision not to include his POV, however, I still found myself several times over the course of the novel thinking how I wouldn’t have minded a more up close look at what he was struggling through and what he was feeling. I was even more convinced that his POV would have been a great addition once I did get to read it in the short story and saw how well the author handled his character, how emotional and vulnerable he was, and maybe it’s a coincidence but once I had both of their POV’s I even felt more invested in them romantically than I had previous to that. Too often I’m underwhelmed by “bonus” material in books, but this short story was genuinely good, it provided another layer of satisfaction to the ending. show less

I don't know how long its been since I've read a good mystery, and I think I had never read a YA murder-mystery before. I absolutely adored this book. The ironic part is I was so sure I had everything figured out. I would totally starve as a detective. The ending shocked me and left me in awe. I was so unprepared of what happened. I believed throughout the whole story and convinced myself that I knew what was going on because there was no way to surprise me with such an obvious plot. Silly show more me. Should have known better. This book deserves far more praise than what it has gotten.

The writing was incredible. The alternating points of view felt smooth and believable, I love the way she did it. And the characters felt incredibly realistic. The plot was slow-moving, which is also ironic because in one of my last reviews I stated that a slow plot is not always a bad thing. Here is the proof. The pace worked perfectly in this one. I was sometimes desperate, almost willing to step ahead to find out the truth, but that always happens in a mystery.

Overall, it was definitely refreshing to read something different yet still made of awesome. If you enjoy crime stories and contemporary realistic fiction this is the one for you. show less

Caro feels like she hardly knows her sister Hannah. For more than half of Caro's life, Hannah has been part of an order of contemplative nuns. How do you explain to your peers that your beautiful older sister is sequestered in a strict convent, that you only see her for a short time once a year? Hannah might as well be dead, Caro reasoned when she was younger (though she got in a lot of trouble at home for telling her school friends that story). Then, one day, Hannah comes home. And if Caro show more thought that explaining her sister's life at the convent was difficult, she finds it even more difficult to explain Hannah's sudden, unexpected return. As Caro tries to understand her sister -- who is still emotionally distant and obviously unhappy -- she uncovers a secret from the past that might explain both why Hannah left, and why she came back. But will Caro do her sister more harm than good in her attempts to help Hannah deal with the ghosts of the past?

There's more to the story, of course: a helping of boyfriend drama, a scientist priest who helps Caro with her own questions about God and the universe, and an ambitious science fair project all play into the plot of this book. I was drawn to the story because I wanted to see how religion was handled, and I am impressed at what I found. While Caro is not particularly religious herself, and has some hostility toward the church, there's an underlying respect for religion infused into the bones of the story. Despite Hannah's situation, Christianity is not the bad guy of the piece, and Caro's questions feel as genuine as her animosity. I'm glad I came across this book, and would recommend it to readers who are intrigued, as I was, by its premise. show less

I always get sucked in by books promising a fabulous multi-verse. It’s a really complicated theory for a book, where there’s a limited amount of space and a lot of explaining to do. I feel pretty confident in saying that from the scientific, worldbuilding POV, Tandem is the best YA multi-verse I’ve ever read. It’s such a complicated subject to get across and explanations need to justify suspension of disbelief, not just ask for it. I think Anna Jarzab did a really good job in that show more respect.

Unfortunately, because of the immensity of worldbuilding required – not just one, but two, and the theory of many others – a lot of the book was usurped by this. There were many scenes interjected to explain another possible inconsistency here or there, and it slowed the book down a lot. The presented plot just dragged. Tandem takes place over the course of a week, in which there’s political unrest and a hunt under way for the real princess Julianna, as well as the development of a love triangle… square… something. And honestly, all these things were interesting on their own, but there is a lot going on. With all that taking a back seat to worldbuilding explanations, other things felt underexplained and underdeveloped.

The characters, in particular, suffered from this. We get a pretty good idea about Sasha, because we’re in her head. Thomas, Grant, Julianna… all the other characters with important roles are relatively one-dimensional. Honestly, I get it. There was a lot of explaining to do and it was a bit overwhelming to include everything. There were areas in the worldbuilding I didn’t feel needed to be explained – such as Sasha’s visions, I’d’ve accepted them as an anomaly. And even though we were in Sasha’s head, she was very… pragmatic. She cursed herself for having crushes, but as a reader, I never really felt that bubbliness. I would have enjoyed a little more emotional depth from her.

To be honest? I’m surprised by how much I liked this book. The Many-Worlds series was cancelled by the publisher after low sales and interest in book two… but I feel like Anna Jarzab has a lot to offer. She took a chance and had some original ideas, which can be refreshing in a genre that likes to seize a trend and exploit it. I liked conspiracy, because despite its obviousness, I didn’t have all the details figured out. Her writing voice was easy to read, and the narrator did a great job. It was just the pacing that pulled it down – it was slow, and there’s no getting around that. Justifying the pacing as well as I might, there’s still the fact that it is slow.

As I’m reading this as part of Retelling-a-Thon’s Shakespeare week, it should be mentioned that this popped up on a lot of different lists as a retelling of Twelfth Night. I was pretty hesitant in my readathon announcement of this being an actual retelling.. and I still sort of feel that way. The play features as Sasha’s favorite book. As far as parallels go, the main theme is present: much like Viola has to step into Sebastien’s shoes, so Sasha has to step into Julianna’s. The relationship between Tandem and Twelfth Night is loose. It feels more respectful and inspired by the play than an actual retelling. I don’t think this is quite a proper retelling because there simply aren’t enough similarities.

As a story, if you’re patient enough to deal with the snail’s pace, this is a pretty good book. Certainly there’s the argument of the problematic nature of Thomas/Sasha’s relationship, but honestly this book reads like an adventure. If someone wanted to pull me into an alternate universe where I am a princess, I’m sure I could make it work somehow. I liked it enough that I would read the second book, even though I know the third will never be published. Not one I would push to the very top of my TBR, but I’m nonetheless interested. show less