Gender Blender by Blake Nelson

I picked up this book thinking it might be a fun introduction for middle schools discussing gender roles and challenging the societal expectations of gender.  What I found instead was a light variation on Freaky Friday. 

Emma:Wants Jeff Matthews to notice her.
Hates sexist boys.
Wonders when she’ll get her period.
Tom:
Must avoid looking like a wuss.
Must deal with his blended family.
Must get a chance with Kelly A.
Then something freaky happens: Emma and Tom switch bodies. And until they can find a remedy:
Emma:
Can’t believe she has a . . . thingie.
Hates mean girls.
Finds out secondhand that her period has arrived.
Tom:
Must learn to put on a bra.
Must deal with an overachieving family.
Must not be alone with Jeff Matthews.

 The description on the back of the book should have been a clue as to how this novel was handled.  

Sixth graders, Emma and Tom, used to be friends but drifted apart as they got older. Emma now tries to balance her high grades, piano lessons, gymnastics team and volunteer work while being a part of the popular mean-girl, boy crazy/boy hating clique.  Tom loves baseball, barely tolerates school and hangs out with boys whose main aspirations are to insult girls and brag about their social prowess. After being assigned a gender comparison project and fighting all the time, Emma and Tom somehow switch bodies.  While searching for a way to switch back they must experience life as the other gender.

The author starts to identify the daily pressures that both genders face from parents, peers, society and themselves.  The concept of gender expectations was lightly touched on but quickly fell way to the behaviours of the "mean girl" and "tough jock" stereotypes.  I think setup for a more meaningful story was there but somehow even the characters got caught up in repetitive and inane conversations.There is a lack of focus in the story allowing it to skim over deeper issues the main characters Tom and Emma have in their lives.  Emma faces high expectations academically and in extra curriculars from her family, over-scheduling and loving but controlled home life.  Tom has to deal with an absent father, a distracted mother and a lack of any expectation for success from home or school. Both appear to have friends that are neither supportive or seemingly present outside of the school hallways.  With the exception of a few moments between each of the mothers and their body-switched children, this book lacked characters that explored beyond the immediate situation of how Tom would survive Emma's piano lesson or if Emma would be able to pull off baseball tryouts.  There was a missed opportunity for all characters to grow during the story, learn from the experience and come away with more than the 'discovery' that peers judge each other on superficial terms. Tom and Emma are both experiencing the changes of puberty and switching physical bodies could have provided a chance for the author to explore a better understanding of themselves and each other and how gender can be a factor in so many aspects of life. Throwing in the odd statement for challenging gender roles, such as boys don't cry or girls are not good at team sports, doesn't serve much purpose unless the characters experience such downfalls and allow the reader share a connection or offer some room to form an opinion. This felt more like an outline for a good story that was never fleshed out and simply left as jumble of stock characters that barely made it to the page.

30. Charmed, only not-so-much (paranormal romance collection)

A romance anthology of 4 stories:

1. Bridal Jitters by Jayne Castle (pseudonym for Jayne Ann Krentz)

2. Man in the Mirror by Julie Beard

3. Tangled Dreams by Lori Foster 
4. Pandora's Bottle by Eileen Wilks

A grouping of four short stories linked by a Halloween theme, or so it claimed. The concepts for all four stories sounded promising but I am not sure that the Halloween theme was the right link for this collection. In most of the stories, the inclusion of Halloween seemed forced and not at all necessary. 

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The first story, Bridal Jitters, felt overly edited.  

 Virginia Burch, a psychic archaeologist, can't believe her luck when she meets Sam Gage, a ghost-hunter and owner of prime real estate. He offers her his space to live and start up her business. What follows is an even more intriguing proposal--to become his wife. Strictly for professional reasons, of course...Their marriage of convenience would lead to a very lucrative business partnership, Gage & Burch Consulting. Until something throws a wrench into the plan: the undeniably sensual energy that exists between them--and a love so strong it could wake the ghosts below...  

Well, this reader did not see much of that energy and felt lost throughout most of the book.  The setting was not explained very well and led to some confusion throughout the story. 1 star out of 5.

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The Man In The Mirror by Julie Beard tells the tale of a shy young woman who finds her man and her destiny in the past! Through a bizarre series of events, Katie Montgomery is transported back to old England in the time of King Arthur and Merlin! She rescues and falls in love with Tristan of Ilchester. To her enormous surprise, Tristan tells her that Merlin foretold her arrival! What Katie learns about herself and her capacity to love stands her in good stead for her adventures in this far-off age; and when she finally returns through the mirror to her own time she brings with her knowledge that will enable her to change her life forever.

Man in the Mirror has been done before but this version felt rather thin. So far I was not at all impressed with this collection of stories. 1.5 stars out of 5.

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Finally, in the third story entitled Tangled Dreams, I didn't feel like I was completely wasting my time. There was some value and depth and entertainment in the writing. For a short story, it was okay. 3 out of 5 stars. I am becoming a fan of Lori Foster and would love to read a reworking of this novella. And while the synopsis below talks about Halloween, it was a pretty weak link. Still this was the best in the collection.

Chase Winston is stunned when he realizes he can hear every thought in shy little Allison Barrow's head and most of them revolve around her incredibly erotic fantasies of him!  He's hot, hard and can't wait to get Allison alone. Of course he has to negotiate some pretty strange territory on his way to Allison's bed, but once he's vanquished villains, settled some restless spirits and made wild and sensual love to Allison, future Halloweens are going to look pretty tame!  

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The final story, Pandora's Bottle has some real promise with it's story line, but I felt ultimately failed to deliver in the ending. I didn't feel any passion between these two characters.  This djinn should have stayed in the bottle.    2 out of 5 stars.

In a world where magic is real and it's users often discriminated against, a romance between practical John Raven and logical Dora Kitlock runs into some problems.  Both have a secret. Before he asks her to marry him, John has to take Dora to his home tell her his secret. Will magic reign? Or will logic rule over the Halloween.

Based upon the synopsis, I certainly had higher hopes for this collection and found I was quite disappointed with the actual stories.  The concepts for each of the stories had quite a bit of promise but the results were lacking.

27. Making It Big by Lyndsay Russell

Sad, lonely Sharon Plunkett is a size 18. She's tried every fad, every diet, every cream, but like a stain of grease on a pure silk blouse, her rolls of fat refuse to budge. The man of her dreams is not interested, and her slim friend Debbee uses her to look good. But all that changes when Sharon magically finds herself in a fantastic, reversed world where it's suddenly "in" to be fat, and "out" to be slim!Now feted and adored for her curvaceously large body and stunning face, she goes from being a newly discovered model to a Hollywood icon. Dating ever more glamorous men on the way, Sharon journeys to the top of the celebrity world as a magnificent example of womanhood. But then it all goes wrong—very wrong. This delicious, page-turning novel highlights press manipulation, and hits back at the "skinny insanity" currently gripping the western world.

The description sounded great but the idea is better than the execution. The character of Sharon was a very poor Bridget Jones. The expected self-deprecation at the beginning seemed to be setting Sharon up for some changes in life and in attitude. That was not the case. The self loathing continued from page to page, from the world where fat is bad and full on into the world where she was fat and therefore beautiful and desirable. Reading it, I started to feel beaten down by constant put-downs Sharon gives herself. Even when it seemed she would find some self acceptance when the world shift and fat is "in" , her life choices take her down the self destructive path. The message that size shouldn't matter or define who you are as a person was not a new message and was presented with the subtlety and finesse of a jack hammer. It was a lesson the reader picks up on quickly but the main character seems to have missed the memo. This book focused on the issue of size and the value of superficial appearance in the public eye. I mean, it really focused there, and wouldn't let go. This redundancy just about destroyed any enjoyment factor. The real issue Sharon needed to deal with, which was largely ignored, was her choice in relationships and confidence. The emotional abandonment by her father, bullying and unrelenting verbal abuse from her step family and shallow choices in romantic relationships surely warranted deeper attention. Her appearance was a symptom of much larger and more serious concerns left untouched by the author. For all the focus on size and how the world judges based on appearance, almost no redemption of the characters can be found. I kept waiting for an 'ah-ha' moment where the characters, any of them, would get a clue but it never happened. Written as a satire on what beauty means in the media, the message became singular, repetitive, and depressing. It could have been so much better, but it was a waste of a good idea. And a waste of time.