Vegan Virgin Valentine

Rating:
Summary: A Fun Read
Review: As a former children's bookseller and an aspiring school media specialist, I am always on the lookout for great fiction for young adults. This book offers a realistic and unique voice for YA readers. It is witty, engaging, and enjoyable.

Rating:
Summary: The same but different
Review: I loved this book, but somehow I have the feeling I've read it before. The story is nice, the characters believable, and yet the plot runs along the same lines as many modern YA novels. The crush that Mara (our protagonist) develops is predictable, and her reaction to her newfound love is nothing I haven't read about before. The love-interest-seperates-best-friends element is definitely included, and even the main character herself is not free from genre cliches.

But there still is hope for this book. I read the whole thing in one night, which I don't do with this genre unless the story is really good. I enjoyed it, and while there certainly were cliches, there was just enough difference to keep me reading to the end. The means by which the enemy-turned-friend of Mara enters our story is different than anything I've read, and the characters have an edge to them that keeps them from becoming boring.

Overall, this book was a bit predictable but it kept my attention. Worth the money I spent on it.

Rating:
Summary: I lOVed IT!
Review: I'm a teenage girl and i loved this book. I couldn't put it down- literally. I read the whole thing in one night. Mackler doesn't just take a normal girl to make the main character- she takes a REAL girl. and i'd DEFINATLY reccomend this book. IT gives girls like me a great book. Showing us right and wrongs, but also telling us to make decision off of more than right and wrong. And the Romance part of it is GREAT! U can't help but falling in love with the characters. BUy ThiS BooK!

Rating:
Summary: ....Valedictorian, Vivian, Very Predictable
Review: In Carolyn Macker's new book, "Vegan, Virgin, Valentine" is a good, easy read, perfect for an airplane flight or just another book credit for school. This book is perfect for teen girls ages 13 - 16 looking for a contemporary teen story about love and the discovery of what you really want and need. The story is set in Brockport in New York State, where the biggest thing to do is go to Rochester, which is 45 minutes away. The story starts with Mara Valentine (the main character) explaining her life to us. She's 17, a high school senior,a vegan, a Yale-bound, straight-A student and her parents pride and joy. Mara has an older sister, Amy, who is eighteen years older than Mara and has a daughter, Vivian, known as V. V is only a year younger than Mara. Amy moves around often, so Mara and V don't see each other often but neither seems to mind, since they are complete opposites. As much as Mara is a girl who isn't dating anyone, studies all the time and does extracurriculars, V is a girl who is, let's say, rather "popular" with the boys, doesn't seem to care much about school and enjoys the after-school activity of doing nothing. So you can imagine how Mara felt when her parents told her that V was coming to live with them, at least until the summer. Mara doesn't know how she'll be able to survive. When V gets to Brockport, she instantly starts setting off rumors about herself and making out with many of the boys at school. Mara can't stand it. Mara is also in the running for valedictorian against her ex- (and only) boyfriend, Travis Hart. The two are usually only separated by a decimal point or two and the competition is fierce. Travis was always pressuring Mara to have sex and after they broke up (Mara still a virgin), she used all her pent - up anger to will herself to make him the salutatorian of the class. Mara also has a job at a coffee shop called Common Grounds, which she loves. She soon falls in love with the owner of the shop, James. The only problem is, he's 22, never been to college and is not the kind of boy Mara's parents want her to be with. So, she hides their relationship from her parents and makes up lies to cover up the time she's spending with James, saying she's with friends she hasn't spoken to in a year. Meanwhile, V has been teaching Mara to lighten up and enjoy herself and Mara is starting to take her advice. But Mara is also starting to learn about herself - what she wants, not what her parents or principal or friends want. This book contains a plethora of character versus self conflict, with Mara rebelling against everything - she even starts to eat cheese, a food definitely not allowed if you are a vegan. V and Mara also begin to understand each other and start to become good friends. Finally, Mara tells her parents about James, that she is going to skip the college prep class she was going to take that summer. What she didn't tell them is that she and James were planning to go camping for a weekend in the summer - she figures they might not have been able to handle that, since the previous news came as quite a shock to them. When graduation time comes, Mara decides to skip it, which was bound to happen due to all the things Mara had been thinking and doing leading up to (and during) her "rebellion". Instead, she convinces V to drive with her to the beach. V pleads with Mara to make her parents and everyone happy by at least going to the ceremony and giving her valedictorian speech and everything, as in fairy tales, ends happily ever after.

Rating:
Summary: Vegan Virgin Valentine review by Janine Taylor
Review: Life is hard for Seventeen-year-old Mara Valentine. Her boyfriend has dumped her and she has converted to veganism and is having major cravings for grilled cheese sandwiches. Then while helping her friend to get with her boss she realises that she has feelings for the twenty-two year old coffee shop owner.

But when Maras thirty-five year old sister Aimee moves to Costa Rica with her twenty-two year old boyfriend (who is in search of killer waves) to cook traditional Central American cuisine or to find killer orgasms (no one is quite sure which) she leaves her "slutty, weed-smoking, sixteen-year old" to live her parents and sister.

Mara could not differ more from her niece more. Mara is a straight-A student and is leaving for university in the autumn. She is fighting for the position of valedictorian with her ex boyfriend Travis Heart and she definitely is not a slut.

While her niece, Vivienne - V is staying with her family things go from bad to worst. Her parents always take her side; she is getting a bad name at Maras school- which doesn't help her Maras reputation, She fooled around Travis Heart on the first day of school and phrases such as "V Valentine is a skanky ho" keep appearing on the walls of the school toilets.

Who is behind the graffiti? Will Mara ever tell her Boss that she likes him? Will V stop the Weed? Will Mara head for university? Will she make valedictorian? Will her and V ever get on and most importantly Will Mara ever eat a grilled cheese sandwich again??

ISBN 0-7445-9367-0


Rating:
Summary: Great Fun
Review: Mackler weaves a creative and humorous tale that will resonate with teenagers and remind adults of who we once were. Throughly enjoyable!

Rating:
Summary: Redefining an overachiever's understanding of success
Review: Meet Mara Valentine. She has "type A blood, a type A personality, and . . . an A-cup bra." Mara is on the fast track to success: she's duking it out for valedictorian, she's been accepted early decision by Yale, and she's already taking college courses. Mara's much older sister Aimee has always been a screw-up, traveling around the world in search of the next big thing. Mara is desperate not to disappoint her mom and dad the way Aimee did --- she has to succeed because she is her parents' "Only Hope."

Secretly, though, Mara is vulnerable: her college courses have left her without many high school friends, and she's still reeling from a painful breakup with equally high-achieving Travis. She hides her insecurities by trying to control absolutely everything, from her schedule to her emotions to her diet. She confesses that she has become a vegan not only because she is "grossed out by animal byproducts" but because veganism is "all-consumingly obsessive. . . . It can be a pain, but it helps keep my mind off things."

That's why, when Aimee's troublemaking daughter (and Mara's niece), sixteen-year-old V, comes to live with Mara's family while Aimee chases her surfer boyfriend to Costa Rica, Mara is furious. V has always had the ability to see through Mara's veneer and to call attention to Mara's fears and anxieties. When V moves in on Mara's ex, Mara vows never to be friends with this "class-ditching, chair-in-the-principal's-office-warming deadbeat."

V's tough-talking, no-nonsense attitude does rub off on Mara, though, as she begins to question why she has made the choices she has. When she starts to have feelings for James, her boss at the coffee shop, her life gets even more confused. If James, who has never been to college but owns a successful small business, can be one of the smartest (not to mention the cutest) people she has ever met, does Mara need to redefine the meaning of success?

Like Carolyn Mackler's earlier novels, VEGAN VIRGIN VALENTINE has a winning combination of a likeable main character, zingy narration, and some truly funny one-liners. Readers who find themselves identifying with misunderstood V may be somewhat frustrated by the novel's primary focus on Mara's development. This intriguing character screams to be the star of her own novel, and readers will likely find themselves wishing for a sequel.

--- Reviewed by Norah Piehl

Rating:
Summary: "VEGAN VIRGIN VALENTINE" learns to let loose and live
Review: VEGAN VIRGIN VALENTINE. Yes, Mara Valentine is a high school senior who is a strict vegan, off animal meat and animal byproducts. Yes, she is a virgin - her sexual experience with guys is oh-so limited. And her last name is Valentine. She is the bitter ex-girlfriend of Travis Hart. When it comes to her rightful place as class valedictorian, she plans on kicking Travis' salutorian butt out the door to Yale, which is where she applied (and received acceptance!!!) early action. She has type A blood, receives only A's in school, and wears an A-cup bra.

Vivienne Vail Valentine. She is slutty, pot and cigarette-smoking, and merely sixteen. She is also Mara's niece, despite the itsy-bitsy age gap. Vivienne, who refuses to answer to anything but V, is the daughter of Aimee, Mara's 35 year-old loser sister who can't make up her mind when it comes to a job, a man, a house, or a sex partner. From what Mara can see, V is heading down Aimee's very same path of loserdom. Carefully outlined plans for her last days spent in the boring old town of Brockport certainly did not include V in the equation. She is convinced she, the second birth, took place solely due to the fact that her 'rents felt the need to compensate for Aimee, the college dropout.

As VEGAN VIRGIN VALENTINE progressed, I found myself admiring Mara - which is more than I can say for most story protagonists. Her transformation never strains credibility. She doesn't let loose and veer wildly out of control off the usual path of a goody two-shoes - she merely starts making decisions for what she believes are her best interests. This means no summer school at Johns Hopkins. It means pursuing a relationship with sexy twenty two year-old James, the owner and boss of the coffeeshop where Mara works. Alas, pursuing the relationship also means keeping it under wraps, for coworker and friend Claudia has been lusting after James for ages, and Mara knows it.

Mara also knows she deserves to be happy and the new Mara is even more aware of this. Quite frankly, the new Mara, who tosses veganism in favor of grilled cheese sandwiches, is much more likeable. She's ready to face the world - and Yale - head-on.

V also undergoes a sort of tranformation, though it may not be as drastic. A lead role in the school play, encouragement from a doting aunt and uncle, plus SAT prep courses are setting her on the right path. Despite the fact that her actions seem extreme (including fooling around with Travis Hart on her first day, in a shower stall), she ups the status quo in Mara's life and gives her a bit of her own brazen courage.

Mackler takes a realistic route in the pairing of these two related characters. Their relationship isn't a sugarcoated, opposites attract sort of bond. They live together, learn together, and come to eventually respect one another. The change of aversion to being able to get along is gradual, not rushed.

Mackler's third novel, debut to THE EARTH, MY BUTT, AND OTHER BIG ROUND THINGS, is a treat for the Young Adult audience. Protagonist Mara Valentine is a stretch from prior heroine/anti-heroines Sammie Davis and Virginia Shreves, yet all stories take place in a real world where nothing is perfect and problems do arise. Nor are they ever solved in the blink of an eye. Girls may see themselves in Mara, even in V. Girls may see themselves in their worlds as well.

The fact that Mackler has managed to write all three of her novels with such voice is nothing short of remarkable.

Rating:
Summary: "VEGAN VIRGIN VALENTINE" learns to let loose and live
Review: VEGAN VIRGIN VALENTINE. Yes, Mara Valentine is a high school senior who is a strict vegan, off animal meat and animal byproducts. Yes, she is a virgin - her sexual experience with guys is oh-so limited. And her last name is Valentine. She is the bitter ex-girlfriend of Travis Hart. When it comes to her rightful place as class valedictorian, she plans on kicking Travis' salutorian butt out the door to Yale, which is where she applied (and received acceptance!!!) early action. She has type A blood, receives only A's in school, and wears an A-cup bra.

Vivienne Vail Valentine. She is slutty, pot and cigarette-smoking, and merely sixteen. She is also Mara's niece, despite the itsy-bitsy age gap. Vivienne, who refuses to answer to anything but V, is the daughter of Aimee, Mara's 35 year-old loser sister who can't make up her mind when it comes to a job, a man, a house, or a sex partner. From what Mara can see, V is heading down Aimee's very same path of loserdom. Carefully outlined plans for her last days spent in the boring old town of Brockport certainly did not include V in the equation. She is convinced she, the second birth, took place solely due to the fact that her 'rents felt the need to compensate for Aimee, the college dropout.

As VEGAN VIRGIN VALENTINE progressed, I found myself admiring Mara - which is more than I can say for most story protagonists. Her transformation never strains credibility. She doesn't let loose and veer wildly out of control off the usual path of a goody two-shoes - she merely starts making decisions for what she believes are her best interests. This means no summer school at Johns Hopkins. It means pursuing a relationship with sexy twenty two year-old James, the owner and boss of the coffeeshop where Mara works. Alas, pursuing the relationship also means keeping it under wraps, for coworker and friend Claudia has been lusting after James for ages, and Mara knows it.

Mara also knows she deserves to be happy and the new Mara is even more aware of this. Quite frankly, the new Mara, who tosses veganism in favor of grilled cheese sandwiches, is much more likeable. She's ready to face the world - and Yale - head-on.

V also undergoes a sort of tranformation, though it may not be as drastic. A lead role in the school play, encouragement from a doting aunt and uncle, plus SAT prep courses are setting her on the right path. Despite the fact that her actions seem extreme (including fooling around with Travis Hart on her first day, in a shower stall), she ups the status quo in Mara's life and gives her a bit of her own brazen courage.

Mackler takes a realistic route in the pairing of these two related characters. Their relationship isn't a sugarcoated, opposites attract sort of bond. They live together, learn together, and come to eventually respect one another. The change of aversion to being able to get along is gradual, not rushed.

Mackler's third novel, debut to THE EARTH, MY BUTT, AND OTHER BIG ROUND THINGS, is a treat for the Young Adult audience. Protagonist Mara Valentine is a stretch from prior heroine/anti-heroines Sammie Davis and Virginia Shreves, yet all stories take place in a real world where nothing is perfect and problems do arise. Nor are they ever solved in the blink of an eye. Girls may see themselves in Mara, even in V. Girls may see themselves in their worlds as well.

The fact that Mackler has managed to write all three of her novels with such voice is nothing short of remarkable.