YA Contemporary

Review of What If It’s Us by Becky Abertalli and Adam Silvera

November 15, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

What If It’s Us is a collaboration by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera, two authors that I’ve enjoyed in the past, especially Adam Silvera’s They Both Die at the End and Becky Albertalli’s Simon vs. The Homo sapiens Agenda.

What If It’s Us follows two boys, Arthur and Ben. Arthur, who is from Georgia, is visiting NYC for the summer and is working as an intern in his mom’s law firm. Ben is recovering from a breakup with his boyfriend Hudson and attending summer school. The two meet one day at the post office, where Ben is mailing back his ex-boyfriend’s things. They chat, and the two immediately hit it off. Unfortunately, chaos erupts inside of the post office, and before Arthur can get Ben’s phone number, he has disappeared.

From there, we follow the two young men as they attempt to find each other, which of course, they do; otherwise, we wouldn’t have much of a novel, now would we? In fact, it almost seemed as though the Universe was conspiring in their favor to bring these two together — and the question of “destiny” comes up many times in conversation.

But it’s not a smooth ride for our two protagonists. The two of them go on a series of bad dates all fraught with drama, hurt feelings and a series of misunderstandings. There are all sorts of awkwardness and complications: strange relationships between their friends, the unusual relationships between each of the boys and their friends, there’s Ben’s ex-boyfriend Hudson who Ben may or may not be over, and both sets of parents.

Arthur and Ben do embark on quite a roller-coaster of a relationship with them both trying to “make it right” before Arthur has to leave at the end of the summer. What I found especially interesting was the friendship dynamics in the books. The authors did such a good job with them that I found them almost more interesting than the central romance. I especially enjoyed Dylan’s character, who was Ben’s best friend. In fact, I would love to see a book featuring him as the main protagonist.

The story is told in alternating points of view, so Arthur gets one chapter, Ben the next, then Arthur and so on. I found this more than a bit challenging at times as it was often difficult to tell the two boys apart. The problem is that I don’t think their characters were different enough and because of that, I often forgot who was speaking. So I had to flip back to the chapter heading to see whose chapter it was which annoyed me and yanked me out of the story on many occasions.

I know that a lot of people hate pop-culture references in their fiction novels so if you’re one of those people, you may want to stay clear of this one. There were numerous references to Hamilton, Dear Evan Hanson and lots of Harry Potter. Though pop-culture references don’t usually bother me, I think they may have overdone it a bit, especially with the Hamilton references. I found myself thinking a few times, “Okay, enough already with Hamilton.” In this way, the book became a tad repetitive in places.

But all in all, “What If It’s Us” is a super-sweet coming of age YA romance about two boys finding love and in so doing discovering themselves. So I ended up liking this story a lot — but not loving it as I had hoped. I don’t know; perhaps I was expecting a little more from these two authors. It was cute with likable characters but not really earth-shattering. I enjoyed the romance between these two boys but outside of the romance, there wasn’t a whole lot going on — there weren’t any additional plot lines.

So though it was an enjoyable story and I am glad I read it, I didn’t love it as much as I had hoped. Now to be fair, I’m not typically a fan of romancey contemporaries so I’m probably not the ideal target reader. But if you enjoy YA contemporary novels that are heavily focused on the romance, then you may very well enjoy this book more than I did.

Purchase So What If It’s Us at Amazon

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Review of Dear Evan Hansen by Val Emmich

October 10, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

This book was a collaboration by four authors: Val Emmich, Steven Levenson, Benj Pasek, and Justin Paul, which was was originally a Broadway play that I unfortunately, didn’t get a chance to see. But from my understanding, it was quite well received.

Introducing Evan and his letters

So the book follows Evan, a high school senior who has horrible social anxiety. Under the direction of his therapist, he writes a letter to himself each day that starts out with:

Dear Evan Hansen,

Today’s going to be an amazing day and here’s why…

A letter ends up in the wrong hands

But things don’t go so well for Evan one day when one of those letters to himself ends up in the wrong hands. And, it just so happens that this particular classmate commits suicide with a copy of Evan’s letter in his pocket.

Now the letter in question was a rather dark letter, a letter detailing Evan’s doubts, depression and his particularly somber view on life at the time it was written.

Evan meets the parents…and tells a lie

What results is a series of misunderstandings due to one simple lie. We then follow Evan along with the deceased student’s parents on a heart-wrenching journey through grief and mental health.

You see, Evan knew that the student’s parents were hurting deeply, so he chose to tell one little white lie because at the time, he felt it was the right thing to do. It was a simple lie — a lie meant to help rather than to hurt.

And the lie grows….and grows….

But this lie grew and grew and grew, spiraling out of control until it became a social media sensation. It turned into a story that Evan couldn’t put away and ignore. It became…almost a mythology that was way past the point of going away on its own — it becomes a story that Evan can no longer escape from.

Because of this and his strong urge not to cause the student’s parents any more pain or take away their hope, Evan tells even more lies to keep the story going, and he gets in deeper and deeper and deeper.

Thrust into the Spotlight

This book also portrayed in a somewhat frightening way, the power that social media plays in our lives and how it has the capacity to cause real harm as well as promote healing.

So because of this misunderstanding and Evan’s lie, Evan, a boy who preferred to move through his day unnoticed and invisible, is suddenly thrust in the spotlight. Now on the positive side, he does find acceptance among his peers and for the first time, is propelled forward with a new purpose.

On the negative side, this new world of Evan’s is about to unravel and come crashing down, and there’s not a damn thing he can do about it.

My Verdict

I ended up enjoying this book — although I don’t feel “enjoying” is the proper word to use about a book whose subject deals with the aftermath of a suicide. Let’s me just say that it was a compelling read and was very disturbing and heartbreaking at times.

The story dealt with some very tough topics such as suicide, bullying, isolation, mental health, loneliness and lying but it didn’t do so in an After-School-Special hit-you-over-the-head kind of way. Rather, the topics were handled with dignity rather than in a cringy, in-your-face way.

Though…I will say that the situation that Evan found itself in made me cringe on several occasions, but it was a cringe of embarrassment for Evan rather than because the tone of the book was preachy.

All in all, I felt that this was a powerful well-told story that illustrated wonderfully the ups and downs of life in high school and how the course of our life can change from one simple decision, for good or for ill. I ended up giving this book four stars. Recommended!

Purchase Dear Evan Hansen at Amazon

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Review of Scat by Carl Hiaasen

September 1, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

Scat ended up being hilarious and I’m glad I read it. It also takes place in Florida, a state where I used to live and spend a good deal of time so that attracted me as well.

So Scat follows a Florida kid named Nick, whom I guessed to be around 14 or so and whose father is on reserve in Iraq and his friend Marta. So one day Nick and his class are on a field trip when the swamp that they’re visiting catches fire. Mrs. Starch — the feared and unliked biology teacher, vanishes into the fire to retrieve an inhaler that a student had dropped. The bus leaves without Mrs. Starch as she came in her own car.

The next school day, the principal tells the students that Mrs. Starch has been called away on a “family emergency,” but Nick and Marta aren’t buying it — especially once that discover that Mrs. Starch has no family so they feel that there’s something very fishy about Bunny Starch’s disappearance.

They figure the scary, pencil-eating class delinquent, Smoke, who has a history of starting fires, has something to do with her disappearance, especially once authorities state that the fire was due to arson. But they’re not the only ones who suspect that Smoke started the fire. But there’s more to Smoke than meets the eye.

But there’s also a lot more that goes on in the book: there’s the dodgy oil exploration company run by a shady, nefarious fellow who is scamming the state by installing illegal pipelines in the Everglades, which is a nature preserve, there’s an endangered panther that’s being hunted, the strange eco-avenging wilderness man who seems to be sabotaging the oil company’s efforts, and of course, the mystery of what in the hell happened to Bunny Stark.

This madcap book was quite a wild romp – an edge-of-your-seat gripping thrill ride that had me interested — and laughing until the end, as it was hysterically funny in many places with a great cast of characters. I thought the premise of this book was fascinating, and Carl Hiaasen turns this premise into an exciting, fast-paced eco-thriller that I had a hard time putting down.

Though this was a light-hearted enjoyable romp, the book does touch on some serious issues as well such as war, crime, environment preservation, amputation and neglectful parents but does so in a smooth way so as not to make the novel unnecessarily grim or frightening, as this is a middle-grade book, after all. And as many of us like to see in our Middle-grade reads, the bad guys get it good in the end.

I do believe that is is part of a four-book middle-grade series that I definitely will be checking out. I also want to check out some of his adult fiction as well.

You can purchase Scat here at Amazon or at The Book Depository

Review of We Are The Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson

June 26, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

Before you ask: no, the sluggers have never probed my anus. I’m fairly certain they reserve that special treat for people who talk on their phones during movies, or text while driving. ~ Henry Denton

THE STORY

We Are The Ants follows Henry Denton, a teen who for years now has been periodically abducted by aliens, whom Henry refers to as sluggers, because they resemble slugs to him. There’s been no probing though — or at least that’s when Henry tells us (see quote above).

So after these abductions have been going on for quite some time, the aliens finally communicate to Henry that the world is going to be destroyed in 144 days. But not all hope is lost. All Henry has to do is push a big red button to stop it and Wham! Earth saved.

The kicker is that Henry isn’t sure he wants to.

You see, Henry’s not all that pleased with his life at the moment. A year ago, Henry’s boyfriend and first love Jesse committed suicide, for which Henry seems to be blaming himself. He is continuously tortured and bullied at school, with one of the bullies — a popular jock named Marcus — using Henry for sex (though he tries to assure Henry that he genuinely does care for him — but it’s up to the reader to decide whether to believe him or not).

Then there are the constant taunts at school with the students referring to him as Space Boy because Charlie, his jerk of a brother, told everyone at school about the abductions. But there’s more: Henry’s grandmother has Alzheimer’s, and Henry recognizes her less and less as each day passes — and his mother is an alcoholic.

So the more Henry thinks about it, the more the idea of wiping the slate clean sounds like a pretty good choice to him because right now, he’s not feeling like the world deserves to be saved. Though he doesn’t explicitly say it, I felt that perhaps Henry found the idea of finally escaping from his daily suffering alluring. But he hasn’t made his decision yet. He’s desperately trying to find a good reason for saving the earth and thus far, has been unsuccessful.

And then one day, a new boy named Diego Vega arrives at school. Henry and the boy connect, and an unusual relationship develops between the two of them.

Up to this point, Henry was almost certain he wasn’t going to press the button. But now, there’s someone he can confide in, someone to support him. So Henry begins to weigh his pain with his happiness as the days count down to when he has to make the ultimate decision.

So does Henry push the button?

WHAT I LIKED

I really liked Henry’s character — he was sarcastic, witty, and funny, and you couldn’t help but fall in love with him. He had a way of adding a light and humorous twist to otherwise serious situations such as his alien abductions. I also liked how relatable and believable Henry’s character was. I think many readers can relate to the bullying that Henry went through in high school as well as some of the difficulties Henry had to deal with in his troubled home life.

No doubt most of us have experienced a grim view of the world from time to time when we’re going through tough times, like our protagonist. I felt that the author did an excellent job of portraying Henry’s struggles and I liked how brutally honest Henry is with himself through the process. Perhaps many of us have even wondered at times whether the world is worth saving. While reading this story, I wanted so badly for Henry to find some beauty in the world, to discover the peace he longed for — and the reader can’t help but empathize with him.

I’ve read a few Shaun David Hutchinson books, and as is typical, things get a lot worse for the main character before they get better — which means that things do get better for Henry once Diego enters the picture. He’s a bright light in Henry’s dark world, and I couldn’t help but love this charming, lovable character. But Diego doesn’t end up saving Henry; it’s up to Henry to save himself. So though this story is heartbreaking in places, it heartwarming in others, and ends up being a hopeful story at the end of it all.

What I also liked about this book was that though Henry was gay, he was not struggling with his homosexuality. In fact, he was quite comfortable with who he is, which I found refreshing.

Now though it might sound as though this is a grim, somewhat dark book, it’s not. It’s actually quite funny in places, so in spite of the serious subject matter, it isn’t all doom and gloom. Along with the darkness, there is light. There is levity, and there is lightheartedness, which makes the story all the more unique and likable in my opinion. This is the kind of story that will make you laugh, make you cry, make you happy and make you angry, and only a truly talented author can pull this off with the adeptness that Mr. Hutchinson does.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE

There’s not anything that I didn’t like about this story. The only thing I was a teeny-tiny bit disappointed with was the sci-fi aspect of it — or should I say the lack thereof. Going in, I thought there would be a more significant focus on the alien abductions, but they actually played only a minute role in the plot line. This wasn’t really a science fiction novel at all and once I realized that, I was fine with it. Just a warning to those who are going in expecting a science fiction story — it’s not.

FINAL VERDICT

We Are The Ants ended up being quite an emotional rollercoaster of a book, so it was a tough one to read in places, as it dealt with some serious and complex issues such as violence, bullying, self-harm, abuse, rape, dementia and more. It’s also quite evident that Henry is broken — he’s depressed, grieving for his boyfriend and keeping every traumatizing experience he’s going through bottled up inside. So in this way, a lot of heartbreaking things happen to our hero, and it becomes clear that Henry’s not just some angsty teen, but he’s going through some serious shit. As a reader, I could feel Henry’s desperation pour out of the pages and because of this, the story was quite cringe-worthy at times as it veered off into some painful places.

But in spite of the serious themes of this novel, it ends with hope, reminding us that things won’t always stay the way they are now and that we shouldn’t allow the bad things to overshadow the good. It also illustrated nicely how it’s up to us to pull ourselves up out of the darkness by making the conscious decision to let the past go and to move on.

This is a beautiful, unique and memorable book and is so worth the read, IMHO. I ended up loving it. It’s beautifully written, and it asks some super tough questions, giving the reader plenty to think about well after the last page of the story. Additionally, all the characters in this book are phenomenal: complex, multilayered with each one being relevant to the story. I can state pretty truthfully that I will without a doubt be rereading this book in the near future.

Once again, Shaun David Hutchinson hit a home run for me. This was a brilliantly written, refreshing and unputdownable novel and I give this book 5 out of 5 stars.

You can check out We Are The Ants here at Amazon or at The Book Depository.

Review of Jonny Appleseed by Joshua Whitehead

June 22, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

I’m a huge fan of Two-Spirit literature, so I was delighted with Jonny Appleseed crossed my radar.

This story follows a witty, young Native American man named Jonny Appleseed, member of the Peguis First Nation, who has left the reservation to live in the big city of Winnipeg. There, Jonny reinvents himself and runs his own business as a cybersex worker, in which he fetishizes himself via webcam to earn a living. As the story begins, Jonny has just received the news that his Stepfather Roger has passed away and he has only seven days to earn enough cash to return to the Rez for the funeral.

What follows is a brief, non-linear peak into Jonny’s life as he recalls memories of his strong, no-nonsense Kokum (his Grandmother), his mother, his homophobic stepfather, and his relationship with Tias. During the novel, we flash back and forth from Jonny’s life back on the Reservation to the present where he is working as a sex worker and maintaining his romantic yet complicated relationship with Tias, with whom he’s been friends/lovers with since childhood.

Through Jonny’s first-person narrative, we explore such issues as racism, anti-gay violence, friendship, love, loss, Native American identity, trauma, the challenges of being “Indigiqueer” (identifying as both Indigenous and queer), sexual awakening and most of all, survival.

In this way, the story is sometimes a bit harrowing and cringeworthy, while other times tender, funny and beautiful. This is a real, relevant, and eye-opening book — an intense yet beautiful story written for voices that need to be heard. Jonny Appleseed is a sincere, honest story about a person’s growth despite sometimes seemingly suffocating racism and homophobia.

I especially enjoyed the intimate passages where Jonny reflects upon his life with Tias — how they met, how they became lovers and friends, and the somewhat strange relationship they maintain in the present day. There was also plenty of laugh-out-loud humor in this story, especially revolving around Jonny and his Kokum.

Overall, I found Jonny Appleseed to be a refreshing, brilliant work that’s gorgeously expressive and poetic yet with a certain rawness to it that makes it real and relatable for the reader. I felt that the author does a superb job taking us back into the mind of our two-spirit protagonist. I also liked how the story came together in the end, with everything wrapping up nicely during the last few pages. Overall, an impactful, diverse and important book from a great author. Recommended!

Warning: Given that our protagonist earns a living as a sex worker, there are quite a few graphic descriptions of sexual situations and profanity — so more sensitive readers be warned.

You can check out Jonny Appleseed here at Amazon or at The Book Depository

Review of Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Abertalli

June 5, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

I was so excited for this book and was really looking forward to delving into the Simonverse once again.

THE STORY

So the story picks up on year after the events where Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda left off. Leah on the Offbeat is a continuation of the Creekwood series, with Simon vs. The Homo sapiens Agenda being Creekwood #1. Though it can be read as a standalone, it is advisable to read Simon first as this would help to give you a better feel for the characters. Not only that, Simon is well worth the read!

Leah and her friends are busy getting things in order for their senior year, including where to go to University. Because of this pressure of which school to go to and whether that will mean leaving a boyfriend/girlfriend behind, tensions are running high, especially once friends of hers begins to fight and her rock-solid circle of friends begins to crumble slowly.

But this novel really revolves around the fact Leah is bisexual, though she hasn’t told any of her friends, not even Simon. It’s not that Leah’s bisexuality is a big deal — she’s entirely comfortable with her sexuality.

What’s throwing her for a loop is that she’s falling hard for a girl in her circle of friends with whom she’s not even all that close. In fact, Leah seems to have deliberately kept this person at an arms distance…and now we know why.

Once Leah realizes the depth of her crush on this girl, she then has to figure out what to do: Should she pursue the girl of her heart and break her own heart in the process because Leah’s nearly 100% sure she’s straight? Or deny her feelings, keep her sights on her future and put the drama aside?

But when this girl begins flirting with Leah and throwing her all kinds of crazy mixed signals, Leah doesn’t know how to deal, fearful that she’s misinterpreting the girl’s signals. So instead of risking her heart and entering into a potentially humiliating situation, she shuts it all down. Risk averted. The question is: what it the right thing to do?

WHAT I LIKED

I felt a bit nostalgic given that this book takes place near the end of our favorite characters’ senior year. It reminded me of the uncertainty and anxiety that I felt during that time as well as the fear of losing friends and the fear of the unknown.

And that’s not even mentioning what was going to happen to those long distance relationships? Did they even stand a chance? I thought the author did an excellent job of fleshing out all these aspects and in so doing, brought back my own vivid memories of that time period in my own life.

The struggles of Leah and her friends were things most teens face, especially during their last year of high school so, in this way, the story was entirely relatable. I felt like I was back in high school (with both the good and the bad).

I thought Abertalli handled the romance aspect quite well and liked how it wasn’t hurried or rushed. The angst and drama surrounding the Leah and her crush was cute and worked for me, so that made it extra sweet when Leah and her crush finally get together; though I wish it would have occurred a bit sooner.

It was cute that Leah’s crush was seriously flirting with Leah though she refused to see any of the signs, convinced that the object of her affections is 100% hetero. Hence the angst.

I also enjoyed the banter between Leah and her crush — as well as the banter between all the other character’s as well, a lovely device I’ve noticed in all of Abertalli’s novels.

I also loved the fact that there was a road trip — I’ve already said in the past that I’m a sucker for a road trip story. While this wasn’t such a story per se, I did enjoy the trip that Leah and her crush took while they were both still trying to figure the other one out.

And of course, the “event” that occurred during the trip marked a turning point in the novel, followed by plenty of drama and just the right about of angst.

I loved that we got to see many of our favorite (and not-so-favorite) characters from the first book: Simon, Blue, Nick, Abby, Anna, Morgan, Garrett and even the dreaded Martin. We also get some sweet Simon and Blue coverage, for which I was especially grateful.

I also really loved the secondary character of Leah’s mother. She was the ultimate cool mom who possessed an extraordinary amount of patience with Leah. She was also quite funny, and her comments caused me to giggle out loud quite a few times.

What’s nice about these characters, is that though they are a lovable and fun group of people (well, maybe except for Martin), they are also flawed, which renders them all the more human and relatable. We see this is Abertalli’s other novels as well, and she always does an excellent job of pulling it off.

What especially worked for me in this book was that though this story followed a plus-sized protagonist, her weight was not the focus of the story. In fact, Leah doesn’t give a damn about what anyone thinks about her size — she is perfectly happy with her body, and she sums it up nicely when she says:

I swear, people can’t wrap their minds around the concept of a fat girl who doesn’t diet. Is it that hard to believe I might actually like my body?

So rather, this story was about those things that many teenagers have to deal with in discovering who they are in their rapidly changing world.

I also loved how comfortable Leah was with her own bisexuality, though it did confuse me why she hadn’t yet told her friends — especially the gay ones — that she was bisexual.

Maybe to her, it wasn’t something that needed explaining. It simply “was.” As with the Simon book, I feel the author does a masterful job of normalizing LGBTQ relationships and once again, I was overjoyed to see the positive portrayal of LGBTQ people.

So many LGBTQ books in the past were depressing and tragic, so it’s refreshing to read once again a story that’s uplifting and positive.

That being said, I loved the amount of diversity in this book: we had people who were bisexual, gay, straight, fat, skinny, as well as plenty of characters of color. I also loved how the one racist comment was jumped upon immediately and was not merely allowed to slide by.

And for someone who loves Harry Potter, the many Harry Potter references are always appreciated.

Okay, so now let me address the negative points.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE

Okay, so I hate to say it, but I didn’t like Leah at all. I loved her a lot in Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda but in this book, she rubbed me the wrong way.

Her overly abrasive personality got in the way of me enjoying this book, and because of it, she was for me an unsympathetic character. She was nearly always snarky, angry, negative, sarcastic, cynical, exceptionally moody, and pretty much rude to everyone around her.

It’s challenging to empathize with a character who seems so hostile to everyone and everything.

I just had a tough time connecting to Leah’s character, especially when she shuts down anytime something goes wrong, or somebody says something she doesn’t like. I found myself thinking quite a few times that she was a whiny brat.

I can’t deny it: she was pretty much a shitty person throughout the majority of the time in the book. She rarely apologized to anyone and treated her mom like absolute crap, which I found especially annoying, considering how nice her mom was to her and how she supported Leah in everything she did.

There’s a huge difference being a character being self-confident and outspoken, and a character being an asshole.

Oh, and there was also the lying, such as when she lied to Garrett about attending his game. Speaking of Garrett, I also didn’t like the way Leah strung Garret along. It was apparent that he had a massive crush on her but she never once thought of letting him down gently and telling him she wasn’t interested.

I have to admit that I also found it a bit difficult buying into the premise of the story. In Simon Vs. The Homo sapiens agenda, we are introduced to Leah, and the girl (I”ll refer to Leah’s crush as “the girl” in order not to give anything away) and they are both completely straight — Leah even confesses her crush on Simon.

Now in this book, Leah is all of a sudden bisexual, and she has a HUGE crush on the girl and supposedly has for quite some time — and the girl, who was also very straight in the last book, now suddenly has a crush on Leah. I had a difficult time buying it.

It also didn’t seem like the book at all that much of a plot — or at least not that engaging of one. There really weren’t any plot twists or surprises to mention of. It was basically thus: angry bi-girl falls for a girl whom she thinks is straight. Straight girl flirts with bi-girl. Bi-girl is mean to straight girl. Will straight girl and bi-girl get together?

VERDICT

The writing itself was excellent and engaging, and I enjoyed the angst and conflict between the characters. I also enjoyed spending time with all of my favorite characters again from the Simonverse, and there was plenty of humor and snark to keep it light and entertaining.

I laughed out loud on plenty of occasions. I also enjoyed getting inside of Leah’s head and seeing the world from her point of view.

Unfortunately, I didn’t love it as much as I hoped I would. There was no point in this book that pulled on my heartstrings at all.

I think that the change in Leah’s personality from the Simon book to this one was a little too jarring for me and I ended up, much to my surprise, somewhat disliking her character — and it’s not easy to love a book when you don’t like with the main protagonist.

Overall, while I did have some problems with Leah’s characters, I didn’t hate this book. But I didn’t love it either.

I just didn’t connect with the characters as much as I did with the first book in this series. I do love Becky Abertalli’s writing and will definitely continue to read her books in the future. In fact, I can’t wait for her collaboration with Adam Silvera (I already preordered it).

This book, however, just wasn’t quite a home run for me.

You can check out Leah on the Offbeat here at Amazon or at The Book Depository.