Review: Circle of Silence by Carol M. Tanzman

Title: Circle of Silence (WiHi #2)
Author: Carol M. Tanzman
Publisher: HarlequinTeen
Release date: July 24th 2012
Pages: 304
Genre: Contemporary YA; mystery
Source: NetGalley
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It’s my turn to run a Campus News crew, and I’ve put together a team that can break stories wide open. And Washington Irving High has a truly great one to cover, if only we can find a lead.
A secret society has formed in our school. It announced its presence with pranks: underwear on the flag pole, a toilet in the hallway, cryptic notes. A circle of silence keeps the society a mystery. No one knows its members, agenda, or initiation secrets—until a student lands in the hospital under strange circumstances.
I will blow this story wide open and stop others from being hurt…or worse. And while my ex, Jagger, might want to help, I don’t trust him yet. (And, no, not because of our past together. That is not important to this story.)
But whether you find me, Valerie Gaines, reporting in front of the camera, or a victim in the top story of the newscast…be sure to watch Campus News at 9:00 a.m. this Friday morning.

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I really enjoyed dancergirl, so I was very excited for this one. (Cirlce of Silence is the companion to dancergirl - have I mentioned lately that I love companion novels?) Circle of Silence started kind of slow for me, but the rest of the book is just as great as dancergirl!

What I loved most about dancergirl was the creepy atmosphere, so I was a little disappointed to see that lacking in the first half of Circle of Silence. It just didn't seem as menacing and dangerous as dancergirl did - MP (the secret society) plays a few pranks, but it wasn't as big a deal as the stalker in dancergirl, in my opinion. But later on, Circle of Silence definitely brought the creepy! The MP stuff starts out small, but towards the end of the book, their pranks turn serious. And I got that feeling I loved about dancergirl again - I was thoroughly creeped out and needed to know who the bad guys are. The suspense and the mystery are great, just like in dancergirl!

I loved all the stuff about reporting in Circle of Silence! Often, in mysteries, I don't get why the MC would even care, or why they'd try to figure out what happened, because well, I wouldn't try to figure out anything - I'd keep my distance and focus on staying safe myself, to be honest. But in Circle of Silence, it makes sense - Val and her team are looking for a story, so of course they'd try to figure it out. And I just loved reading all the stuff about filming and reporting and working on a news broadcast. Don't worry if you're not interested in that - it doesn't get too technical - but there are just enough details to have me fascinated by how all of it works.

The characters are pretty good. I liked Val - she's focused and driven, but still very relatable. Her best friend is a cool character, and there's a nice romance story in there too, even though I would have liked these two characters' past to be elaborated on more.

I was kind of disappointed by the ending. I'd figured out the biggest twist beforehand, so that took a lot from it. And the very optimistic ending bugged me a little... I feel bad for saying it, but I don't want the characters to be happy for the price of the ending being unrealistic! I just think everything wrapped up a little too nicely at the end.

Circle of Silence didn't blow me away, but it's definitely a book I enjoyed reading, even if I didn't like it quite as much as dancergirl. It's a good mystery that never takes itself too seriously and perfectly balances the creepy suspense with some fun minor storylines.

Review: dancergirl by Carol M. Tanzman

Title: dancergirl
Author: Carol M. Tanzman
Publisher: HarlequinTeen
Pages: 248
Release date: November 15th 2011
Genre: Contemporary YA
Source: NetGalley - thank you to HarlequinTeen and NetGalley for providing a free eGalley of this book!
Find out more: Amazon ; Goodreads

Goodreads description:

Ever feel like someone's watching you? Me, too. But lately it's been happening in my room.When I'm alone.
A friend posted a video of me dancing online, and now I'm no longer Alicia Ruffino. I'm dancergirl. And suddenly it's like me against the world—everyone's got opinions.
My admirers want more, the haters hate, my best friend Jacy—even he's acting weird. And some stalker isn't content to just watch anymore.
Ali. Dancergirl. Whatever you know me as, however you've seen me online, I've trained my whole life to be the best dancer I can be. But if someone watching has their way, I could lose way more than just my love of dancing. I could lose my life.

First sentence:

You know the feeling you get when you're on the subway.

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I'd heard basically nothing about this book before I got it on NetGalley, so I didn't have all that high expectations. The description sounds okay, but not the kind of book I'd go out of my way for. However, I ended up really enjoying dancergirl - I loved the mystery and the characters!

I have no idea why I don't read mysteries more often - I love the suspense and guessing who did, and they're always so much fun, but I just never seem to read them. Anyways, I really liked the mystery aspect of dancergirl. It had me guessing the entire time - I changed my mind about who the stalker is loads of times, but I still didn't get it right. The creepy atmosphere is really well-done - I felt like someone was watching me, just like Ali feels, and the whole thing creeped me out, in a good way.

I loved Ali's characer. She's easy to relate to, even though we're not that similar, and I kept wanting to protect her from the creepy stalker. I really liked reading about her dancing - I'm the clumsiest person ever and my dancing is a disaster, but I still love watching others dance and, in turn, love reading about dance. It felt like the author knew what she was talking about, but it wasn't hard to understand for someone like me, who knows almost nothing about dance. I also liked that Ali is latino, without that being addressed as an important issues - I love when diversity is a part of the book without making a huge deal out of it. The only thing I didn't get is why Ali let Charlie upload those videos of her dancing at a party in the first place - how could she have possibly thought that's a good idea? I don't think it's realistic that that could have helped her dancing career, and it just put her in unnecessary danger. But other than that, Ali's character is easy to relate to and feel for.

Most of the secondary characters are good. Jacy is adorable, and I loved reading about Ali and Jacy's relationship. Sam and Charlie are interesting characters, too, and all of them are well-developed. I liked that each of them has their own problems, but they all still help Ali out. I love reading about healthy friendships in YA. The only characters I think fall flat are Ali's two best girlfriends. They don't seem to have their own persoanilities, and I had trouble telling one from the other, even though they play pretty important roles in the story.

All in all, this is a great read. I especially recommend it if you like strong mystery-storylines, since that's probably what I enjoyed most about dancergirl. I will definitely be reading the sequel/companion novel, Circle of Silence!