Hello from Spokane, Washington! I’m up here (25 1/2 hours in the car getting here… not fun, but we survived!) reunioning with Hubby’s family. I thought I’d get this off before the reunion got underway (too much; Hubby’s off playing D&D with his brothers today…) too much.

I should probably call this the fluff edition of the jacket flap-a-thon, since I don’t think I cracked open a serious book all month. (I topped it off with a trip to see Mamma Mia… let’s just say that my cup of fluff runneth over…) I think I got the fluff out of my system, though I have to admit, it was just perfect for the heat of July. (um. No pun intended there.) So… for the best flaps that fluff books have to offer:

5. The Exiles (Margaret K. McElderry Books): “Nothing ever happened in their family. The four sisters — Ruth, Naomi, Rachel, and Phoebe, ranging in age from thirteen to six — knew that they were faced with another boring summer at home when school ended in a week. They were quite unprepared for the horrid truth. They were being sent instead to spend the summer with their formidable grandmother, known as Big Grandma. Big Grandma was larger then life. She was tall and she ate a lot. She gave orders like a drill sergeant. Though she did not have a dog, the girls found cans of dog food in the kitchen. “Probably it’s for when she turns into a werewolf and hasn’t any grandchildren to chew on,” Naomi suggested. Big Grandma believed that her book-loving granddaughters were lazy and in need of fresh air and hard work. The girls had other ideas, and when every available scrap of reading material had been devoured (including the two books apiece they’d been allowed to bring from home and all of Big Grandma’s cookbooks), they set out in search of alternative entertainment. If Big Grandma thought she could reform her wayward granddaughters, she was mistaken. The adventures and misadventures of Ruth, Naomi, Rachel, and Phoebe, in exile with their Big Grandma, will make readers laugh out loud. This first novel, filled with unforgettable characterization and hilarious incident, is a truly funny book that will be read over and over with delight.”

Cute, if a bit long. Actually, there wasn’t much to work with in the book. I’m impressed that they did this well.

4. An Abundance of Katherines (Libri): “When it comes to relationships, Colin Singleton’s type is girls named Katherine. And when it comes to girls named Katherine, Colin is always getting dumped. Nineteen times, to be exact. On a road trip miles from home, this anagram-happy, washed-up child prodigy has ten thousand dollars in his pocket, a bloodthirsty feral hog on his trail, and an overweight, Judge Judy-loving best friend riding shotgun — but no Katherines. Colin is on a mission to prove The Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, which he hopes will predict the future of any relationship, avenge Dumpees everywhere, and finally win him the girl. Love, friendship, and a dead Austro-Hungarian archduke add up to surprising and heart-changing conclusions in this ingeniously layered comic novel about reinventing oneself by Printz medalist John Green, acclaimed author of Looking for Alaska.”

This captures the quirky cuteness of the book quite well. And it makes it sounds as interesting and funny as the book really is.

3. Right Ho, Jeeves (Barrie & Jenkins): “Gussie Fink-Nottle’s knowledge of the life and habits of the common newt was unparalleled throughout the county of Lincolnshire. Drop him in a pond of newts and his behavior would be exemplary, but introduce him to a girl and see him turn pink, yammer and suddenly stampede for the great open spaces. Even when Madeline Basset came into his life, he could not summon up sufficient courage to put the all-important question. Then there was Tuppy Glossop, too, whose distressing lack of tact on the subject of sharks threatened to end forever his romance with the fascinating Angela. With so many broken hearts lying about him, Bertie Wooster could not sit idly by; the happiness of a pal — two pals, in fact — was at stake and the situation called for action. But somehow, Bertie’s best laid schemes, like those of mice and men, went “aft a-gley“, and it was as well that Jeeves was ever at hand, not only to pour oil on the troubled watered of the young master’s machinations, but to give further evidence of his never-failing powers and resource. Right Ho, Jeeves is yet another example of Mr. Wodehouse’s inimitable humor.”

Wodehouse’s inimitable humor. This blurb is quite oojah-cum-spiff, if I do say so myself. Right, ho.

2. The Adoration of Jenna Fox (Henry Holt and Co): “Who is Jenna Fox? Seventeen-year-old Jenna has been told that is her name. She has just awoken from a coma, they tell her, and she is still recovering from a terrible accident in which she was involved a year ago. But what happened before that? Jenna doesn’t remember her life. Or does she? And are the memories really hers? This fascinating novel represents a stunning new direction for acclaimed author Mary Pearson. Set in a near future America, it takes readers on an unforgettable journey through questions of bio-medical ethics and the nature of humanity. Mary Pearson’s vividly drawn characters and masterful writing soar to a new level of sophistication.”

I found this one to be intriguing and enticing with just enough of the plot to make me want to read more.

1. The Juliet Club (Greenwillow): “Italy . . . Shakespeare . . . but no romance? Kate Sanderson inherited her good sense from her mother, a disciplined law professor, and her admiration for the Bard from her father, a passionate Shakespeare scholar. When she gets dumped, out of the blue, for the Practically Perfect Ashley Lawson, she vows never to fall in love again. From now on she will control her own destiny, and every decision she makes will be highly reasoned and rational. She thinks Shakespeare would have approved. So when she is accepted to a summer Shakespeare symposium in Verona, Italy, Kate sees it as the ideal way to get over her heartbreak once and for all. She’ll lose herself in her studies, explore ancient architecture, and eat plenty of pasta and gelato. (Plus, she’ll be getting college credit for it—another goal accomplished!) But can even completely logical Kate resist the romance of living in a beautiful villa in the city where those star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet met and died for each other? Especially when the other Shakespeare Scholars—in particular Giacomo, with his tousled brown hair, expressive dark eyes, and charming ways—try hard to break her protective shell? ‘In fair Verona, where we lay our scene . . . ‘”

Oh, this one is just perfect. Completely had me wanting to read the book. Which totally lived up to the flap.

And the one worst:
Actually there are two this month, and both for the same reason. I’ve harped on it before… there are two things I hate about blurbs: using something that doesn’t come until the end of the book, and placing too much emphasis on the beginning. Both of these are the latter. They’re not bad; they just put undue emphasis on the first few chapters of the book, skewing the reader’s perceptions of the plot. Not good.

13 Little Blue Envelopes (HarperTempest): “Inside little blue envelope 1 are $1,000 and instructions to buy a plane ticket. In envelope 2 are directions to a specific London flat. The note in envelope 3 tells Ginny: Find a starving artist. Because of envelope 4, Ginny and a playwright/thief/bloke-about-town called Keith go to Scotland together, with somewhat disastrous — though utterly romantic — results. But will she ever see him again? Everything about Ginny will change this summer, and it’s all because of the 13 little blue envelopes.”

The Exiles in Love (Aladdin Paperback): “Romantic love enters the lives of the four Conroy sisters when Ruth develops a crush on the school bus driver. Next she finds herself pining for Mr. Rochester in Jane Eyre, smitten with the Temporary English teacher (to whom sister Naomi is attracted as well), and infatuated with Aland Adair from the butcher’s shop. Meanwhile, the younger girls have other things on their minds as Rachel longs to become May Queen and Phoebe practices to become an international spy. But when Big Grandma arranges for Philippe, a French boy, to stay with the Conroys, will all the girls fall head over heels for his charms?”