Kay HoneymanReviews

I don't know why, but it took me a long time to get into this. Maybe I just had too high of expectations or maybe not.
The main character is super pushy when she does what she believes is right and that grated on me for awhile. However, I did get used to it as the book progressed.
I also want to note that I appreciated how the author made this book about politics without making it political if you know what I mean.

Content: kissing, very few scattered uses of language

3 Stars

This book surprised me. I was very hesitant when I heard about it, initially- debut book by a white author about Chinese American history, written while she was between adopting Chinese children? Could be well-intentioned, but I'm wary of my history being used as a prop. Fortunately, Kay Honeyman did her homework and writes an accurate depiction of what Angel Island detainment was like.

It doesn't surprise me but always disappoints that it seems like most Americans are way more aware of Ellis Island than Angel, and though both stations were gateways for immigrants, Angel Island also served as detainment for undesirables. Fire Horse Girl is set in 1923, which is approximately the same time my great-grandmother arrived in the United States. My great-grandma was luckily one of the few hundreds of women who legally arrived as the wife of a merchant (the only exception to the Chinese Exclusion Act- merchants who owned businesses) with a child in tow. FHG's protagonist Jade Moon isn't as lucky, and with a betrayal twist in the first third is forced to disguise herself as a boy to make it onshore to the main land. There's some time skipping, and I do sort of wish we had some interstitial peeks through that (seriously, how did she handle periods while disguised? That's detail we should maybe know...)

My biggest pet peeve to be honest was how some character's names were translated into their meanings (Jade Moon, Sterling Promise, Spring Blossom), but others weren't (Jade Moon's father, Chan Jan Wei, though I will note Honeyman did maintain generational name structure by having his brother share the Jan part- if you didn't know already, Chinese clans have generational poems, where everyone born in the same generation shares the next character of the poem, so my cousins, sibling and I all have the same first part of our Chinese names).

It does feel a little assigned-reading-in-school in terms of getting history to the reader, but it's action-y enough YA that it'll do.

FROM AMAZON: Jade Moon is a Fire Horse -- the worst sign in the Chinese zodiac for girls, said to make them stubborn, willful, and far too imaginative. But while her family despairs of marrying her off, she has a passionate heart and powerful dreams, and wants only to find a way to make them come true.Then a young man named Sterling Promise offers Jade Moon and her father a chance to go to America. While Sterling Promise's smooth manners couldn't be more different from her impulsive nature, Jade Moon falls in love with him on the long voyage. But America in 1923 doesn't want many Chinese immigrants, and when they are detained at Angel Island, the "Ellis Island of the West," she discovers a betrayal that destroys all her dreams. To get into America, much less survive there, Jade Moon will have to use all her stubbornness and will to break a new path... one so brave and dangerous, only a Fire Horse girl could imagine it.

FROM SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: Jade Moon, 16, was born in the year of the Fire Horse, a cursed year for girls. She is too bold, too brash, too stubborn, and is told she will bring nothing but sorrow and bad luck to her family. When a stranger named Sterling Promise shows up at her home in China carrying papers to America with her dead uncle's picture, a plan is hatched for Jade Moon, her father, and Sterling Promise to journey to a new country. The long voyage ends with Jade Moon being forced to spend desperate months on Angel Island waiting to be approved to enter California. However, when the headstrong girl realizes that her father and Sterling Promise are using her for their own ends, she sets out on her own. The action picks up when she cuts off her hair, disguises herself as a boy, and ends up working as hired muscle for one of the tongs in San Francisco's Chinatown. Her time working for them infuses the story with a classic 1920s gangster flavor, a refreshing twist on the Chinese immigration story. While some aspects force readers to suspend disbelief (e.g., the fact that Jade Moon is immediately installed in the house of the head of the tong and that she is able to hide her gender for so long), the action and Jade Moon's unbreakable spirit will win them over.-Jennifer Rothschild, Arlington County Public Libraries, VA

The book is quite interesting to read, though there are parts that you might need to pause to put all the pieces together, but other than that it is quite the thrilling book to read, filled with scenario after scenario, each one better than the last. One thing I hate about the characters within the book is simple. Many simply use the main character and force her into situations she hates, and not one person seems to care, yet when there placed in a difficult position they claim to be trying to 'help her', when in reality they use her. Great book, would recommend and I quite like the the books plots and history research and accuracy.

Eager for adventure, a quick-witted, stubborn teenage girl moves from China to California with her father in 1923. She faces numerous challenges, including detention at Angel Island, betrayal, and the loss of her family

If you try to fix things when you're a congressman's daughter, beware. Every move, every action and every facial expression is capable of backfiring. This is how we find Kate at the beginning of this story. She's been whisked from DC to Red Dirt, Texas after her well intentioned attempt to fix things at her private school backfires and her father loses his bid for re-election. Fortunately, or unfortunately, both of them get the opportunity for a do-over in Texas, the place where her dad was a star high school quarterback. Kate's initially a fish out of water, but her attempts to fix things in her new school and town keep backfiring...Until they don't. Following her as this happens makes for a quick and very satisfying read.

I am a huge Jane Austen fan and when I heard this pitched as Emma meets Friday Night Lights I knew I had to read it. It didn’t disappoint. I loved Kate even if she always thought she was right she had good intentions and was so kind, caring, and strong. She is moved back to her father’s home town with her parents after causing a scandal that hurt his political career. At least that was their story for moving Kate there. Turns out it has just as much to do with her as her father wanting to run for Red Dirt congressional seat. I adored the romance between Kate and Hunter. They were so cute together and I loved their banter. Hunter is a swoon-worthy hero and the perfect Mr.Knightly. I loved that this book had a main character who is a photographer because I love photography. I also really liked how the book showed both the good and bad side of politics. I really love books in small towns because I am from one and it always brings back all the memories and the author wrote small-town life perfectly. The writing and plot were great. I really needed a fun contemporary novel and this book delivered. I highly recommend this book for football fans, Emma fans, and people who just love a good small-town story.
Rating: 5 stars

The inside flap of this book describes it as Emma meets Friday Night Lights, placing unfairly high expectations on it. Interference does entertain, just not quite to the lofty degree of those two titles.

After scandals for both father and daughter, Kate and her parents head to her father’s small Texas home town purportedly to lay low for a while, however, their plans quickly change when her dad gets embroiled in a local election and Kate gets embroiled in high school.

Since this is a contemporary re-telling of Jane Austen’s Emma, Kate shares that literary heroine’s power to frustrate, consistently acting before she thinks anything all the way through, be it with matchmaking or revenge schemes. Kate has good intentions for the most part, so it’s not that she’s unlikable, it just gets a bit old when nearly every action she takes blows up in her face and unlike the reader, she seemingly never sees it coming.

While Interference does a solid job of touching on many of Emma’s plot points, it would have been interesting to see Kate’s dad be more of a fussbudget like Emma’s father in the original (he is uptight about how their family is perceived for his political career but not as extreme about health, diet, etc.) and I wasn’t clear on who, if anyone represented Miss Bates, admittedly, those are both somewhat annoying characters in Emma, but they’re also sources of humor which it might have been fun to have more of throughout this book.

As for the Friday Night lights comparison, the entire town is crazy about football, there’s QB drama, and a few scenes of on-field action, however with the entire story told from Kate’s point of view - a non football fan who isn’t all that invested - it never quite captures the whole clear eyes, full hearts feeling.

I would have loved to see the familial relationships explored further than they were, to have them take precedence over the politics, the romance, Kate’s machinations, etc., still, whenever the focus did shift to Kate with her dad, Hunter with his mom, or Kyle with his dad, those brief moments were when I found myself most emotionally engaged with the book, and they’re why I would try more from this author.

Classic YA Romance. There is nothing that makes this book stand out; however, the story is good and characters are vivid.

YA FICTION
Kay Honeyman
Interference
Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic
Hardcover, 978-0-5458-1232-0 (also available as an e-book, and on Audible), 352 pgs., $17.99
September 27, 2016

Kate Hamilton and her parents have returned to her father’s roots in the fictional town of Red Dirt, Texas (“the hairy, dry big toe of the earth”), in the aftermath of a political scandal that was kinda sorta Kate’s fault, culminating in her father’s dropping out of a re-election campaign for his congressional seat in the Hamiltons’ adopted North Carolina.

Culture shock ensues as sophisticated, politically savvy, sixteen-year-old Kate works on transitioning from Washington, D.C., to a rural West Texas high school (“You [Kate] took a class called Ethics of Science. I’m not really sure what that is, but since you had credit for biology, physics, and chemistry, I put you in Agricultural Sciences”) in the middle of high school football playoffs (where Kate discovers the joys of Frito pie). When her father decides to challenge his former high-school teammate for Red Dirt’s congressional seat in a special election, all the old stresses return. After several false starts, Kate learns that interference earns you a penalty in life, as well as on the football field, even if you’re trying to help.

Interference is Kay Honeyman’s second young-adult fiction title. Kate’s first-person narrative of a coming-of-age-as-a-fish-out-of-water story should be required reading for politicians with teenagers. Slip it in with their briefing books. There is more to Interference than first meets the eye.

The characters are evenly divided between stereotypical and complex. Kate is particularly interesting. Confident, smart, dedicated, and talented, she’s also frequently a presumptuous busybody, forever practicing political spin on everyone in her path, especially driven to level the field when she uncovers inequity. Kate has a good heart, but she’s convinced she can fix anyone and any situation—a “win-win,” in her family’s political parlance. The character and relationship development afforded Kate and her father are particularly affective.

Interference is equal parts comedy and drama, befitting teenagers. Honeyman excels at dialogue. A conversation between Kate and a friend:

“People change. Not everyone is determined to be a complete jerk their entire life.”
“I think you underestimate Kyle’s commitment.”

Instructions from a campaign manager to her volunteers:

“Stick to the phone script, people,” India said in the living room. “I want to know what they think of the candidates, not what happened at the eye doctor.”
“How is Gladys?” someone called out.

There are clever metaphors in science class (“Ants are more powerful as a group than individually. They create whole empires with collective will”), and Kate’s love of photography (“The darkroom at my old school had been my sanctuary. It was easy to control. You timed every step. There were no politics, no power plays. Everything was black and white, light and dark”). Honeyman has a just-right, light touch when things get heavy.

Interference has a well-constructed plot, moving along quickly and steadily, packing several nice twists. City kid moves to hick town is a familiar, comfortable scenario, but Honeyman’s tale feels fresh thanks to her engaging characters, and timely thanks to the political themes. It’s a win-win.

Originally published in Lone Star Literary Life.½

Kate Hamilton has spent her life walking a tightrope, as she has had to make sure to never bring scandal on the family name because her father is a politician. When he falls behind in the polls because of something her ex boyfriend did to humiliate her, he take Kate and her mother out of D.C. to spend a few months in his Texas hometown to regroup.

In her quest to get a recommendation to art school to study photography and escape politics forever, Kate winds up volunteering at her aunt’s animal shelter where she meets annoying Hunter, the handsome ex-football player. Joining the yearbook staff to use their darkroom introduces her to handsome Kyle, star quarterback, and shy Ana. With football ruling the school, and politics ruling her home, it’s only a matter of time before football and politics lead Kate into making decisions she’ll soon regret.

Recommended for ages 12-17.

Book review link: https://shouldireaditornot.wordpress.com/2016/11/26/interference-kay-honeyman/

Excellent book with lots of action and strong female character.

Inoffensive but bland. Two and a half stars

Wow. I read this book straight through for 6 hours. It was so packed with emotions and actions and wisdom, and was so compelling that I just couldn't put it down.

Being a horse myself and Chinese descent, I relate to Jade Moon, ALOT. I too, have overactive dreams and is stubborn as hell. What she did was indeed very bold and brave. Its really too bad that she's not a real person! >_

finding your own story!

‘Year of the Fire Horse’ persons demonstrate the worst features of horses—their temper, stubbornness and selfishness. Jade moon is born under the sign of the Fire Horse. Her personality apparently aligns with her zodiac sign. Jade Moon’s story is told in a strong voice chronicling the arrival of a Chinese young woman’s journey and life to San Francisco in the early 1920’s.
Conditions at Angel Island, San Francisco’s Chinatown, the influence of the tongs, prostitution and slavery, and gambling are part of this engrossing story.
The fight that ordinary people faced in the extraordinary situation of being an immigrant, particularly Chinese, in the 1920's is insightful.
This is a novel of hope for a girl who was a challenge to herself, and to those around her, and how the astrological aspects that she was burdened with became her greatest virtues.
‘I hope you will find your own story’ Nushi says to Jade Moon as she leaves her village in China.
The story brings with it an underlying commentary on the historically place of women within the Chinese family, historical US Immigration policies and the treatment of aliens and social attitudes towards those who are different.
An excellent read.


A NetGalley ARC½

The theme that persistence is required for seeking your dreams of freedom, as the flip side of stubbornness is disobedience, was done well, so gave it 3 stars instead of the contemplated 2. The Fire Horse Girl has a very slow wind up to the pitch, and the finish is rushed.

Stong girl character, Jade Moon, who is considered unlucky because she was born in the year if the horse under the sign of fire in rural China during the ealry 1900s. She has an opportunity to go to America with a "paper son" & her father, where she hopes to find freedom & her true self. Immigration to America was a long process for Chinese - spending months in confinement on Angel Island. True to her fire horse sign, Jade Moon escapes the island dressed as a boy & immediately falls into the hands of a tong. Will her fire horse personality help her or hinder her? Does she find her dream of freedom in America?½

I almost passed on reading and reviewing The Fire Horse Girl by Kay Honeyman. What sold me is that this is in some ways a personal story for the author, who has adopted two Chinese children. I’m so glad I decided to give it a chance. Although it is written for a YA audience, The Fire Horse Girl transcends age. If you like historical novels about other cultures and a realistic story about immigrants coming to America then read the rest of my review at http://popcornreads.com/?p=5483.

I really wanted to like this book - it's historical fiction dealing with an incident I knew nothing about (detainment of Asian immigrants at Angel Island) and features a strong and feisty heroine. But the pacing was off for me and I kept putting it down during the slow bits and then not wanting to pick it back up.