Waiting on Wednesday: Don't Ever Change

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine.

Eva has always wanted to write a modern classic—one that actually appeals to her generation. The only problem is that she has realized she can't "write what she knows" because she hasn't yet begun to live. So before heading off to college, Eva is determined to get a life worth writing about.

Soon Eva's life encounters a few unexpected plot twists. She becomes a counselor at a nearby summer camp—a job she is completely unqualified for. She starts growing apart from her best friends before they've even left for school. And most surprising of all, she begins to fall for the last guy she would have ever imagined. But no matter the roadblocks, or writer's blocks, it is all up to Eva to figure out how she wants this chapter in her story to end.

Perfect for fans of E. Lockhart, David Levithan, and Rainbow Rowell, Don't Ever Change is a witty, snarky, and thought-provoking coming-of-age young adult novel about a teen who sets out to write better fiction and, ultimately, discovers the truth about herself. 

~*~

Release Date July, 7 2015 

Despite the fact that I should have already discovered myself (I'm in my late 20's for goodness sake) I'm still trying to get a handle on everything.

Review: Breaking the Rules by Katie McGarry

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Publication Date: December 8, 2014

Rating: 4/5

A summer road trip changes everything in this unforgettable new tale from acclaimed author Katie McGarry

For new high school graduate Echo Emerson, a summer road trip out west with her boyfriend means getting away and forgetting what makes her so... different. It means seeing cool sights while selling her art at galleries along the way. And most of all, it means almost three months alone with Noah Hutchins, the hot, smart, soul-battered guy who’s never judged her. Echo and Noah share everything — except the one thing Echo’s just not ready for.

But when the source of Echo’s constant nightmares comes back into her life, she has to make some tough decisions about what she really wants — even as foster kid Noah’s search for his last remaining relatives forces them both to confront some serious truths about life, love, and themselves.

Now, with one week left before college orientation, jobs and real life, Echo must decide if Noah's more than the bad-boy fling everyone warned her he'd be. And the last leg of an amazing road trip will turn... seriously epic. (Goodreads)

 

This book picks up where Pushing the Limit ends and man oh man and I so glad that I stumbled across this book, I didn't even know existed. So we know from the first book that Noah and Echo were pretty messed up, they both had some serious emotional baggage, and they were using the summer trip as a new beginning. Echo was going to try to sell some of her paintings, and Noah was going to be by her side every step of the way. However, during the last week of the trip everything starts to fall apart. Noah finds out that apparently he has living family members, and Echo's mom shows up. There were some parts of the book where I was literally tugging at my hair. Noah has so little confidence in his self worth that he spend most of the book sabotaging their relationship and Echo... there was so much going on there I don't know where to start. We saw some of Echo's mom at the end of the first book, and Echo does have her memories back of the fatal night, but that doesn't mean that their relationship is anywhere near functional.

I loved the same thing about this book that I loved about the last one. Echo and Noah are real people (well you know, sort of). This book shows us, that just because book one ended, doesn't mean that their lives were perfect. There were still problems, they still had issues to work out with each other and within themselves. It sounds cheesy, but more more cheesy than thinking someone can lose their parents in a house fire, or being attacked and almost killed by your bipolar mother while your father's on a date with the babysitter. Noah and Echo were bound to still have a ton of problems after the last page of “Pushing the Limits” and I'm so glad that we were able to experience it.

Chasing Wishes by Nadia Simonenko- Review

 

"I wish I didn't have to go home. I wish I was someone else—someone with a future..."

For sixteen-year-old Nina Torres, it feels as if life is nothing but a dead end. Despised by her rich classmates and afraid that she'll become just like her drug-addicted mother, Nina's future seems to get dimmer every day.

There is one bright spot in her life though...

Sitting beside her one night, the only person in the world who cares about her makes a promise. No matter what happens—no matter how much Isaac's wealthy family disapproves—he and his girlfriend Nina will be together forever.

Fate plays a cruel trick on Nina, though, and a visit from Child Protective Services the next morning turns Nina Torres into Irene Hartley, a woman with a future but who will never see her beloved Isaac again.

Nine years later, a blind and incredibly handsome young entrepreneur hires Irene to be his personal assistant. Terrence Radcliffe reminds her so much of Isaac that she can hardly believe her eyes, and she's falling for him fast. Irene knows that fairy tales don't come true, but she allows herself one last wish. She wishes that she could finally say goodbye to Isaac and let herself take a chance on Terrence.

What she doesn't know is that Terrence is also searching for someone: a shooting star who streaked through his life nine years ago, and he won't give up until he finds her...

Chasing Wishes is a powerful contemporary tale of lost love and wishes come true, recommended for ages 17+ due to adult content. (goodreads.com)

So this is my first New Adult book review and I have to say it was a pretty good book. Let me start by prefacing that most of this book takes place in the area that I grew up in so when they reference Christopher's bar and Sailor's that was literally right up my alley, so that was pretty cool (although I'm pretty sure there was mention of a restaurant that doesn't actually exist there).

I'm a big fan of the characters that Simonenko has created for us. Nina, is from the wrong side of the tracks and her life is just... horrible. Her mother is a drug addict and a prostitute, and sometimes operates in her home with Nina trapped in her room with no choice but to listen. Her classmates and teachers not only hate her because of her lack of wealth, they also trow racial slurs around like it's nothing. Isaac is the only person in the school who treats her with any respect or decency. It's enough to break someones heart.

My favorite part of getting to know these characters was the way Simonenko went about connect us to them. She didn't just say "Nina was poor and her mom was a drug addict" she gave us flashbacks, lets us live Nina's past with her, it made all the difference.

I only had one little hiccup, and I can't say it without spoiling a little bit so I'm just going to do it. I looked at a picture of me from when I was sixteen, and I looked at a picture of me now. I can't quite buy that she didn't know that Terrence was Isaac. In mu opinion as soon as she found out that he had only be blind for five years she should have put it together. It also bother me (just a tiny but) that Isaac/ Terrence would constantly listen to the tape of Nina/ Irene's voice and not realize who she was, but I understood that a little more. In his mind she was blonde because when she was first described to him she was wearing a blond wig. However when he found out that she was Latino, he connected all of the dots. I just feel like Nina/ Irene should have figure it out sooner. Other than that this was a pretty good story.

I give it 3.75 stars.

Roomies by Sara Zarr & Tara Altebrando- Review

When East Coast native Elizabeth receives her freshman-year roommate assignment, she shoots off an e-mail to coordinate the basics: television, microwave, mini-fridge. That first note to San Franciscan Lauren sparks a series of e-mails that alters the landscape of each girl's summer -- and raises questions about how two girls who are so different will ever share a dorm room.

As the countdown to college begins, life at home becomes increasingly complex. With family relationships and childhood friendships strained by change, it suddenly seems that the only people Elizabeth and Lauren can rely on are the complicated new boys in their lives . . . and each other. Even though they've never met.

National Book Award finalist Sara Zarr and acclaimed author Tara Altebrando join forces for a novel about growing up, leaving home, and getting that one fateful e-mail that assigns your college roommate. (goodreads.com)
 
I was very surprised with this book, I was expecting something like Fangirl. I was prepared to read about two girls in their first year of college getting acclimated to the freedom, and new people, and class load... you know, all that stuff that we've all been through. I was so shocked when it finally occurred to me that most of this book was about Lauren and EB's lives the summer before college and the e-mail exchanges between them. My roommate and I pretty much stopped after we figured out who was going to bring the TV and who was going to bring the fridge (I was the fridge). I love that Lauren and EB sort of became each others confidants, we all know that it's easier to tell something to a complete stranger that the people closest to you.

There was so much character development in this book! It was so intense! Without giving too much away these girls really learn a lot their last summer home before college, it's amazing how over a three month period you can learn more about yourself and your wants, than in the four years of high school.

I don't feel like I can say anymore without spoiling, I'll just announce that I'm going to dub this my first 5 stars book of the year. I was pleasantly surprised, this book had a lot going for it.

Teaser Tuesday #1

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two teaser sentences from somewhere on that page.
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
•  Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR list if they like your teasers!

 My Teaser

"I'm suddenly filled with an urgent need to see her, as if this will answer all my uncertainties about her as a person, roommate, and potential friend. And I could send a picture of me."

Pg. 129, Roomies by Sara Zarr & Tara Altebrando

 

Young Adult (YA) vs. New Adult (NA)

Not long ago a publisher friend of mine told me about a new genre called New Adult. The genre was full of books that were mostly self published and were geared toward people from about 18 to 29 (I'm not sure if those are the exact ages but you see where I'm going with this). The New Adult genre was suppose to incorporate things like college life, finding a job that would actually allow you to support yourself, standing on your own two feet and stepping into the world, and yes adult romance.

I read this article on Horn Book that compared YA and NA books. I'll let you read the article yourself but I have to say that as a 26 year old living in the "real world" there should be books geared toward my age group. At the age of 26 (there are exceptions) college life is behind you, high school is a fading memory, and life, bills, relationships, and friends, have bombarded your life and it may be hard to deal with. It's one thing to go to college and live on your own and make your own rules and experience life for what feels like the first time. However, where you're living in an apartment, that you can hardly afford and trying to figure out what bills you'll be able to pay that month, your singing a very different tune.

Teens are almost always forgotten in the library world, they are so easy to over looks because it is hard for us to understand them and remember what it was like at their age. I think the same can be said for this NA age group. I'm not married, I have never been married, I don't have kids, I don't have a house, I'm in the beginning of my career, and finances are frustrating. I want to read about characters like me. I don't want to read about a 30 something mother of two, recently divorced and experiencing a midlife crisis, because I haven't reached that point in my life yet (okay I'll read about that, but I can't relate). There is a very real difference between the life of a 17 year old high school student, the life of a 21 year old college student, the life of a 26 year old young professional,and the life of a 32 year old parent. I think literature should try to reach out and connect with all age groups.

The best quote that I can pull from the article is this one “the heart of YA is the coming-of-age story about a teen’s first step towards deciding who they are and what they want to become. The coming-of-age story in New Adult is about actually becoming that person. Or not, as the case may be.” In my opinion it says it all.

There are articles out there that don't like the term New Adult and what it may or may not signify. I must say I agree that sometimes labeling books can cause more harm than good, but in a world (library world) were books have to fall into some sort of category just so we'll know what shelf to put them on, I think it's unavoidable. Is it right to try to force everything into a label, no, is it necessary for my job, yes. I just really, truly, wholeheartedly think that it's time we think about those of us in our mid 20s. It seems that many of the books that fall under the NA category are romance but there's nothing wrong with that (and I'm not even a huge romance fan, I'm partial to action myself, with some romance thrown in), romance and relationships play a vital part in our lives. The end. Case and point. I don't understand why it's so looked down upon.

As for the fact that NA reads like YA except with bolder sex scene's I have this to say, sexual exploration is a fact of life, and it actually may be considered an important fact of life, in this country sex it still a very taboo subject that makes a lot of people uncomfortable, and I think that's a problem. Romantic relationships are a very important aspect of NA life, it's during that time that we are not only finding our way career wise, but it may be during your mid 20's that you find the person that you walk down the isle toward. Call it silly or dramatic if you want to but that's how I feel and I can't change it.

Below are a few links, 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lauren-sarner/the-problem-with-new-adul_b_3755165.html 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/books/2013/04/15/new-adult-genre-is-the-hottest-category-in-book-publishing/2022707/