Review: P.S. I Like You by Kasie West

Publisher: Pointe
Publication Date: July 26, 2016
Rating: 4 stars

While spacing out in Chemistry class, Lily scribbles some of her favorite song lyrics onto her desk. The next day, she finds that someone has continued the lyrics on the desk, and added a message to her. Intrigue! 

Soon, Lily and her anonymous pen pal are exchanging full-on letters -- sharing secrets, recommending bands, and opening up to each other. Lily realizes she's kind of falling for this letter writer. Only who is he? As Lily attempts to unravel the mystery, and juggle school, friends, crushes, and her crazy family, she discovers that matters of the heart can't always be spelled out... 

Well, I have to say, the title of this book alone would have been enough to send me packing if I hadn't read the description first. I'm a closet romantic. I love romance novels, although I would prefer some kind of plot, like running for you lives, or solving some kind of mystery. That being said, something about this idea of this book really got to me. Misunderstood girl writes song lyrics on her desk, only to have someone else complete them. Who doesn't want that to happen in real life. Secretly, everyone wants that to happen. So characters:

Lily: Our main character. I wouldn't say she's a hipster, more like hipster adjacent. She does her own thing, and while I can't say that she doesn't care what other people think (because she is a teenager, they all care), she's willing to march to the beat of her own drummer regardless of others. She wants to be a song write, but has crazy writers block. That is... until she starts her pen pal excursions with the someone at her school. I decided that I liked Lily when I saw how she interacted with her family. I have younger siblings. My sister and I are 12 years a part, I know what it's like to have them burst in your room, interrupt your time with your friends, having to constantly babysit. It's exhausting, and let me tell you, Lily handled it waaaaay better than I did. She was a great sister, a great daughter, and a pretty good best friend. Also, props to creating an amazing and vivid family dynamic. I loved reading about them.

Cade: The mortal enemy. While this was Lily's story, and it was sweet. I feel like I wish there was more interaction between Cade and Lily. We saw Thanksgiving, that car ride, a few hallway moments, and the pool. but I don't know... I think I needed a little more. SPOILER ALTER IF YOU COULDN'T FIGURE IT OUT IN THE FIRST THREE CHAPTERS We learn a lot about Cade from his letter, but I feel like we didn't really get to see it. There was a slight disconnect.

It was obvious to me from the beginning that Cade was the person writing ti Lily, but as I always say when it comes to book, it's not always the ending, it's the journey. I liked it.

Review: The Lost Marble Notebook of Forgotten Girl & Random Boy

Publisher:Sky Pony Press
Publication Date: April 7, 2015
Rating: 5 Stars

If I let you read mine, will you let me read yours?

Forgotten Girl, a fifteen-year-old poet, is going through the most difficult time of her life—the breakup of her parents, and her mom’s resulting depression—when she meets Random Boy, a hot guy who, like her, feels like an outcast and secretly writes poetry to deal with everything going on in his life.

In The Lost Marble Notebook of Forgotten Girl & Random Boy, the couple’s poems come together to tell their unique love story. The two nameless teenagers come from opposite sides of the tracks, yet they find understanding in each other when they lay bare their life stories through the poetry they write and share with each other.

Through verse, they document the power of first kisses, the joy of finally having someone on their side, the devastation of jealousy, and the heartbreaking sadness of what each of them is simultaneously dealing with at home and hiding from the world. Finally they have someone to tell and somewhere to tell it in their marble notebook.

This is the powerful story of two imperfect teens in first love who find solace in poetry.(Goodreads)
 
This is a fantastic book. The book is written in pros, which really suites the content. This was a tough book to read, not because it wasn't great, but the content became dark toward the end and pretty much broke my heart. It got very Ellen Hopkins-y.

This book is about a girl who's parents have just fallen apart and her mother has slid until an unresponsive depression. Forgotten Girl (we never learn their names) leans out the window and meets Random Boy. Their relationship kind of explodes into drinking, smoking, bad decisions, and more. She's looking for someone to care, someone to pay attention, someone to see her, and this Random Boy is looking for exactly the same thing.

I've seen relationships like this before. With the exception of the scary end and ciolence, I've been in a relationship similar to this before. You're with this person because you don't know where else to go, or who else to be be. Although you know you should walk away, you're more afraid of what thing would be like without them, than with them. This is a mistake that many girls make when their young, like Forgotten Girl. She was lost and slowly tumbled into this relationship that was more toxic than not. It's hard to recognize the signs of a toxic relationship at that young an age, and it's even harder to pull yourself out of it. It's an almost impossible feat for an adult, let alone a 15 year old girl. As dark as this book got, it's an important story to tell, and I though Jaskulka did it beautifully.

Review: All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

Publisher: Knopf
Publication Date: January 6, 2015
Rating: 5 Stars

Theodore Finch is fascinated by death, and he constantly thinks of ways he might kill himself. But each time, something good, no matter how small, stops him.

Violet Markey lives for the future, counting the days until graduation, when she can escape her Indiana town and her aching grief in the wake of her sister’s recent death.

When Finch and Violet meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school, it’s unclear who saves whom. And when they pair up on a project to discover the “natural wonders” of their state, both Finch and Violet make more important discoveries: It’s only with Violet that Finch can be himself—a weird, funny, live-out-loud guy who’s not such a freak after all. And it’s only with Finch that Violet can forget to count away the days and start living them. But as Violet’s world grows, Finch’s begins to shrink.

This is an intense, gripping novel perfect for fans of Jay Asher, Rainbow Rowell, John Green, Gayle Forman, and Jenny Downham from a talented new voice in YA, Jennifer Niven.(Goodreads)

All I can say about this book is HOLY FEELS BATMAN. I stayed up until 1 am to finish this book and see if my worse fears would come true.

Finch and  Violet meet on a very high ledge. Finch constantly thinks about death and the ways in which he may kill himself, and Violet has recently lost and loved on and is having trouble dealing. We watch as Finch and his sporadic, impulsive, funny, and interesting personality slowly pry Violet from her shell. Their relationship feels real to me. At first I was a little annoyed that Finch seemed to fall for her instantly until he explained why he chose her, and it was easy to see why Violet feel for Finch and it happened over time.

I wanted to strangle Finch's mom, and I wasn't to happy with his older sister. I'm the oldest of three (by a lot of years) and I'd be gosh darned if I acted the way his sister Kate did. Watching Finch's life fall apart which Violet got her feet under her, killed me. I wanted to climb into the book and fix everything. *Sigh*.

I can't say much more without some major spoilers,  but this is a great book, and I hope it continues in movie production. I look forward to watching it. This is a story that needs to be told. I suggest it to everyone. If you do choose to read this book, make sure you read the author's note at the end.

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.

Review: Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Publication Date: July 31, 2012

Rating: 4/5

So wrong for each other …and yet so right.

No one knows what happened the night Echo Emerson went from popular girl with jock boyfriend to gossiped-about outsider with "freaky" scars on her arms. Even Echo can't remember the whole truth of that horrible night. All she knows is that she wants everything to go back to normal.

But when Noah Hutchins, the smoking-hot, girl-using loner in the black leather jacket, explodes into her life with his tough attitude and surprising understanding, Echo's world shifts in ways she could never have imagined. They should have nothing in common. And with the secrets they both keep, being together is pretty much impossible.

Yet the crazy attraction between them refuses to go away. And Echo has to ask herself just how far they can push the limits and what she'll risk for the one guy who might teach her how to love again. (Goodreads)

At one point Echo was a part of the popular crowd with a jock boyfriend, chasing her dream of being an artist. Noah was a jock with loving parents and two young brothers. In present day Echo is the school freak and Noah, the bad boy foster kid who’ll sleep with any girl with legs.

I have to say, when we learned that Echo had scars on her arms, like other readers, I’d assumed that she’d cut herself and that we’d spend the rest of the book slowly learning why. However, when we learned what really happened, I must say I was surprised. As I read, I slowly put the pieces together, but that was a plot twist that I don’t think many could have put together before hand. I liked Echo as a character, although I typically like my girls stronger, we saw some of that backbone during her altercations with Beth and at the party at Noah’s house. I must say however, that I was she could say (or even think) the word sex. I don’t mind that she was a high school virgin, we see quite a bit of that in YA books actually. I can even understand that sex was difficult for her to think about she almost sounded like she was 10 years old when sex came up. It was really hard to suspend my disbelief with that. It continually took me out of the story.

I thought Noah had a great story. It began very typical, a foster kid who bounced from bad home to bad home, and is thus hardened to the world. Unlike other foster kid stories (sorry if that sounds insensitive) Noah came from a good home, and it was taken from him. The story becomes interesting when we learn that Noah’s younger brothers are with another family. Noah’s convinced the family must be abusing his brother’s like his foster parents abused him. It doesn’t help that his brothers foster parents seem to hate him, and don’t want his brothers to see him. We, as readers, are pretty sure that the boys’ foster parents are probably alright, but… you never know. When Noah’s youngest brother is hurt, Noah begins the process of adopting them when he turns 18 and ages out of the system.

The relationship between Noah and Echo is… rather typical, but done well. Tough boy protects weak girl, but as Noah tries to help Echo remember what happened the night she got the scars on her arms, you can’t help but love the both of them and route for their relationship. I like this book so much more than I was prepared to, (the mushy cover turned me off). Noah and Echo helped each other in very real ways, there was nothing superficial about this book and I can’t wait to read the others! These are real characters with real problems, that are almost hard to read about sometimes, let alone hard to imagine happening. This is one of those books that some could call dark, but I think it's so important for teens to read. They need to know what it's like for someone to be a Noah or an Echo, so that when they meet someone who those characters (because they probably will). People when only learn to truly accept each other, when they can understand each other, and books like this help us do that.

Review: All The Truth That's In Me by Julie Berry

Publisher: Viking Juvenile
Publication Date: September 26, 2013
Rating: 3.5/5

Four years ago, Judith and her best friend disappeared from their small town of Roswell Station. Two years ago, only Judith returned, permanently mutilated, reviled and ignored by those who were once her friends and family. Unable to speak, Judith lives like a ghost in her own home, silently pouring out her thoughts to the boy who’s owned her heart as long as she can remember—even if he doesn’t know it—her childhood friend, Lucas. But when Roswell Station is attacked, long-buried secrets come to light, and Judith is forced to choose: continue to live in silence, or recover her voice, even if it means changing her world, and the lives around her, forever. This startlingly original novel will shock and disturb you; it will fill you with Judith’s passion and longing; and its mysteries will keep you feverishly turning the pages until the very last. (Goodreads)

Overall I liked this book. It's very strange because it's not normally the type of book that I would have been interested in, if I'd had all the details, but I'm still glad I read it.

Judith was kidnapped, when she was returned to her family, her tongue had been cut out and she was officially the town pariah, even among her own mother. Although it's possible for Judith to speak, she doesn't because not only has her mother forbidden it, but because it's now a constant struggle. While we, the readers, are inside Judith's mind we learn of her childhood crush on a boy, now man, named Lucas, and we also learn that (view spoiler). Needless to say, it's makes their situation strange. Just before Judith was taken, another girl disappeared and later turned up dead. The father of that dead girl resents Judith for returning and we know that he's going to cause problems for her.

So I had no idea this book was period, it didn't take me long to figure it out, but when I did, I'd assumed it was a flashback or something and eventually we'd speed up to modern time, we didn't. I have to say I wasn't mad about it. It actually made the story more interesting. It was deplorable the way Judith was treated, and all because they'd assumed a man had sexually violated her. Today, she would have received comfort and counseling, and everyone she encountered would have told her it wasn't her fault, but sadly, in the past, a girls virtue was all she had. Because she was "mute" people in the town thought they could speak to her as if she was nothing more than dirt under their shoe, the speech wasn't as crude as it would have been today, but it was still there.

One of the interesting things about this book was that it was a mystery, there were things we didn't know, but the mystery was unraveled slowly, I wasn't sitting on the edge of my seat (which is what I personally prefer), but I still wanted to know, I appreciate that the author was able to accomplish that. Would I read the book again? No. but was it worth the read? Sure.