Review: Keep me in Mind by Jaime Reed

Publisher: Point
Publication Date: April 26, 2016
Rating: 4 stars

Ellia Dawson doesn't recognize the handsome boy who sits in tears by her hospital bed. He claims he's her boyfriend, Liam. But to Ellia, he's a stranger. She remembers her name. Her parents. Her best friend, Stacey. But Liam is a total blank in her life.
Liam McPherson is devastated. His girlfriend, Ellia, suffered a terrible accident--maybe because of him--and now she's lost her memory. But the harder Liam tries to reach Ellia, and remind her of what they had, the more she pulls away. As Ellia begins on the slow road to recovery, Liam begins work on a secret project that he hopes will bring back the girl he loved.
But can there ever be a future when the past is in pieces?


I think I saw this book in the back of another book, and as someone who's always looking for books featuring African American females in non urban settings (basically people I can pretend to be) the cover of this book is what did it for me. Ellia had an accident while running with her boyfriend and can't remember the last two years of her life. If that's not bad enough, during those two years, Ellia did a lot of changing. It was during those two years that she met and began dating her boyfriend Liam, it was when she decided she wanted to make and design clothes as opposed to being an engineer like her dad wanted her to, she had also began to sneak around and act in ways that no parent would approve of. What's interesting about this book is that, as Ellia begins to learn more about who she became over the two years that she didn't remember, she didn't the "old Ellia" and wasn't sure how to handle it.

Liam... that poor kid. I'm honestly not sure what to say about him. So let me sum it all up. This is a great book. Ellia and Liam are incredibly realistic characters. I like that their racial differences were acknowledged, but didn't take over the book (FINALLY!). Learning about Liam and Ellia's relationship from the book that Liam was writing was a nice twist although I wish we could have seen more though. SPOILER. We learned that at one point Ellia and a friend ran off to a frat party and had to call Liam to pick them up and I guess there were covered in feathers. And Ellia and Liam drove around with a homeless man in the trunk. Where were those stories!!!

Anyway. This is a good book. Everyone should read it. While the ending squished my heart a bit, I thought it was 100% appropriate, realistic, and very mature. This book is appropriate for younger teens. I would have no problems giving this book to a 6th grader.

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.

Waiting on Wednesday: P.S. I Like You by Kasie West

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine.

What if the person you were falling for was a total mystery?

While Lily is spacing out in Chemistry one day, she picks up her pencil and scribbles a line from one of her favorite songs on the desk. The next day, someone else has written back to her on the desk! Soon enough Lily and the mystery student are exchanging notes, and lyrics, and even sharing secrets. When Lily finds out that her anonymous pen pal is a guy, she's flustered -- and kind of feels like she's falling for him. She and her best friend set out to unravel the identity of the letter writer -- but when the truth is revealed, the guy is the LAST person Lily could have ever imagined it to be. Now that Lily knows the truth, can she untangle her feelings and gather the courage to listen to her heart?

From beloved author Kasie West (The Distance Between Us) comes an utterly charming story about mixed messages, missed connections, and the magic of good old-fashioned secret admirer notes.

~*~

Release Date: July 26, 2016

This looks super cute.

Review: Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage

Here's what my friends and I thought of Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage. The Young Adult at Heart digital book club!

Review: The Masked Truth by Kelley Armstrong

Publisher:Doubleday Canada
Publication Date: October 13, 2015
Rating: 1 star
Riley Vasquez is haunted by the brutal murder of the couple she was babysitting for.

Max Cross is suffering under the shadow of a life-altering diagnosis he doesn’t dare reveal.

The last thing either of them wants is to spend a weekend away at a therapy camp alongside five other teens with “issues.” But that’s exactly where they are when three masked men burst in to take the group hostage.

The building has no windows. The exits are sealed shut. Their phones are gone. And their captors are on a killing spree.

Riley and Max know that if they can’t get out, they’ll be next—but they’re about to discover that even escape doesn’t equal freedom.(Goodreads)

I love Kelley Armstrong. I've read her entire Women of the Otherworld series and her two YA trilogies that take place in the same world and I devoured them. But I couldn't even make it to page 100. This book was ridiculous. The kids kept saying the same thing over and over they was so much silly internal monologue that I didn't know what to do. I didn't feel sorry for anyone. I had no sympathy for any of these characters and without that, why both reading the book.

Snaps on the main character being Latina though!





I quit. But don't worry Kelly, I still love you.

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: The Summer of Chasing Mermaids by Sarah Ockler

Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publication Date: June 2, 2015
Rating: 4 Stars

The youngest of six talented sisters, Elyse d’Abreau was destined for stardom—until a boating accident took everything from her. Now, the most beautiful singer in Tobago can’t sing. She can’t even speak.

Seeking quiet solitude, Elyse accepts a friend’s invitation to Atargatis Cove. Named for the mythical first mermaid, the Oregon seaside town is everything Elyse’s home in the Caribbean isn’t: An ocean too cold for swimming, parties too tame for singing, and people too polite to pry—except for one.

Christian Kane is a notorious playboy—insolent, arrogant, and completely charming. He’s also the only person in Atargatis Cove who doesn’t treat Elyse like a glass statue. He challenges her to express herself, and he admires the way she treats his younger brother Sebastian, who believes Elyse is the legendary mermaid come to life.

When Christian needs a first mate for the Cove’s high-stakes Pirate Regatta, Elyse reluctantly stows her fear of the sea and climbs aboard. The ocean isn’t the only thing making waves, though—swept up in Christian’s seductive tide and entranced by the Cove’s charms, Elyse begins to wonder if a life of solitude isn’t what she needs. But changing course again means facing her past. It means finding her inner voice. And scariest of all, it means opening her heart to a boy who’s best known for breaking them . . .(Goodreads)

I've held off on this review because I wasn't sure how I felt about this book. I liked it. That's for certain. I have a musical theatre background and although I never made it as far ans I secretly wanted to I loved/ love to sing. I can't imagine being o the verge of stardom, and losing that. Being inside the mind of Elyse broke my heart sometimes. She was lost. Every dream she'd ever had for herself was gone forever. When you really stop to think about that, it's jarring.

Christian... I liked him, but I felt like he could have been better developed in some way. I don't know what that way was, but I still feel it. His relationship with his parents was the worse. I'm not surprise he took whatever he could get from the random girls he encountered throughout the Summer. Christian's with his brother was brilliant. I couldn't have asked for better, and speaking of that HUGE snaps to Sarah Ockler fort challenging gender roles.That along gives the book extra stars in my book. I think Ockler did a great job creating the supporting characters. Vanessa was brilliant and I want her to be my best friend, although sometimes I think I am that friend. Kirby, Lemon, Noah... I really liked them all.

I also appreciated learning a bit about Elyse's culture and past. She spoke of the festivals, the coca coca fields, and the island of Tobago which I'd never even heard of. There aren't many books that expose you to a new culture, so this was very refreshing. Not to mention the interracial relationship, although I do on occasion like the books where to people from opposing backgrounds find a way to be together, this world will only fully be past racial inequality when to people from opposing background can be together, and it's so normal, that no one thinks twice about it. I wish for that day, which we got a taste of in this book.

I still feel like something was missing, but I did like this book.

Review: The Secrets we Keep by Trisha Leaver

 
Publisher:
Publication Date:
Rating: 2.75 stars

Ella and Maddy Lawton are identical twins. Ella has spent her high school years living in popular Maddy's shadows, but she has never been envious of Maddy. In fact, she's chosen the quiet, safe confines of her sketchbook over the constant battle for attention that has defined Maddy's world.

When—after a heated argument—Maddy and Ella get into a tragic accident that leaves her sister dead, Ella wakes up in the hospital surrounded by loved ones who believe she is Maddy. Feeling responsible for Maddy's death and everyone's grief, Ella makes a split-second decision to pretend to be Maddy. Soon, Ella realizes that Maddy's life was full of secrets. Caught in a web of lies, Ella is faced with two options—confess her deception or live her sister's life.  (Goodreads)

When I picked up this book, the first thing I noticed was the cover. I thought it was AMAZING, even though I thought it would be about dancers, I think it was the buns. Anyway, the thought of one girl pretending to be her twin sister sounded pretty awesome. I have to say, this book was a little, blah. Maddy was the popular twin, and when she dies and her twin sister Ella wakes up, everyone thinks Ella is Maddy. Now, (small spoiler) in the beginning of the book Ella, didn’t actually know who she was, she had amnesia so when people told her she was Maddy she went with it. However three pages later when she got her memory back, and was afraid to tell everyone she was actually Ella, I could understand. All of Maddy’s friends were there, Maddy’s boyfriend was there, and she didn’t want her parents to have to re-grieve for another sister. Okay. Cool, I’ll buy that. What I refuse to purchase however, was the whole, Maddy deserves a life so I’ll give her mine business that Ella was sprouting. It made no sense at all, and I’m pretty forgiving when it comes to books. She felt like it was her fault that her sister died. Okay, but you can’t make up for that by poorly pretending to be your sister. I was so annoyed with Ella that I could hardly pay attention to the “mystery” of what Maddy “did” to one the girls on the field hockey team, but I guess that wasn’t a big deal because I cracked that mystery before the half way mark of the book.
 
I guess one could suggest this book to reluctant readers, but… to be honest, there are plenty of books I would suggest before this one.

Positive message/ negative message. I don't even know

So I just read the blurb for this new book coming out called Dumplin'. Here it is:

Self-proclaimed fat girl Willowdean Dickson (dubbed “Dumplin’” by her former beauty queen mom) has always been at home in her own skin. Her thoughts on having the ultimate bikini body? Put a bikini on your body. With her all-American beauty best friend, Ellen, by her side, things have always worked . . . until Will takes a job at Harpy’s, the local fast-food joint. There she meets Private School Bo, a hot former jock. Will isn’t surprised to find herself attracted to Bo. But she is surprised when he seems to like her back.

Instead of finding new heights of self-assurance in her relationship with Bo, Will starts to doubt herself. So she sets out to take back her confidence by doing the most horrifying thing she can imagine: entering the Miss Clover City beauty pageant—along with several other unlikely candidates—to show the world that she deserves to be up there as much as any twiggy girl does. Along the way, she’ll shock the hell out of Clover City—and maybe herself most of all.

With starry Texas nights, red candy suckers, Dolly Parton songs, and a wildly unforgettable heroine— Dumplin’ is guaranteed to steal your heart.

It sounds great right, heck I almost can't wait to read it. Now for those of you who wondered why I used the world "almost" here's the section that drew me up short, o show the world that she deserves to be up there as much as any twiggy girl does. Now I'm a size 6 in most things, but I was a very late bloomer in high school so I was very very very small. I for one, as I'm sure most of you are as well, am 100% pro #weneeddiversebooks. I love that we're including everything under that hashtag. We're including LGBT, people with mental disorders, those who are physically disadvantaged, those who don't fit gender norms, those who are varying races, and yes, those with varying waistlines. 

Now a reoccurring theme that I have seen in books, movies and so forth is something I like to call thin shaming. Twigs. Bony. Skinny minnie. Unhealthy. Skin and bones. And from a song "All That Bass,"(a song I really like Skinny Bitches). I have noticed that at times, while trying to show full figured women that they are indeed beautiful, we can at times, use negative terminology with regards to those who aren't full figured, and basically... that irritates the hell out of me. One day my friends said that in Easy A Emma Stone looked unhealthy.

  

She looks fine to me, she's just little. And I really like Meghan Trainor and I'm not trying to slam her or anything, but skinny bitches? Really. I'm just not a fan and I don't even consider myself skinny. I consider myself average, and yet I'm still insulted. Everybody can have body image issues, no matter what their pant size, and calling people twiggy or skinny bitches isn't doing anyone any good.

Now I haven't ready Dumplin' because it isn't even published yet, but that one word in the descriptor got my juices flowing, and this is what poured out. I don't think authors, song writers, or script writers, or even the every day average Joe means to be insulting when they make passive aggressive statements about someone being thin, but just like the word fat can jump out at a person and make them defensive, so can the many comments a person makes about someone being on the smaller side.

So basically I think using fiction is a great way to empower someone, but let's make sure that we're not tugging others down along the way.


If anyone cares to read a little more, here's a blog post called Don't Call Me Skinny that I stumbled across, it's blunt, but interesting.

Review: Say What You Will

Publisher: Harper Teen
Publication Date: June 3, 2014
Rating: 4 stars

Born with cerebral palsy, Amy can't walk without a walker, talk without a voice box, or even fully control her facial expressions. Plagued by obsessive-compulsive disorder, Matthew is consumed with repeated thoughts, neurotic rituals, and crippling fear. Both in desperate need of someone to help them reach out to the world, Amy and Matthew are more alike than either ever realized.

When Amy decides to hire student aides to help her in her senior year at Coral Hills High School, these two teens are thrust into each other's lives. As they begin to spend time with each other, what started as a blossoming friendship eventually grows into something neither expected.

This book is beautiful, moving, and if I was the crying type, I sure it would have happened more than once. Amy has, cerebral palsy and Matthew and a pretty severe case of OCD. After Amy writes a paper claiming that she loves her life exactly the way it is, and has no regrets, and considers herself luckier than her classmates despite her CP, Matthew speaks up for the first time stating that he thinks she’s making it up. There’s no way she can know what it’s like navigating friends, relationships, and confidence issues if she’s never been exposed to them. This statement makes Amy think that he’s probably right. She should be exposed to creating relationships with people her own age, something she’s never done before, but will have to do when she leaves for college the next year. Amy convinces her parents to hire student to aid her throughout the school day and introduce her to her peers, as opposed to adults. Although throughout the book, Amy develops relationship with all of her peer helpers, she’s becomes closest to Matthew. Not only does she appreciate that he’s the only person, other than her mother, who’s even told her something that she might not want to hear (being a disabled girl) but she also notices his OCD behavior and likes that for once, she can help someone else, instead of only needing help.
There was a lot of emotion in this book. I've noticed in reviews that most people didn't connect with Matthew, or like him as much as Amy, but I have to say, I had the opposite reaction. My heart broke for the challenges that Amy faced (and I kind of hated her mother, I understood her, but I still hated her) and I feel like she’s a character to look up to. That being said, Amy has had CP for her entire life, she’s had to fight and struggle her entire life, for what she’s obtained, Matthew however, didn't even know he had OCD until Amy pointed it out to him. He knew that was he was different from his peers and that he’d changed somewhere between Middle School and High School, but for the longest time he couldn't see what the problem actually was. I can’t imagine, developing a disorder like that at such a critical time in my life. The thought is almost too much to handle. My heart broke for Amy, but my heart smushed for Matthew. His character development through the book was AMAZING. It was like he was a completely different person, but he knew that he still had a long road ahead of him, and he took active steps to better his future. Snaps to that. It’s hard to do as an adult, let alone as a kid with a disorder that can literally ruin your entire life. I loved him.

That being said, I had a few issues with Amy. I though she was a great character and well written. I can’t being to comprehend what it’s like to have CP but her character was written in a way that help real to me, she had this disorder, but she didn't let it define her. Awesome. Great. There were times though, where I was furious at how she treated Matthew. No he wasn't physically disabled, but he had some very serious mental problems, problems, that Amy knew about. I thought her actions after prom were ridiculous, and I still can’t figure out why it happened. Sanjay lied and told her that Matthew left the prom without her. Up to this point, Amy has been written as a character who steps up and speaks her mind, and she completely shut him out because she was being selfish and childish, you’re 18 and going to an Ivy League school for goodness sake.
***Spoiler***
***Spoiler***
***Spoiler***




Then let’s talk about the sex… Amy decided that it would be a good idea to have sex so that she would know what to do when she was with someone she really cared about. I can’t get behind that. It doesn't make sense. Nope, I don’t get it. I also don’t understand how she could do something that would so clearly hurt Matthew, and then try to defend that decision, she should have been screaming “I’m Sorry” not trying to defend her actions. She liked Matthew, she obviously liked her. He was just as inexperienced as she was, they could have learned together. There should have been little to no pressure here. It was really the only part of the book that made me blanch. I had to kind of force myself to forget about it and move on. 

I adored everything else though!

Waiting on Wednesday: Cut Both Ways

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine.

Will Caynes never has been good with girls. At seventeen, he’s still waiting for his first kiss. He’s certainly not expecting it to happen in a drunken make-out session with his best friend, Angus. But it does and now Will’s conflicted—he knows he likes girls, but he didn’t exactly hate kissing a guy.

Then Will meets Brandy, a cute and easy-to-talk-to sophomore. He’s totally into her too—which proves, for sure, that he’s not gay. So why does he keep hooking up with Angus on the sly?

Will knows he can’t keep seeing both of them, but besides his new job in a diner, being with Brandy and Angus are the best parts of his whole messed-up life. His divorced parents just complicate everything. His father, after many half-baked business ventures and endless house renovations, has started drinking again. And his mom is no help—unless loading him up with a bunch of stuff he doesn’t need plus sticking him with his twin half-sisters counts as parenting. He’s been bouncing between both of them for years, and neither one feels like home.

Deciding who to love, who to choose, where to live. Whichever way Will goes, someone will get hurt. Himself, probably the most. 

~*~

Release Date September 1, 2015 

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: Breathe, Annie, Breathe by Miranda Kenneally

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Publication: July 15, 2014
Rating:3/5

Annie hates running. No matter how far she jogs, she can’t escape the guilt that if she hadn’t broken up with Kyle, he might still be alive. So to honor his memory, she starts preparing for the marathon he intended to race.

But the training is even more grueling than Annie could have imagined. Despite her coaching, she’s at war with her body, her mind—and her heart. With every mile that athletic Jeremiah cheers her on, she grows more conflicted. She wants to run into his arms…and sprint in the opposite direction. For Annie, opening up to love again may be even more of a challenge than crossing the finish line.(Goodreads)

Annie is running a marathon in honor of her boyfriend who died in a car accident (he was planning to run the marathon that she's decided to run). She hated running initially but the strict training schedule has brought order to her life that was slowly falling apart while she grieved for him. During one of her running sessions Annie met Jeremiah and was instantly intrigued and almost immediately felt guilty because of it.

I liked this book. Annie was a great character and broke my heart. She did what many people do, she met a guy, they began a relationship, and other relationships fell by the waist side, she never made many friends in high school, or joined any clubs because her boyfriend was her whole life, she when he died, Annie seemed to have nothing left until she began training for the marathon. Annie has great character development, we watched her slowly consider letting Jeremiah into her life, we watched her try to build up friendships and prepare for college. We watched as Annie repaired her relationship with her mom, and start her life in college. I could hardly find anything to complain about where Annie was concerned. I do wish there was more substance to Jeremiah though. He was an adrenalin junkie but I never really understood why. The author seemed to have a pretty good outline of Jeremiah (his personality was pretty in tact) but some of the substance seemed to me missing.

Overall I liked this book and would consider reading more by the author.

Well done.

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.

Waiting on Wednesday: Playlist for the Dead

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine.

A teenage boy tries to understand his best friend's suicide by listening to the playlist of songs he left behind in this smart, voice-driven debut novel.


Here's what Sam knows: There was a party. There was a fight. The next morning, his best friend, Hayden, was dead. And all he left Sam was a playlist of songs, and a suicide note: For Sam—listen and you'll understand.

As he listens to song after song, Sam tries to face up to what happened the night Hayden killed himself. But it's only by taking out his earbuds and opening his eyes to the people around him that he will finally be able to piece together his best friend’s story. And maybe have a chance to change his own.

Part mystery, part love story, and part coming-of-age tale in the vein of Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Tim Tharp’s The Spectacular Now, Playlist for the Dead is an honest and gut-wrenching first novel about loss, rage, what it feels like to outgrow a friendship that's always defined you—and the struggle to redefine yourself. But above all, it's about finding hope when hope seems like the hardest thing to find.

~*~

Release Date January 27, 2015 

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.