young adult

Roomies by Sara Zarr and Tara Altebrando

roomies sara zarr tara altebrando This book made me want to go back to college. Not like now, as an adult, adding college classes to the insane list of everything else I already do, but like be 17 and about to start college for the first time again. (No, I’m not saying I’d wish away my family or anything crazy like that. Calm down.)

Roomies does a great job of capturing two girls’ emotions as they transition from high school at home to living on the campus of UC Berkley. Elizabeth (known as EB) is an East Coast only child living with her single mom of questionable morals. Lauren is a native San Franciscan living with her parents and seemingly dozens of siblings as one big happy family. When they find out they’re going to be roommates, EB starts off an e-mail chain of correspondence spanning the remainder of their summer as they wrestle through the important things leading up to college:

  • Who brings what stuff?
  • What happens to my high school friendships?
  • Long distance romances… yes or no?
  • How can I leave my family?
  • How can I NOT leave my family?
  • Am I really ready to grow up?
  • Will we get along and be able to live with each other?
  • Can even I do this?

On top of all of that, which was fun to watch as EB and Lauren grew up over the course of the summer and developed a great foundation of a relationship to start their college experiences off with, the story is told in alternating points of view, which I love. I’m a sucker for a well written story with multiple points of view. I find it fascinating. And in this case, with Zarr and Altebrando both writing (I assume they each wrote one of the girls), they really FELT like two completely different people instead of one person writing two characters. It was cool.

I’d recommend this for girls in high school, probably tenth grade and up, and for college/adult women as well. There’s a lot here to make you reflect on your own college experience. It made me wonder how my college years could have been different if I’d had a chance to get to know a roommate before moving in. Or what I would have done differently that summer before college knowing how those high school relationships would fade away so quickly once I moved across the country.

Anyway, I really enjoyed these two characters and seeing how their final summers at home played out. I’d also really like to see a follow-up of their first year in college or something. While the story ended well and I felt satisfied that it was sufficiently finished, I also wanted to know more about them.

Make sure you check it out! Roomies releases on December 24 and can be ordered here on Amazon.

Drawn by Cecilia Gray

Though most people who know me would probably never suspect me of it, I’m kind of fascinated my graffiti and the whole subculture around it. So, that combined along with the fact that I’ve become a pretty solid fan of Cecilia Gray’s YA work means that I enjoyed Drawn. A lot.

In this title, Sasha is riddled with a unique ability: her voice prompts people to say what they’re actually thinking rather than what they want to say. It seems like that could be fun… but then I think about all the things I think but don’t say out loud, and it’s scary instead. Sasha spends her childhood in and out of foster homes as a result of the chaos this causes in people’s lives, until she’s assigned to work with an FBI agent who takes her in at the age of twelve.

It’s easy to see how Sasha’s human lie detector abilities would be of interest to the FBI, and after successfully working with them for a few years and living with Agent Chelsea Tanner (the closest thing she’s ever had to a mom), Sasha is recruited by the CIA to work with an agent in Brussels. It’s exciting to read – Cecilia’s descriptions and choices of settings for events had me googling images of the city. She made it come alive.

I also really enjoyed the relationships Sasha made in Brussels. She finally finds a good friends, the first one she’s ever really had, in Vivi, and the only chance at romance she’s ever had comes with Sebastian. I was intrigued by the graffiti culture and loved reading the scenes involving the planning and carrying out of each graffiti hit.

The only thing I really wish is that the story had continued more, or that there was a follow up ready to read right now. This felt like the beginning of Sasha’s story; I could easily see a series being centered around her, and I’d hope to see Vivi and Sebastian play main roles in future books!

Find here on Amazon!

Quote

“Human reason c…

“Human reason can excuse any evil; that is why it’s so important that we don’t rely on it.”
― Veronica Roth, Divergent

Poor Little Dead Girls by Lizzie Friend

If you’re a fan of shows like Pretty Little Liars, then you’ll enjoy Poor Little Dead Girls – it is a really good romantic YA mystery suspense thriller.

In this book, Sadie leaves her home in Portland to attend Keating, an exculsive all-girl boarding school near DC. It’s the home to really important kids of really important, powerful people. Sadie, a West Coast normal kid there on a lacrosse scholarship, struggles with some serious culture shock when she first arrives at Keating. And that’s before she even knows about the existence of a secret society with their eyes set on Sadie as their next member.

If doesn’t take long for some strange things to start happening. First, there’s the cloud of mystery surrounding the fact that Sadie’s mom went to Keating and later suffered from mental illness, eventually killing herself. There are hints about a student who went missing the previous school year, but nobody’s willing to talk about it. And when Sadie is taken in the middle of the night, it’s all you can do to not scream at her through the book to just go home to Oregon.

There are some good things going on at Keating, too, that keep her there. One is a quickly made best friend. Another is a super cute new boy, also from the West Coast, who attends the all-boy’s school nearby. As the story goes on at the suspense climbs, these three (and some crazy supporting characters that are really pretty fun) have to depend on each other in life and death situations.

Overall, I enjoyed this a lot. One thing I noticed is that, while the loose ends are tied up nicely in this book, resulting in a good, satisfying, well-resolved ending, there’s definitely a possibility for more books feathuring these same settings and characters. I hope author Lizzie Friend plans to follow up with more!

Crash Into You by Katie McGarry


I am definitely not a car girl. I don’t know how my car works – nor do I want to know as long as it works. This book didn’t change that at all, but it DID give me a strange desire to go drive my car really fast. So maybe I shouldn’t recommend it to teenagers. Hahaha.

I am definitely, though, a fan of a well written chemistry-filled romance, which this is. And both characters do a lot of growing up and learning how to deal with friends and family, which I’m also a fan of.

When I read this, I hadn’t read any of the previous Pushing the Limits series, though I think I might go back and do that. That being said, I don’t think I would have even realized I was reading the third book if Goodreads hadn’t told me. It didn’t take too long to get into the story, and I didn’t feel like I was missing anything that had already happened.

Rachel, a car girl masquerading as a designer label fashionista for the sake of her emotionally unstable mom and clueless dad and brothers, crosses paths with Isaiah. Isaiah is a foster care system kid and has been since his mom went to prison, and the system hasn’t really been kind to him. At all, really. So at age 17, Isaiah has moved out of his foster home and is living in appalling conditions, on the verge of having to resort to criminal behavior to support himself. The two are instantly attracted to each other and find a strength with each other to face the hardships they both have in their lives. They’re really good together.

I will admit that I spent a lot of time wanting to reach into the pages of the book and strangle Rachel for not being more assertive in her family, and Isaiah for a few reasons, but ultimately the connection and love story between the two of them just drew me in and I couldn’t go to bed until I’d finished the book. And I’m pretty sure I had dreams of driving very fast.

I almost didn’t put it on here as a recommendation because I had some issues with language and content here. I believe McGarry included a lot of the language and rougher content to really give us a taste of Isaiah’s world, and it was effective, but it was definitely a little too much for me. I’d say you need to be upper high school or older for this one.

Jane Austen Academy novels by Cecilia Gray

I LOVE THIS SERIES!

Cecilia Gray has done an incredible job of taking all our classic Austen favorites and turning them into modern stories… all set at an amazing boarding school, Jane Austen Academy. Really, the school sounds amazing. If I could travel back to my high school years and if the Jane Austen Academy were a real place, I’d beg my mom to send me there.

Aside from the sweet Austen romances, which of course require a cast of interesting girls and swoony boys, I appreciate that Gray kept the complete appropriateness of Austen’s works while updating the stories and setting them on a current boarding school campus. She doesn’t change the morality to make them scandalous. I like that. I would feel completely comfortable with having these in a middle school classroom, and I know their appeal would go up into college and adult women as well.

Gray also focuses on the friendships between the girls equally as much as the guys are involved, so there’s a lot here that doesn’t depend on the romance. All of the characters are well rounded and intelligent, and I’m having fun working my way through the series and learning more about each character as I go. It’s great that all of the books are happening at the same school so we see characters again in future books.

I’m a fan. :)

Find Fall For You, book 1 in the series, here on Amazon FOR ONLY $2.99 (kindle edition)!

In Fall For You, you’ll meet Lizzie and Dante as you get acquainted with the whole crew of Jane Austen Academy characters in a beautifully done retelling of Austen’s Sense and Sensibility! The rest of the books that have been already released are also available on Amazon for $2.99 for kindle. You’ll finish one and need to keep on going!

My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick

I totally have a crush on the cover of this book. It’s just freaking adorable.

Another thing I really like about My Life Next Door is that it totally takes that whole “the grass is always greener on the other side” saying and messes with it. The idea is supposed to be that we just think the grass is greener over there, but that’s only because we can’t see it up close… that we always want what we can’t have, and even if we got it, we’d discover it’s not much different than what we had to begin with.

If that makes any sense at all. It probably doesn’t.

But here’s the thing… sometimes things ARE better on the other side. Sometimes the family next door really is better off. Sometimes you’re going through some rough times and all you want is someone else’s problems instead of your own.

In My Life Next Door, only child Samantha spends a lot of time watching the chaos of the Garretts, the huge multiple child family that lives next door. Her mother, obsessed with presenting the illusion of a “perfect” family, strongly disapproves of the Garretts and their messiness, forbidding Samantha from making friends with the neighbors. But, from the spot on the roof outside her bedroom window, she has a prime view of their house and back yard… and she watches it all like it’s her own personal reality TV show.

One day, though, Jase Garrett climbs up to join her on the roof, shattering the illusion that her spot was hidden, and bringing her into the perfect chaos that is the Garrett family instead of letting her stay safely on the outside. Jase is sweet and caring and nurturing and everything Samantha’s mom is not. When she falls madly in love with Jase, because who wouldn’t, and gets comfortable with his family, something tragic happens that causes her to have to choose between the two families.

Like I said to begin with, I don’t know how you could pass this up just from looking at the cover. But, if that’s not enough to convince you, just know that the sweet romance and growing up experiences are so good. I loved this. I’m also super excited about the follow-up novel coming in 2014!

Find My Life Next Door on Amazon here.

Bang Release Date!

 
BANG by Lisa McMann comes out today, and you guys just have to read it. It’s the follow-up to CRASH, which came out earlier this year. I wrote about them in a previous post, but had to go ahead and let you know it was out now. Plus, the cover is super cool and you know it. Good stuff.
 
 
 
 

Are You Experienced? by Jordan Sonnenblick

In a previous post, I shared with you my love of Jordan Sonnenblick’s Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie. I still completely love it.

Since finding Drums several years ago, I’ve been an avid reader of Sonnenblick’s books as they come out… and while they’ve been good, they haven’t had the same magic that Drums had, which would ultimately leave me a little disappointed.

In his newest title, Are You Experienced?, Sonnenblick has completely recreated that magic. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that this book should be every bit as big as The Fault In Our Stars has been for John Green. It’s really that good.

Richie Barber, a fifteen year old guitar playing rebel without a cause, lives life in a constant state of frustration with his parents. They’re older than most of his peers’ parents and seem to thrive on sheltering him as much as possible. For a classic rock and roll kind of guy, this is sheer torture. Then, after a crazy turn of events, Richie finds himself transported back in time to Woodstock where he runs into and hangs out with the fifteen year old version of his dad, his eighteen year old uncle, and others.

Through the experiences of the weekend at Woodstock (which are realistic and honest in terms of drugs, sex, and hippies… but not glorified and inappropriate), Richie develops a deep understanding of and appreciation for his father that wasn’t there before. Ultimately, this is a heartwarming family story with a whole host of fun suprises as you read. I loved the setting of Woodstock, as it’s a historic event that I’ve never seen as a setting in YA literature before, and the experiences of the characters there were unforgettable.

This is really, truly, just a cool book for guys and girls. I’d be ok with mature 8th graders reading this, but some of the content makes it appropriate for mostly high school and beyond.

Go get it now!


Where the Stars Still Shine by Trish Doller

This.

It’s beautiful.

If you were wondering what you should do this weekend, it’s this. Buy it, curl up with some comfort food and a blanket, and dive in.

Callie is a seventeen year old girl that commands attention from page one as you get a glimpse into her life on the run – constant homelessness caused my her mom’s need to run and only enough possessions to fill a small thrift store suitcase. Heartbreaking.

And then a routine traffic violation turns into a life-changing event for Callie and her mom, and Callie is face to face with a father she’d grown up thinking didn’t love her and the sad reality of what life with her mom has been in comparison to what life with her dad could have been.

Through the overwhelming and in-your-face love of a larger than life Greek family, an incredibly hot and somewhat mysterious guy, a rediscovered preschool best friend, and a seriously cute community with a seriously cool book store, Callie is able to find the healing that she needs to move on with the decision she now faces: her mom or her dad?

By the time I finished this (which was on the same day I started because I just couldn’t stop), there were happy tears in my eyes and a good book hangover was in full force. I mean, I don’t give out many five star ratings on Goodreads, but I didn’t even hesitate for this one. I just loved it. And I also really wanted to travel to Tarpon Springs, Florida for some touristy sponge shopping and authentic Greek food.

Trish Doller has set herself pretty firmly on my list of must-read authors with this one. She deals with heavy topics in this YA/NA novel without making it depressing. She writes a raw, swoony romance that feels real, yet isn’t the saving grace of the protagonist – the romance isn’t what makes Callie ok, it just plays a part. That’s refreshing.

From the cover to the first page to the author’s notes in the end (which, honestly, I usually skip but didn’t this time), Where the Stars Still Shine is enthralling and charming and beautiful.

Click here to find it on Goodreads and here to find it on Amazon.