Definitely, Maybe in Love by Ophelia London

Definitely, Maybe in Love is a fun example of what’s good about New Adult books. It features intelligent college students with tons of personality, and they’re all figuring out what kinds of people they want to be when they grow up. There’s funny stuff, chemistry between characters that jumps off the page and will forever change your thoughts on cranberry sauce, and plenty of adventure.

Spring, the main character, is a total green-living zealot who needs some insight from the opposition to take her thesis to the next level. Enter Henry, the opposition she desperately needs wrapped up in a super hot package, and the fireworks and debates take off from there. I enjoyed Spring as a character, though as a fellow vegetarian I was a little annoyed by some of her extremely stereotypical beliefs. But, it kind of added to her character and how she needed Henry in her life to disagree with her and make her grow, so it was a good place for her to start. There were a whole host of relateable, believable characters along with Spring and Henry, and I really enjoyed spending time with them as I read. I could see myself hanging out with them in college.

It’s definitely one that would appeal to upper high school and college students, and for those adults like me who like to pretend we’re still young!

You can find Defintely, Maybe in Love at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Read more about it on Goodreads, too. Enjoy!

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.

Just One Year by Gayle Forman

I waited a long time to read this.

In Forman’s Just One Day, we met Allyson – a fresh high school graduate on a European adventure with her best friend. The student travel company didn’t take the group through Paris, much to Allyson’s chagrin, so when a couple of chance encounters with a seemingly professional traveler (and all-around hot guy), Willem, lead to a chance to go to Paris she can’t pass it up. And that day, even though it was just one day, was magical. But when an accident happens that separates the two before they say their proper goodbyes, Allyson spends a long time looking for Willem again. It’s really, really good. It made me want to go to Paris – and all around Europe in general – even more than I already did.

Now, since the story of Just One Day focused on Allyson, a lot of questions were left unanswered about Willem… and he’s really a fascinating character. In Just One Year, we get to see his side of the whole story. Why he was travelling aimlessly, how he felt about Allyson (though he only knew her as Lulu). Where he goes to look for her. How he restores a broken relationship with his mother. How he grows up and becomes someone ready for Lulu if he finds her.

I really liked this, but I do wish there’d been more of Willem and Lulu together. I mean, because of the ending of Just One Day, we go into this one sort of knowing how it’ll end… or at least that they WILL, eventually, be reunited.  But I really was hoping they’d find each other like halfway through so we could spend time with them together. I want to see them succeed and be in love and all.

That being said, though, Just One Year is beautifully written. It takes a character that was unforgettable but questionable in Just One Day and makes me absolutely adore the person he is – what he’s gone through in the past, what he goes through during the course of the book, and what he sets himself up for in a future with Allyson. Plus, we get to travel to all sorts of beautiful places with him, which I loved. Forman does a great job of making every new location jump off the page.

Overall, I really like this set of books. I do hope Forman has plans for a third so we can really see Willem and Allyson together… or even a companion novel where they show up as minor characters. They become people you care about and want to see again, which says a lot about how well Forman writes them.

Check it out from your local book store or online. You can find it here at Amazon.

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!

Surviving Social Media and Cell Phones.

A recent Rolling Stone article titled “Sexting, Shame, and Suicide” is bringing national attention to an issue those of us working with teenagers have seen all to often – how easy social media and texting makes it to spread everything. Pictures, rumors, videos, and more can be sent out to seemingly everyone in a matter of seconds, and the impact can be startling. I highly encourage everyone, teenagers and adults, to read this article.

Now, after reading the article, how can you keep yourself safe? If you’re a parent, how can you protect your own kids?

Know that it won’t necessarily be easy, but parents and teens can and should talk about the hard stuff. Parents, your kids aren’t going to come talk to you if they’re convinced all you’ll do is yell and judge. And maybe you don’t think that’s how you come across, but you have to remember what it’s like to be a teenager. Teens, your parents have been through crap before, and they can help you through it now.
Mistakes are inevitable. Parental love is unconditional. Communication is essential.

Teenagers need to know that it’s not ok, no matter what mistakes they make (drinking, drugs, etc.) to be taken advantage of sexually. There are no exceptions to this rule. None. And an inappropriate picture or video spread around via texting or social media is included in that. They need to be spoken to about the potential consequences that come from snapping semi or fully nude pictures of themselves and sending them to anyone. On the flip side of that, teens also need to be counseled in how to handle inappropriate material that’s sent TO them. Delete it. Tell the person. Talk to parents. These are things that have to be talked about.

Know that the preteen teenage years are NOT the time to back off. Parents should be involved in every social media world their kids belong to. All logins, passwords, websites, etc. should be kept up to date and shared with parents. Not so that parents can spy, but so they can monitor and protect. Cell phones should be treated the same. This may not make you the most popular parent on the block, but parenting is NOT a popularity contest.

Know how to use privacy settings and insist that they not be altered. Every social media avenue offers some way of setting a user’s information to private rather than public, and every safeguard should be used to ensure teens are not broadcasting personal information to the world. In addition, most cell phones geotag pictures with “where and when” info, which can be accessed through social media sharing (for example, if you choose to use location services on Instagram and tag your #selfiesunday at “Home,” then anyone who follows you can see on the map exactly where “Home” is… that’s dangerous).

And finally, help teens really remember that on the other side of that electronic communication is a real person. I’m noticing more and more that teenagers often disconnect themselves completely from real human emotion when they’re sitting in front of a cell screen or computer monitor. It’s really easy to send out a tweet or message somebody a picture real quick without thinking through the face-to-face ramifications of that action. Help them understand that anything sent electronically is equivalent to yelling that thing out in the middle of a crowded hallway at school.

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!


(Never) Again by Theresa Paolo

This is a great New Adult title full of swoony romance, college life, and difficult decision making.

Liz is perfectly happy with her group of friends, her somewhat stable boyfriend, and life in general. She had a great high school romance that teenage girls dream of… until her boyfriend, Zach, moved away and eventually just stopped calling, ripping her heart out and ruining her senior year of high school. When he shows up again, all the old feelings of love and pain show up again with him. Liz quickly goes from actually being ok to just pretending to be ok as Zach refuses to go away and let her forget him.

It takes Liz a while to finally realize what the reader knows almost instinctively – Zach let her go in senior year to protect her, not to hurt her. While I definitely wanted to scream at Liz a few times for being so very stubborn and relactant to forgive Zach, I also understood her hesitancy and desire to not let herself be hurt again.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this and recommend it. I’m looking forward to reading more from Theresa Paolo.