Category Archives: Contemporary

Review: Wild and Crooked by Leah Thomas

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , ,
Wild and Crooked by Leah Thomas

Wild and Crooked
Leah Thomas
Bloomsbury USA Children’s
June 4, 2019

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads | Book Depository

About WILD AND CROOKED

In Samsboro, Kentucky, Kalyn Spence’s name is inseparable from the brutal murder her father committed when he was a teenager. Forced to return to town, Kalyn must attend school under a pseudonym . . . or face the lingering anger of Samsboro’s citizens, who refuse to forget the crime.

Gus Peake has never had the luxury of redefining himself. A Samsboro native, he’s either known as the “disabled kid” because of his cerebral palsy, or as the kid whose dad was murdered. Gus just wants to be known as himself.

When Gus meets Kalyn, her frankness is refreshing, and they form a deep friendship. Until their families’ pasts emerge. And when the accepted version of the truth is questioned, Kalyn and Gus are caught in the center of a national uproar. Can they break free from a legacy of inherited lies and chart their own paths forward?

My Review

I’m a huge fan of Leah Thomas, specifically the way she writes these deep, complex, unusual characters. I’m always drawn in and fascinated by the way she gets me to love people that at first I’m not sure if I can like.

Kalyn was tough for me. I tend to struggle with characters who use crude language or gratuitous swearing. Or in this case, both. And that was definitely a struggle for me. Lots of times I feel like authors use language like that to show that a character is a bad kid or is cool, and it gets redundant and feels lazy to me. Like, there are other ways to get that point across.

In this case, I felt like a lot of the word choices were really deliberate. They were meant to make us uncomfortable and remind us that Kalyn and Gus live in entirely different worlds, even though they’re in the same small town. It called sharp attention to the difference in the way her family and Gus’s family were treated by the town.

She also does learn that people will treat her differently when she acts differently. It’s a bit of a mixed message, because she feels like she’s not being true to herself when she acts all sugar and no spice. But it created an interesting moment when she stopped to realize that. It’s kind of one of those growing up moments, right? We want the world to be a place where we don’t get judged based on the way we dress or talk, but the truth is it doesn’t work that way most of the time. (Which doesn’t make it right.)

Anyway, WILD AND CROOKED gave me a lot to think about. I got invested in solving the mystery of what really happened to Gus’s dad and why. And I think the story really nailed it on the lesson that even when people use profanity and crude language, they still have the same value as anyone else. I want to pretend I didn’t need that reminder, but the truth is, I think I did.

If you like Leah Thomas books, you’ll find the same complex, great cast of characters and LGBT+ representation in WILD AND CROOKED. I think fans of LAST SEEN LEAVING by Caleb Roehrig may also enjoy this book for its murder-solving elements. The tone is different, but it has some of the same intensity.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 15 up.

Representation
Gus has Cerebral Palsy and struggles with finding the right word as well as some physical handicaps. Gus identifies as pansexual. Kalyn comes from a poor family and identifies as lesbian. Gus’s best friend believes he has no empathy resulting from a brain injury. Gus has two moms.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity and some crude language used often throughout the book.

Romance/Sexual Content
Two girls kissing. References to sex. One character references memories of conversion therapy camp in which a priest made her look at pornographic images of a man and woman together.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
A teenager shoots and kills someone. Another teen brutally attacks someone with no feelings of remorse.

Drug Content 
Scenes include teens smoking cigarettes.

Note: This post contains affiliate links which cost you nothing but which help support this blog.

Review: Two Can Keep a Secret by Karen McManus

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , , ,

Two Can Keep a Secret
Karen McManus
Delacorte Press
January 8, 2019

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads | Book Depository

About TWO CAN KEEP A SECRET

Echo Ridge is small-town America. Ellery’s never been there, but she’s heard all about it. Her aunt went missing there at age seventeen. And only five years ago, a homecoming queen put the town on the map when she was killed. Now Ellery has to move there to live with a grandmother she barely knows.

The town is picture-perfect, but it’s hiding secrets. And before school even begins for Ellery, someone’s declared open season on homecoming, promising to make it as dangerous as it was five years ago. Then, almost as if to prove it, another girl goes missing.

Ellery knows all about secrets. Her mother has them; her grandmother does too. And the longer she’s in Echo Ridge, the clearer it becomes that everyone there is hiding something. The thing is, secrets are dangerous–and most people aren’t good at keeping them. Which is why in Echo Ridge, it’s safest to keep your secrets to yourself.

My Review

After reading ONE OF US IS LYING, I was really eager to read TWO CAN KEEP A SECRET. They’re not related stories, even though the titles have a cool thing going on. They’re both murder mysteries.

I liked the characters, both Ellery and Malcolm, right away. Malcolm gives his point-of-view as someone whose family has been tangled up with a murdered girl, since his older brother was accused, but not convicted, of killing her. Ellery sees her time in Echo Ridge as a chance to learn more about her missing aunt, the twin sister her mom never talks about.

The only really confusing element to the story, for me, was the timeline. I had a hard time piecing together the way all the characters related since they were varying ages and there were two girls whose lives ended tragically. Sadie’s sister is one generation back from Ellery and Malcolm. A family friend’s daughter is the homecoming queen who was murdered. For some reason I just had a hard time keeping track of all the timelines: the sister who disappeared and events surrounding her disappearance, the murdered homecoming queen and all the events surrounding her disappearance, and the present unfolding of the story. Could have just been me, though.

I did not guess who the murderer ended up being. I had some ideas along the way, but none of them turned out to be the right ones, which is always fun in a book like this. I think one of the best unexpected surprises was the way Ellery began to bond with her grandmother. She clearly didn’t expect it, and maybe her grandma didn’t either, but it was this sweet surprise, and I loved it.

If you like books about small towns packed with secrets, this is definitely the book for you.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 15 up.

Representation
Ellery’s twin brother is gay. Two minor characters are Korean.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used regularly but not super frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between girl and boy.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
A mysterious person leaves threatening messages involving mangled dolls. Someone holds two people at gunpoint.

Drug Content 
Scenes include teens drinking alcohol. In one scene, a girl drinks so much she vomits.

Note: This post contains affiliate links which cost you nothing but which help support this blog.

Review: Last Seen Leaving by Caleb Roehrig

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , ,

Last Seen Leaving
Caleb Roehrig
Feiwel & Friends
October 4, 2016

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads | Book Depository

About LAST SEEN LEAVING

Flynn’s girlfriend has disappeared. How can he uncover her secrets without revealing his own?

Flynn’s girlfriend, January, is missing. The cops are asking questions he can’t answer, and her friends are telling stories that don’t add up. All eyes are on Flynn—as January’s boyfriend, he must know something.

But Flynn has a secret of his own. And as he struggles to uncover the truth about January’s disappearance, he must also face the truth about himself.

My Review

LAST SEEN LEAVING is the first of three murder mystery/suspense type books that I’ve read lately, which is a little odd for me only in that I read them almost in a row. Most years I maybe read one or two, tops. I actually really enjoyed all three books, though.

Earlier this year I read WHITE RABBIT by Caleb Roehrig, and loved it. I love the unusual choice of character names he uses in both books. I thought WHITE RABBIT was a more polished book, which makes sense since it’s Roehrig’s second novel. In both books the main character totally drew me in so I felt connected to his emotional journey.

In LAST SEEN LEAVING, part of Flynn’s journey is recognizing something he’s not ready to admit to himself. While it may clear him of involvement in January’s disappearance, admitting it undoubtedly changes his life.

But Flynn’s not the only one who has secrets. As he looks more deeply into January’s disappearance, he discovers she may have played a role with him and perhaps he was too busy protecting his secret to notice hers.

I liked that element to the book. Again, it made Flynn reevaluate whether keeping his secret was the right choice. Was it causing him to hurt other people in ways he hadn’t considered?

Another thing that comes up in the book is unreported sexual assault. While nothing happens on scene in the story, some of the characters have really strong, evocative responses when (briefly) describing their experiences. Sensitive readers should be aware. Check my content notes section for more information.

Overall, I liked LAST SEEN LEAVING a lot, and I’m very much looking forward to reading DEATH PREFERS BLONDES because it totally looks as though it will have the same serious murder mystery packed with quirky, fabulous characters.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 15 up.

Representation
The main character is gay. One of his friends is also gay and from a conservative Muslim family.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
So there’s a LOT of really strong profanity in this book. More than 70 instances of f*** and many instances of other words.

Romance/Sexual Content – Trigger Warning
A boy and girl kiss. She pressures him for sex. He refuses. Two boys kiss. Rumors spread about a girl making a sexual advance at an older man. A man faces accusations about sexually abusing teenage girls.

Some of the accusations come from victims who only relate brief stories of their experiences, but they’re pretty shocking. It’s not the detail but the way you can tell the girls are still in the midst of dealing with the trauma. This might be triggering for some readers.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content – Trigger Warning
In a pretty intense scene, two characters battle for a gun.

In one scene, Flynn witnesses a man fatally shoot himself.

Drug Content 
Flynn comments in one scene that he hopes to be able to sneak beer at a family celebration. He references a tradition where kids all go for a hay ride and then sit around a bonfire where they drink alcohol and eat s’mores.

Note: This post contains affiliate links which cost you nothing but which help support this blog.

Review: A Tragic Kind of Wonderful by Eric Lindstrom

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , ,

A Tragic Kind of Wonderful
Eric Lindstrom
Harper Collins Publishers
Published December 29, 2016

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Goodreads

About A TRAGIC KIND OF WONDERFUL

For sixteen-year-old Mel Hannigan, bipolar disorder makes life unpredictable. Her latest struggle is balancing her growing feelings in a new relationship with her instinct to keep everyone at arm’s length. And when a former friend confronts Mel with the truth about the way their relationship ended, deeply buried secrets threaten to come out and upend her shaky equilibrium.

As the walls of Mel’s compartmentalized world crumble, she fears the worst—that her friends will abandon her if they learn the truth about what she’s been hiding. Can Mel bring herself to risk everything to find out?

My Review

So many thoughts on this book keep rattling around in my head. On the one hand, I loved that A TRAGIC KIND OF WONDERFUL shows a positive representation of medication to regulate mental health issues. Mel wants to be on medication. She recognizes that it helps her be more herself and helps keep her safe.

Also, Mel’s a fixer. She likes everyone to get along. She soothes people, avoids conflict, and will take herself out of a situation if she feels like her presence is only adding conflict to it. I really identified with her in that regard. My favorite parts of A TRAGIC KIND OF WONDERFUL are about Mel learning how to fight– for herself, for her friends, for permission from herself just to be. A lot of those struggles hit home in a big way for me.

If you know anything about books, you probably guess that while Mel wants to be on her meds and is in regular therapy appointments, she has a pretty big crash. I feel like I’m not qualified to speak to the authenticity of her experience, but it felt very real reading each scene where she unravels. The writing allowed me to feel both in her head and like an observer, watching and hoping someone noticed what was going on before she completely spiraled out of control.

It’s weird– I keep noticing the presence of community in stories lately and the message that we need a community around us, and often, our community will stand by us through things we sometimes thought would scare them off. I loved those elements of A TRAGIC KIND OF WONDERFUL, too, from the sweet watchful residents of the nursing home where Mel works to her friends and even her mom.

There are a couple of rough scenes that might be difficult for sensitive readers. I’ll include some notes on those below in the content section, so be sure to check those out.

If you loved STARFISH by Akemi Dawn Bowman or THE UNLIKELY HERO OF ROOM 13B by Teresa Toten, you will want to check out A TRAGIC KIND OF WONDERFUL by Eric Lindstrom.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 15 up.

Representation
One of Mel’s best friends is Japanese. She makes friends with a Chinese boy at the nursing home where she works. Mel has bipolar disorder. Her brother had the same diagnosis and Mel’s aunt has many of the same symptoms, though she’s undiagnosed and refuses medication.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
At least a dozen instances of profanity, including f***.

Romance/Sexual Content
A boy and girl kiss. A girl and girl kiss and grope each other under their shirts.

Spiritual Content
Brief reference to Buddhism. Mel plays piano with a retired reverend. Sometimes they play hymns together. He asks her to play as his way to lift her up.

Violent Content – Trigger Warning and Spoiler
Mel resists memories of her brother’s death, something she witnessed that’s obviously really traumatic for her.

He did a super dangerous thing and died doing it. She wonders if he did it on purpose. Then she returns to the scene of his death with the intention of repeating what he tried to do. She isn’t thinking of killing herself, but she repeatedly does things which behaviorally are suicidal.

Drug Content 
Mel drinks alcohol with her friends and ends up with a terrible hangover.

Note: I received a free copy of A TRAGIC KIND OF WONDERFUL by Eric Lindstrom in exchange for my honest review. This post contains affiliate links which cost you nothing but which help support this blog.

Review: No Place Like Here by Christina June

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , ,

No Place Like Here
Christina June
Blink/Zondervan
Published May 21, 2019

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads | Book Depository

About NO PLACE LIKE HERE

Ashlyn Zanotti has big plans for the summer. She’s just spent a year at boarding school and can’t wait to get home. But when Ashlyn’s father is arrested for tax evasion and her mother enters a rehab facility for “exhaustion,” a.k.a. depression, her life is turned upside down.

The cherry on top? Ashlyn’s father sends her to work with a cousin she doesn’t even know at a rustic team-building retreat center in the middle of nowhere. A self-proclaimed “indoor girl,” not even Ash’s habit of leaving breadcrumb quotes—inspirational sayings she scribbles everywhere—can help her cope.

With a dangerously careless camp manager doling out grunt work, an overbearing father trying to control her even from prison, and more than a little boy drama to struggle with, the summer is full of challenges. And Ashlyn must make the toughest decision of her life: keep quiet and follow her dad’s marching orders, or find the courage to finally stand up to her father to have any hope of finding her way back home.

My Review

My favorite thing about Christina June’s writing is the way she voices her characters. I found Ashlynn, the main character in NO PLACE LIKE HERE, cute and funny and awkward, all super endearing qualities. She shows a lot of growth through the story, too, which I enjoyed.

I thought having her domineering, perfectionist dad in jail for tax fraud was an interesting element to the story, too. While I’ve read a couple other young adult books featuring characters with a parent or loved one in prison, it’s always for murder. I thought it was cool that NO PLACE LIKE HERE follows a family dealing with white collar crime and all the shame and weirdness that a kid might feel when she has a parent involved in something like that.

If you’re a big fan of summer camp stories, you’ll probably like this one. While it’s not a camp for kids, the retreat center where Ashlynn and her cousin work for the summer creates a lot of the same vibes as summer camp counselor stories. Ashlynn and her friends watch over kids in the pool and supervise activities like a zip line course and scavenger hunt. They develop a team spirit and share inside jokes.

NO PLACE LIKE HERE is the third novel in the story world created by Christina June. Each book features a different character from the first book, IT STARTED WITH GOODBYE, but you don’t have to read one before another, so if you’re unfamiliar with the collection, you can start with any book you want.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
Ashlynn is Italian. Most other characters are white and straight.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
A girl and boy kiss.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
None.

Drug Content 
None.

Note: I received a free copy of NO PLACE LIKE HERE by Christina June in exchange for my honest review. This post contains affiliate links which cost you nothing but which help support this blog.

Review: Bright Burning Stars by A. K. Small

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , , ,

Bright Burning Stars
A. K. Small
Algonquin Young Readers
Available May 21, 2019

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About BRIGHT BURNING STARS

Best friends Marine Duval and Kate Sanders have trained at the Paris Opera Ballet School since childhood, where they’ve formed an inseparable bond forged by respective family tragedies and a fierce love for dance. When the body of a student is found in the dorms just before the start of their final year, Marine and Kate begin to ask themselves what they would do to win the ultimate prize: to be the one girl selected to join the Opera’s prestigious corps de ballet. Would they die? Cheat? Seduce the most talented boy in the school, dubbed the Demigod, hoping his magic would make them shine, too? Neither girl is sure.

But then Kate gets closer to the Demigod, even as Marine has begun to capture his heart. And as selection day draws near, the competition—for the prize, for the Demigod—becomes fiercer, and Marine and Kate realize they have everything to lose, including each other.

My Review

I’m a total sucker for a good ballet book. This probably shouldn’t be surprising, since I took ballet lessons for more than six years and at one time, wanted to pursue dance professionally. So I’m always on the lookout for stories featuring ballerinas because I enjoy reading about dance and all the nostalgia that comes with it.

The ballet terminology runs a bit thick in some places. I’m not sure how this would impact a reader unfamiliar with dance. Sometimes I think it would make certain scenes confusing because without a mental visual of what the characters are trying to do, it would be hard to grasp the significance of the scene. Thankfully, with Google and YouTube at our fingertips, it’s pretty easy to look up the terms and see what the moves look like.

BRIGHT BURNING STARS totally immerses its readers in a high-stakes world where only the top ballerinas remain in the elite program. An injury or indiscretion could mean the end for any student. So could gaining a few pounds too many. Pretty much any bad thing that could happen to a dancer, happens in this book. Pregnancy? Yup. Drug addiction? Check. Weight gain? Eating disorder? Yes. Heartbreak? Injury? Mental health issues? It has those, too.

One thing that was challenging for me reading this book was the way one character reacts to becoming pregnant. She feels it’s a career-ender for her, doesn’t want the baby, and takes some drugs while pregnant, too. While I know unwanted pregnancy is a real issue for some, it was hard for me to read after my own struggles with infertility.

It probably didn’t help that I read those scenes while holding and nursing my baby, the one that for a long time, I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to have. So really, that’s just one of those experiences where my story runs very contrary to the character’s journey. I respect that not everyone feels the same about babies or pregnancy. And I’ve learned I probably need to update my mental list of things I can read for now. I had a really hard time connecting with Kate as a character, and I suspect that at least part of it came from my reaction to this part of her story.

But I loved Marine, though– she’s totally the best friend everyone wants to have, and the girl who carries too many burdens until they bowl her over. I definitely connected with her, and found myself really rooting for her to succeed and to stay smarter than some of the games happening around her.

Though the plot isn’t very similar (beyond a bright young dancer reaching for stardom), BRIGHT BURNING STARS reminded me a little bit of the movie BLACK SWAN with Natalie Portman. It had the same kind of intensity and pressure and strong, talented character driven to the edge.

All in all, I’m glad I read BRIGHT BURNING STARS and particularly enjoyed Marine’s character and her story.

Cultural Elements
All characters are French except for Kate who’s American.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used rarely.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. Brief but graphic descriptions of sex. It’s clear that the boy is using her, but she thinks this is true love. She makes this mistake more than once.

A girl trades sexual favors for drugs.

At one point, a pregnant character purposefully triggers as miscarriage.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content – TRIGGER WARNING
Students talk about a girl who died by suicide after not being chosen to go on to the ballet company. Includes some graphic descriptions of how she killed herself.

One character intends to die by suicide, taking all preparations to do so.

A girl battles anorexia and ends up nearly hospitalized. Some eating disorder behaviors are normalized by the girls—there are lots of weigh-ins, and the girls are required to keep their weight below a certain point or risk being asked to leave the dance academy.

Drug Content
One dancer is known to have a stash of drugs and alcohol that he sells to the other dancers (or trades for sexual favors). Kate depends on drugs and alcohol in multiple instances to amp her up for rehearsal or drown her sorrows after a heartbreak.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. This post contains affiliate links, which cost you nothing but, when used, help support this blog.