Category Archives: Contemporary

Review: Jess, Chunk, and the Road Trip to Infinity by Kristin Elizabeth Clark

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

Jess Chunk and the Road Trip to Infinity by Kristin Elizabeth ClarkJess, Chunk and the Road Trip to Infinity
Kristin Elizabeth Clark
Farrar, Straus, and Giroux Books for Young Readers
Published November 8, 2016

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About Jess, Chunk, and the Road Trip to Infinity

The last time Jess saw her father, she was a boy named Jeremy. Now she’s a high school graduate, soon to be on her way to art school. But first, Jess has some unfinished business with her dad. So she’s driving halfway across the country to his wedding. He happens to be marrying her mom’s ex-best friend. It’s not like Jess wasn’t invited; she was. She just told them she wasn’t coming. Surprise!

Luckily, Jess isn’t making this trip alone. Her best friend, Christophe—nicknamed Chunk—is joining her. Chunk has always been there for Jess, and he’s been especially supportive of her transition, which has recently been jump-started with hormone therapy.

Along the way from California to Chicago, Jess and Chunk will visit roadside attractions, make a new friend or two, and learn a few things about themselves—and each other—that call their true feelings about their relationship into question.

My Review

My favorite part of the story was the relationship between Jess and Chunk. They had a lot of shared rituals and games—from the use of the term Black Hole to indicate a topic that must immediately be dropped, to a back-and-forth exchange of synonyms as a game.

I loved the way the author juxtaposed Jess’s insecurities about her body during her transition and Chunk’s insecurities about his weight. I felt like Jess’s experience was really easy to understand and empathize with, but she’s also a flawed character. Her self-focused thoughts and obsession over her feelings about her transition leave her blinded to the feelings of others. At first, this causes a lot of friction, but Jess does begin to recognize how cruel or thoughtless she’s been to others. There’s a lot of hope to be found here, and a lot of heart, too.

While Jess’s mom is extremely supportive of her transition, her dad withdraws and struggles much more overtly with Jess’s identity. Showing Jess’s dad’s reaction and also her feelings about his words added a much greater understanding and level of empathy to the story, because we saw not only her dad’s genuine struggle to understand why this was happening and the way his struggle made Jess feel rejected and unloved.

Overall, Jess, Chunk, and the Road Trip to Infinity is an emotional journey wrapped in a road trip and packed with all the stuff best friendships are made of and even a little romance. Fans of John Green and Emil Ostrovski will enjoy the quirky, deep friendships.

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Cultural Elements
Jess is a transgender girl who has recently started hormone therapy as part of her transition. Another character comes out as pansexual, meaning he is attracted to others of any gender.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used with moderate frequency.

Romance/Sexual Content
One kiss between Jess and a boy. Jess also talks about her journey realizing she’s transgender as opposed to previously believing she was gay. At one point she briefly mentions one key moment was in paying attention to what she fantasized about—touching rather than being touched. It’s brief and only about as explicit as I just was.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Jess worries about her safety as she and Chunk travel through from California to Chicago, through some areas known to be unfriendly toward transgender people. At one point she hears a story about someone who was attacked.

Drug Content
At one point Jess drinks beer with friends she makes on the road trip.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Top Ten Reasons to Take That Crazy Perfect Someday by Michael Mazza to the Beach

Contemporary, Guest Post, New Adult 18up, News and Fun, , , , ,

For today’s stop on the Irish Banana Blog Tour, author Michael Mazza shares with us his top ten reasons to take his novel That Crazy Perfect Someday to the beach. Before I get too carried away, let me give you a little more information about the book.

That Crazy Perfect Someday
Michael Mazza
Turtle Point Press
Published June 13, 2017

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About That Crazy Perfect Someday
The year is 2024. Climate change has altered the world’s wave patterns. Drones crisscross the sky, cars drive themselves, and surfing is a new Olympic sport. Mafuri Long, UCSD marine biology grad, champion surfer, and only female to dominate a record eighty-foot wave, still has something to prove. Having achieved Internet fame, along with sponsorship from Google and Nike, she’s intent on winning Olympic gold. But when her father, a clinically depressed former Navy captain and widower, learns that his beloved supercarrier, the USS Hillary Rodham Clinton, is to be sunk, he draws Mafuri into a powerful undertow. Conflicts compound as Mafuri’s personal life comes undone via social media, and a vicious Aussie competitor levels bogus doping charges against her.

Mafuri forms an unlikely friendship with an awkward teen, a Ferrari-driving professional gamer who will prove to be her support and ballast. Authentic, brutal, and at times funny, Mafuri lays it all out in a sprightly, hot-wired voice. From San Diego to Sydney, Key West, and Manila, That Crazy Perfect Someday goes beyond the sports/surf cliché to explore the depths of sorrow and hope, yearning and family bonds, and the bootstrap power of a bold young woman climbing back into the light.

Top Ten Reasons to Take That Crazy Perfect Someday to the Beach
by Michael Mazza

  1. Booklist calls it a “[A] beach-bag must-have.”
  2. Many of the scenes take place on a beach!
  3. Read it on a beach. With the sand fleas, stinky kelp odor, and sea spray, you’ll have a truly interactive experience.
  4. It’s a conversation starter for that hunky, tropical resort bartender fixin’ up your fourth Mai Tai.
  5. It’s a story with drones, sharks, Aussie surf thugs, monster waves, bonobo apes, a Louis the XIV wedding, and celebrity wipe-outs. Who doesn’t like celebrity wipe-outs?
  6. Your mom would approve of it—wait, scratch that.
  7. It makes a great sunshade when not in use.
  8. Word is that fish love it! Sea mollusks too!
  9. It goes great with a refreshing umbrella drink.
  10. The sun gods will shine their heavenly goodness upon you for reading it. And isn’t that reason enough?

Finally, always wear sunscreen, never drop in on another surfer, and support your local indie bookstore.

About Michael Mazza

Website | Twitter | Instagram

Michael Mazza is a San Francisco Bay Area fiction writer whose stories have appeared in Other Voices, WORDS, Blue Mesa Review, TINGE, and ZYZZYVA. He is also an internationally acclaimed art and creative director working in the advertising industry. That Crazy Perfect Someday is his first novel.

Visit the Other Stops on the Tour!

6/19: Never Too Many To Read: Photo Collage

6/20: The Story Sanctuary: Guest Post (you are here!)

6/21: Here’s to Happy Endings: Q&A 

6/22: Reading Is Better With Cupcakes: Review

6/23: Quarzfeather: Review

 

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Review: Beyond Clueless by Linas Alsenas

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

Beyond Clueless
Linas Alsenas
Harry N. Abrams
Published August 18, 2015

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When Marty learns she’ll be at a different high school than her best friend Jimmy, at first she’s devastated. She fears she and Jimmy will drift apart, and his new distraction with his first boyfriend only seems to prove her right. But Marty finds the perfect solution in a school production of Into the Woods. She finds ways for Jimmy and his new friends to be involved, and even involves her new friend Xiang. But even with the play, Marty feels like everyone has a special someone except her. Then a hunky actor takes an interest in her, and Marty swoons. But Felix pushes Marty in ways she doesn’t expect, and she struggles to figure out whether she needs to catch up with everyone else on the whole romance thing. When her friends express concern, Marty realizes she may have to choose between her new flame and her friends.

I feel like I kind of had a love-hate relationship with this book. I loved Marty’s spunky voice. Her friendship with Jimmy and their shared love of musicals was so sweet. I loved following the awkward transition into high school and the way it changed the relationships in Marty’s life.

On the other hand, I wasn’t a huge fan of these fifteen-year-old kids drinking so casually, and the way older family members provided alcohol to them like it was no big thing. I had a hard time with that. I also struggled with Xiang’s character. On the one hand, she describes this sort of repressive home life where her parents are so controlling that she’s afraid to admit she likes a boy from her youth orchestra group. After all, she reasons, nothing could happen between them anyway; her parents won’t allow it. But she doesn’t seem to have any qualms at all about putting on make-up or changing into clothes her parents wouldn’t approve of once she’s out of the house. And just how is this girl getting cigarettes and keeping them (plus contraband makeup and clothes) hidden in this home where her parents are supposed to be all up in her business? I found those ideas hard to reconcile.

However, I really enjoyed the whole high school production part of the story. I liked that the story included kids participating in the production off-stage as well as the actors. I liked that Marty’s perceptions of people get challenged on a lot of levels. It’s not just her perception of Jimmy’s new friends she has to adjust, but also her beliefs about Felix, the stage manager, even her parents, too. For me, that’s what made the story most enjoyable. Learning that we’re sometimes wrong in how we perceive situations and people around us is something we all have to deal with. I thought that part of Beyond Clueless was really well-done.

If you’re a musical fan or a fan of theater, you may want to add this one to your list.

Recommended for Ages 15 up.

Cultural Elements
Marty (white) befriends a Chinese girl at school. Her best friend is gay and dating his first boyfriend.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used with moderate frequency.

Romance/Sexual Content
Marty sees some affection between the boys – holding hands, brief kissing. She vaguely wonders if they’re doing more, but never asks. Her friend Xiang briefly described some of her relationship with her boyfriend—hints that they do more than kiss and at one point makes a crude comment about him.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Marty learns that one of her friends punched another boy backstage during her performance.

Drug Content
Marty and her friends (who are all fifteen and sixteen) drink beer provided by older relatives.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

 

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Review: The Devil You Know by Trish Doller

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

The Devil You Know
Trish Doller
Bloomsbury
Published June 20, 2015

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About The Devil You Know
Eighteen-year-old Arcadia wants adventure. Living in a tiny Florida town with her dad and four-year-old brother, Cadie spends most of her time working, going to school, and taking care of her family. So when she meets two handsome cousins at a campfire party, she finally has a chance for fun. They invite her and friend to join them on a road trip, and it’s just the risk she’s been craving-the opportunity to escape. But what starts out as a fun, sexy journey quickly becomes dangerous when she discovers that one of them is not at all who he claims to be. One of them has deadly intentions.

My Review
After meeting Trish Doller at ApollyCon in March, I knew I had to read this book. I loved the idea that it’s set in Florida, but not at the beach, and while it’s a summer story, it’s a whole different kind of tale than the usual Florida vacation! As with Where the Stars Still Shine, the Florida setting is super vivid. As a Florida girl myself, I often nodded along with the descriptions and laughed with Cadie at some of the things the out-of-town boys asked about life in the Sunshine State.

I think my favorite part of the book was the vivid details about Cadie’s memories with her mom, her relationship with her brother and even Noah’s memories. All those little things gave the story so much depth and really made the characters seem real.

There’s definitely a position on the romance angle of the story. Cadie thinks a lot about conversations she’s had with her mom about sex and her own feelings that she shouldn’t feel guilty, that it’s right to do it when she feels read, and that it doesn’t need to be special or limited to one experience.

As far as the rest of the emotional experience of the story—I found myself totally wrapped up in the suspense. I sat down to read for five minutes and didn’t even realize how much time had passed before I’d read five chapters, was late for everything, and had to make myself stop!

If you’re a super sharp cookie, you’ll probably figure out some of the plot before it’s revealed, but even if that’s the case, don’t let that ruin it for you. I was pretty sure from early on about who the good guys and bad guys were, but it didn’t lessen my enjoyment of the read at all. There were enough other reveals and intriguing moments keeping me turning page after page all the way until the end. If I hadn’t needed to stop reading that first session, I probably would have read straight through the entire book right then. As it was, I finished reading the same night.

Recommended for Ages 16 up.

Cultural Elements
Major characters are Caucasian.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used with moderate frequency.

Romance/Sexual Content
Cadie worries that her ex-boyfriend may have shared intimate details about their relationship with his crude twin brother, who makes lewd comments to Cadie about oral sex.

Teens gather at a camp site for a party, where they drink alcohol and go skinny dipping. Cadie takes off her dress, and boys make some crude comments.

Cadie pretty quickly falls for a new boy. They share intense kisses and undress together. Later, she has sex with a boy. At one point, she tries to distract a boy by making him think she wants to have sex with him even though she doesn’t. It’s a desperate move and unclear how far she’s going to make herself go until she can’t do it.

She thinks a lot about sex and resents possible judgment about her choices. She believes she should be able to have sex when she wants without it being a big deal, and recalls her mom’s counsel advising her of this, too.

Spiritual Content
Brief mention of desperate prayer to God or anyone in the Heavens listening.

Violent Content
One boy appears to be the victim of a bullying incident. Cadie finds him naked and tied to a tree in the morning after a party.

References to a drunk fight between a man and his son which caused serious injury to both parties.

Twice people die of gunshot wounds, off-scene. It happens once in-scene. A boy attacks a girl and accuses her of making him hurt her. It’s clear he means her serious harm.

A crocodile grabs a boy.

Drug Content
Teens drink alcohol while camping and at a party. Reference to a couple Cadie thinks might be smoking pot.

 

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Review: It Started with Goodbye by Christina June

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

It Started with Goodbye
Christina June
Blink YA
Published May 9, 2017

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When a shopping trip with her best friend and best friend’s boyfriend ends in an arrest for shoplifting, Tatum tries to convince her parents of her innocence. But instead of understanding that Tatum did nothing wrong, that it was all the creepy boyfriend’s fault, Tatum’s dad leaves her under the strict rule of her stepmother. Yay for summer house arrest.

As part of her punishment, Tatum works community service, where a friend challenges her to start her own business doing graphic design. As Tatum explores the possibility, she meets a charming boy looking for a website, and learns she and her stepsister may have something in common after all.

I liked spunky Tatum and the charming and mysterious boy she communicates with via email. The way the relationship unfolded drew me even further into the story. I liked that she ends up with a community of friends around her. I also liked the exploration of the relationship between Tatum and her stepmother. As a member of a blended family, I felt like that relationship read pretty true. Though she eventually comes to respect her stepmom, Tatum is pretty rude at different points in the story. She does regret her behavior later.

I thought it was cool to feature a character with interest in graphic design, especially one as entrepreneurial as Tatum. It added an interesting flavor to the story. Overall, this is a clean book and a light read. Fans of A Week of Mondays by Jessica Brody will appreciate Tatum’s quirkiness and wild attempts to fix things. The story might also appeal to readers who enjoyed That’s Not Hay in My Hair by Juliette Turner.

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Cultural Elements
Most characters are straight and white. Tatum’s step-family (mom, sister, grandmother) are Chilean.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Brief kissing between boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
None.

Drug Content
None.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

 

Review: The Lost and the Found by Cat Clarke

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

The Lost and the Found
Cat Clarke
Crown Books
September 23, 2016 (Originally published April 23, 2015)

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About The Lost and the Found
THE LOST
When six-year-old Laurel Logan was abducted, the only witness was her younger sister, Faith. Since then, Faith’s childhood has revolved around her sister’s disappearance—from her parents’ broken marriage and the constant media attention, to dealing with so-called friends who only ever want to talk about her missing sister.

THE FOUND
Now, thirteen years later, a young woman is found in the front yard of the Logans’ old house, disoriented and clutching the teddy bear Laurel was last seen with. Can her sister finally be back? Faith always dreamed of her sister coming home; she just never believed it would happen. But soon a disturbing series of events leaves Faith increasingly isolated from her family and paranoid about her sister’s motives. Before long, Faith begins to wonder if it’s the abduction that’s changed her sister, or if it’s something else. . . .

My Review
I feel like it’s going to be difficult to talk about this book without spoilers because so many of the things that made it really fascinating were the twists I didn’t see coming. There’s a creepy element that has absolutely nothing to do with Laurel’s past, which I thought was not only really well-executed in terms of how eerie it was, but also how unexpected and yet it made sense.

It took me a couple of chapters to really decide I liked Faith. On the whole she’s the good girl who has been largely invisible to her family since her sister’s disappearance. Which in and of itself was an interesting paradox, right? I loved her relationship with her almost-step-dad Michel. He seemed to really get her and had the capacity to draw her out. In some ways it seemed like they were both outsiders watching people they loved caught up in the grief of losing a daughter.

Toward the end, Faith makes a difficult decision that I really struggled to accept. I felt like it was deeply unhealthy and didn’t agree at all with her methods of justifying it to herself. She wanted to believe she was ultimately doing a kinder thing, but I felt like she should realize what a lie it was based on her perceptions of the rest of her family members. I know that’s vague. I don’t want to give the story away. But that was kind of disappointing to me. I prefer to think that eventually she changed her mind and came forward with the truth.

I’ve read a couple of other “abducted child returns” stories before– The Tension of Opposites, The Deep End of the Ocean, Aftermath, and the duo Face on the Milk Carton and Whatever Happened to Janie?— and I think this one is the most unique in its exploration of what it’d be like to experience a long-lost sister return. If you like any of the books I listed above, you will want to check this one out as well.

You can also find my interview with author Cat Clarke here.

Recommended for Ages 16 up.

Cultural Elements
Faith and her family are white. Her dad is bisexual and after he and Faith’s mom divorced, he began a relationship with a Frenchman.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used with moderate frequency.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kisses between Faith and her boyfriend as well as some displays of affection between Faith’s dad and his boyfriend. Faith had sex with her boyfriend for the first time the night before the story begins. She reflects on it a couple of times during the story and has sex with him again in her room while her parents are out. It’s briefly described—largely because her mind is elsewhere, so it’s kind of this weird experience for her.

She comments early in the book that having sex with her boyfriend was “the right thing” because she loves him.

Though Laurel doesn’t graphically describe her experiences in captivity, it’s clear she was sexually abused. It’s mostly hinted at and not explicitly described, but especially sensitive readers may find even these references too much.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
References to physical and sexual abuse.

Drug Content
Faith attends a birthday party where she and a friend sneak drinks of wine until fairly intoxicated.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.