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Review: Aftermath by Clara Kensie

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


I’m excited to share my review as a part of the Aftermath Blog Tour. Not only is this book about an issue dear to my heart, but one book blogger has taken her love of the story above and beyond and uses it to support RAINN and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, both resources the author lists for readers in the back of the book. You can win one of the Aftermath tote bags in the giveaway below, too.

Aftermath
Clara Kensie
Merit Press
Available November 1, 2016

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books-A-Million | Indiebound | Goodreads

About Aftermath
Charlotte survived four long years as a prisoner in the attic of her kidnapper, sustained only by dreams of her loving family. The chance to escape suddenly arrives, and Charlotte fights her way to freedom. But an answered prayer turns into heartbreak. Losing her has torn her family apart. Her parents have divorced: Dad’s a glutton for fame, Mom drinks too much, and Charlotte’s twin is a zoned-out druggie. Her father wants Charlotte write a book and go on a lecture tour, and her mom wants to keep her safe, a virtual prisoner in her own home. But Charlotte is obsessed with the other girl who was kidnapped, who never got a second chance at life–the girl who nobody but Charlotte believes really existed. Until she can get justice for that girl, even if she has to do it on her own, whatever the danger, Charlotte will never be free.

My Review
This was a tough read for me emotionally. For the most part, I thought the author kept the details of Charlotte’s captivity to a minimum, mostly hinting at her experience rather than describing it in detail. Some of the most emotional moments for me were the scenes in which she tries to reconnect with her family. I felt like her struggle to process and understand were easy to identify with. There were some moments where things seemed to happen too easily, but I think the story would have been super dark if every victory was hard won.

I really liked that the characters weren’t as simple as we at first believed them to be. Her father isn’t simply a fame-obsessed guy. Her mom isn’t simply a broken alcoholic. Her sister isn’t simply a drug addict. There are a lot of other elements at play, and as the real truth about Charlotte’s disappearance comes out and the truth about what her captor has done becomes clear, we finally understand the larger issues going on in Charlotte’s family. I thought that orchestration was incredibly well done.

If you’re interested in a story that explores a kidnapped girl but has more mild content, try Girl, Stolen by April Henry. If you liked Girl, Stolen and check the content below to see if Aftermath is the right book for you.

Recommended for Ages 17 up.

Cultural Elements
Characters are described as white, middle class, small town people. Both Charlotte and Alexa have pale skin and black hair.

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

Spiritual Content
Alexa tells Charlotte about the prayer vigil and memorial service held while she was missing.

Drug Content
Alexa swears she’s done using drugs, but confesses to experimenting with pot, cocaine and even heroin. She takes Charlotte with her to a party and gets drunk. Charlotte drinks beer as well, in an attempt to feel like a “normal” teen.

Romance/Sexual Content – TRIGGER WARNING
Charlotte frequently recalls details from her captivity. She makes a reference to him forcing her to perform oral sex and describes some creepy things, like his preference for brushing her hair. She tells a friend that he forced her to have sex with him every night, and that her fear for her sister’s safety kept her from fighting back. She also knows he killed another girl he kept, The One Before Charlotte. Later she learns he had abused a family member.

Charlotte tries to feel like a normal girl by persuading a boy to have sex with her. Alexa finds them, the boy’s pants are off, and Charlotte’s kneeling on the floor.

Violent Content – TRIGGER WARNING
Most of Charlotte’s flashbacks involve remembering her captor choking her. She briefly describes other instances where he beat her. She has an injury that never healed correctly from one occasion. On another, he beat her so badly that she suffered a miscarriage.

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

About Clara Kensie

Website | Newsletter | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Insiders | Goodreads

Clara Kensie grew up near Chicago, reading every book she could find and using her diary to write stories about a girl with psychic powers who solved mysteries. She purposely did not hide her diary, hoping someone would read it and assume she was writing about herself. Since then, she’s swapped her diary for a computer and admits her characters are fictional, but otherwise she hasn’t changed one bit.

Today Clara is a RITA© Award-winning author of dark fiction for young adults. Her super-romantic psychic thriller series, Run To You, was named an RT Magazine Editors Pick for Best Books of 2014, and Run to You Book One: Deception So Deadly, is the winner of the prestigious 2015 RITA© Award for Best First Book.

Clara’s latest release is Aftermath, a dark, ripped-from-the-headlines YA contemporary in the tradition of Room and The Lovely Bones. Aftermath is on Goodreads’ list of Most Popular Books Published in November 2016, and Young Adult Books Central declared it a Top Ten Book of 2016.

Clara’s favorite foods are guacamole and cookie dough. But not together. That would be gross.

Check out the other stops on the Aftermath Blog Tour

1/2: The Irish Banana Review – Review

1/3: Bibliobuli YA – 2 Truths & A Lie Post

1/4: Swoony Boys Podcast – Character Interview

1/5: Novel Ink – Review

1/6: Fiction Fare – Q&A

1/7: Actin’ Up With Books – Review

1/8: The Story Sanctuary – Review – you are here

1/9: Who R U Blog – Review

1/10: Lisa’s Loves – Dream Cast

1/11: Gabriella M Reads – Q&A

1/12: Novelgossip – Review

1/13: Such A Novel Idea – Playlist

 

Enter the Most Awesome Giveaway: Clara Kensie books and Aftermath Tote

1: A “Do It Double” Aftermath tote bag from Blu Bear Bazaar. Inspired by Aftermath‘s message to “Do it double, because some can’t do it at all,” Blu Bear Bazaar designed beautiful artwork for it and printed it on tote bags and throw pillows. Blu Bear Bazaar is generously donating a portion of all Aftermath product proceeds to RAINN and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Click here for more information.

2: Choice of TWO books from Clara’s collection of YA novels. Clara will give the winner a list of the YA novels in her collection, and the winner can pick two. Some of the books are signed by the author.

*US/CAN for the above prizes. If the winner is international, the prize will be substituted by a book from Book Depository up to $18.00, winner’s choice.

Good luck, and happy reading!!!

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Review: Tessa by Melissa Wiltrout

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

Tessa
Melissa Wiltrout
Life Sentence Publishing
Published September 3, 2013

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Fifteen year-old runaway Tessa Minor is forced to return home after being caught shoplifting some food from a grocery store. She dreads the moment she has to face her father again, knowing he’ll make her pay for every hour she’s been on her own. She wakes in the back yard shed at home, battered and bruised from her father’s punishment. When she’s finally able to return to school, Tess dodges questions from her friends but can’t help feeling curious about the new girl, Heather, who speaks openly about her faith and is warm and kind to Tessa. In the midst of a violent altercation at home, Tess escapes through her bedroom window and runs to Heather’s home, where her grandparents take care of her. Gradually, their steadfast love and faith permeates Tess’s home life, and Tess begins to see changes even in her parents’ behavior. But after living in filth and terror for so long, Tess isn’t sure she can trust that the changes are for real or that they erase the horror of her past.

Tessa’s immaturity and tenaciousness made her a believable girl in her early teens, though her bad attitude was sometimes a little much to swallow. Wiltrout captures the chaos and uncertainty of life with an abuser, but it was difficult to understand why Tessa’s mother stayed with him, since she didn’t seem really dependent on him. The spiritual journeys each character takes were largely believable and authentic. Often the critical moment came not through conversation with another person but because of it, which feels more true to life. Forgiveness and consequences were also nicely balanced in a story which deals with redemption of someone with a serious criminal history.

While some of the story elements were a little underdeveloped, Wiltrout shows an overall good sense of story and character development as well as a nice grasp of how to authentically incorporate spiritual awakening into her scenes.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild and infrequent.

Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
When Tessa meets Heather and her grandparents, she also wins an introduction to their faith as Christians. Soon Tess begins to see God moving through her small family.

Violence
Tessa’s father mercilessly punishes her for running away and anytime she makes a mistake. Angry and brutal, he beats her severely enough for her to lose consciousness.

Drug Content
Tess’s dad also demands she help him concoct methamphetamine in an abandoned structure. While Tess never uses the drug, she suffers physical consequences from exposure to the chemicals used in the process. No ingredients are named, nor is the process described in any detail. Participants ultimately serve time in jail.

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

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Review: White Lines by Jennifer Banash

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

White Lines
Jennifer Banash
G P Putnam’s Sons
Published April 4, 2013

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Seventeen-year-old Cat slogs through school days, waiting for nighttime, when the flashing lights and pulsing music of New York’s hottest clubs to bring her to life. Waiting to float away on the little white lines. What started as a dream, an unending party, twists into something more sinister. Cat can feel her life rocketing out of control, but she feels powerless to stop it. As pressure from her boss and her abusive mother pile on top of her, Cat wants to retreat further into the haze of anonymity in the club scene. All that holds her back is the mysterious boy who makes her want to experience life and feel things that ordinarily terrify her. As the pull of her night life and her attraction to Julian yank her in different directions, Cat must make hard choices and force her fears into words before she fractures completely.
In a genre already crowded with stories of teen drug experimentation, self-destruction, and recovery, Banash boldly writes with equal measures grit and empathy. Cat’s battle extends far beyond drug addiction into issues of abandonment and abuse, which only adds to the believability of her plight. Though the end was a little too neat and tidy to fit the rest of this dark tale, the message of hope and recovery is sure to be encouraging to readers who’ve struggled with addiction personally or through a friend or family member.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Infrequent but severe.

Sexual Content
Brief but intense kissing scene. References to sexual encounters that happen off-scene.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violence
One boy attempts suicide publicly by first trying to throw himself out a window and then cutting himself. Another boy eggs him on. Cat’s mother physically and emotionally abuses her. A few scenes contain brief but strong descriptions of this abuse. She suffers from a violent recurring nightmare in which her mother brutally murders her.

Drug Content
Cat and her coworkers frequently abuse drugs like cocaine and extasy. Consequences for the behavior are severe and while the abuse is pretty thoroughly described, it is not condoned in any way. This is a cautionary tale of disaster averted by rehab and therapy.

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

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Review: You Know Where to Find Me by Rachel Cohn

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

You Know Where to Find Me
Rachel Cohn
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Published March 4, 2008

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Two cousins share a world of made up stories, dreams and long summer days until one, the perfect, beautiful one, chooses the unthinkable: to end her life. In the wake of that loss, the one left behind, Miles, must find her own way through her first summer without Laura. Friends and family rally around her to try to draw her out of her deepening isolation and depression, but their efforts often fall short and they are unable to touch the gaping wound inside of her. Miles’s story is a powerful, emotive tale of a girl walking through grief not knowing what is on the other side and if she can make it through and who, if anyone, will stick with her through that dark journey.

This was a tough read for me. I felt like the drug abuse was portrayed as this kind of glamorous experience, even though there were some consequences. It was explicit enough to almost feel like a how-to in some places, which was really too much for me. I deeply invested in the characters, but that investment also made it difficult for me to get through some of the darker parts of the story. Normally, I’m up for all the angst. I’m not sure why this one really haunted me (not in a great way) or what. Sensitive readers may find this one to be a bit too much to bear.

Language Content
Light. Very little bad language.

Sexual Content
In one scene, the main character touches a boy inappropriately on top of clothes. The scene is very brief. Laura’s father is gay, but the story does not delve into his relationships. Two men kiss near a fountain in the background of one scene.

Spiritual Content
Miles, despite calling herself an atheist, expresses anger toward God and briefly discusses the possible existence of heaven with another character, who expresses a belief that it does exist.

Violence
None

Drug Content
Yeowza. Before Laura’s death, the girls shared pharms like percs and oxys they snatched from parents’ unused prescriptions. Twice Miles visits the home of a renown drug dealer and checks out his stash. She depends more and more on the pharms and their effects after Laura kills herself and presents them as really benevolent for much of the duration of the story, though other characters do encourage Miles needs to quit using.

**SPOILER ALERT**
While Miles drug use is pretty explicit, the consequences include an accidental overdose and a commitment to rehab. She feels relieved to be breaking free of her addiction, even though she knows it’s going to be an uphill battle.

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