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Review: In a Perfect World by Trish Doller

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In a Perfect World by Trish DollerIn a Perfect World
Trish Doller
Simon Pulse
Published on May 23, 2017

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About In a Perfect World
Caroline Kelly is excited to be spending her summer vacation working at the local amusement park with her best friend, exploring weird Ohio with her boyfriend, and attending soccer camp with the hope she’ll be her team’s captain in the fall.

But when Caroline’s mother is hired to open an eye clinic in Cairo, Egypt, Caroline’s plans are upended. Caroline is now expected to spend her summer and her senior year in a foreign country, away from her friends, her home, and everything she’s ever known.

With this move, Caroline predicts she’ll spend her time navigating crowded streets, eating unfamiliar food, and having terrible bouts of homesickness. But when she finds instead is a culture that surprises her, a city that astounds her, and a charming, unpredictable boy who challenges everything she thought she knew about life, love, and privilege.

My Review
I am so in love with this book. The romance and the vivid setting and the relationships between Caroline and her parents (who were cool, but still parental–not the easiest balance to strike, but I thought they were awesome!) made this an unforgettable story. I liked the way Caroline’s experiences in Cairo made her think about the way women get treated, but also made her separate individuals from culture.

In writing this book, Doller doesn’t shy away from some of the political and cultural issues an American might face in moving to Egypt. In a Perfect World, despite the rosy glow of its title, explores a Cairo still in the aftermath of a revolution. While women are free to choose what clothing they wear, many face cruel or gross comments by some men even if they’re dressed modestly by Western standards. The story shows more than those extremist views, though. Caroline meets several devout and incredibly kind and giving Muslims. I liked that such a broad spectrum of people was represented in the story and felt like it added a lot of value without adding a lot of preaching.

Some readers may be uncomfortable with the idea of romance developing between a Muslim and a Catholic. I always feel like I can’t really pass judgment there since my own family crosses lines of faith. So that’s going to have to be something readers feel out for themselves. I liked that Caroline and Adam approached the possibility of their relationship knowing how serious those differences were between them, as they both highly valued their faiths. That totally resonated with me in my own life and relationship.

I had the pleasure of meeting and hanging out with Trish Doller at ApollyCon last spring, and we talked a bit about this book (which wasn’t out yet at the time). I remember being totally intrigued and pre-ordered myself a copy after I got home. I’m SO glad I did, and so glad I was able to spend time with such a thoughtful, amazing author who challenges her readers to think even while telling deeply moving stories.

In a Perfect World is a great fit for Sarah Dessen fans as well as fans of romance or cultural stories in general. It’s a pretty quick read, and still a pretty new release, so keep this one in mind for the holidays, either as a fireside read or a gift for the reader in your life!

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Cultural Elements
Caroline and her (white Catholic) family move to Egypt for a year. Adam and his family are Egyptian and Muslim. Caroline meets lots of Muslims of varying practice and beliefs. Some are kind to her and some judge her pretty harshly.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used infrequently. Maybe four or five times through the whole book.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. One brief reference to a boy putting his hand up Caroline’s shirt. (It’s implied he had her consent.) In Cairo, some men (strangers) make lewd comments to her and one unknown man touches her butt in a crowd. Caroline describes her frustration and humiliation at the experiences as well as her frustration at the men she talks to about it who sort of shrug and say, that’s just how it is here. (Not everyone responds that way.)

Spiritual Content
References to Catholic prayer and traditions. Caroline talks openly about her anxiety about living in a Muslim country and wonders how women who wear the hijab feel. She listens to the call to prayer—her mother explains what it means.

Caroline visits the church supposedly set on the place where Jesus once was. She thinks about him and his family as people who, like her, traveled to Egypt as foreigners.

Violent Content
Caroline hears about a bomb destroying an area of Cairo. At one point, she knows at least one of the victims killed in the blast.

Drug Content
Her parents make a comment about not being able to bring wine as a gift to dinner hosts who are Muslim. School friends invite Caroline to a beach trip in a place where there are bars. Her parents don’t allow her to go.

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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: Where the Stars Still Shine by Trish Doller

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

Where the Stars Still Shine
Trish Doller
Bloomsbury USA Children’s
Published September 24, 2013

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Callie spent most of her childhood believing her father is after her. She’s never been to school, never had any real friends. Anytime there’s a whiff of suspicion, her mother whisks them away to a new town, new trashy job, new sleazy boyfriend.

Then the truth comes in the form of an arrest warrant for her mom. In a blink, Callie finds herself living with her estranged dad, his new wife and their two small children, right smack in the middle of a large, loud, loving Greek family. For the first time, someone cares whether Callie comes or goes. She has friends, if she can crack the code on how to keep them. And she might even have her first real date!

The relationship between Callie and her dad is really moving. Here’s this man who hasn’t seen his daughter in so many years, who wants so badly to reconnect with her. Here’s this girl whose entire life has been turned upside down, who worries that accepting the father she didn’t know she had means betraying her mom, who’s sick and needs her more than anyone. That tug-of-war was so well-crafted and believable. There’s a lot of threads about reconciliation between estranged family members and the importance of family and community. Those were great themes and very well-executed.

While in the care of her mother, Callie was sexually abused by her mother’s live-in boyfriend. This leaves deep emotional scars. She starts hooking up (meeting to have sex with) guys as a young teenager, even though afterward she feels used and dirty. On one such quest, she lucks out and meets a guy who not only takes her to bed the first time they spend any time together, but also wants to build a relationship with her and cares very deeply for her, despite his playboy reputation.

This does show Callie learning to build trust and to experience sex within a safe, loving relationship, which is so healing. At the same time, I couldn’t help thinking that in real life, a girl can sleep with many, many guys hoping that the next day they’ll turn out to stick around. It’s probably not the best way to find a good guy. Conservative me couldn’t help wishing she’d found that he was a good guy first and built that trust first.

Besides that, though, I felt really connected with Callie’s emotional journey. I loved her demonstrative family, and the vividly described setting. It has more sexual content than books I’ve read by Sarah Dessen, but the strong heroine and deep emotional journey reminded me of her stories. If you’re a Dessen fan, you may want to check out this book.

Language Content
Extreme profanity, moderate frequency.

Sexual Content
Callie becomes sexually active in her early teens. She briefly recounts those experiences as well as memories of childhood sexual abuse. The abuse memories are pretty intense. A boy kisses Callie later in the story and she immediately takes off her shirt. She meets another young man and has sex with him without knowing much more than his name. The descriptions of her encounters are fairly short and not super graphic, but there are some details given. Another couple engages in a pretty heavy make-out session on the couch, but few details are given.

Much of the sexual element in the story is really about Callie’s abuse and the process she experiences to learn how to have a healthy relationship with sex.

Spiritual Content
Callie’s family attend a Greek Orthodox Church and encourage her to attend with them, but don’t pressure her. Callie really isn’t into the spiritual stuff.

Violence
Callie witnesses a man smacking his adult son.

Drug Content
Callie’s mom hangs around some pretty unsavory bars and probably drinks too much. Callie and her friends drink alcohol. They are all under 21.

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