Review: Right of Way by Lauren Barnholdt (ARC)

Right of Way by Lauren Barnholdt Simon Pulse, 320 Pages
Expected US Release Date: July 9, 2013
Format/Source: Print ARC, via Around the World ARC Tours - thank you!
Challenges: Contemporary Challenge

Can a road trip repair a romance gone wrong? Find out in this standalone companion to Lauren Barnholdt’s Two-way Street.

Here are Peyton and Jace, meeting on vacation. Click! It’s awesome, it’s easy, it’s romantic. This is the real deal.

Unless it isn’t. Because when you’re in love, you don’t just stop calling one day. And you don’t keep secrets. Or lie. And when your life starts falling apart, you’re supposed to have the other person to lean on.

Here are Peyton and Jace again, broken up but thrown together on a road trip. One of them is lying about the destination. One of them is pretending not to be leaving something behind. And neither of them is prepared for what’s coming on the road ahead…
-------------------------Goodreads summary

Notable Quote

But I read a very smart thing in a self-help book (don't judge--they can actually be very comforting) about how sometimes the people you don't spend that much time with are actually the ones you can end up getting the most hurt by, because you can get attached to the idea of them, as opposed to what they really are. You don't get enough time to really get to know them and their flaws, which is why you can sort of create this fantasy of who they are, and therefore indulge all your hopes and dreams of who you wanted them to be.

So, I’ll put this out there: I haven’t read Two-Way Street yet. I KNOW. I’m horrible. How can I claim to love contemporary road trip novels and not have read that?! I know, I know. I’m getting there.

I will say that if you haven’t read Two Way Street and DON’T want to be spoiled, DO NOT read Right of Way. It’s there. They appear. And while I don’t think it’s any surprise, if you can’t stand any sort of hint/clue/whatever, don’t even think about trying to read Right Of Way.

But if you’re like me, where you pretty much know (not just because you can guess, but because multiple have told you since they assume you have read it) and don’t mind knowing for certain what happens, go right ahead and dig into Right of Way. I don’t know if I missed any sort of relation between the two books, but it can totally stand on it’s own.

How much do I love dual narratives? So much. So, so much. I love getting two perspectives from the same situations, I love differing character voices, I love getting to know the thoughts and feelings of each character. And Right of Way was fantastic about that. I also loved the additional element of making the narratives from before their trip and during the trip. It was a great insight into their pasts and really opened up their personalities into who they really could be. However, I have been known to skip reading chapter titles – don’t do that! I definitely got confused a few times over because I didn’t realize we were reading about the past.

While Right of Way is a really good, solid contemporary to add to any YA shelf , I have to say that sometimes I felt like not much was really happening. The story had a straightforward plot, but nothing that was too exciting or too forward with the movement.  The story, the timeline, everything is belieivable – it’s just a little underwhelming and I was itching for just a bit more passion and action. (Not THAT kind of action, you dirty readers! Well…I mean…)

I was also surprised how the characters turned out for me. I knew I was supposed to love Jace, and while I really did like him…it was definitely not as much as I could have. He was a little predictable and totally typical. But Peyton? Really loved her! I thought she was going to be whiny, bratty and annoying – and the funny part? She totally is, but not at all in an unlikeable way! Maybe it’s the girl in me, but I was with her every emotional step and actually applauded her at trying to keep her head straight even when she was making really dumb choices.

Two small things to wrap this up: 1) Hector the dog? Love him. So adorable. I want him, dirty mitts and all. 2) Peyton’s mom and what she does to her? Horrible. I hated that there’s no real resolution to that whole situation, but I like to think she gets what’s coming to her.

3.5 Stars

Review: Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry (eARC)

Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry
Harlequin Teen, 409 Pages
US Release Date: July 24, 2012
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher, via NetGalley (thank you!)

SO WRONG FOR EACH OTHER...AND YET SO RIGHT.

No one knows what happened the night Echo Emerson went from popular girl with jock boyfriend to gossiped-about outsider with “freaky” scars on her arms. Even Echo can’t remember the whole truth of that horrible night. All she knows is that she wants everything to go back to normal.

But when Noah Hutchins, the smoking hot, girl-using loner in the black leather jacket, explodes into her life with his tough attitude and surprising understanding, Echo’s world shifts in ways she could never have imagined. They should have nothing in common. And with the secrets they both keep, being together is pretty much impossible.

Yet the crazy attraction between them refuses to go away. And Echo has to ask herself just how far they can push the limits and what she’ll risk for the one guy who might teach her how to love again.
-----------------Goodreads summary

Notable Quote

Shit, what if she did trust me? What would I do with it?

I went into this novel with a lot of expectations - I heard nothing but great things about it from other bloggers, read absolutely raving reviews, and when I was at ALA this was a book everyone was speaking of. High expectations, lots of potential to be let down.

But I wasn't. Oh, I absolutely was NOT.

I don't know if I'm as stark raving mad about it as a few other reviewers, but I can tell you that everything you've heard is absolutely true. This story is gripping and gut wrenching and just rips your heart to shreds at the same time as filling it to the brim. There's emotion dripping off each page, angst and real heart in every word. This is a story worthy of the heartsickness it will cause.

First and foremost, we have to discuss Noah. Oh, Noah. If ever the prototype bad boy to fall for, it's him. And while I totally get all the swoonage for him, he just didn't do it for me - but that's entirely a personal thing. I think my bad boy will always be the Will from Infernal Devices; he's snarky and rebellious for half-pompous and half-noble reasons. Noah's a bad boy because he actually does bad shit. And even if most of it comes from a good place or with good intentions, it's still bad. Regardless, I found myself falling in love with him, too. He's so hard and vulnerable at the same time, so filled with love and anger that he's this passionate guy with aggression as the only way to express it. Something I loved with him is that I never doubted his capacity to love Echo. In some bad boy characters, they're just so hard-hearted and cruel that I think the love story is forced - but not with Noah. His fists fly, but his heart is huge, too, and there's no way to resist that.

Echo was a little harder for me to love, but I can't quite pinpoint why. I think I just wanted to shake her and tell her to man the hell up. She was a little too weak for my tastes. And while I can get why, her progression just wasn't fast enough for me to love. Still, her character is great, and everything she's endured makes how tentative she is easily understood. I'm probably being quite cavalier saying she should be stronger, actually, because the crap she's gone through with her mom, and not being able to remember it...well, I'd probably be crumbling in a corner. And that she's just lost her brother in Iraq on top of that all? I couldn't survive that.

There were a lot of elements of this story that surprised me. All I'd ever heard was the smokin' hot boy and their smoldering romance - and yeah, that's definitely what I focus on. But there are smaller details that I truly loved, too. Like why Echo is named that, and her brother being named Aires. Or the friendships - or lack thereof, when it comes to that heinous bitch Grace. I hated her. But the friends that did stick by Echo in the aftermath, and Noah's friends...those are friendships worth fighting for. Or Aires, who was an element I was completely taken aback by - we know my military hangups, and it made it that much harder to read because there was one specific scene that just...killed me. I literally dropped my iPad and started sobbing because it is a thought that haunts me.

But what I did love was how real the hurt was throughout this book. It's tough to see some of these things written, even though I've never experienced anything like what Echo or Noah have gone or go through. It's a lot of those inner fears and thoughts we can't admit to having, because we're afraid that will make them true. While it made it difficult to get through, it also made it impossible to put down.

My favourite character? Mrs. Collins, the counselor. Hands down. She was batshit crazy (driving, especially - loved all those moments in the car with Noah!), but she was a good woman, and I loved her belief in Noah and Echo. In a book where all the adult characters probably deserve a good room in hell, she was a breathe of fresh air with a side of funny, too.

One question. Why did the horrible babysitter-turned-stepmom have to be named Ashley?! I mean, really.

4.5 Stars / 5

Review: Reunited by Hilary Weisham Graham

Reunited by Hilary Weisham Graham
Simon & Schuster BYR, 336 Pages
US Release Date: June 12, 2012
Challenges: Local Library Challenge, Contemporary Challenge

1 Concert
2000 Miles
3 Ex-Best Friends

Alice, Summer, and Tiernan are ex-best friends.

Back in middle school, the three girls were inseparable. They were also the number one fans of the rock band Level3.

But when the band broke up, so did their friendship. Summer ran with the popular crowd, Tiernan was a rebellious wild-child, and Alice spent high school with her nose buried in books.

Now, just as the girls are about to graduate, Level3 announces a one-time-only reunion show.

Even though the concert’s 2000 miles away, Alice buys three tickets on impulse. And as it turns out, Summer and Tiernan have their own reasons for wanting to get out of town. Good thing Alice’s graduation gift (a pea-green 1976 VW camper van known as the Pea Pod) is just the vehicle to get them there.

But on the long drive cross-country, the girls hit more than a few bumps in the road. Will their friendship get an encore or is the show really over?
---------------------Goodreads summary

Notable Quote

Summer had always admired how uncensored Tiernan was. Sure, her lack of a filter got her into trouble sometimes, but it also got her what she wanted. Summer, on the other hand, spent so much effort not saying what she actually thought and denying herself the things she thought she "shouldn't" have that sometimes it was hard to remember what she really wanted in the first place.

I've always known that if *NSYNC ever reunited, I'd drop everything and every penny in my pocket to get to that show. Now thanks to Reunion, I'd absolutely love to do it with my two best friends in a green VW Van Pea Pod, too.

Reunion is a fun, winding adventure of 3 ex-best friends chasing the childhood band that had brought them together so many years ago. Though they're not friends now and have no plans of ever being friends again - thanks in part to a Winter Ball Showdown during their sophomore year - it seems their trip has other plans for them.

I'm never one to turn down a road trip novel, and this definitely ranks among one I'd love to have been on! The description of the Pea Pod was so much fun and so vivid, I felt like I could really see the band posters and collages plastered on the interior wall. The shenanigans they find themselves on during the trip, from the wayside hippie festival to the hot swimming boys to the radio contest were hilarious and filled with good hearted hijinks, and I loved every second of it.

I'll admit that some of the elements to this novel are not the most original. Each personality the friends represent are pretty typical, and the movement of friendships followed a clear path that a reader could have guessed no problem. And I know I'm not the only one who had flashbacks to the movie Crossroads with Britney Spears. Even the personalities of the three felt suspiciously like the characters from the movie - one studious, straight-laced brain, one popular flighty girl, and one party girl with a side of snark. I know there's no funny business going on, but I couldn't help but remember the movie as I was reading.

Still, despite some of the originality issues, this book was pure fun and friendship. Alice, the instigator of the trip and purchaser of the tickets, is fairly innocent throughout the entire novel; but Summer and Tiernan both have some other motives. I love the quote from Tiernan about how a runaway can always spot another runaway - it was so fitting and meaningful. And even though I'm focused on the friendship and adventures the girls stumble on, there's a great depth to the meaning of true friends and figuring out who you are as an individual amongst your friends - former or otherwise.

My only other issue with the book was how long it dragged out this Sophomore Year Winter Ball Showdown. Each girl constantly refers to it throughout the entire novel, always getting so close to finally explaining what happened until backing off. And that's fine, I get the point of drawing it out, but I felt it was a little...lackluster. A little underwhelming. It fit fine with the book, and I was quite happy that it's a situation that I understood how it would break up the friendship. In that respect, it's near perfect. But the buildup was so much, and the followthrough didn't quite live up to it.

Something I did love though? The ending. Parts of it were a bit unexpected, but it's totally a predictable ending that kind of ends all wrapped up in a pretty bow. Normally I'm not a fan of those, but with Reunited? It's so perfect and playful that I couldn't NOT love it. It's exactly as it should have happened, and I closed this book with a ginormous smile on my face.

4 Stars / 5

Review: Something Like Normal by Trish Doller (ARC)

Something Like Normal by Trish Doller
Bloomsbury Childrens, 224 Pages
Expected US Release Date: June 19, 2012
Format: eARC / ARC*
Source: NetGalley & Kimberly Sabatini (thank you NetGalley & Bloomsbury, and Kim!)

Challenges: Debut Author Challenge, Completely Contemporary Challenge, YA Contemporary Challenge

When Travis returns home from a stint in Afghanistan, his parents are splitting up, his brother’s stolen his girlfriend and his car, and he’s haunted by nightmares of his best friend’s death. It’s not until Travis runs into Harper, a girl he’s had a rocky relationship with since middle school, that life actually starts looking up. And as he and Harper see more of each other, he begins to pick his way through the minefield of family problems and post-traumatic stress to the possibility of a life that might resemble normal again. Travis’s dry sense of humor, and incredible sense of honor, make him an irresistible and eminently lovable hero.
---------------------Goodreads summary

Notable Quote

I can't tell them the things they really want to know. How it feels to kill someone. It's different for everyone, but I felt a rush of adrenaline. A fleeting triumph. And later, in the night when it was quiet, the guilt hit like a sucker punch. Because, even though he was trying to kill me, I'd taken someone's life. These are things I've tried to leave in Afghanistan. Otherwise, how am I ever going to live with myself?

I'm going to get all this out of the way at the very beginning. And if I say it quick, maybe it'll hurt less. A very close childhood friend was killed in Iraq on December 13, 2005 by a roadside bomb. It wrecked his humvee and killed him and one other in his platoon. He was like a brother to me as a child, and I miss him every day. In college, a boy I was very close with and meant a lot to me was deployed suddenly to Iraq and Afghanistan - he's fine, home and retired from the Army now, but the fear and worry as I watched him leave, endure, and return linger, and the memories don't fade. One of my best friend's brother went through 2 tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, and returned without his best friend. As I type, I have 3 friends who are currently in Afghanistan, and I worry about them constantly and consistently.

Something Like Normal was not an easy book for me to read because every thought Travis had, every story he recounted and emotion he went through was projected onto someone I know personally. Charlie could have been my childhood friend, Travis could have been my best friend's brother, memories of nights spent in trenches and crappy food are what my friends are going through right now. If you follow me on Twitter, you know I had a hard time. I had to put it down twice because I started crying too hard, getting majorly overwhelmed with sadness and/or emotions. I finally set aside a day where I was ready to break down, have a good cry and fall in love with Travis and the rest of this story.

And let me tell you, all of it was entirely worth it. Beyond worth it.

A few people told me maybe I shouldn't read it if it was wrecking me too much - and I concede that maybe that would have been easier. But I loved the premise, and the fact that I could relate to this so much was a driving reason why I wanted to read it. That's one of the reasons why I love books; to connect, to feel and find myself in every page. There were also a few who told me to try not to get so personally attached to it; to which I say 1) that's also big reason why I read it, and 2) WAY easier said than done. If someone told you his personal account of moving through trenches while bombs were going off behind him, bullets were soaring towards him, and how he experienced auditory silence because of it...that's not something you can just disconnect from.

From strictly a reader's point of view, this book is absolutely amazing. Travis is such a strong character with an even stronger voice that just leaps off the pages. Half the day I think I may run into him at the grocery store he's so real. Harper is equally as strong, the perfect woman to take on Travis and all his issues. I loved their relationship together and how they slowly grow to trust each other and have this amazing give-and-take between them. Each secondary character is also done so well, making you love or hate them for very direct and dimensional reasons. Every person has their own unique and nuanced personality, no matter if it's being discussed the entire book, three chapters, or half a page.

The story itself is also phenomenal; sad and happy and difficult and raw, with real emotions and struggles. Kimberly Sabatini (hi Kim!) said in her review of it on Goodreads that this book had "endless depth and layers," which is just the PERFECT way to describe it. Everything Travis has to deal with just made my insides hurt for him, from family problems to reacclimatizing to "normal" life, to the death of his best friend right in front of his eyes. His PTSD was terrifying and made my heart hurt for him, written so thoroughly and well that I just want to hug every soldier I see in the hopes to ease any lingering effects. Travis's struggle with admitting it and then what to do with his nightmares was so heart wrenching; and I have to say that one of my favourite things was his struggle with it because of how it may affect his career with the Marines. Dealing with it is an emotional issue, but I rarely see the truth of how it would be viewed in the military and with other soldiers mentioned. I quite loved the mention/use of photos within the plot too - a perfect example of how what's photographed and printed about War may not be quite what it's framed to be.

I can't not mention Trish Doller's writing, too - it's so strong and fabulous. There's just the right amount of detail to break your heart or make you fall in love all over again; I seriously had a breakdown reading the line "Rock-paper-scissors was the way we decided everything, and it's only now I realize Charlie almost always thew rock." - because after all we know about Travis, Charlie and their relationship, it just struck me as so wonderfully heartbreaking. How she wrote his life, Travis's thoughts, the memories and struggles...it all feels so REAL. It flows perfectly, and I flew through the pages.

As someone who read this book with so many personal ties, I fell in love, shed tears, and wondered how someone could get everything on the pages so right. Every emotion was spot on, from Travis's mom worrying, to the stress of why someone enlisted, to making life work when someone is gone, to figuring out how to mesh Past Life with Enlisted Life and Future...it's brilliant. While I myself am not in the Marines so my own experiences can only extend so far, I recognize a lot of things told to me from friends, soldiers and others who went through or are going through this. I want to give this book to everyone: military men to know they're not alone, friends with military friends so they know what they may face, anyone who's ever seen a soldier so they can just understand. Even someone who has no ties, no experience, no ANYTHING to do with this should read it, because it's just that beautiful.

This is probably the longest review I've ever written, and there are still SO many things I want to say. Every time I try to end it, I think of something else I want to talk about! While I will spare your reading eyes, just trust me when I say this book will take you through one of the rawest, roughest journeys in contemporary YA today - and you will feel so grateful to have experienced it. The story works its way through your heart and soul, leaving little touches everywhere - and I feel so lucky to have it with me.

There will never be enough medals for this book, but the best I can do is stars:

5 Stars / 5

PS. As an aside, I want to thank Trish for being such a wonderful person; she saw the struggle I was having with it on Twitter and was absolutely incredible about it. I mean, she told me to stop reading if it was triggering too many things! Not only does that mean she really understands the subject matter of her book, but you have to be a commendable person at heart to be an author telling a reader not to read her book. Few people have that much care and compassion, and I'm grateful Trish is one of them. Ms. Doller, you have my endless support.

*I was given an eARC from NetGalley, but my iPad decided not to cooperate ~40 pages in. Luckily, almost directly after that the wonderful Kimberly Sabatini had a contest for her ARC and I won - so I finished out the novel from the ARC. Sorry for confusion, but big thanks to Kim, NetGalley and Bloomsbury!

Review: In Honor by Jessi Kirby

In Honor by Jessi Kirby
Simon & Schuster, 240 Pages
Expected US Release Date: May 8, 2012
Challenge: Sophomore Reading Challenge, Contemporary Challenge, Completely Contemporary Challenge
Source: Purchased (LA Times Festival of Books)

Hours after her brother’s military funeral, Honor opens the last letter Finn ever sent. In her grief, she interprets his note as a final request and spontaneously decides to go to California to fulfill it.

Honor gets as far as the driveway before running into Rusty, Finn’s best friend since third grade and his polar opposite. She hasn’t seen Rusty in ages, but it’s obvious he is as arrogant and stubborn as ever—not to mention drop-dead gorgeous. Despite Honor’s better judgment, the two set off together on a voyage from Texas to California. Along the way, they find small and sometimes surprising ways to ease their shared loss and honor Finn’s memory—but when shocking truths are revealed at the end of the road, will either of them be able to cope with the consequences?
-----------------------Goodreads summary

Notable Quote

He loved you. And that's what you do for people you love. You do what you can to help 'em out, give things up if that's what needs to happen. It's not that complicated.

I thought I'd be ok reading this book, because even though there are parts that related quite closely to my life, it was just far removed enough that I thought it wouldn't be too bad. I've lost someone in the War, but not my brother. I've gone through terrifying moments where I thought I'd lost my brother, but I haven't. There are things I've done to honor people, but never to this extent.  So I kept thinking that I was good, that this was just another story.

I cried in the second paragraph. For those who don't have a copy, that's the FIRST DAMN PAGE. When Honor mentioned Taps, I just lost it. I'm sure everyone knows just how beautiful and morphic (my Mac tells me that's not a word but I don't care!) Taps can be...when I hear it, depending on the weather, time of day, and what's going on in my life it can be anything from hopeful to in memory to mournful to just another song.  But to a military BRAT like myself, Taps is an entire entity - it encompasses lives and thoughts and stories all in one. And this line is so, so very true: "It occurs to me that I'd never actually heard Taps played in real life." Because generally, you won't ever: it's played over a speaker at a set time on base, or on TV. Or if you do, it's during a large Navy band performance. But when you hear it live in front of you, through one trumpet, for someone...it means something to you. The last time I heard it was at a close friend's dad's funeral, a veteran. I cried then, I cried when I read it now.

Moving along from all the emotions (and there were A LOT)...

It's amazing how powerful it is to enter a novel during a brother's funeral. It's such an immediate connection to the characters, and you feel so much towards them. You feel raw and intimate right along with them, and you'll follow them through anything they go through on the pages. I don't question why Honor immediately decided to take Finn up on his "request" to tell Kyra Kelly about her handsome older brother.

Truthfully, I don't know how to review such a beautiful story. It's such a powerful journey that Honor and Rusty embark on, filled with confusion and hopelessness that slowly grows into meaning and how you can move on without someone. It really does honor her brother, especially as you learn just how selfless and loving he really was. Everything was done really well, with just the right amount of give-and-take between Rusty and Honor, fun and adventurous plot points to balance the serious and introspective ones; and an entire feeling of acceptance.

Each character was crafted perfectly too, especially Honor: her emotions as she moved through her grief were so real it hurt me to read about. The anger and guilt people go through is real, but often left out since it feels shameful, and I'm glad Jessi Kirby not only touched on it, but highlighted them as well. It's an important part of the process, and it's strong to meet them head on.

I loved the brother + sister connection between Honor and Finn, as well as the bond between Honor and Rusty since he was her brother's best friend. I'm a younger sister, and I'm incredibly close with my brother; Honor's actions, thoughts, how she wanted to hang around with them all the time and was hurt when they were finally growing up and not wanting the "kid sister" around...it's so accurate and so true, Jessi Kirby really nailed all the feelings that come with being a younger who feels left out and left behind.

And maybe this will be weird considering what my first few paragraphs in the review were, but I was quite glad this story was more than just Brother Killed in Iraq. While, yes, I think that's important and meaningful on its own, Jessi Kirby elevates the novel to more than just a trip in memoriam, done to honor Finn and his life. It's the story of Honor as she learns to be on her own, really on her own; the story of Rusty and how he can honor his fallen friend; the story of how to grow when circumstance forces you to.

I was pleasantly surprised at how happy I was through the book, too, and that I laughed. I know my review makes it seem like some sobfest, but it's actually not - it's filled with a lot of heart, a lot of good memories and laughter. Rusty is the source of a lot of it, since he's that perfect boy character of disarming and charming all at once - I felt like I could see that smirk on his face. Even though I cried, there were always smiles to pull me through.

And the ending. OH THE ENDING. I obviously won't say anything about it, but it's just so perfect and fitting. Maybe some will say it's "too" perfect, but...it's perfect for this journey. For everything Honor and Rusty go through, for all the fights and tears and memories they have to sift through...I could never want more from it.

Really the only thing I could complain about is that it's only 280 pages. I want more Honor and Rusty!

I beg of you to read this book, because it will open your heart to all the emotions we're so afraid and terrified to have, to all the feelings we would never wish on anyone - and it's a wonderful, beautiful journey.

5 Stars / 5

(more if I could!)

Review: Saving June by Hannah Harrington

Saving June by Hannah Harrington
HarlequinTeen, 322 Pages
US Release Date: November 22, 2011
Challenges: Completely Contemp Challenge, Local Library Challenge

When her older sister commits suicide and her divorcing parents decide to divide the ashes, Harper Scott takes her sister's urn to the one place June always wanted to go: California. On the road with her best friend, plus an intriguing guy with a mysterious connection to June, Harper discovers truths about her sister, herself and life.
------------------------------------Goodreads summary

Notable Quote

I hate this. I hate feeling too much and not enough at the same time.

So, definite new literary crush: Jacob Tolan.  Yes please.  There's a paragraph where Harper talks about the reasons she's confused and what she likes about him, and all I did was nod vigorously along and was like, "YES!  That's what I want!" (page 268, if anyone's got their copy.)

I'd been hearing about Saving June for awhile, and I kept seeing it at the store and picking it up and putting it back down...I completely regret not discovering this earlier. It is the perfect mix of token YA gold: road trip and music and yummy boy and best friend and loss and emotion and EVERYTHING. I teared up and hurt so hard for Harper, and I just wanted to laugh and scream with Laney, and I wanted to stare into Jake's eyes and figure him out.  Not even joking, as soon as I finished my library copy I ran out to my closest bookstore and purchased a shiny new copy to add to my shelves.

I love how widespread the music is handled in this. A lot of books I've read make me feel like an idiot if I don't listen to certain classic rock, or if I don't know of a certain song immediately when a character plays it, or simply just makes me feel bad for not being some indie kid.  But not Saving June - the tastes are eclectic, and the integration of Jake being a musical trivia book was perfect to explain some things and prompt me along as though I was in the van with them.

Also, can we please talk about the kissy scene? Because HOT DAMN AND A HALF, that was hot.  I kept marveling at how tastefully it was done but still remained incredibly breathtaking and sexy.  Well done, Hannah Harrington: well done.

I know my review is making it seem like it's just a romance book, but trust me when I say it's so much more than that: it's learning how to live with pain, how to continue on when someone you love has given up, how to make difficult choices and sometimes how you have to give in and not be ok. Even though I have never, ever experienced something like this (thank goodness), I related so much to Harper it was like I was reading my own thoughts. Harper is gritty and real and confronts those feelings we're so scared to admit we have.  The anger and guilt and everything from in-between and afar.

The characters are really what drove this story for me. Harper is fabulous, a badass doesn't-take-shit-from-anyone girl running lost and trying to find answers; Jake is this quietly funny and steadfastly, rudely honest guy who does the best with what he can (and he listens to jazz! and plays guitar! and dances! oh my heart...); and Laney is the best friend you could ask for, always there to offer a shoulder to cry on, a joke to cheer you up, or the simple presence you need when you're being torn apart. Their interactions are funny and sincere and heartbreaking and I really, really wish I was in that van on that road trip seeing Fridgehenge and that diner and Huntington with them.

(By the way, does Fridgehenge really exist? Because it needs to if it doesn't, and I need to see it if it does.)

If you haven't read this, I absolutely implore you to do so as fast as you can. Don't make my mistake of putting it off, because this book will be your new best friend.

5 Stars / 5

*it's a 5-Star, so it's added to my Birthday giveaway!

Review: Back When You Were Easier to Love by Emily Wing Smith

Back When You Were Easier to Love by Emily Wing Smith
Dutton, 296 Pages
US Release Date: April 28, 2011
Challenges: Completely Contemp Challenge (2011), Local Library Challenge

What's worse than getting dumped? Not even knowing if you've been dumped. Joy got no goodbye, and certainly no explanation when Zan - the love of her life and the only good thing about stifling, backward Haven, Utah - unceremoniously and unexpectedly left for college a year early. Joy needs closure almost as much as she needs Zan, so she heads for California, and Zan, riding shotgun beside Zan's former-best-friend Noah.
-----------------Goodreads summary

Notable Quote

There are already two other people there, girls in berets, but they just smile like it's cool, mainly smiling at Noah, I think, but I can't tell because my eyes are on Zan. I don't want him to see me, but I do want him to see me, and I want both those things so much and why doesn't he see me?

This book is summed up entirely in one word: cute. It's an adorable tale of a girl named Joy seeking closure when Zan, her boyfriend, suddenly gets his GED early and moves hundreds of miles away to attend college without even telling her goodbye.  She reflects on the relationship, trying to see when it became the "this" he had to get away from; and eventually she sets off with Zan's best friend Noah to visit Zan and get the answers she craves.

It's a swift read with an equal amount of short insightful snaps and lighthearted giggles. You learn easily how to hate Zan, and you question why she's really chasing after him -- although you also completely get Joy and what she's missing, too.  Noah is perfect, helping her along the way and being a strong, supportive friend at her side.

I have to mention that there is a bit of religion in the book; but nothing that's overtly or even overly preachy. I was a bit surprised to find out the Mormonism present, but it's handled well and I never, ever felt like I was reading propaganda. It was just another facet to the characters, and done in a way I appreciated. If every book handled religion this way, I wouldn't ever protest it in novels.

Emily Wing Smith captures the hurt of a snubbed first love and the struggle to come to terms with it perfectly, coming together in a quick, lighthearted read that makes you remember the pain and joy of understanding love and what it can do to you.

4 Stars / 5

Review: Wanderlove by Kirsten Hubbard - in which I implore you to read this book RIGHT NOW.

Wanderlove by Kirsten Hubbard
Delacorte Press, 352 Pages
US Release Date: March 13, 2012 (TODAY! GO BUY IT NOW!)
Version, Source: eARC, via NetGalley
Challenges: Completely Contemp Challenge

It all begins with a stupid question:

Are you a Global Vagabond?

No, but 18-year-old Bria Sandoval wants to be. In a quest for independence, her neglected art, and no-strings-attached hookups, she signs up for a guided tour of Central America—the wrong one. Middle-aged tourists with fanny packs are hardly the key to self-rediscovery. When Bria meets Rowan, devoted backpacker and dive instructor, and his outspokenly humanitarian sister Starling, she seizes the chance to ditch her group and join them off the beaten path.

Bria's a good girl trying to go bad. Rowan's a bad boy trying to stay good. As they travel across a panorama of Mayan villages, remote Belizean islands, and hostels plagued with jungle beasties, they discover what they've got in common: both seek to leave behind the old versions of themselves. And the secret to escaping the past, Rowan’s found, is to keep moving forward.

But Bria comes to realize she can't run forever, no matter what Rowan says. If she ever wants the courage to fall for someone worthwhile, she has to start looking back.
----------Goodreads Summary

Notable Quote

Wanderlove is about forgetting the bad things and focusing on the good.

Out with the old and in with the new.

Not even joking: this book gave me a panic attack.

Not in a bad way, really (who knew panic attacks could signify good?) - it's just that it made me feel so many things all at once that were so personal and so deep and buried in me that it all came out in weird, gasp-y breaths and dizziness and all-around general overwhelming emotion.  It is that good.

Like many others, this book made me want to grab a pack and run out my door, booking the first ticket to anywhere immediately.  I grew up traveling, a byproduct of a Navy dad who moved his family with him around the world for every relocation, and I've never lived in any one place longer than 3-5 years. My life is a far cry from backpacking Central America (mine was more...suburban European life), but the travel bug hits you all the same: go, and see.  And see.

Told through Bria, an 18-year-old high school graduate searching for escape from a bad relationship that had unfortunate echoes in every other aspect of her life, Kirsten Hubbard creates perhaps one of the most relatable characters in literature today: lost, and hurt, and snubbed, and searching in that miserable period of recovery and discovery. An artist who feels everything, a teenager who wants everything, and a newbie traveler who learns to risk everything, every reader is going to find a little (or a lot) of themselves in Bria.

In my case, it was a lot. Because it's a lot of personal things that don't necessarily belong in a review, I won't get into it: but let me just say that there were moments on every single page that had me loving Bria more, rooting for her, wanting for her.  I wanted to absolutely kill Toby the moment I started reading about him, and I applauded Bria's sensibility in regards to Rowan (I don't think I'd be able to resist!).  Even Starling, who is entirely a girl who I would not like and would be annoyed by in real life, made me like her.

And even though I feel like I'm walking the lines of creepy in relation to Bria, she is probably one of my favourite female characters in literature: because she's real. I loved that even though she is a bit bruised and broken and struggling, it didn't make her less STRONG. She had personality and conviction, and a hell of a lot of travel balls whether she realized it or not. She was insecure and willful and brave and confused and it is absolutely glorious.

I was also so in love with Rowan and Bria's friendship. I mean, I'm completely in love with vagabond Rowan as well, but more so with them as travel companions. I was surprised to realize halfway through the book that I wasn't even sure if I did want them to be together (something I assumed would happen, I legitimately had no idea!) because they had this tenuous, fragile friendship and understanding. I loved that Bria wouldn't hear about Rowan's past from anyone but him, I loved that they had moments of true honesty despite all the hidden pasts. Like the rest of the book, it felt real, like I was watching a relationship form into a very solid, very trusting partnership.  The little snaps of flirtation were icing on a perfect cake.

Honestly, I just beg everyone to read this book.  It's a beautiful book, filled with heart-wrenching meaning and yearning and understanding love and wanderlove and how sometimes, the past really does belong in the past; and that, even more, sometimes things really are worth fighting for.

If I could give more, I would:

5 Stars / 5

Review: The Probability of Miracles by Wendy Wunder

The Probability of Miracles by Wendy Wunder
Razorbill, 357 Pages
US Released: December 8, 2011
Challenges: Completely Contemp Challenge, Library Challenge

Dry, sarcastic, sixteen-year-old Cam Cooper has spent the last seven years in and out hospitals. The last thing she wants to do in the short life she has left is move 1,500 miles away to Promise, Maine - a place known for the miraculous events that occur there. But it's undeniable that strange things happen in Promise: everlasting sunsets; purple dandelions; flamingoes in the frigid Atlantic; an elusive boy named Asher; and finally, a mysterious envelope containing a list of things for Cam to do before she dies. As Cam checks each item off the list, she finally learns to believe - in love, in herself, and even in miracles.

------------------Goodreads summary

Notable Quote

Love...might be real. And love endures. Relationships endure. Because thoughts are energy, energy is matter, and matter never disappears.

I'm not sure this book is really about miracles. It's mostly about Hope, and Belief, and Family, and real love and how all that can come together to create some magical, mystical life. About how dreams can actually be real, and how a life can be a Life no matter how little time one is allowed.

I'm going to be truthful here and say that it's entirely unfair to this book that I read it almost directly after I read The Fault In Our Stars by John Green. The books aren't similar at all, but they have the same general premise: cancer, and life, and how one can go on with and in spite of the other.  And even though I know they're separate, and that there isn't really a comparison...I still compared. Campbell and Asher vs. Hazel and Augustus, one life against the other, Make-A-Wish wish vs. Make-A-Wish wish.  And I think we all know that absolutely nothing compare to TFiOS.

I think my problems were mostly in the main characters. I'm down with sarcasm and dry humor and wittiness and a bit of pessimism (I think I just described myself); but Campbell was just a little too cynical in some parts. She was funny for most of it, but there were some parts that were just too Debbie Downer for me, a little too selfish and mean. I understand she's been dealt a rotten hand in life -- and I'm sure if it were me I'd be way worse -- but there were definite parts I just wanted to tell her to at least fake it for her family's sake.  I also felt like there could have been more development to her, a little more given to her other than "has cancer."  Like the shoplifting thing, that could have been developed so much more in her psyche!

Asher was my other problem. I know he's supposed to be a little elusive and mysterious and secretive anyway, but it was too much: I never connected with him. Sure, he's sweet and thoughtful and a bit of that Knight in Shining Armour, but he never took on a real personality. His parts felt very predictable, and truthfully, a bit forced. It felt like I was just supposed to accept him as the love interest, rather than grow to love him myself.

However, I loved Alicia. I really loved Perry (Peri!), who was the only character to really make me feel something. There's a certain part of hers towards the end that was the only time I found myself sniffling a bit. I thought Wendy Wunder had phenomenal description and creativity (the Catalog Kids? Love it!), and I really enjoyed the incorporation of Disney in it. It seemed deliciously ironic that they had to leave Disney to find their dreams and miracles.

Overall, it's a good story - it just didn't quite get there for me.

3.5 Stars / 5

Review: Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley

Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley
Knopf, 257 Pages
US Released: February 14, 2012
Challenges: Completely Contemp, YA Contemporary

"Let me make it in time. Let me meet Shadow. The guy who paints in the dark. Paints birds trapped on brick walls and people lost in ghost forests. Paints guys with grass growing from their hearts and girls with buzzing lawn mowers." 

It’s the end of Year 12. Lucy’s looking for Shadow, the graffiti artist everyone talks about.

His work is all over the city, but he is nowhere.

Ed, the last guy she wants to see at the moment, says he knows where to find him. He takes Lucy on an all-night search to places where Shadow’s thoughts about heartbreak and escape echo around the city walls.

But the one thing Lucy can’t see is the one thing that’s right before her eyes.
--------------------Goodreads Summary

Notable Quote

Most times when I looked over he wasn't drawing. He was leaning back in his chair and staring at me. And every time he stared I felt like I'd touched my tongue to the tip of a battery. I was nothing but tingle. After awhile the tingle turned to electricity, and when he asked me out my whole body amped to a level where technically I should have been dead. I was pretty sure we had nothing in common, but a girl doesn't think straight when she's that close to electrocution.

I love one-nighter books. I find them to be so exciting.  Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist was one of the first YA books I read when I was out of the general YA-age, and I credit it to be one that cemented a love for the genre in me regardless of age.  Had Graffiti Moon been out at that time, it would have been the same to me, too.

Told in alternating chapters between Ed and Lucy, one of my favourite things about this book was getting different perspectives to the same events. I like alternating viewpoints in books anyway, and the fact that Cath Crowley would revisit the same scene only from the other's view was phenomenal. It really allows you to understand the characters and how the night plays out and why.

I also appreciated how Cath Crowley was able to discuss art and appreciate art without coming across pretentious - one of the hardest things in real life or in literature is to discuss a love for something without condescension or snobbery. And she was great with it, able to convey the pieces they were discussing and  show the characters' thoughts.

When I first spotlighted this in a WoW post, I talked a lot about street art and how I thought that would be a big appeal. Kind of a mistake, because it actually doesn't focus too much on that life. I mean, of course it does, but its more about the pieces Shadow created as well as the meaning of them and what each one conveys. Not about the "lifestyle." Not a bad thing or a particular good thing; just one to note if you have the same mindset going in.

I really loved this book. It was sweet and funny and Cath Crowley's writing is so fabulous and poetic. Lauren Oliver's got a lock on lyrical writing, and Cath Crowley definitely has that poetry feel: her imagery and emotions are spot-on and vivid - some of the paragraphs even felt like they had a certain cadence.  I've never been too great at deciphering poetry, but I loved that she included Poet/Leo's work as a part of the story. It was like sweet little extras to highlight a secondary relationship.

I do kind of agree with people that the ending was a bit...abrupt. I know it's the end of the night, it wraps up -- and I don't necessarily think it needed to be longer. It didn't need to be drawn out, there didn't need to be more than what it was. I loved how it ended, the words and everything. But still felt...abrupt.

I feel like the is one of the longest reviews I've written, and quite disjointed -- but I think it's because there were so many elements I really loved to this book. Even though it's a quick, short read that lasts a night, there's so much more to it. There's so much packed into this book, both in terms of the story and the writing, that I could probably still go on for paragraphs about it all. But I'll spare you, and finish it up by saying you should read this. You'll love it.

4.5 Stars / 5