Coming of AgeCategory Archives

Book Review: The Death of Bees by Lisa O’Donnell

The Death of Bees by Lisa O’Donnell

  • Method of Obtaining: I received my copy from the publisher.
  • Published by: Harper
  • Release Date:  1/2/2013
        

Today is Christmas Eve. Today is my birthday. Today I am fifteen. Today I buried my parents in the backyard. Neither of them were beloved.

Marnie and her little sister Nelly are on their own now. Only they know what happened to their parents, Izzy and Gene, and they aren’t telling. While life in Glasgow’s Hazlehurst housing estate isn’t grand, they do have each other. Besides, it’s only one year until Marnie will be considered an adult and can legally take care of them both.

As the new year comes and goes, Lennie, the old man next door, realizes that his young neighbors are alone and need his help. Or does he need theirs? But he’s not the only one who suspects something isn’t right. Soon, the sisters’ friends, their other neighbors, the authorities, and even Gene’s nosy drug dealer begin to ask questions. As one lie leads to another, dark secrets about the girls’ family surface, creating complications that threaten to tear them apart.

Written with fierce sympathy and beautiful precision, told in alternating voices, The Death of Bees is an enchanting, grimly comic tale of three lost souls who, unable to answer for themselves, can answer only for each other.

Reason for Reading:
  • I enjoyed The Secret Life of Bees and this book was compared to it in the summary.

I also recommend:

 

My Review:

I was surprised at how quickly The Death of Bees by Lisa O’Donnell grabbed my attention. I mean, well, I guess a story that begins with two young girls burying their parents in the backyard will do that to you. But where do you go from there?

The Death of Bees is told from several different perspectives: an older sister, Marnie, who is quite jaded for being as young as she is; a younger sister, Nelly, who sees the world from a completely different perspective; and Lennie, the old man next door who has been labeled a sex offender.

But don’t worry – the book doesn’t take you in that direction. Instead, it introduces something entirely different.

What this book does is take a good hard look at the social system here. It’s telling that young girls, upon the death of the parents, would so fear being split up that they would go through immense horror to avoid that particular horror. The Death of Bees examines how we view child abuse, neglect, sexual predators, and rebellious children. Although the story is rather too neatly wrapped in a bow and handed over on a platter, it does provide an interesting springboard to start conversations about these hard topics. Lisa O’Donnell does an admirable job of bringing them to light, and although I wish she’d left things a bit more open-ended (as you cannot solve all of these issues in a mere 300ish pages) I understand why she finished the book the way she did.

Don’t just take my word for it! Check out what these bloggers say!

Leeswammes’ Blog | The Siren’s Tale | The Book Pod

Lydia
8 January, 2013
Coming of Age, Contemporary, reviews, Social Issues
1 comment
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Book Review: Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures by Emma Straub

Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures by Emma Straub

  • Method of Obtaining: I obtained my copy via LibraryThing.
  • Published by: Riverhead
  • Release Date:  9/4/2012
        

In 1920, Elsa Emerson, the youngest and blondest of three sisters, is born in idyllic Door County, Wisconsin. Her family owns the Cherry County Playhouse, and more than anything, Elsa relishes appearing onstage, where she soaks up the approval of her father and the embrace of the audience. But when tragedy strikes her family, her acting becomes more than a child¹s game of pretend.

While still in her teens, Elsa marries and flees to Los Angeles. There she is discovered by Irving Green, one of the most powerful executives in Hollywood, who refashions her as a serious, exotic brunette and renames her Laura Lamont. Irving becomes Laura’s great love; she becomes an Academy Award­-winning actress—and a genuine movie star. Laura experiences all the glamour and extravagance of the heady pinnacle of stardom in the studio-system era, but ultimately her story is a timeless one of a woman trying to balance career, family, and personal happiness, all while remaining true to herself.

Reason for Reading:
  • Love reading stories set in the 1920′s

I also recommend:

My Review:

I’ve been in love with family sagas that begin somewhere around the 1920′s and Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures is another title to add to that list.

Laura Lamont (who was not a real actress, as familiar as her name might sound) was born Elsa Emerson in Door County, Wisconsin to a family of theater-lovers. Her father who owned a theater company invested in his three daughters but ended up with just one who loved the stage – Elsa.

Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures travels from Elsa/Laura’s life as a young girl all the way through her mature years. Heartbreak, success, horror, pain, love, and hope all make their familiar way through the themes in this book and, although the story might seem familiar, it’s the fact that it’s there, as a whole, in the book which makes this book something special.

That doesn’t make much sense, now that I just re-read what I wrote, but I cannot think of any other way to word it. Just by the events in this book being put together, the story becomes something special. In order to understand better, I guess you would need to read the book.

Now, in spite of all that praise, there was a small part of the book that I struggled with. One of the themes that moves through the book is one dealing with the seriousness of depression and the result was some pretty gaping plot holes. I would have liked to see those handled more cleverly, but they weren’t glaring enough to make me lose focus on the story as a whole.

All in all, if you love family sagas and are entranced by the idea of the golden age of Hollywood, this is a story you must pick up.

Don’t just take my word for it! Check out what these bloggers say!

The Unexpected Book Blog | The Picky Girl | Reviewed by Mom

Lydia
7 November, 2012
Coming of Age, Historical, reviews
0 comments
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Book Review: Mystic City by Theo Lawrence

Mystic City by Theo Lawrence

  • Method of Obtaining: I obtained my copy via Netgalley.
  • Published by: Delacorte Books
  • Release Date:  10/9/2012
        

Aria Rose, youngest scion of one of Mystic City’s two ruling rival families, finds herself betrothed to Thomas Foster, the son of her parents’ sworn enemies. The union of the two will end the generations-long political feud—and unite all those living in the Aeries, the privileged upper reaches of the city, against the banished mystics who dwell below in the Depths. But Aria doesn’t remember falling in love with Thomas; in fact, she wakes one day with huge gaps in her memory. And she can’t conceive why her parents would have agreed to unite with the Fosters in the first place. Only when Aria meets Hunter, a gorgeous rebel mystic from the Depths, does she start to have glimmers of recollection—and to understand that he holds the key to unlocking her past. The choices she makes can save or doom the city—including herself.

Reason for Reading:
  • I’ve seen this cover on quite a few blogs and it sparked my interest.

I also recommend:

My Review:

When I started reading Mystic City I wasn’t thinking I would be thrust into a futuristic New York City – so after being initially taken by surprise, I settled into a story which, other than some fundamental changes, could easily reflect things happening during our own time.

Aria Rose, a young woman who is suffering from amnesia, is struggling to be the Juliet to the Romeo of a family who has been her family’s enemy for generations. The engagement is set, the wedding is moving forward, but Aria is not feeling as if things are how they should be.

And so Hunter is introduced to the story – and we have that love triangle that has become the standard in young adult literature.

Love triangles aside, there was some real depth to this story. There is the struggle between high and low classes which include a form of torture in order to keep that class structure intact. There are themes of revolution, true love and sacrifice, and selflessness which keep the story one that survives any parts which might tip over into the cliche.

I really enjoyed the kickoff to this series and will be watching for Lawrence’s future novels as they are released. It was nice to be more futuristic and still have that fantasy feel – and it was also nice to see the setting one that was familiar here without taking the city into a post-apocalyptic type feel.

Don’t just take my word for it! Check out what these bloggers say!

Bewitched Bookworms | Candace’s Book Blog | Annette’s Book Spot

Lydia
26 October, 2012
Coming of Age, Contemporary, Fantasy, reviews, Young Adult
0 comments
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Book Review: Dead City by James Ponti

Dead City by James Ponti

  • Method of Obtaining: I received my copy via the publisher.
  • Published by: Aladdin
  • Release Date: 10/2/2012
        

Most kids have enough to deal with between school, homework, extracurricular activities, and friends, but Molly Bigelow has something else on her list: hunting zombies. By day, Molly attends MIST—the Metropolitan Institute of Science and Technology—but outside the classroom she’s busy dealing with the undead. Because not only do zombies exist, they’re everywhere, and it’s her job to help police them and keep the peace. Sure, she’d like to be a regular kid, but given that her mother was the most revered (or feared, depending on your perspective) zombie hunter in the history of New York City, “regular” just isn’t possible. Molly’s got some legendary footsteps to follow—and some undeadly consequences if she fails.

Reason for Reading:
  • The author is a friend of my brother-in-law.

I also recommend:

My Review:

I love a good, solid, middle-grade action book, and James Ponti has definitely upped the ante for the books out there with this gem of a novel.  Molly Bigelow is a fun, quirky, and definitely brave young girl who enjoys hanging out in the morgue – but even more so, she’s fearless when it comes to stepping in and taking up the reins of an Omega.  To be honest, I wasn’t sure if this was going to be a novel I’d enjoy – I’ve had about enough of zombies and out of all the paranormal creatures out there, they tend to be the least enjoyable to think about.  I mean, rotting flesh, gross teeth, all that dirt from being underground, not exactly your typical fresh-smelling sort of date, you know?

But zombies aren’t just normal zombies in this book.  There’s an added twist – they can actually think and speak, depending on the level of the zombie.  There’s emotion in there as well – and that’s where Molly Bigelow comes in.  She and her friends are there to be the wall of separation should a wayward zombie decide to attack the living.

I laughed out loud many times throughout this book, and found Dead City to be a fascinating look at no only what being brave can do for a young person, but also a lesson in consequences when rules are disobeyed.  Molly was a flawed character and that is a good thing.  I enjoyed the story arc so much I was willing to overlook most of the inconsistencies I found (of which there were a few) – but the one I did struggle with, I admit, was the idea that Molly as a warm-blooded person, could be mistaken for a zombie when touched by another zombie.  However, that didn’t occur all that often and the rest, as I said, were easy to overlook for the sake of the story as a whole.

I very much look forward to the next installment of this exciting series and am glad that James Ponti is writing a story that combines strong male and female characters.  It’s about time we saw something of equal strength on both sides of the equation!

Don’t just take my word for it! Check out what these bloggers say!

Rising Shadow

Lydia
7 October, 2012
Coming of Age, Fantasy, Middle Grade, reviews
0 comments
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Book Review: Frozen by Mary Casanova

Frozen by Mary Casanova

  • Method of Obtaining: I received my copy from the publisher via NetGalley.
  • Published by: Univ. of Minnesota Press
  • Release Date: 9/1/2012
 
       
Sixteen-year-old Sadie Rose hasn’t said a word in eleven years—ever since the day she was found lying in a snowbank during a howling storm. Like her voice, her memories of her mother and what happened that night were frozen.

Sadie Rose’s search for her personal truth is laid against a swirling historical drama—a time of prohibition and women winning the right to vote, political corruption, and a fevered fight over the area’s wilderness between a charismatic, unyielding, powerful industrialist and a quiet man battling to save the wide, wild forests and waters of northernmost Minnesota. Frozen is a suspenseful, moving testimonial to the haves and the have-nots, to the power of family and memory, and to the extraordinary strength of a young woman who has lost her voice in nearly every way—but is utterly determined to find it again.
Reason for Reading:
  • The title and synopsis caught my eye.

I also recommend:

My Review:

It’s interesting, but as I was reading Frozen I kept thinking how similar in style this book was (with a few minor differences) to an American Girls book I’d read recently. Then.. in the back of the book as I finished it up, I noticed that Mary Casanova is responsible for McKenna of the American Girls. Hah!

In Frozen, Sadie Rose is introduced as a teenager who is simply unable to speak, due to a traumatic event in her past. She is an orphan, her father’s death ruled a suicide, and her mother found frozen in the forest near Ranier, Minnesota. Taken in by the Worthington’s, she remains with them as Mr. Worthington goes from Mayor of Ranier to a government political position. But a stack of photographs challenges Sadie Rose and pushes her from being the quiet, obedient charge into a girl who needs answers.

So here’s what I did enjoy about Frozen. Sadie Rose is a spunky little thing. In spite of years of learning how to be a proper young woman, and obeying without any other otherwise, she takes her life into her own hands numerous times in Frozen. This could be a good/bad thing, as it’s such a change of character from who Sadie Rose was to who she became, but I like to think that finding the photos she found could have been the catalyst for such a change without making it too drastic.

I loved the portrayal of Minnesota. I haven’t read many books about the area, and also found helpful the list of additional reading Mary Casanova includes at the end of the book (and even marked a few of them down as possible future reads). There isn’t a lot of deeper writing about critical issues such as wildlife preservation and the feminist movement, but it was nice to see these things making enough of an appearance to give Frozen the overall feeling that it was, indeed, a historical novel and that means that history is happening all around Sadie Rose.

SPOILER ALERT!!!

What I didn’t like was the ease in which Sadie Rose regains her voice – especially as it happens so quickly. I mean, part of the reason I picked up the book was because her silence called to me. I needed to see a book written about this event, and grow with Sadie Rose as she struggled to overcome what has happened to her for the last 11 years. I just don’t buy it though. I don’t think someone who hasn’t uttered a word in 11 years could be speaking fairly normally right off the bat. I defer to the experts out there, but as a reader of fiction (who likes it to be fairly realistic, unless I’m reading fantasy or something), it didn’t work for me and jarred me out of the story more than once.

END SPOILER!!!

I think Frozen would be a good young adult novel for those interested in exploring historical fiction about the area. Frozen is entertaining, and a fairly quick read, and in spite of that one issue, I did enjoy the book.

Don’t just take my word for it! Check out what these bloggers say!

Libby Blog | Respiring Thoughts | My Seryniti

Lydia
1 September, 2012
Coming of Age, Historical, reviews, Young Adult
0 comments
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Book Review: The Dangers of Proximal Alphabets by Kathleen Alcott

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Reason for Reading:
  • I’m really not sure why I decided to read this one – but I’m glad I did.

I also recommend:

Summary from GoodReads:

Ida grew up with Jackson and James—where there was “I” there was a “J.” She can’t recall a time when she didn’t have them around, whether in their early days camping out in the boys’ room decorated with circus scenes or later drinking on rooftops as teenagers. While the world outside saw them as neighbors and friends, to each other the three formed a family unit—two brothers and a sister—not drawn from blood, but drawn from a deep need to fill a void in their single parent households. Theirs was a relationship of communication without speaking, of understanding without judgment, of intimacy without rules and limits.
But as the three of them mature and emotions become more complex, Ida and Jackson find themselves more than just siblings. When Jackson’s somnambulism produces violent outbursts and James is hospitalized, Ida is paralyzed by the events that threaten to shatter her family and put it beyond her reach. Kathleen Alcott’s striking debut, The Dangers of Proximal Alphabets, is an emotional, deeply layered love story that explores the dynamics of family when it defies bloodlines and societal conventions.

My Review:

The Dangers of Proximal Alphabets is a debut novel for Kathleen Alcott – but you wouldn’t know it from her writing. This is a complex story about three people: Ida, Jackson, and James. Jackson and James are brothers, and Ida the young girl who grew up with them. The three form a bond as close as family – cemented by mutual loss. They have each lost one parent.

With stark, beautiful language, Alcott puts this story out there, weaving between time successfully. I say she was successful because I was able to move from past to present back to past easily without being confused – and that indicates that something was right. When I read this book I felt as if I was slowly peeling back the petals of an artichoke, each piece giving me just a bit of a taste of the heart to come until it’s there, beautiful and delicious and ready to be savored.

I found so much beauty in this book. There’s an entire chapter in which Ida details everything she knows about Jackson. We learn everything from intimate body details to favorite things. If you’ve ever taken a writing course, you know an exercise is to just write down facts about a character – to get inside that character and know him/her. Well, the chapter that does just that to Jackson is a perfect example of how wonderful that exercise is. I almost wept, it was that beautiful to read.

This is a worthy novel, and one that would not only make excellent book club reading and discussions, but deserves every bit of attention it will doubtless receive. And to think it’s Alcott’s debut… wow. This is an author I’ll be following, for sure.

Don’t just take my word for it! Check out what these bloggers say!

Lonely Owl| Anne’s New Thing | Real Simple

  • Method of Obtaining: I received my copy from the publisher via NetGalley.
  • Published by: Other Press
  • Release Date: 9/11/2012
Lydia
31 August, 2012
Coming of Age, Contemporary, reviews
0 comments
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Speechless by Hannah Harrington

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Reason for Reading:
  • The summary caught my eye.  I wanted to read more of this type of YA fiction.

I recommend:

Summary from GoodReads:

Everyone knows that Chelsea Knot can’t keep a secret

Until now. Because the last secret she shared turned her into a social outcast—and nearly got someone killed.

Now Chelsea has taken a vow of silence—to learn to keep her mouth shut, and to stop hurting anyone else. And if she thinks keeping secrets is hard, not speaking up when she’s ignored, ridiculed and even attacked is worse.

But there’s strength in silence, and in the new friends who are, shockingly, coming her way—people she never noticed before; a boy she might even fall for. If only her new friends can forgive what she’s done. If only she can forgive herself.

My Review:

When I read the summary of Speechless I was left wanting to know more. I mean, we’ve all been there, right? Either spreading the gossip or being the target of spread gossip. It’s heartbreaking what simple words can put into motion, but especially in today’s world of bullying, it’s something we need to be oh-so-aware of.

So in Speechless, Hannah Harrington addresses what happens when someone blurts out something that is someone else’s intimate secret. She illustrates exactly how it begins, set into motion, and how it spirals to something worse. And then, she explored the clean-up.

That clean-up is where things began to fall apart a little for me.

For being a book about a secret, an awful big fuss was made about the person who spilled the secret, and very little information was given about the one who was hurt by it. I understand that the story was intended to center around Chelsea Knot, and her inability to keep a secret and subsequent vow of silence, but there was a lot of pity-partying and wallowing in guilt on Chelsea’s part and even more focus on making sure she was the one able to laugh, love, and move on with her life.

But the victim of her secret-telling? Oh, he just gets to make a cameo appearance.

And that, my friends, is not how a book dealing with this subject should be treated. About halfway through, although entertained enough to keep reading, I found myself increasingly unable to sympathize, or even be happy, for Chelsea. I had enough of her – I wanted to know what happened to her victim, how he was handling things, how he was dealing with forgiveness/anger/despair/hurt/pain. Is this how books dealing with bullying and gossip-mongering should be dealt with? Do we really need to glorify the person doing them other than give them the means to make amends and then let them do it, end of story?

I wanted to love Speechless. I was anxiously looking for a story on bullying that I could give to boys and girls around me who are dealing with this very real subject matter. But ultimately, I was disappointed in the route taken to get to the end.

Don’t just take my word for it! Check out what these bloggers say!

Rather Be Reading| Katie’s Book Blog | Views & Reviews

  • Method of Obtaining: I received a copy of this to review from the publisher through NetGalley.
  • Published by: HarlequinTEEN
  • Release Date: 8/28/2012
Lydia
26 August, 2012
Coming of Age, reviews, Social Issues, Young Adult
0 comments
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On the Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

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Reason for Reading:
  • There was buzz on Twitter about this book and how difficult it was to get into, so my curiosity was peaked!

I also recommend:

Summary from GoodReads:

‘m dreaming of the boy in the tree. I tell him stories. About the Jellicoe School and the Townies and the Cadets from a school in Sydney. I tell him about the war between us for territory. And I tell him about Hannah, who lives in the unfinished house by the river. Hannah, who is too young to be hiding away from the world. Hannah, who found me on the Jellicoe Road six years ago.

Taylor is the leader of the boarders at the Jellicoe School. She has to keep the upper hand in the territory wars and deal with Jonah Griggs – the enigmatic leader of the cadets, and someone she thought she would never see again.

And now Hannah, the person Taylor had come to rely on, has disappeared. Taylor’s only clue is a manuscript about five kids who lived in Jellicoe eighteen years ago. She needs to find out more, but this means confronting her own story, making sense of her strange, recurring dream, and finding her mother – who abandoned her on the Jellicoe Road.

My Review:

On the Jellicoe Road is, quite possibly, one of the most complex young adult novels I’ve read to date. I will fully admit to feel frustrated and wanting to give up anywhere from 5 to 50 pages in – simply because the narration style, the back and forth, and the strange groupings of children had me confused. But then a story began to emerge and I was sucked in.

When that story hit me, I lived, breathed, and slept this book until it was done. My mind went into overtime working over the connections and trying to piece everything together neatly. But I didn’t lose the entertainment either – because I was seriously entertained by the antics of the Cadets, the Townies, and the Boarders. My best advice when trying to figure out what’s going on is to sit back and let the story wash over you and be patient, because oh.. your patience is going to be rewarded.

When Melina Marchetta began to tug together the pieces of this story, revealing bits and pieces, adding in a twist here, and taking one away there, I knew something special was happening. I wasn’t wrong. There’s a reason this book was a Printz winner, people. And if you are not a young adult reader, or are frustrated by the endless amount of “fluff” out there, then I tell you to go out right now and pick this book up. It’ll restore your faith – it did for me.

By far one of the top reads for me this year, and I picked it up on a whim after seeing some chatter about it on Twitter. So glad I dove into this one and stuck it out..

Don’t just take my word for it! Check out what these bloggers say!

Belle’s Bookshelf| Justin’s Book Blog | Alexa Loves Books

  • Method of Obtaining: I checked my copy out from my local library.
  • Published by: Penguin Australia
  • Release Date: 8/28/2006
Lydia
24 August, 2012
Coming of Age, reviews, Young Adult
0 comments
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The Healer of Fox Hollow by Joann Rose Leonard

Order from:

 

Reason for Reading:
  • The blurb on the cover from Naseem Rakha

I also recommend:

Summary from GoodReads:

According to folklore in the Smoky Mountains,“When you enter the world with your feet pawing the air before your eyes can see where to put them, it’s a strong sign you’ll lose your way from time to time.”

Right from the start, Layla Tompkin’s way forward is full of detours after her mother dies in breech birth, leaving only her and her devoted, sorrowful father, Ed. Then, at the age of five, Layla is rendered mute after a horrible accident. “God is leading Layla to speak in new tongues,” proclaims Pastor Simpson at the local serpent handling church. Soon after, Layla is found to possess the gift of healing and her reputation spreads. Even Doc Fredericks, the area’s skeptical physician, is forced to re-examine scientific tenets when Layla’s healing touch is the only treatment that brings relief to his son Brian, whose legs were blown off by a landmine in Vietnam. Doubt and the miraculous, loss and survival, hurt and forgiveness collide when a secret challenges what everyone holds true, leaving Layla, her family and the community profoundly changed in a story about what it means to be truly healed.

My Review:

I love being surprised by a book. I picked up The Healer of Fox Hollow for one reason – the blurb on the front from Naseem Rakha. Once I read the description of the story I acknowledged there were a few more elements that appealed to me: the southern setting, the touch of “magic,” the idea of overcoming physical adversity.

I don’t even know where to begin in gushing over this absolute gem of a novel. Because from the first chapter, I was hooked. Completely and totally hooked. And the reason for that? Layla.

Every once in a while I come across a book where the author is in so deep, knows his/her character so well, that the character seems to become an extension of themselves. When this happens, that character blossoms and is lit up on the page. My imagination caught and burst into flame when I read Layla’s story – I couldn’t get her out of my mind. I had to know her more.

The Healer of Fox Hollow is the story of Layla’s life – from five years old when a devastating event happens which robs her of her speech through the twilight years of her life. It deals with horrifying issues such as abuse, abandonment, depression, and war but counters those with the gentleness of spirit within Layla and those close to her, the open love, forgiveness, and most of all, hope. I was moved to tears several times, I’m moved to tears writing this and remembering how intimate this picture was to read. There were moments I felt as if I not only knew Layla, but she knew me and I was able to take comfort away from what I was reading, tuck it away for those moments when my own life seems dark.

The Healer of Fox Hollow doesn’t have a flashy cover or a thrilling story that will have you turning pages as your heart pounds with excitement. But what it does offer is something precious, relevant, and beautiful to experience. I hope you’ll take the time to experience it as well.

About the Author

  • Information regarding Joann Rose Leonard:

Wisconsin born JOANN ROSE LEONARD was Texas-raised and has chigger bite scars to prove it, theatre-trained and frostbitten at Northwestern University, and worked as an actress in New York.   She studied mime in Paris with Marcel Marceau while dubbing films into English to earn her daily baguette; raised 9 kids (2 human, 7 goats) in State College PA, where she was founder and director of MetaStages, the youth theatre program at Penn State University, and, with her husband, Bob, a retired professor and theatre director, has relocated to CA to be nearer their sons, Jonathan (DJ Child, an award-winning music producer and founder of the multi-media company, Project Groundation) and Joshua (actor/filmmaker including The Lie, Higher Ground and The Blair Witch Project.) Joann is author of The Soup Has ManyEyes: From Shtetl to Chicago; One Family’s Journey Through History, “From Page to Stage,” a chapter in Holt Rinehart Winston’s Elements of Literature and two collections of multicultural plays, “All the World’s a Stage Volumes I & II” (Baker’s Plays).   In her research for The Healer of Fox Hollow, Joann discovered that the truth the novel is based upon is infinitely stranger than the fiction she wrote.

 

For more reviews on The Healer of Fox Hollow by Joann Rose Leonard, please follow the book tour.

Lydia
20 August, 2012
Coming of Age, Favorites, reviews, Southern
4 comments
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Every Day by David Levithan

Order from:

 

Reason for Reading:
  • I’ve heard a lot about David Levithan’s writing and wanted to experience this story (the premise looked incredible).

I also recommend:

Summary from GoodReads:

Every morning, A wakes in a different person’s body, a different person’s life. There’s never any warning about where it will be or who it will be. A has made peace with that, even established guidelines by which to live: Never get too attached. Avoid being noticed. Do not interfere.
It’s all fine until the morning that A wakes up in the body of Justin and meets Justin’s girlfriend, Rhiannon. From that moment, the rules by which A has been living no longer apply. Because finally A has found someone he wants to be with—day in, day out, day after day.

My Review:

Imagine living in a world where you are free from sex, gender, sexuality, identity, and experience absolutely no repercussions for your actions. Now, with that thought in mind, ask yourself: “What would I do?”

The answer for A is clear through this brilliant, beautiful, heart-aching story written by David Levithan. In Every Day, A wakes up in a new body – able to access memories, actions, and every day occurrences, but unable to create any lasting bonds for him/herself. Then, one day, a girl named Rhiannon walks into A’s life.

The premise behind this story is mind-blowing. The idea of jumping from body to body, experiencing life through the eyes of such a diverse group of characters – but not only seeing that, but also how it can affect an individual. I found myself constantly wanting to know more of A – why A ticked the way s/he did, why s/he acted with the thoughts of others in mind. And, in the process, I fell for this 16 year old spirit who, through the events in his/her lifetime, had an older soul than I could have imagined as a 16 year old.

I honestly didn’t know what to expect for an ending for this book, and I don’t want to spoil the ending – but I will say that it worked. That I reached the end and I cried. I cried because I wanted to see the world A did, I cried because I wanted to be surrounded by others who saw the world that way.

I’ve just returned from a week away with people who acted with integrity, where all races, ethnicities, religions, background, etc came together and listened and talked openly with one another in a place devoted to learning about leadership. It was, for one week, an isolated world that showed me what things could be like if each of us lived in the others shoes. The timing of reading this book was perfect for me because I was primed to accept it. Not only that, this book proves what I passionately believe: that reading opens the mind and teaches people how to not only accept, but respect each other, not for decisions made, but because we are all human, each and every one of us.

Don’t just take my word for it! Check out what these bloggers say!

Red Headed Book Child| Reading Writing Breathing | Sweet Tidbits

  • The publisher provided this review copy via NetGalley.
  • Published by: Knopf Books for Young Readers
  • Release Date: 8/28/2012
Lydia
12 August, 2012
Coming of Age, Contemporary, Favorites, reviews, Young Adult
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