Summary:
Ever since last year’s homecoming dance, best friends-turned-best enemies Zorie and Lennon have made an art of avoiding each other. It doesn’t hurt that their families are the modern day, Californian version of the Montagues and Capulets. But when a group camping trip goes south, Zorie and Lennon find themselves stranded in the wilderness. Alone. Together. What could go wrong? With no one but each other for company, Zorie and Lennon have no choice but to hash out their issues via witty jabs and insults as they try to make their way to safety. But fighting each other while also fighting off the forces of nature makes getting out of the woods in one piece less and less likely. And as the two travel deeper into Northern California’s rugged backcountry, secrets and hidden feelings surface. But can Zorie and Lennon’s rekindled connection survive out in the real world? Or was it just a result of the fresh forest air and the magic of the twinkling stars? My Ramblings: I loved this book. So incredibly much. This was another one that showed up in my mailbox from Uppercase Box. Quick side note, they say that you shouldn't judge a book by the cover, but that's a big lie. People do pick books up based on the cover, a great cover can draw in readers, make them grab your book over others. A bad cover can turn people away from an otherwise great book. So covers are important. Different covers can do different things for different readers. This cover is spot on for me. I would live outside, cooking over a campfire if I could figure out how to get paid for it. I'm also a sucker for a good YA Romance novel. So this cover 100% did it's job and as soon as I opened my mail, it jumped to the top of the TBR pile. This book didn't disappoint, in fact it went way past expectations. I initially went into this book expecting a fluffy summer YA story, but what I got instead was a story about two families who are trying to find their way back to something resembling happy. I don't want to give anything away. I want you to go read this book, so I'm going to keep this incredibly broad (sorry!). Zorie and Lennon used to be best friends, until one night changed everything, and suddenly they find themselves in the middle of what amounts to a feud between their two families. The problem is that neither one of them is operating with all the information, so what results is a series of miscommunications, frustrations and realizations that lead to everyone involved having to make some big decisions about who they are and what they want out of life. It's a messy story, there is no big happy ending, but in the end there is hope, and a knowledge that everything will eventually be okay for everyone. Plus there all sorts of outdoor adventures where Zorie and Lennon have to test their bravery, their communication skills and remember what it's like to trust each other. This book ticked all the right boxes for me. In fact... I think I'm going to put it back on the TBR pile for a second read!
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Summary:
From the author of I Believe in a Thing Called Love, a laugh-out-loud story of love, new friendships, and one unique food truck. Clara Shin lives for pranks and disruption. When she takes one joke too far, her dad sentences her to a summer working on his food truck, the KoBra, alongside her uptight classmate Rose Carver. Not the carefree summer Clara had imagined. But maybe Rose isn't so bad. Maybe the boy named Hamlet (yes, Hamlet) crushing on her is pretty cute. Maybe Clara actually feels invested in her dad’s business. What if taking this summer seriously means that Clara has to leave her old self behind? With Maurene Goo's signature warmth and humor, The Way You Make Me Feel is a relatable story of falling in love and finding yourself in the places you’d never thought to look. My Ramblings: From about mid-February until May I had a run of not great books. They weren't horrible, but nothing was catching my attention enough to really get into. I would start a book, read a chapter or two, set it down and never come back. The The Way You Make Me Feel showed up and it was like a little turning point, over the month of May and into June I finished 8 books, all of them great, and it started with this book. Before I get into my thoughts on the book- first I have to say that I subscribed to Uppercase Box (a new book in my mailbox every month!), 3 of my past 8 books came from Uppercase Box, so far almost every book that has come has been a winner. If you are into signed YA books just showing up every month (for not that much money), check out their website. Okay- now for the book. What was it that made this one the book that broke the streak? For starters, it was just so relatable. Clara, the main character, is a pretty normal girl, serving her sentence for a prank gone awry at her fathers food truck for the summer with her mortal enemy. There is nothing overly out of the box in this story, just a girl really figuring out who she is and who she wants to be. When done right, I'm a complete sucker for these kinds of stories, and Goo really got this story right. Clara is flawed, so are Rose (the enemy) and Hamlet (potential love interest), but they are all also good kids. The parents aren't perfect, but they aren't horrible either. Everyone is just trying to do their best with the situations presented to them... which I think sums up most people's lives, which is why this book works so well. You can see yourself in the characters and quickly become invested in how it will all turn out. The best part is that there are no easy wins for these characters. To get what they want, they have to work for it. Even then, it doesn't always work out how they plan. And that's okay, because that's life. Goo did a phenomenal job with this one and I can't wait to read more from her! Summary:
Sixteen year old Krista is still grieving the untimely death of her mother when her father's new girlfriend moves into their home. He's already moved on and wants Krista to do the same, but she's not ready to resume a normal life yet. Distancing herself from those around her, Krista spends all of her time obsessively watching a mysterious house, the house at 758. When a fellow classmate, Jake, takes a sudden interest in her, Krista feels excited for the first time in two years, but feelings of guilt consume her, and she ends up pushing Jake away. It isn't until her grandfather makes a surprise visit from Venezuela that Krista is finally able to confront her grief and begin to let things go. My Ramblings: I recently read and reviewed Going Places by Kathryn Berla (out March 2018) and then got the opportunity to pick up The House at 758. I love discovering new (to me) authors and titles because it's a bit like opening a present- you aren't sure what you are going to find inside, and as you open it you find something that's just right. That's kind of how I feel about Berla and these two books right now. Two months ago I didn't even know they existed, and now they've become books that I'm eager to order for the library and pass on to my students. I don't want to give much away here, because the story includes some fabulous reveals, so this review will be short and sweet. This book, like Going Places, focuses on a kid who is hurting, who is trying to move forward after a tragedy and who is trying to figure out how to exist in a world that isn't familiar anymore. Here we find Krista still reeling from her mother's death. She's coping in ways that other people don't understand, in ways that are a little odd, and even in some that could be potentially dangerous. When her best friend goes away for the summer, Krista is a bit rudderless. It takes a few unexpected relationships to shake Krista and make her take a hard look at what she wants and if she wants to let herself be vulnerable again. Berla does a great job telling Krista's story. Anyone who has lost someone will find something familiar here, from the anger and grief, to the feelings of being alone even when you are in a room full of people. They'll recognize the guilt and the feelings of "what if?" that fill Krista's mind, even if they are lies that she is trying to get past. What I love most about this book is that there is no big grand happy ever after. There is just life. In the end you get the sense that Krista's life isn't perfect, but that she'll be okay. For me that's a great message not only for me as a reader, but for me to send my students as their librarian. I'm always trying to find books that reflect real life (even those that fall into the realm of fantasy and sci fi), I want them to be able to see themselves somewhere in the pages, and I think Berla does a great job here. Krista is damaged and she's hurting, but she'll be okay in the end. |
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Home of the ramblings of an avid reader. In my spare time I also run, ride, teach, go on adventures and get into shenanigans. Find me here: Goodreads Etsy TikTok Categories
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