Summary:
Fifteen-year-old Jason has fallen upon bad times—his mother has died and his father has succumbed to mental illness. As he tries to hold his crazy father and their crumbling home together, Jason relies on a host of imaginary friends for guidance as he stumbles along trying not to draw attention to his father’s deteriorating condition. Both heartbreaking and funny, Crazy lives up to the intense and compelling characters Han Nolan is praised for. As Jason himself teeters on the edge of insanity, Nolan uncovers the clever coping system he develops for himself and throws him a lifeline in the guise of friendship. My Ramblings: Admittedly I struggled to get into this book at the start, it was less the story and more the format. The imaginary friends that Jason creates to cope with the stress in his life are presented kind of like a script, injecting thoughts into various scenarios. I've had issues with this format before, so it's not surprising that this was a hard sell at the start for me. However, the story itself was enough to keep me going. Jason is doing everything he can to keep his life on track, but he's also a scared kid who doesn't know how to keep his father safe, and he's terrified that the mental illness that is plaguing his father might also be something he has. He's afraid to ask for help, afraid to let anyone in, but he also knows that he can't do this all by himself. Enter a support group from school that allows Jason to not only get some help for his father from people who understand that life is far from perfect, but also create some bonds that give him the support he so desperately needs to let go of his imaginary friends and start living life honestly. This is a heartbreaking and ultimately uplifting story about life's road bumps and finding your tribe who will help you get through the hard times.
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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!
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! |
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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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