The Party

The Party, by Robyn Harding, was an interesting, twist turning YA novel. It all starts out innocently enough - Hannah is turning 16 and is having some friends over to spend the night to celebrate. But it's not as innocent as it seems, even at first. The four girls invited are two of Hannah's oldest friends and the two most popular girls at school, Ronni who Hannah used to be childhood friends with, and Lauren, the queen bee. Hannah knows this party will seal her fate as popular or unpopular, and she has to make this party a hit. But her mom is an uptight, do-goody typical rich white mom who says no boys, no alcohol, no drugs. So Hannah has gone behind her back and stole some vodka, which she hopes will be enough. Hours later, the party is going just as planned, and more; there's booze, drugs and boys all snuck into the house. Then, a terrible accident happens, leaving Ronni hurt and Hannah covered in Ronni's blood. The novel to follow shows the aftermath of this fateful night. With Ronni's single, poor mom suing Hannah's rich family, Hannah's family begins to unravel. As it turns out, there's a lot going on with Hannah's family that isn't apparent on the surface. Read on to find what happens in Harding's The Party.

I really enjoyed the story, but thought the ending was a bit too rushed !

Gilt Hollow

I could not put Gilt Hollow down; so much that I stayed up until 2am two nights in a row after a full day at work in order to finish the novel.

Gilt Hollow, by Lorie Landon, is a YA mystery/thriller filled with plenty of twists and turns to keep you on your toes and a budding romance between two nearly ex-best friends.

The novel follows Willow and Ashton, two teenagers who grew up inseparable. Until Ashton was convicted of killing his friend and sent to juvie for four years. After he gets out, he has revenge on his mind and find himself back in his hometown of Gilt Hollow, a free flowing hippie community. Ashton has been disowned by his wealthy, successful family and resorts to sneaking into his old house he's set to inherit, now occupied by Willow and her family.

Willow has always known Ashton was innocent, perhaps the only one in all of Gilt Hollow. She's lost friends because of this, and even jobs over it. But now that Ashton is home, she may lose her life over it. Still continuing to stick by Ashton's side, Willow starts receiving threatening text messages, telling her to back off or else she's next. This only fuels Willow's desire to get to the bottom of what happened to Ashton, while Aston is determined to protect Willow and seek revenge on the true killer. Only he doesn't know which of his friends did it.

Gilt Hollow keeps you on your toes with fantastic pacing, and just enough clues that you're never really sure who's the killer until Willow and Ashton themselves figure it out. But will both Willow and Ashton emerge safe and victorious? Guess you'll have to read and find out. ;)

Who We Are Instead

Who We Are Instead by Kyla Stone tells the troubled story of two sisters, Lena and Lux, navigating a troubled relationship and the difficult journey of bereavement. Told in alternating perspectives, Lena left home years ago to go to university and escape her father and sister after her mom committed suicide and the family fell apart. Lux was stuck at home, turning into a party girl who didn't care about anyone or anything, on the verge of failing high school. But then their dad has another heart attack and Lena comes home for the first time in years. But when she gets on the next flight home, she finds Lux has disappeared and her father telling her to let her be.

The novel unfolds with Lena revisiting her past and Lux trying to forget all about her past and present. As Lux falls deeper and deeper down a black home, Lena is racing to find out her past's secrets from her dad and reconnect to Lux. Until their dad dies and leaves them both orphans, and Lux disappears again - this time straight to a drug dealer's home.

Can Lena and Lux overcome their issues both jointly and independently in order to come out on the other side? Can they find the peace they're looking for and move on with their lives?

This novel explores dark issues and tugs on your emotions as you follow the sisters' journey. Kyla Stone allows you to easily empathize with Lena and Lux and root for them to overcome their past for a better future.

Who We Are Instead will be out in stores on March 15, 2017 and isn't one to miss out on!

What You Left Behind

 

Ryden Brooks used to be your typical popular high school jock. He was the star goalkeeper of his high school's soccer team, had girls throwing themselves at him left and right and had all but a guarantee of a full ride scholarship to UCLA. Everything was perfect and life was great until he met Meg. Meg had been crushing hard on Ryden since she first laid eyes on him, but figured she never had a chance. She wasn't popular, she didn't participate in any school sports and she was super focused on academics. Oh, and she also was fighting for her life after being diagnosed with cancer.

But one day, Ryden took notice of Meg and found himself falling in love with her. The two started dating, and eventually Meg had to tell Ryden she had cancer. Ryden was madly in love and vowed to be with her as she went through chemotherapy and battled cancer. But then Meg got pregnant and refused to abort the baby. During childbirth, Meg died and Ryden became a single father to their daughter, Hope.

All of a sudden, Ryden felt like his life was out of control. He was caring for his daughter Hope with his Mom's help, working at Whole Foods to try and help provide for his daughter and getting ready to attend his senior year of high school. With so much on his plate, including trying to keep up with homework and play varsity soccer, Ryden was starting to crumble. Then Meg's sister called Ryden saying she found a journal, with a checklist in the back with her name, Ryden's name and Meg's best f friend Alan's name. Ryden became consumed with finding the two other journals that Meg was constantly writing in, convinced they held information on how to be a better parent to Hope.

Then he befriended Joni at work, which started to develop into an unexpected romantic relationship. In an attempt to feel normal, he kept his history of Meg and the existence of Hope hidden from Joni. However, as expected, Ryden can't keep up with all of his lies and everything on his plate. Can Ryden let go of Meg and move on with his life? Can Ryden secure his UCLA soccer scholarship and both play college soccer and be a parent to Hope? Finally, can Ryden let Joni in on the truth of his life without losing her forever?

What You Left Behind by Jessica Verdi is a spectacular, emotional novel. This is not your typical high school love story. Verdi spares no one in her writing and her descriptively poetic writing pulls you in from start to finish. Confronting tough issues from cancer to teenage pregnancy and teenage parenthood, Verdi surprisingly makes the topics easy to emotionally latch onto and feel yourself in Ryden's shoes.

I gave What You Left Behind 5 stars, what about you?

Faerie

Faerie, by Eisha Marjara is a quick yet emotional real about a 17 year old named Lila, who is hospitalized with an eating disorder. Lila is about to turn 18, about to become an adult, but is stuck in the trenches of Anorexia Nervosa. This novel is brutally honest, and doesn't spare the reader any details. Throughout the novel, we learn of how Lila came to develop an eating disorder, are are alongside her while she receives treatment. Marjana forces you to experience every emotion and heartbreak that Lila is feeling, and does a great job in inviting you into Lila's head. In Faerie, we learn why she is so driven to become a waif-like faerie who defies nature. We see her finally make a friend at Four East, someone else battling Anorexia. In Faerie, you can't help but root for Lila to get better and recover. But can Lila break out of the grasp of her eating disorder and overcome her mental illness? Or will Lila's battle end in heartbreak, a much too common fate for many people suffering from an eating disorder?

Lessons in Falling

Savannah is a high school senior who until recently had plans on going to college on a gymnastics scholarship. But then she blew out her knee at a regional competition, needed reconstructive surgery and retired from gymnastics. She put it all behind her in order to finally pass her driver's test, spend more time with her best friend Cassie and have an awesome senior year.

However, everything comes to a standstill when Cassie attempts suicide unexpectedly, and is found by the boy she's been flirting with who might be her boyfriend. She saw no warning signs and blames herself, thinking that the should of known since she's Cassie's best friend. With Cassie in the hospital, Savannah starts hanging out more with Marcus and discovers a different side of herself.

With help from Marcus and a crumbling relationship with Cassie, Savannah returns to the gym. She tells herself she just wants a proper goodbye to gymnastics, one on her terms. But with Savannah blossoming with Marcus and away from Cassie, Savannah starts reevaluating her future. Will Savannah and Cassie's relationship survive this new life Savannah has created for herself?

I really enjoyed Lessons in Falling by Diana Gallagher, but had a few issues. For one, the topic of suicide wasn't addressed properly in my opinion. I've had friends attempt and commit suicide, and it's a lot more life changing and pervasive to one's life than Gallagher makes it out to be in the novel. It almost makes it out to be that Savannah is the villain in the story, when in fact Cassie is the one holding Savannah back and constantly putting her down. Also, as a former gymnast, the return to gymnastics isn't that realistic. I know for the story's sake it kind of had to be this way, but one can't return from reconstructive knee surgery to competing at level 10 after taking a "retirement" break doing nothing. Savannah would of never been able to return to competition that fast, regardless of how often she practiced or how hard she worked. Overall I enjoyed the novel but found too many holes to give it five stars.

Lessons in Falling by Diana Gallagher was published on February 7th and is on shelves now!

MIA

-brushes off the blog's dust-
Needless to say, I've been gone for quite some time. My health was all over the place, and I spent a few months in the hospital. I moved states, moved back states, and took a break from blogging. Regardless, I kept on reading but took a break from blogging. I am back now, hopefully for good. Over the time I was gone, I read some AWESOME books. I'll post some covers of a few I've really enjoyed, with a blurb from the author.

 

It’s been ten years since Nicolette Farrell left her rural hometown after her best friend, Corinne, disappeared from Cooley Ridge without a trace. Back again to tie up loose ends and care for her ailing father, Nic is soon plunged into a shocking drama that reawakens Corinne’s case and breaks open old wounds long since stitched. Told backwards—Day 15 to Day 1—from the time Annaleise goes missing, Nic works to unravel the truth about her younger neighbor’s disappearance, revealing shocking truths about her friends, her family, and what really happened to Corinne that night ten years ago. [Goodreads]

Thrillers and missing person cases are getting super popular right now, and I've jumped on the bandwagon. They hold your attention and always keep you guessing, and All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda is one of my favorites so far. ''

Still mourning the loss of her beloved grandmother and shaken by her mysterious, dying request to “find the baby,” Abbi has just arrived at UW Madison for her freshman year. But on her second day, she wakes up to a different world: 1983. That is just the first stop on Abbi’s journey backward through time. Will is a charming college freshman from 1927 who travels forward through time. When Abbi and Will meet in the middle, love adds another complication to their lives. Communicating across time through a buried time capsule, they try to decode the mystery of their travel, find the lost baby, and plead with their champion, a kindly physics professor, to help them find each other again ... even though the professor gets younger each time Abbi meets him. [Goodreads]

I'm pretty sure I enjoyed this book so much just because of how different it is. A lot of time-travel books are way too gimmicky for me, but Waking in Time by Angie Stanton really worked for me. It's a fast read, exciting and well written.  

 Ruth Jefferson is a labor and delivery nurse at a Connecticut hospital with more than twenty years' experience. During her shift, Ruth begins a routine checkup on a newborn, only to be told a few minutes later that she's been reassigned to another patient. The parents are white supremacists and don't want Ruth, who is African American, to touch their child. The hospital complies with their request, but the next day, the baby goes into cardiac distress while Ruth is alone in the nursery. Does she obey orders or does she intervene? [Goodreads]

It's no secret to anyone that I know that I adore Jodi Picoult's novels. I patiently wait each year (and a bit longer for this one) for her novel, buy it the day it comes out and devour it. Small Great Things was no different. Picoult chooses controversial topics and send you on a wild ride that you never want to stop. 

The Game: Get ready for Zero Hour as 200 geniuses from around the world go head to head in a competition hand-devised by India's youngest CEO and visionary. [Goodreads]

I love competitions, reality shows and the like. Genius: The Game by Leopoldo Gout was right up my alley for these two reasons. I'm just hoping that the fact it says #1 in Goodreads means that this is a series and there's more to come.

Can one girl help others find closure by slipping into the identities of their loved ones? [Goodreads]

The Program series by Suzanne Young is one of my favorite series in recent years. The Epidemic plays into the series by coming before The Program occurred. It's fantastic, no questions necessary. 

Alex fights a daily battle to figure out the difference between reality and delusion. Armed with a take-no-prisoners attitude, her camera, a Magic 8-Ball, and her only ally (her little sister), Alex wages a war against her schizophrenia, determined to stay sane long enough to get into college. She’s pretty optimistic about her chances until classes begin, and she runs into Miles. Didn't she imagine him? Before she knows it, Alex is making friends, going to parties, falling in love, and experiencing all the usual rites of passage for teenagers. But Alex is used to being crazy. She’s not prepared for normal. [Goodreads]

A contemporary young adult novel dealing with mental illness is right up my alley. Made You Up by Francesca Zappia does a great job at talking about schizophrenia in an non-intimidating, relateable way and I love it for that reason and so many more.

Samantha McAllister looks just like the rest of the popular girls in her junior class. But hidden beneath the straightened hair and expertly applied makeup is a secret that her friends would never understand: Sam has Purely-Obsessional OCD and is consumed by a stream of dark thoughts and worries that she can't turn off...Caroline introduces Sam to Poet's Corner, a hidden room and a tight-knit group of misfits who have been ignored by the school at large. Sam is drawn to them immediately, especially a guitar-playing guy with a talent for verse, and starts to discover a whole new side of herself. Slowly, she begins to feel more "normal" than she ever has as part of the popular crowd . . . until she finds a new reason to question her sanity and all she holds dear.

Another contemporary young adult novel dealing with mental illness; this time Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. I really loved this novel, even though it say on my to be read pile for a long time. The novel takes you through a huge slew of emotions, is hopeful and feels realistic.

Since her twin brother, Eddie, drowned five years ago, sixteen-year-old Elsie Main has tried to remember what really happened that fateful day on the beach. One minute Eddie was there, and the next he was gone. Seventeen-year-old Tay McKenzie is a cute and mysterious boy that Elsie meets in her favorite boathouse hangout. When Tay introduces Elsie to the world of freediving, she vows to find the answers she seeks at the bottom of the sea.
 I volunteer for a grief camp, Comfort Zone Camp, and therefore grief has a very special place in my heart. The Art of Not Breathing by Sarah Alexander addresses grief eloquently. I loved this book so much and hope you do as well.

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There were more excellent books I read, but I'll leave it at that for now. Just finished a new book and want to get that review out soon as it's being published very soon.

With love, Britt