ARC Review: Faking Normal by Courtney C. Stevens

Pub. Date: February 25th, 2014

Publisher: HarperCollins Children's Books

336 pages

Hardcover

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Synopsis from Goodreads:

Alexi Littrell hasn't told anyone what happened to her over the summer. Ashamed and embarrassed, she hides in her closet and compulsively scratches the back of her neck, trying to make the outside hurt more than the inside does.

When Bodee Lennox, the quiet and awkward boy next door, comes to live with the Littrells, Alexi discovers an unlikely friend in "the Kool-Aid Kid," who has secrets of his own. As they lean on each other for support, Alexi gives him the strength to deal with his past, and Bodee helps her find the courage to finally face the truth.

A searing, poignant book, Faking Normal is the extraordinary debut novel from an exciting new author - Courtney C. Stevens.

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I’ve done my best to remain spoiler free – for that reason, there’s a bit of vagueness, which I usually try to avoid.

I expected Faking Normal to be a heavy, serious read, and I honestly wasn’t sure I was in the mental space to handle it. While the subject matter is very serious, at it’s core Faking Normal is an uplifting and inspiring story about what being a friend, and being supportive, really means. In a novel where grief and trauma dominates, I found Alexi and Bodee’s slow growth of trust in each other, and the subsequent slow reveal of the traumas they’ve faced, to be a really powerful thing. I had such a strong emotional reaction to this novel. The story will stay with me for a longtime.

Faking Normal has one of the most interesting and heartbreaking opening chapters I’ve ever read. While we have no idea the depth of trauma Alexi has face, we are instantly introduced to a big part of the devastation Bodee is facing.

ARC Review: Red by Alison Cherry

Pub. Date: October 8th, 2013
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Hardcover
320 pages

When I first read the synopsis for Red, I thought the idea was different and interesting, but also somewhat insane. I mean a town where your social standing is based on your hair color - not your typical book setting. Red is definitely quirky, funny and unique, but it is also smart, has a lot of heart and a good amount of seriousness thrown into the mix as well.

Felicity St. John has everything she could possibly want - a great group of friends, a coveted leadership role at school, and the chance to win a big pageant /scholarship. But Felicity is one of only three people who know she doesn’t rightfully deserve these things. If her school and her town knew that she was a Strawbie – a strawberry blonde – and not a real redhead, every opportunity she has had would be taken away. In Scarletville, you’re only as important as your (natural) shade of red. When Felicity's bi-weekly dye secret is threatened, there’s no end to what she’ll do to protect herself. 

My biggest fear was that the novel would just be silly without any real depth. I recognize the level of seriousness between being discriminated because of your hair color, compared to your skin color or size is drastically different, but the ways in which the town discriminate and treat non-redheads added a validity and level of seriousness that I wasn’t expecting. Red presents intolerance in such a unique way.

Review: Between You and Me by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus

Pub. Date: First published, June 12^th 2012; Paperback pub. June 4^th, 2013

Publisher: Atria Books

Hardcover/Paperback/ebook

272 pages

I expected Between You and Me to be a fairly light, summer beach read. It’s not. While there is some humor, the novel and the characters in the novel are not happy. This is a heart wrenching, haunting story that I found powerful and engrossing.

Growing up, cousins Kelsey and Logan Wade were thick as thieves. Fifteen years later, Logan has done the adult thing. Done with college and stuck in an uninspiring job, she’s bored. The last thing Logan expects on her 27^th birthday is a call from Kelsey’s mom asking her to LA to visit the recently dumped, and now uber famous, Kelsey. Dropping everything, Logan’s curiosity and need to get out of her tedium, sets an entire train of events in motion. With Logan by her side, Kelsey takes control of her life and career, going for what she wants, and doing what she wants, for the first time. But, when her choices send her life spiraling out of control, the girls have to stick together, or allow Kelsey’s parents to tear them apart, again.

Kelsey Wade is more exposed than a Kardashian. Add in an eventual meltdown and the worst mom/dadager in the world, Between You and Me makes you feel like you’re watching an episode of

Review: Skin by Donna Jo Napoli

Pub. Date: August 6^th, 2013

Publisher: Skyscrape/Amazon Pub.

341 pages

Paperback

First days of school are always stressful – but waking up to find your lips are white for no apparent reason, blows Sep’s stress levels through the roof. Diagnosed with Vitiligo, a skin pigmentation disorder, Sep starts counting down the time she has before white spots sprout up all over her body, brandishing her as a “freak”. Never the one to be worried about being in a relationship, or being in love, Sep questions if she’ll ever have the chance to experience these things once her appearance starts to change. Changing who she is, using whomever in her quest to experience as much as possible while she still looks “normal”, Sep’s grasp of herself both physically and emotionally, crashes. Before she completely loses herself, Sep needs to learn how she can be comfortable in her own skin – no matter what that skin looks like.

I really and truly felt for Sep. Not knowing what was going on with her body and the fear that goes along with that, I found really effectively portrayed. I thought the focus on Vitiligo, which affects your appearance versus your health, was an interesting twist on novels that center on illness. So much of the struggle that Sep faces is being able to look in the mirror no matter what reflection is staring back at her, and learning to love herself anyway. I felt her apocalyptic thinking that her life would shatter

Review: The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider

Pub. Date: August 27th, 2013
Publisher: Katherine Tegen
330 pages
Hardcover

I’m not going to lie, when I first picked up The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider, the retrospective first person point of view threw me in its unusualness. But, after a few chapters, once I was more acclimated, the wit and heart of the lyrical writing truly pulled me in, and I felt silly for not seeing it right away.

Ezra Faulkner is forced into the kind of self-discovery we all hope to have, but that many of us are too afraid to really attempt. After a car accident leaves the once top tennis player permanently benched with a seriously damaged knee, he no longer fits in with his athlete friends. Yet, something many would see as totally negative, for Ezra is ultimately more bittersweet. For the first time, Ezra is able to see how superficial and unsupportive the people he called his friends really were. Open to forging new friendships, Ezra meets new girl Cassidy Thorpe and reunites with his childhood best friend, whose unusual tragedy years early cemented him on the unpopular list, ultimately separating him from Ezra. Surrounded by people who actually care about and challenge him for the first time, Ezra is finally asked what he wants, who he is, and most importantly who he wants to be. Discovering the answers to these questions propels Ezra in a completely different direction than he was headed before, this time, on his own terms.

Review: A Really Awesome Mess by Trish Cook and Brendan Halpin

Pub. Date: July 23^rd, 2013

Publisher: EgmontUSA

Ebook

288 pages

A Really Awesome Mess is like The Breakfast Club for a new generation. It really shows how you never really know what other people are dealing with, or maybe even the extent of what you yourself are dealing with, until you take the time to ask the questions. Like the characters in The Breakfast Club, the A Really Awesome Mess characters have to work on breaking down their own prejudices, in order to find out how amazing their relationships with people they thought they had nothing in common with, can actually be. The two sets of characters rebellions against authority are pretty darn entertaining to.

The novel is told through the alternating perspectives of Emmy and Justin, two of Heartland Academy’s (or Assland as it is affectionately known) newest “students”. Emmy is struggling with anger and feeling she is unlovable, stemming from being adopted, and also from a recent breakup that affected Emmy more than she is willing to admit. Justin, after being walked in on with a girl mid sex act is sent to Heartland for Sexual Reactivity classes, and the fact that he attempted suicide by swallowing a