Tag: friendship

Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen – My Favorite Title, Yet

Lekeisha The Booknerd27 Comments

23009402Published: May 5th, 2015 by: Viking Juvenile

Genres: YA, Contemporary, Realistic Ficton

Format: ebook Source: Library

My Rating: 4.5 Stars Add To Goodreads

Peyton, Sydney’s charismatic older brother, has always been the star of the family, receiving the lion’s share of their parents’ attention and—lately—concern. When Peyton’s increasingly reckless behavior culminates in an accident, a drunk driving conviction, and a jail sentence, Sydney is cast adrift, searching for her place in the family and the world. When everyone else is so worried about Peyton, is she the only one concerned about the victim of the accident?

Enter the Chathams, a warm, chaotic family who run a pizza parlor, play bluegrass on weekends, and pitch in to care for their mother, who has multiple sclerosis. Here Sydney experiences unquestioning acceptance. And here she meets Mac, gentle, watchful, and protective, who makes Sydney feel seen, really seen, for the first time.

The uber-popular Sarah Dessen explores her signature themes of family, self-discovery, and change in her twelfth novel, sure to delight her legions of fans.

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Review: Hyacinth Girls by Lauren Frankel

Lekeisha The Booknerd8 Comments

22926549Released May 12th 2015 by Crown

Young-Adult Fiction

Coming-of-Age, Parenting

Hardcover (304 pages)

Publisher via Blogging For Books

My Rating 4 Stars

Thirteen year old Callie is accused of bullying at school, but Rebecca knows the gentle girl she’s raised must be innocent. After Callie is exonerated, she begins to receive threatening notes from the girl who accused her, and as these notes become desperate, Rebecca feels compelled to intervene. As she tries to save this unbalanced girl, Rebecca remembers her own intense betrayals and best-friendships as a teenager, when her failure to understand those closest to her led to tragedy. She’ll do anything to make this story end differently. But Rebecca doesn’t understand what’s happening or who is truly a victim, and now Callie is in terrible danger.

This raw and beautiful story about the intensity of adolescent emotions and the complex identity of a teenage girl looks unflinchingly at how cruelty exists in all of us, and how our worst impulses can estrange us from ourselves – or even save us.

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ARC Review: Invincible by Amy Reed

Lekeisha The Booknerd6 Comments

Invincible_tagline_final.inddRelease Date: April 28th 2015

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

Series: Invincible #1

Genres: Young-Adult/ Contemporary/ Realistic-Fiction

Format: Digital ARC

Source: Publisher via Edelweiss

My Rating: 4 Stars

Find It: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Evie is living on borrowed time. She was diagnosed with terminal cancer several months ago and told that by now she’d be dead. Evie is grateful for every extra day she gets, but she knows that soon this disease will kill her. Until, miraculously, she may have a second chance to live.

All Evie had wanted was her life back, but now that she has it, she feels like there’s no place for her in it—at least, not for the girl she is now. Her friends and her parents still see her as Cancer Girl, and her boyfriend’s constant, doting attention is suddenly nothing short of suffocating.

Then Evie meets Marcus. She knows that he’s trouble, but she can’t help falling for him. Being near him makes her feel truly, fully alive. It’s better than a drug. His kiss makes her feel invincible—but she may be at the beginning of the biggest free fall of her life.

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