All posts tagged contemporary

The Summer of Impossibilities

By Brookelorren on 3 Comments
The Summer of Impossibilities cover

Don’t you just love summer? It’s almost the end of April, school is starting to wind down, and it’s almost time to break out those summer books! I recently read The Summer of Impossibilities by Rachael Allen (thank you Netgalley and ABRAMS Kids for the Advanced Reader Copy!), and think this will make a lovely summer book. It deals with a lot of things that teens struggle with, and cumulates with beautiful friendships.

The Characters

One of the things that stands out to me in this book is the characters. Their situations are all different, but many teens will find someone they resonate with.

Skyler – She loves playing softball, but suffers from juvenile arthritis. She’s afraid to tell her parents that she’s in pain. They have so many expectations for her–plus, they’re having some problems of her own.

Scarlett – Sky’s twin sister, she’s having some problems of her own. She’s not sure how to deal with her boyfriend. She’s also recovering from cutting, and at times feels like she’s broken.

Amelia Grace – She likes girls, but she also wants to be a youth pastor. When she’s accidentally outed, her church doesn’t want to allow her to be a youth pastor anymore. Amelia has to figure out if there’s any way to be the person she wants to be without giving up part of who she is.

Ellie – Ellie has been homeschooled for most of her life and has difficulty making friends.

The Story

These girls’ parents were best friends as teens and started the Southern Belles’ Drinking Club (SBDC) when they were teenagers. When Sky and Scarlett’s parents are having difficulties, they call up their old friends and spend the summer at their lake house together. The girls know about each other, but haven’t seen each other in years. They end up starting their own SBDC (drinking is optional: Ellie is a Muslim) and make a pact to do something impossible over the summer. Each girl’s impossible thing has something to do with their struggles.

Conclusion

The Summer of Impossibilities is such a sweet friendship story, and is perfect for summer reading. Do the girls all achieve the impossible? Well, I’m not going to give away the ending, but I will say the girls like how their summer resolves and grow as people in the process.

The main down side to this book was that the characters tended to have similar voices. Sometimes I’d have to flip back to tell who’s POV the story was coming from, or I’d tell which character was speaking by their unique situation. The story is told from four points of view, which can be incredibly difficult to write, especially when you’re writing characters of the same gender and age (I’ve written a story with 3 POVs before, and it helped that they were either different genders or ages). However, POV issues aside, it was a lovely book I think will make a great summer read.

When We Were Vikings

By Brookelorren on Leave a Comment
When We Were Vikings cover

I recently read When We Were Vikings by Andrew David MacDonald. A big thanks to Netgalley and Gallery/Scout Press for offering me an Advanced Review Copy! I really enjoyed it, although it was different than anything I’ve ever read before.

Zelda is fascinated by Vikings. Her favorite book is Kepple’s Guide to the Vikings. Early on in the book, she discovers that archaeologists discovered that one of the viking warriors which were once thought to be a male was actually female, and she finds this very inspiring. Zelda lives with her older brother and thrives on rules and routine. She also happens to have fetal alcohol syndrome.

Throughout the book, we watch, through Zelda’s eyes, as she gains independence and even bravely faces danger.

What I Liked

When We Were Vikings has such a unique voice! I’m not sure if I’ve ever read a book from the point of view of someone with an intellectual disability. I did read the Forrest Gump duology, but I think that might be in third person, and that was years ago. Zelda sees the world in a much different way than I do, but she has a fairly good memory, is brave, and is trying to become a better person.

Her brother, Gert, is in a difficult spot, and part of me feels sympathy for him, but part of me doesn’t. He’s faced with the difficult situation of taking care of his sister and dealing with unsavory family members. Gert makes a few bad choices that end up affecting Zelda.

One of the topics that Zelda is interested in is sex. She just turned twenty-one and thinks that she and her boyfriend Marxy might want to try it. It’s a fairly big topic in this book. It’s probably an important topic to include because people some people probably have incorrect ideas about how intellectually disabled people feel on this topic. There is a trigger warning in this book as there is an attempted sexual assault.

Is This Book Controversial?

Although I liked this book, it could potentially be a controversial book. Lately, a lot of people have criticized some authors for writing books with main characters that are unlike them. I personally think we should write the characters in our heart, and if we are writing about someone in another culture, we need to do our best to represent the character well.

I doubt Andrew David MacDonald was born with fetal alcohol syndrome. Nevertheless, I think he did a good job in portraying Zelda in a realistic and compassionate way. I only know a few intellectually disabled people, but I would hope they’d like the book. I haven’t heard anybody say this book has inaccuracies, which I have with American Dirt.

Conclusion

When We Were Vikings is the story of an intellectually disabled girl trying to gain her independence, and I recommend it if you’re looking for that kind of story. It does have a happy ending, for the most part, and I am hopeful for this character’s future. It was interesting to step into her head for a while.

Don’t Read the Comments

By Brookelorren on 6 Comments
Don't Read the Comments cover

I have had the hardest time staying on top of my reading schedule lately! Netgalley was kind enough to allow me to read an ARC for Don’t Read the Comments by Eric Smith, and I finished it two days after it came out! Maybe that’s normal for some people, but I try to review the books by their release date (I have a couple other books to read ASAP too). Anyway, I have to thank them and Inkyard Press for the opportunity to read this book, which I really enjoyed.

Divya is a famous streamer in the Reclaim the Sun fandom. The game sounds really awesome–you drive a spaceship through the galaxy and try to claim one of trillions of planets. It seems like Minecraft in space, except it’s an MMORPG. It helps pay the bills–ever since her parents divorced, finances have been difficult. Divya earns enough money to help pay for rent, food, and her mom’s last semester in college. Things are going okay–until some trolls, who don’t like her as a female gamer, decide to troll her in real life.

Aaron loves playing Reclaim the Sun as well. His parents aren’t hard up for money, but mom wants him to be a doctor. Aaron wants to write for video games instead. He has a job for ManaPunk, an indie gamemaker, only Jason, the head of the company, hasn’t paid him for a lot of the work he’s done.

Video games with villains and trolls? What more could you want? My guess is that, if you loved the Warcross duology, you’ll love this book too. They have a lot of similarities.

Themes

This book had me at video games. Reclaim the Sun as a video game is well fleshed out and is something I think would be cool to play. So many people love to watch video games stream as well. Mr. Smith also included references to Ultima Online–I loved that game. I had a character named Lorren, who was a mage, and I cosplayed her when I went to the UO World’s Faire one year. Fun times. This book was a lot of fun too. They even went to a video game convention in the book.

On a more serious note, this book also tackles the issue of gender harassment in gaming. It’s never been an issue for me, but I understand that it is an issue that some elite gamers face. Page 84 of the January 2018 issue of Wired talks about women in professional eSports like Overwatch and the ladies at the top do face harassment. Divya’s case is probably more extreme, but people do dox one another and it can have some serious consequences. There’s also the problem of “swatting” in the gaming community, which has resulted in people’s deaths.

Another issue Don’t Read the Comments tackles is companies that don’t want to pay for art. There was a recent case, in fact, where Aaron Carter stole art from Jonas Jödicke–Carter told Jödicke that he should feel complimented that his art was stolen. Umm, no. I hope Jödicke sues the pants off him. Anyway, it’s an issue Aaron has to deal with, and deals with magnificently in this book.

Should You Read This Book?

While you probably shouldn’t read the comments if you write a book and people are reviewing your book, you should read Don’t Read the Comments. You should especially read this book if you enjoy gaming or books with gaming like Ready Player One or the Warcross duology. I admit, I haven’t read Ready Player One, but I did see the movie. This is a great book. I haven’t even had time here to talk much about the great characters or setting, but it’s got that going for it as well. I highly recommend this book.

Echoes Between Us

By Brookelorren on 4 Comments
Echoes Between Us cover

I recently read Echoes Between Us by Katie McGarry. Thank you Bookish First for the Advanced Reader Copy (I love you Bookish First!). If you’d like the opportunity to get free books from them in 2020, you can use referral code 56cf541090ca608b4 and get your own books too (and help me too). I enjoyed this book and am passing on my copy to my niece.

Veronica is a girl who has a secret. She has a brain tumor… and sees ghosts. Some people think she’s weird, but she pretty much likes to do her own thing. The upcoming school year promises to be lonely for her, as her friends are either going off to college or attending high school part-time. It’s going to be a challenge to find someone to do the senior English paper with.

Sawyer is a swimmer; at first glance, you’d think he had everything. He has a secret too: his mom drinks a little too much on the weekends, and he has to care for his younger sister Lucy a lot. When he moves into Veronica’s first floor (which is said to be haunted), their paths cross. Over times, they discover they have feelings for each other.

There are a lot of things I like about this book. The first thing that stuck out to me about this book was the author’s voice. It had a quality that made me want to read more and laugh out loud at times. The other things I liked about this story was the characters and what they go through. The characters were likeable and sympathetic.

Another thing I liked about this book is the situations the characters had to deal with. Veronica believes she’s dying of a brain tumor. Sawyer has an addiction to jumping off cliffs into water; he also has to deal with his mother’s alcoholism. Fortunately, I’ve never had to deal with either of these situations, but these are serious problems that some people have to deal with. The ghosts add interest to the story.

Although this book isn’t heavy on setting (except for a few haunted places) the rest of the story makes up for it. I enjoyed it a lot and highly recommend it if you’re looking for a contemporary YA book. There were places in this book where I didn’t want to put it down. Echoes Between Us doesn’t come out until January 14, 2020, but you can pre-order it now.

A Thousand Perfect Notes

By Brookelorren on Leave a Comment
A Thousand Perfect Notes cover

What can we say about A Thousand Perfect Notes… it’s a beautiful book! I bought this book on the Kindle, but if you’ve ever seen the paperback copy with the beautiful butterfly that folds out, you’ll know what I’m talking about. It’s by C.G. Drews… AKA Paper Fury! That alone is probably enough to make you want to check out this book.

A Thousand Perfect Notes is about a boy named Beck. He loves his little sister and lives with an abusive mother who tries to compensate for her broken life by forcing him to become the person she wanted to be. This means practicing on the piano for hours a day, neglecting his school work in favor of the piano, and never having a social life. It’s a pretty dreary existence.

Things change when his teacher teams him up with August for a school project. Even though he keeps telling her no, she won’t give up on him. Her intrusion into his life changes his family forever.

What I Liked

There were a lot of things I liked about this book. A Thousand Perfect Notes brings us into an impoverished fictional town somewhere in Australia. Beck and August weren’t the only characters I felt for in this book. Everybody seemed to have a difficult life. But aren’t we all facing something?

The main characters were great. Beck’s mother was a monster, but she had her own personal demons to deal with too. Beck was a sweet, caring cinnamon roll who you just have to with a better life for. August was a sweet, optimistic girl with a dash of crunchy-granola.

Drawbacks?

This is a beautiful story and I think the only thing that separates this book from one of my favorite books that I read this year is a matter of taste. It’s a sweet story with a small but adorable cast. There’s no world-shaking politics, oh-no-we’re-all-gonna-die! moments, or anything like that. The book is light on romance. And that’s okay. We need stories like this one.

Conclusion

If you’re in the mood for a sweet contemporary with adorable characters that deserve better in life and find comfort among each other, A Thousand Perfect Notes is a good choice. I enjoyed this book, although I think I will choose to read C.G. Drews next book, The Boy Who Steals Houses, at a moment when I’m tired of dark fantasy and need something lighter. Because this author is definitely worth reading again.

Frequency Resonated with Me

By Brookelorren on 2 Comments

Frequency CoverI recently read Frequency by Christopher Krovatin.  I absolutely loved it.  It kept me interested from the very first chapter until the very end.  I was fortunate enough to receive a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Fiona is an 18 year old girl who lives in a small town and has a secret.  When she was nine years old, she saw her father and a few of the town council members beat a boy half to death.  It changed the way that she felt about her father — and her small town — forever.

When the boy comes back into the town, everybody seems enamored by his music — except Fiona.  It turns out, this boy is enamored with her.  Fiona ends up distancing herself from her friends; in the process, she discovers that her friends — and herself — are in danger.  Can she save her friends?

Frequency is infused with music.  This may be one of the reasons why it struck such a chord with me.  Fiona is always listening to one band or another; I used to be almost a walking encyclopedia of music (if I hadn’t been going into the military after college, my music recording professor would have offered me a job in his recording studio).  We both play instruments.  This book mentions a lot of bands and uses a lot of musical jargon.

While Frequency is primarily a contemporary novel, there is a bit of magic involved in this story.  Music has an ancient magical power here (in reality, doesn’t it actually have some sort of power?).  I love watching those shows where they discuss ancient mysteries like figurines that look like airplanes from ancient Peru or computers from ancient Greece; the ancient power of music in this story reminds me a bit of that.  The magic added to the allure of this story for me.

This story is geared towards young adults, but I would recommend it for the older range of the YA spectrum, probably 15/16+.  Several of Fiona’s friends are into drugs, and there are frequent mentions of sex in this story (although nothing is actually explicitly described on the page).  Most of the characters are 18 or older.  Frequency could also be categorized as NA instead of YA.  It was probably a marketing decision since YA tends to be more popular at the moment.

If you enjoy YA contemporaries and you love music, I highly recommend this book.  I absolutely loved it.