Angel and Hannah (Novel in Verse)

 My Thoughts:

This YA novel in verse is pushed as a "reimagining of Romeo and Juliet," and not in a Leonardo DiCaprio Romeo + Juliet kind of way where the Shakespeare text is brought into a contemporary (at that time) crime tragedy in a made up Verona setting. Instead, this reimagining is more about if Romeo and Juliet were from different cultures and different neighborhoods, what would be the protests against them? Also, if they were strong willed teens who decided to live together, would it work out? 

Unlike Romeo and Juliet, there is no double suicide, but there is more than death that can make this tragic, so perhaps the message here for young readers is really about the wide spaces between cultures and places. Perhaps this is about the residual effects of poverty, culture clashes and a crumbling social structure, but I do not expect readers to get that. I think what they will get from this is a hunger and a lust from the two characters. The poems are intimate and steamy. I wanted the two characters to have unique poet voices or poetry styles, but it is more jazz than hip hop in that at different points, different styles step forward to blast. Once I got used to it, I got it.  It is raw, and young adult readers are hungry for raw. 

From the Publisher:

Hannah, a Korean American girl from Queens, New York, and Angel, a Puerto Rican boy from Brooklyn, fall in love in the spring of 1993 at a quinceañera:

under a torn pink streamer
loose as a tendril of hair—lush—

his eyes. Darkluminous. Warm. A blush
floods her. Hannah sucks in her breath, but
can’t pull back. Music fades. A hush ~
he’s a young buck in the underbrush,

still in a disco ball dance of shadow & light

Their forbidden love instantly and wildly blooms along the Jackie Robinson Expressway.

Told across the changing seasons, Angel & Hannah holds all of the tension and cadence of blank verse while adding dynamic and expressive language rooted in a long tradition of hip-hop and spoken word, creating new and magnetic forms. The poetry of Angel and Hannah’s relationship is dynamic, arresting, observant, and magical, conveying the intimacies and sacrifices of love and family and the devastating realities of struggle and loss.

Counting Down with You

 

Publication date: May 4, 2021

My Thoughts:

This book by Tashie Bhuiyan is a YA romance perfect for readers who liked A Phó Love Story,  and Don't Date Rosa Santos. It has a LGBTQ character, very loyal friends, a cool grandmother and a brother who is clueless but willing to learn.

This story is exactly how it is described by the publisher: a "fake" relationship that turns real, rich-bad-boy, nerdy-smart-girl, clash of cultural values, multiracial couple, common secrets, complicated parental relationships, complicated sibling relationships. What will also be helpful to readers in order to understand Karina Myra Ahmed is that she is a second generation Indian American with the stereotypical first generation parents. It also helps to understand the different expectations of daughters and sons. Understanding these things helps to make this less of a minority YA story and more of a mainstream American YA story. 

Finally, from the author's note:

Someone gave me this advice at sixteen years old, and I hope to now impart it on you: stay as strong as you can. That's all we can do.

From the Publisher:

In this sparkling and romantic YA debut, a reserved Bangladeshi teenager has twenty-eight days to make the biggest decision of her life after agreeing to fake date her school’s resident bad boy.

How do you make one month last a lifetime?

Karina Ahmed has a plan. Keep her head down, get through high school without a fuss, and follow her parents’ rules—even if it means sacrificing her dreams. When her parents go abroad to Bangladesh for four weeks, Karina expects some peace and quiet. Instead, one simple lie unravels everything.

Karina is my girlfriend.

Tutoring the school’s resident bad boy was already crossing a line. Pretending to date him? Out of the question. But Ace Clyde does everything right—he brings her coffee in the mornings, impresses her friends without trying, and even promises to buy her a dozen books (a week) if she goes along with his fake-dating facade. Though Karina agrees, she can’t help but start counting down the days until her parents come back.

T-minus twenty-eight days until everything returns to normal—but what if Karina no longer wants it to?

b, Book and Me

 

My thoughts:

I wanted to "tag" this as a minority lit YA book, but it is not. This YA book is translated into English from its original Korean. The south Korean culture, the lived experience of its youth, the environment that these teens are growing up in seems contemporary, however, I am not sure if my shock is just part of my "Americanness." In other words, I felt that this story was so foreign to me and I found that I could not fully "translate" the story. That did not make it bad, just confusing. 

This is the story of poverty and coming of age, bullying and relationships that cannot be judged by American perspectives. I believe that it is my own ignorance that explains why it took so long to finish this. 

From the publisher:

Best friends b and Rang are all each other have. Their parents are absent, their teachers avert their eyes when they walk by. Everyone else in town acts like they live in Seoul even though it's painfully obvious they don’t. When Rang begins to be bullied horribly by the boys in baseball hats, b fends them off. But one day Rang unintentionally tells the whole class about b’s dying sister and how her family is poor, and each of them finds herself desperately alone. The only place they can reclaim themselves, and perhaps each other, is beyond the part of town where lunatics live―the End.

In a piercing, heartbreaking, and astonishingly honest voice, Kim Sagwa’s b, Book, and Me walks the precipice between youth and adulthood, reminding us how perilous the edge can be.

Dealing in Dreams

From the Publishers:

At night, Las Mal Criadas own these streets.

Sixteen-year-old Nalah leads the fiercest all-girl crew in Mega City. That role brings with it violent throwdowns and access to the hottest boydega clubs, but Nalah quickly grows weary of her questionable lifestyle. Her dream is to get off the streets and make a home in the exclusive Mega Towers, in which only a chosen few get to live. To make it to the Mega Towers, Nalah must prove her loyalty to the city's benevolent founder and cross the border in a search of the mysterious gang the Ashé Ryders. Led by a reluctant guide, Nalah battles crews and her own doubts but the closer she gets to her goal the more she loses sight of everything--and everyone--she cares about.

Nalah must choose whether or not she's willing to do the unspeakable to get what she wants. Can she discover that home is not where you live but whom you chose to protect before she loses the family she's created for good?

My Thoughts:

One reviewer said that this girl-power, dystopian YA novel is a mix of S. E. Hinton's classic, The Outsiders and Mad Max: Fury Road. I try not to read the publisher description, but I saw the bolded snippet of this review which meant that the whole time I was reading this book, I pictured Déesse, the matriarch of Mega City as Tina Turner/Aunty Entity, the ruthless leader of Bartertown in Mad Max: Beyond the Thunderdome. I do agree that Ms. Rivera does take a similar storyline to The Outsiders moved into a kind of future where girl gangs run the streets and drugs keep the masses "toiling." I think the premise is engaging, although as a YA reader who is not the typical audience of these authors, I need to be patient with the protagonist, Chief Rocka/Nalah, as she goes through her own identity crisis and social justice crisis. 

This is good for readers that are looking for Hunger Games kind of action.

A Spark of Light

Description:

The warm fall day starts like any other at the Center—a women’s reproductive health services clinic—its staff offering care to anyone who passes through its doors. Then, in late morning, a desperate and distraught gunman bursts in and opens fire, taking all inside hostage.

After rushing to the scene, Hugh McElroy, a police hostage negotiator, sets up a perimeter and begins making a plan to communicate with the gunman. As his phone vibrates with incoming text messages he glances at it and, to his horror, finds out that his fifteen-year-old daughter, Wren, is inside the clinic.

But Wren is not alone. She will share the next and tensest few hours of her young life with a cast of unforgettable characters: A nurse who calms her own panic in order to save the life of a wounded woman. A doctor who does his work not in spite of his faith but because of it, and who will find that faith tested as never before. A pro-life protester, disguised as a patient, who now stands in the crosshairs of the same rage she herself has felt. A young woman who has come to terminate her pregnancy. And the disturbed individual himself, vowing to be heard.

Told in a daring and enthralling narrative structure that counts backward through the hours of the standoff, this is a story that traces its way back to what brought each of these very different individuals to the same place on this fateful day.

One of the most fearless writers of our time, Jodi Picoult tackles a complicated issue in this gripping and nuanced novel. How do we balance the rights of pregnant women with the rights of the unborn they carry? What does it mean to be a good parent? A Spark of Light will inspire debate, conversation . . . and, hopefully, understanding.

My thoughts:

What I love: the cover. It is beautiful and continues to catch my eye.

What I like: the possibility of some very good anticipatory questions for pre reading:

How do we balance the rights of pregnant women with the rights of the unborn they carry? What does it mean to be a good parent?
What I did not enjoy: The topic and the way the chapters were organized. I am not saying that the topic of abortion, pro choice v. pro life are not important topics for young adults. The topic was just a frame for the real battle between two fathers trying to protect their daughters as best they could. It just was not my cup of tea right now.

Second. the chapters are organized such that the book starts near the falling action and hints at the climax that has already happened. 5 pm. It then proceeds to go back an hour every chapter, 4pm, 3 pm, 2 pm, (you get the gist) - back story, back story, back story until it hits the denouement titled epilogue 6 pm. Maybe because 5 pm was a really good start of the book, I found myself skipping and skimming and just missed a large chunk of the book so that I could get to 6 pm and then it was done. Because of that, I didn't feel anything for any of the characters, so no investment either way and the characters just felt like puppets to me. 

Maybe if it alternated, starting at noon, going to 4, I may have been more invested. As it is now, I had it on my to read pile and all I can say is I read it. Moving on. 

Down the TBR Hole

To be read (TBR) 

to•be•read /toō/bē/rēd/ (verb, future perfect)

1. A wishful listing of future books to be read

2. A current interest in future engagement

3. A play on the metaphoric "down the rabbit hole"  - an allusion to Alice in Wonderland that connotes entering into the unknown, the chaotic and the sometimes deranged black hole of psychedelic experiences

Finding books for the TBR list

There are many different ways to find books to populate a TBR list:

• Goodreads recommendations from friends
• Email announcements from book pushers like Brightly, BookBub, Net Galley, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Edelweiss
• Book excerpts provided by some of publishers

This month, I am going with Buzz Books, offered by Publishers Marketplace. It provides excerpts of upcoming books, and this particular one is just for young adult new books. I get this by Net Galley, but this is also free on Kindle at Amazon. Since I am a blogger for Net Galley, though, Buzz Books allows me to read the excerpt, and then request it if I want to read the whole book. If I get around to reading the Buzz Books as soon as it comes out, everything is available, but I am late to the game this season so I may add some books to my TBR here, but I won't be able to get it from Net Galley as it is already archived. 

TBR adds 

The House of One Thousand Eyes by Michelle Barker

What grabbed me: a paragraph

Lena reached for her uncle and hugged him goodbye for another week, memorizing his arms and the smell of  him -- tobacco, vanilla, ink. She held him so tightly she imagined breaking him in half and taking part of him home. 

Out now.  Review here

The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi
What grabbed me:  the cover, the setting, the intrigue, and the description

It's 1889. The city is on the cusp of industry and power, and the Exposition Universelle has breathed new life into the streets and dredged up ancient secrets. Here, no one keeps tabs on dark truths better than treasure-hunter and wealthy hotelier Séverin Montagnet-Alarie. When the elite, ever-powerful Order of Babel seizes his help on a mission, Séverin is offered a treasure that he never imagined: his true inheritance.

To hunt down the ancient artifact the Order seeks, Séverin calls upon a band of unlikely experts: An engineer with a debt to pay. A historian banished from his home. A dancer with a sinister past. And a brother in arms if not blood.

Together, they will join Séverin as he explores the dark, glittering heart of Paris. What they find might change the course of history--but only if they can stay alive.

Out January 15, 2019, but the review is here.

The Girl in the Locked Room Mary Downing Hahn
 What grabbed me: the excerpt, the cover, the author

I am a sucker for a good ghost story told from the point of view of two unreliable narrators (the ghost herself who does not know that she is a ghost) and the young protagonist. I am also familiar with the author who likes to write about mystery and the supernatural. I have already read Closed for the Season and All the Lovely Bad Ones. 

Out now which means that it was already archived on Net Galley so I have to find other ways to get a hold of the book. I tried getting my local library to buy it but it does not show up as an option right now.

A Spark of White Fire by Sangu Mandanna

What grabbed me: the summary - seriously, sci fi AND retelling of the Mahabrahata. This is a must read. Plus, how cool is this cover?

Out now but Sky Pony Press did not give it to Net Galley and really, they probably did not feel like they needed to, so this is another I am putting on my TBR and now I have to ask my library to buy this.

Ignite the Stars Maura Milan
What grabbed me: the action in the first chapter grabbed me despite the issue I had with the protagonist's name Ia Cōcha. You know, like Lee Iacocca - Ford and Chrysler auto exec who brought the Mustang back? If it's purposeful, why? If it is coincidental, why?

Out now and no longer available on Net Galley but I recommended it to my local public library so you're welcome.

Girls of Paper and Fire Natacha Ngan

What grabbed me: one paragraph

Our kingdom believes words have power. That the characters of our language can bless or curse a life. Inside the pendant is a single character. One word that we believe will reveal a person's true destiny. 

Out November 6 2018 (on request)
Seriously, though, look at the kinds of books that I read. This is a possible ladder from the Wrath and the Dawn series or Empress of All Seasons which ironically is coming out on the same day.

The Darkest Star

Description:

Seventeen-year-old Evie Dasher knows firsthand the devastating consequences of humanity's war with the aliens. When she's caught up in a raid at a notorious club known as one of the few places where humans and the surviving Luxen can mingle freely, she meets Luc, an unnaturally beautiful guy she initially assumes is a Luxen...but he is in fact something much more powerful. Her growing attraction for Luc will lead her deeper and deeper into a world she'd only heard about, a world where everything she thought she knew will be turned on its head...

My Thoughts:

This newest paranormal (or supernatural, or transterrestrial) YA romance reminds me of the early years of Twilight except that it is missing the "choose a team" love triangle aspect. Instead, The Darkest Star focuses on the familiar girl notices much too beautiful boy in a place she has never been to. Much too beautiful boy with laser focus sees girl and makes sure that he talks to her, almost angrily. Much too beautiful boy of course has no other girl vying for his attention. Girl is both irritated by and extremely attracted to boy who is not human (but she does not know that yet). 

In short, this is not a new story, but as YA paranormal romance goes, it fulfills all the expectations of this genre and will appeal to those YA readers searching for this kind of book. The ending has the potential for more books and it will probably interest movie producers who are eager to tap into the YA book to movie market. After all, who does not love smooth faced, beautiful teens who have their own apartment, lots of freedom and juicy secrets? 

A digital advanced copy provided by Net Galley and the publisher for an honest review.

Shadow of the Fox

Publication date: Oct 2, 2018
Harlequin Teen

My Thoughts:

In Hawaiʻi, most of our students are Asian and Pacific Islander students, so finding YA readings for this population that do not just represent a white, western culture is challenging. Even popular dystopian reads in YA with strong female leads are very western centric. These females live very western/American values even if they are not set in America. 

Kagawa, in my opinion, is best when she brings forward Asian/Japanese heroines in her fantasy series (Immortal Rules) and now this. What makes Yumeko very Asian (besides the fact that it takes place in what resembles feudal Japan) is that her female strength has to do with her cultural values of filial piety, loyalty, collectivism, spirituality. Japan is a place, like Hawaiʻi, where spirituality is alive in the forests, the rocks, the trees. Yumeko's ability to "see" this realm and communicate in multiple realms makes her the kind of heroine that can keep her innocence and belief in the good within people, even ghosts and wandering ronin. Others want to help her not because she is weak, but because she is strong. I am looking forward to the next adventure. 

Description:

Every millennium, one age ends and another age dawns...and whoever holds the Scroll of a Thousand Prayers holds the power to call the great Kami Dragon from the sea and ask for any one wish. The time is near...and the missing pieces of the scroll will be sought throughout the land of Iwagoto. The holder of the first piece is a humble, unknown peasant girl with a dangerous secret.

Demons have burned the temple Yumeko was raised in to the ground, killing everyone within, including the master who trained her to both use and hide her kitsune shapeshifting powers. Yumeko escapes with the temple’s greatest treasure—one part of the ancient scroll. Fate thrusts her into the path of a mysterious samurai, Kage Tatsumi of the Shadow Clan. Yumeko knows he seeks what she has...and is under orders to kill anything and anyone who stands between him and the scroll.

Last words:

Then it rose into the air and flew quickly out the door, following the beautiful man down the veranda, and both vanished into the night

A digital advanced copy provided by Net Galley and the publisher for an honest review.

When gems are outed and movies are made

The premise:

Every day a different body. Every day a different life. Every day in love with the same girl.
There’s never any warning about where it will be or who it will be. A has made peace with that, even established guidelines by which to live: Never get too attached. Avoid being noticed. Do not interfere.

It’s all fine until the morning that A wakes up in the body of Justin and meets Justin’s girlfriend, Rhiannon. From that moment, the rules by which A has been living no longer apply. Because finally A has found someone he wants to be with—day in, day out, day after day.

My thoughts:

I read this about 4 years ago but just did not write about it because it was such an original, creative premise, I did not want my insignificant voice to jinx it. I don't have the influence of someone like Anthony Bordain, but for him, sometimes when a restaurant is so unique and part of the charm is that it is a personal connection, then he does not say the name of the restaurant. It was like that for this book. Even if it was a NY Times best seller, I wanted to keep it small. A hidden gem that I did not pass on so that others would have that same personal satisfaction of finding something for no other reason than because they were meant to find it.

The writing is not perfect. Levithan's own voice sometimes seems to intrude. However, the concept outweighs everything else. It is like the correspondence of Griffin and Sabine and opening up those artistic envelopes like a YA version of The Jolly Postman.

But  YA books to movies are so inevitable that this is in the theaters, which brings people to the movie that did not find their way to the book. Sigh.

I must also confess that I did not seek out and read the follow up to Every Day because I just felt like that niggling irritation with Levithan's own voice intruding would actually become a raging storm if I tried to read more. I think sometimes one and done is good. I am sure that it is hard to do as a writer who is invested in the character and world they create. However, I learned the hard way from reading Pullman's The Golden Compass that if there is a hint of heavy handed agenda in the first book, there will be more in the next books and it will get distracting and hard to ignore. Fantasy is a nice vehicle to share ideas about morality, religion, and other philosophical stances, but as readers, we have the power to walk away too when the desire to be aesthetically transported is disturbed by preachiness.

Holding Up the Universe

My thoughts:

At first I thought this was going to be about Libby, the once fattest teen in America who had to be cut out and crane lifted out of her house. After losing more than half of her 600 lb. weight, she decides leave her house and go to high school for the first time. She has not been to school since she was in elementary. Her ability to survive in school is not what this is about. I think this is more like a Chris Crutcher book, like Whale Talk where Libby is just the character to highlight how messed up other people are even though from the outside there seems to be nothing wrong with them. This is just a reminder there are many ways that teens are asked to "hold up the universe" and as educators and adults and parents, we need to be reminded that there are sometimes deeper issues that are invisible from the outside. Like Jack, perhaps we have our own "face blindness" by seeing traits, actions, attitudes as markers for identity without looking deeper and seeing. 

From the publishers:

Everyone thinks they know Libby Strout, the girl once dubbed "America's Fattest Teen." But no one's taken the time to look past her weight to get to know who she really is. Following her mom's death, she's been picking up the pieces in the privacy of her home, dealing with her heartbroken father and her own grief. Now, Libby's ready: for high school, for new friends, for love, and for EVERY POSSIBILITY LIFE HAS TO OFFER. In that moment, I know the part I want to play here at MVB High. I want to be the girl who can do anything. 

Everyone thinks they know Jack Masselin, too. Yes, he's got swagger, but he's also mastered the impossible art of giving people what they want, of fitting in. What no one knows is that Jack has a newly acquired secret: he can't recognize faces. Even his own brothers are strangers to him. He's the guy who can re-engineer and rebuild anything in new and bad-ass ways, but he can't understand what's going on with the inner workings of his brain. So he tells himself to play it cool: Be charming. Be hilarious. Don't get too close to anyone. 

Until he meets Libby. When the two get tangled up in a cruel high school game—which lands them in group counseling and community service—Libby and Jack are both pissed, and then surprised. Because the more time they spend together, the less alone they feel. . . Because sometimes when you meet someone, it changes the world, theirs and yours.

Under a Painted Sky

From the Publishers:
All Samantha wanted was to move back to New York and pursue her music, which was difficult enough being a Chinese girl in Missouri, 1849. Then her fate takes a turn for the worse after a tragic accident leaves her with nothing and she breaks the law in self-defense. With help from Annamae, a runaway slave she met at the scene of her crime, the two flee town for the unknown frontier. 
    But life on the Oregon Trail is unsafe for two girls. Disguised as Sammy and Andy, two boys heading for the California gold rush, each search for a link to their past and struggle to avoid any unwanted attention. Until they merge paths with a band of cowboys turned allies, and Samantha can’t stop herself from falling for one. But the law is closing in on them and new setbacks come each day, and the girls will quickly learn there are not many places one can hide on the open trail.   

My thoughts:
I have been on an Asian character kick so this is the latest YA Asian female character book but this one is pleasantly different. Taking place in 1849, it is more like Mulan meets Huck Finn if Huck were a 15+ year old Chinese girl and Jim was a young slave running away to find her older brother. 

13 Little Blue Envelopes

This is almost like the best of the 39 Clues series. Instead of Grace Cahill changing her will and sending her descendants on a wild chase around the world for her inheritance, this story is about Ginny and the 13 envelopes left by her aunt that leads her not to treasure, but to finding out more about herself through a series of tasks through Europe. She cannot open the next letter until she finishes the task in the previous letter so built in curiosity. 

This is a good book suggestion for SSR (sustained silent reading) or whatever teachers are calling that when they give their students a little bit of time to read in class from a book of their choice. The chapters are short enough to finish quickly and the story is not complicated enough if you are only giving yourself 20 minutes, 3 times a week to read. I say 6th grade because no one older would really believe that parents would allow a 17 year old to just leave and travel alone in Europe. Who knows? Maybe parenting has changed, but the parents are not in this book at all nor do they seem concerned about her whereabouts, so perhaps this is unrealistic at any age. Still, the story begged to be read to the end so I'm passing it on. 

When I am Through With You

From the Publisher:

“This isn’t meant to be a confession. Not in any spiritual sense of the word. Yes, I’m in jail at the moment. I imagine I’ll be here for a long time, considering. But I’m not writing this down for absolution and I’m not seeking forgiveness, not even from myself. Because I’m not sorry for what I did to Rose. I’m just not. Not for any of it.”

Ben Gibson is many things, but he’s not sorry and he’s not a liar. He will tell you exactly how what started as a simple school camping trip in the mountains ended the way it did. About who lived and who died. About who killed and who had the best of intentions. And he’ll tell you about Rose. But he’s going to tell you in his own time. Because after what happened on that mountain, time is the one thing he has plenty of.

My thoughts:

I just did not like Ben. I felt like he was whiny and weak and I just could not sympathize with him, but I kept reading because I needed him to change, grow a spine, do something worthy.

The power of the writing is that I could dislike the main character, dislike most of the characters and still keep reading until I was through. 

Blood of Eden Series

What I like about this trilogy - main characters die. I just think if I am  invested in a story, then important people need to die otherwise it is not satisfying and I do not get the emotional impact needed to continue reading.

Check on the OMG factor. 

Finally, I like imperfect strong female main characters who do not act like men but can still kick ass.

Check on the Xena factor.

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

Colin Singleton, angst-filled former prodigy, has just been dumped by his 19th Katherine, so he and his best friend, Hassan, go on a road trip as he tries to work on a theorem that can explain why he keeps getting dumped. This is a chick book led by a male protagonist.

What really makes this book interesting is the real math involved in this theorem, as well as the explanation of the math at the end of the book. Other than that, I had to struggle through the story and try find some kind of empathy for Colin.

All Things New: A YA Must Read

Publication Date: 

August 01, 2017

My thoughts:

The power of Miller's prose is her ability to create characters that we care about. 17-year-old Jessa Gray should have everything, and to those on the outside, she looks like she has everything, but she is just very good at hiding what is is broken inside of her. It takes an accident to force her to literally reveal what is broken inside of her as she now has to carry her scars on the outside. The accident also allows her to see the scars that others around her carry as a way to seek answers for herself and be able to reach out to others who need her help and empathy. It doesn't hurt that she falls for indefatigable Marshall who uses his own brokenness as a rally cry to embrace life and love fully. 

Miller takes these realistic issues and infuses it with very tangible chemistry between characters as well as humor and even some divine intervention. This is a devour-worthy read and puts Miller on the radar for YA authors that write movie worthy hits.

An advanced copy provided in return for an honest review by Net Galley.

Sneak Peek: Once and For All

From the Publishers:

From Sarah Dessen, the beloved New York Times bestselling author of SAINT ANYTHING and JUST LISTEN, comes a new novel set in the world of wedding planning!

Is it really better to have loved and lost?  Louna's summer job is to help brides plan their perfect day, even though she stopped believing in happily-ever-after when her first love ended tragically.  But charming girl-magnet Ambrose isn't about to be discouraged now that he's met the one he really  wants.  Maybe Louna's second chance is standing right in front of her.

 Sarah Dessen’s many fans will adore this latest novel, a richly satisfying, enormously entertaining story with humor, romance, and an ending that is so much more than happily-ever-after.

My Thoughts:

This is just a sneak peek so know that I am just providing my thoughts on the excerpt provided, but before I say that, let me tell  you a little bit about why I am even willing to read excerpts.

1. I have read Dessen before and think that she is an easy airplane read. Those kinds of reads are great to give my students who like to read fast and dirty, immerse quickly and then go searching hungrily for the next "ride." In other words, Author Recognition.

2. I live here:

Not literally homeless on the beach at Makena on Maui, but I live in Hawaiʻi. In fact, I live on the outer islands (outer islands just mean any of the islands that are not Oahu). What we lack on the outer islands are chain bookstores like Barnes and Noble. We had a Borders in Hilo, but you know how that story ends. Yes, we have multiple public libraries that offer both e-books and book books, but do you know how we get to live here? We work all the time. Availability.

3. Don't you miss the days when you could read for pleasure, under a tree or a large red umbrella and no one would look for you or bother you? Yeah, I don't have those days anymore and you would think that after my doctorate I could read for pleasure because my formal education is done, but no. That is not how it works. No one told me that being a lifelong learner and reader does not mean that you actually are given time to read what you want to read. What I have learned, though, is that the flight from Honolulu (Oahu) to my home in Hilo (Big Island) is 40 minutes long. With the new regulations that allow passengers to keep their electronics on as long as they are on airplane mode, I find that I can actually finish an excerpt on one leg of a trip. Instead of playing games on my iPad, I now read.  Effective Use of Captive Time.

Back to my thoughts. The main character, Louna, has a summer job working for her mother and her mother's partner as part of a three person wedding planner team. Something happened to Louna's first love but it's not in the excerpt. The result is she acts young, as in not confident and she acts old, as in bitter towards love. This is the biggest issue I have with a story that I really want to get into except for this one flaw. I don't know if I was reading too fast and missed it but I cannot settle on an age for this character. She is both immature or girlish and old and jaded at the same time. If she is right out of high school, is this first love tragedy really a tragedy? Even if she is in college, is this first love tragedy really a tragedy? I am not sure and of course the excerpt ends before anything gets revealed.

What is going for this book though is that it will suck readers in. Dessen has a writing style that is easy on the eyes (and the brain) so the immersion into these people's lives are swift. 

Would I read it when it comes out? Probably. I wouldn't write about it if I did not think I would continue reading. 

Publication date: June 6, 2017

Excerpt provided by Net Galley and the publisher Penguin Young Readers Group

SYNC 2017 is almost here!

Summer is coming and with it comes free audiobooks from AudioFile Magazine and Overdrive! 

If you have never heard of this free, fabulous service, Sync is aimed at teens 13+. SYNC 2017 will give away 32 titles, 2 paired audiobook downloads each week starting on April 27th and ending on August 16!

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Check out the complete list of exciting audiobook titles from award-winning authors such as Daniel José Older, M.T. Anderson, Franz Kafka, Ruta Sepetys, and Nikki Grimes.