Review: Just One Day by Gayle Forman

Summary
“Allyson Healey’s life is exactly like her suitcase, packed, planned, ordered. Then on the last day of her three-week post-graduation European tour, she meets Willem, a free-spirited, roving actor, Willem is everything she’s not, and when he invites her to abandon her plans and come to Paris with him, Allyson says yes. This uncharacteristic decision leads to a day of risk and romance, liberation and intimacy: twenty-four hours that will transform Allyson’s life. 

A book about love, heartbreak, travel, identity, and the “accidents” of fate, Just One Dayshows us how sometimes in order to get found, you first have to get lost . . . and how often the people we are seeking are much closer than we know.”

Review
This book gave me a lot to think about yet anytime you write about time and love, you are going to have a lot to think about. Just One Day is about making the most of the time you have with the one you love at that moment because it is always uncertain how much time you truly have. Also, Just One Day is about how love stains us (of course I think imprint is a better word), leaving a mark upon us, that cannot be removed. Although overall, I would say Just One Day is about making time for love today and not waiting for the right opportunity for it to happen or anything for that matter. “Time is fluid” and so should we be. 

“To be, or not to be” is the questioned poised within the first sentence of this novel. Our leading lady, Allyson Healey has deduced that the question from Shakespeare’s Hamlet may not be posing “to be” but rather should have posed “how to be.” That maybe Allyson was supposed “to be” doing something else besides burning in the hot sun with her best friend Melanie, waiting to see the play Hamlet, which she has already seen. And as if sent from above, a shadow looms over her that turns out to a boy. He tells her (and Melanie) of a group called Guerilla Will who are doing Shakespeare and it will be outside and not confined. Performed the way Shakespeare had intended. Intrigued, Allyson decides “not to be” herself and take a chance to be more adventurous. Thus she breaks her good girl routine and sneaks off to see Guerilla Will.

Having had her adventure, it’s time for her and Melanie to leave the Teen Tour! and head off to England to spend the rest of their summer with Melanie’s relatives. Yet on the train to London, Allyson runs into the boy from Guerilla Will and ironically enough his name is Willem. The two hit it off swimmingly, sparks flying everywhere and Allyson never wants it to end. Thus find the train pulls into London, Willem suggest that she actually go to Paris and throw her plans away and he will take her. It just for one day but it is one day she may never have an opportunity to live again and so they head to Paris. 

They get to Paris and it is not quite what she expected but it is still a wonderful place to be in. And it is even nicer with Willem. Until she runs into one of his exes but can Allyson be jealous, she just met him. However, Willem stills seem to charm his way into Allyson’s heart despite the tons of girls they meet along the way. Willem gets her to be free and to stop just “being” and actually begin “how to be.” Even if it is one day, Willem has stained her and Allyson knows she has stained him and they spend one incredible day as well as one incredible night together. Yet in the morning when she wakes up, she is alone and Willem is gone. 

After that summer, school has started and Allyson in a Pre-med major trying to please her parents but she is in such a state of depression, all she does is sleep and lock herself away from life. Her grades are suffering and she is totally miserable. Will she ever get over Willem or is she fated to remain in this heartbroken state? Of course this is the least of her worries. 

Her parents find out about her grades, but still not about her trip to Paris. And now they are watching her every move and Allyson has to lie harder about who she was that day with Willem and who she wants to be now. Not the perfect, Happy College Kid daughter her parents want but the daughter free to actually be happy. Even if Allyson doesn’t know how. And to make matters worse, there is a rift growing between her and Melanie, between the Allyson she is expected to be and the Melanie that has been reinvented, and Allyson doesn’t think she can fix. And she could use a friend right now. 

So on top of getting over Willem, Allyson has to please her parents and remain the same for her best friend and fight who it is she wants to be. Can she continue the charade with her mom and dad; can she, or even does she want to repair her friendship with Melanie; and can she truly be who she wants to be and does she even know who that person is?

See, as I stated, a lot to think about but some very soul searching questions to be considered. And maybe I am changing my tune about the purpose of this novel. Maybe Just One Day isn’t just about time and love but also self discovering. Okay, so I’m adding a theme, which is also on the summary of the book but I hate to write so much summary into the message of the book. It feels like cheating. 

As I was saying, Just One Day is a thought provoking, self discovery novel that begs the questions of: Who are you? Or rather, who do you want to be and “how to be” that person? Also, Just One Day is about time and how it is flowing and it is not structured or rigid; that you must seize the moment because the moment could be gone in the blink of eye. And this book is also about love and how when someone touches you in your heart, they are there to stay and cannot be removed, no matter what.

Reviewed by Camia Rhodes

Book Information
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date: 8/20/2013
Pages: 400

Review: Effed Up by Russ Woody

Summary
He’s a pretty good guy, Robert. Reasonably honest, compassionate, dependable—okay, maybe he’s a little too sarcastic, but all in all, he’s a decent human being. Which is exactly how his fucked-up family takes advantage of him, and why, since college, he’s strived to avoid them.

With the surprising death of his father, however, he finds himself being drawn back into the horrifying familial abyss. At its core is Robert’s mother Helen: she’s the glue that binds them—or rather, the sucking tar pit that entraps them? After her husband’s death, Helen embraces the role of “martyred widow” with the fervor of Mary Todd Lincoln. Robert’s older sister is Darlene—a born-again Christian with a successful husband, two perfect children and an addiction to alcohol, pills and extramarital sex. She believes Robert judges her, and she resents him deeply for it. His brother Lenny, on the other hand, resents Robert because he has a steady income. Ten years Robert’s senior, Lenny is still trying to live out the rock ‘n’ roll dream with his dying band, Pink Lloyd. Plagued by an enormous lack of talent, thinning hair and a hanging gut, at 45, Lenny is wildly bitter about life.

Though his mother is vastly unimpressed with Robert and uncertain what he does exactly for a living, she’s smart enough to realize that he is her only reliable offspring. And she works his sense of humanity like a maestro. To Robert’s perennial chagrin, his mother adores his older brother Lenny, while she remains blithely unaware that he’s a colossal failure. At the same time, she casually lobs damaging asides at her emotionally teetering daughter with the abandon of a troubled kid plucking wings off a fly. But, when all is said and done, Robert knows that beneath the darkness of his mother’s disparaging and stinging remarks… well, there’s a darker side.

Things begin to change for Robert when he meets Amy, the beautiful sister of his gay, overweight, paraplegic neighbor. Amy is an astonishingly independent woman who captures his heart, and makes him realize that he doesn't have to remain the victim of a destructive family. Meanwhile, Robert’s getting to know and care about his sister’s 10-year-old son Danny. During which, he sees that Danny’s childhood is similar to his own—that Robert’s sister is another version of his mother. These revelations—in the midst of his family’s jaw-dropping acts of selfishness—lead Robert to make the most crucial decision of his life.

Review
No one chooses the family that they are born into, but when you see one such as in this book, you wish you had the ability to do so. Completely lives up to the title, it is politically incorrect at times yet you laugh from crying, really takes dysfunctional to a whole new level.  A definite page turner, Russ Woody gives the reader a story that will not only make you laugh from disbelief but also make you grateful for the one that you have.

Told by the perspective of Robert Nirth, you really grow to feel the guy.  He’s the one who seems to be there when things are tough but isn’t really appreciated. A likable character, trying to make it through life, gets brought back into the drama that constantly cycles with his family. Afraid that history might repeat itself, he tries his hardest to separate himself and try to break the influences that keep creeping back into life. 

The main source of his frustration is definitely Helen, his mother, who probably is the root of his problems with women. Runner up to mommy dearest, she seems to constantly center her life on her own needs and wants with no consideration to the feelings of others. Definitely someone that you wish her mouth could be zipped shut, says things that make her so unlikable most of which is insensitive and offensive. 

As you get to know his father, Paul, you feel for him. You know the type who is married to someone who just accepts the doomsday package of this is what marriage is supposed to be like. He just sort has dealt with things without a fight. This was the type of life he lived. His life just seemed empty without an identity. When tragedy struck, it was then that Robert realized how empty his father’s life was. On a search to get to know who he really was, he not only learned about whom he was, how much he adorned and loved him but also gave him a different perspective other than what he had been led to believe. 

Then we have his siblings. Lenny, a wannabe rockstar whose band is a knock off seems too old to be living a life that is going nowhere. Despite being perfect in the eyes of his mother, little does she know the contempt he has as he plots and schemes to find ways to get her money. Then there is Darlene, which really is the apple that didn’t fall to far from the tree. It seems like instead of the cycle being broken, she continued it with her own family. Funny how much she despises her mother, but if she looked into the mirror, there would be a carbon copy. 

There is so much more that you take away from reading this book that I don’t want to spoil for you. Overall, I thought it was a really good story that really makes you think about your family when you read one like this. You really appreciate yours if you have a good one. The characters were definitely interesting making this quite the interesting read. Just to let you know, there are some moments that the characters say things that might offend here or there if you are sensitive to language but otherwise, I think you will enjoy this book. 

Reviewed by Michelle Bowles

Book Information
Publisher: NY Creative Publishing 
Publication date: 12/17/2013
Pages: 183 pages

The "Poor Me" Manual: Perfecting Self Pity - My Own Story by Hunter Lewis

Summary
This book begins with the following author's note:"One crisp sunny morning I was surprised to find a package left at my front door containing this book in manuscript form. Its author included a note saying that his last name was Lewis, that he had seen a book of mine, and that he had decided to adopt my name as his own. In addition, he expected me to publish his (our) book and that the cover should be "nice." I have tried to do as requested."

What follows this note is a rollicking fictional memoir that takes us through the ups and downs of the mysterious author's life. And what a life it is, full to the brim with every imaginable kind of neurotic behavior.

There is method to this madness. In earlier books, including the best-selling A Question of Values and its sequel The Beguiling Serpent, Lewis developed a unique theory of the emotions. The " Poor Me" Manual further develops the theory and brings it to vivid life.

This is fun reading. You will often laugh out loud. But you will also learn a great deal about the emotions and about which emotional strategies work and which don't.

This book would be a great gift for anybody, but especially the teenager in your life.

Review
Not that you should judge a book by its cover, but I had certain expectations of what I thought it would be like. I’m not saying that I didn't like the book but it wasn't what I expected. The impression that I got going into the book was that it was going to be this satirical, tongue and type of a listed themed book. Instead, it was something different.

The book had a great start. Before you dive into the book, the author lets the reader know that a manuscript came as a package one day. Enclosed was a note from a mysterious author explaining that he saw a book of his and adopted his name with the expectation to be published. I thought that was a fascinating idea that sort of grabs the interest of the reader wandering who and what this mysterious author was about.

The book is themed by color years and broken down by phases. He briefly explains during each themed year what was going on and how he was feeling. Each phase seemed to represent a type of personality role.  For whatever phase it was, that defined the role of the type of person he was with a scenario and their consequences. It seems like this person experienced just about every behavior and personality type. I will say within those scenarios it was funny here or there because you cannot believe how or why someone will be that way. 

Overall, it was interesting in the context of what the author was intending on doing but I think for many readers it may leave them uncertain of the direction of the book. Whether you decide this is a book that interests you, I will leave that decision up to you.

Reviewed by Michelle Bowles 

Book Information
Publisher: Axios Press
Publication date: 3/7/2014
Pages: 65

Review: Christmas at Copper Mountain by Jane Porter

Summary
Since the loss of her family in a plane crash, Harley Diekerhoff has led a quiet life and keeps to herself. Taking the temporary job at the Copper Mountain Ranch as widower Brock Sheenan’s housekeeper seems perfect for her. But her calm cocoon is invaded with the arrival of Brock’s pre-teen twins, Mack and Molly who’ve never experienced a proper Christmas and before she knows it, Harley’s determined to make their holiday perfect. 

Annoyed at first by Harley’s interference, Brock is secretly pleased she’s changed Mack and Molly’s world. It doesn’t hurt that he finds Harley incredibly attractive, fierce, smart and passionate. It’s also an added bonus that she’s not afraid to challenge him and get his blood heated! But when sparks fly and the attractions sizzles between them, Harley’s not so sure she can handle something permanent with this dark, taciturn cowboy who doesn’t know how to let her in. But Brock is determined to hold on to her and praying for a Christmas miracle…

Review
Have you ever had one of the moments that seemed so surreal that fate marked your destiny? Well, if you are open to the possibility that there is a plan for our lives and what is meant to be will happen when it is supposed to, than the right time will come on schedule. Well, that time came for two people in this heart pulling novella that will make your heart swoon while grabbing for the Kleenex. 

Life for Harley Diekerhoff has been full of solitude since the loss of her husband and children in a terrible accident. Not wanting to spend the holiday around her family, she sought out a temporary job for a couple of months in a place that seemed unfamiliar home. She didn’t want to think or wasn’t going to let the past absorb her in this place where she could completely escape. Taking a job as a housekeeper was the perfect thing to keep her mind focused and considering the beautiful winter surroundings of Montana, it was the perfect escape to make peaceful new memories. 

Her boss, Brock Sheenan, is all too familiar with loss. Spending his days here in on here ranch has brought comfort and healing to a life of what was.  Things started to change when Harley arrived on the ranch. There was something that couldn’t be explained but was a welcomed surprised for his life and his workers. Not expecting her to be so beautiful, there was something special about her that made her seemed like she belonged there. Even though Harley was only there for a short time, her presence was making an unexpected impression. Feeling at home and more comfortable than she had been, Harley was finally enjoying some happiness until one day everything came crashing down. This led her to make a decision that might cost her more than she anticipated.

When Brock’s two children unexpectantly arrived one evening, it brought back everything that Harley was trying to not think about. Trying to work through her pain, spending time with his kids was a blessing and a curse simultaneously. Determined to make the best out the situation, the kids told her how much they wished for but never experienced a real Christmas. Determined to make it as wonderful as possible, that wasn’t the only the only wish that was in the hopes of becoming true.

This was one of those books that your mind just simmers through to the end. It was cozy, warm and just had the right pace to keep you interested. Everything about this book makes you feel so good that you didn’t want to put it down. It’s one of those stories that make you believe the impossible, especially if you have ever experience loss and never thought you could love again. Harley and Brock stories individually really make you fall in love with them.

What I love is how the author told the story in a way that didn’t give you too much and when it came down to their story, there was a tenderness to it that connected to the reader. They made you feel for them. This is not just a warm story for the holidays but that anyone can appreciate and read anytime.

Harley is the type that just like almost every woman I know. When you experience loss or tragedy, all you want to do is throw yourself into whatever will take your mind away. She has a tough exterior that on the outside is in control but inside is soft and compassionate whose got such a big heart. Brock, is one of those big, strong men that just make you swoon. Not Magic Mike but that rugged, dreamy take charge sort of guy that you just want to melt right into his arms. He has overtime retreated inward but deep down in that closed heart there is this compassionate guy that would give himself to any woman who would take the chance.  

This novella has all the sweetest you could want for the holidays. It’s a story about hope, miracles, love and finding that path that will make your heart open and smile. Make sure you grab a box of Kleenex because this is definitely going to make you tear up. This is definitely one to add to your reading list.

Review by Michelle Bowles

Publisher: The Tule Publishing Group
Publication date: 11/29/13
Pages: 119 pages

Review: Compromise Cake: Lessons Learned from my Mother's Recipe Box by Nancy Spiller

Summary
When Nancy Spiller discovered her late mother’s teaching credential buried in the midst of a long abandoned recipe box, she felt compelled to investigate the lingering mysteries of this troubled woman. Marguerite Lenore Soult had taught for only one year before marrying, having four children and a life surrendered to mental illness, divorce and social withdrawal. Spiller realized that she had probably been her mother’s best and only student in the kitchen they had shared.Compromise Cake explores Spiller’s life in the suburbs of Northern California in the 1960s, learning to cook by her challenging mother’s side, as remembered through the recipe box’s mid-century and heirloom offerings. It touches on lineage, and industrial changes; it is a meditation on men, women, marriage, community and the nature of compromise.

What emerges is a portrait of a woman whose own desires for a career were tragically stifled by the conventional pressures to be a wife and mother, but found expression through her daughter, an author, artist and teacher. This is a memoir that weds Spiller’s story to the universal of all mothers and daughters, and what, as they say, is baked into the cake.

Review
No matter who you are, everyone has a story. For the ones whose voices seem silent, it usually takes the end of their life for their story to be told. For so many mothers and daughters, the kitchen has been the blank canvas which the greatest masterpieces have been created. Memories made, traditions passed along, and lessons of life sifted together to form the perfect ingredients. Through such a beautiful memoir, Nancy Spiller takes the reader on a journey through her mother’s old recipe box to recreate the memories of their lives and ones created through their lineages that will inspire nostalgia for so many who have shared the same connection.

What was so special about this book was that from the beginning, you are invited in the kitchen for this shared journey. It is all too often that once a loved one passes that we come upon something that intrigues us about their life to learn more or drifts our mind to remember when. For so many like her mother who represent a time when the pressures of being a wife and mother dominated their own desires, it was the kitchen where they poured their hearts into. As for so many, the recipe box was much more than just a box with recipes in it. It represented the special moments no matter what life was like beyond those four walls the greatest memories and the best lessons our life were learned. 

Whether this book represents her life or yours, the sentimental nostalgia is interchangeable. It’s books like this that make you want to go back in time and remember the familiar aromas of the simple but special times that brought the best out of life.  This book not only was just filled with her story but we learned about the times that it represented as well as experiencing with her recreate those recipes as if her mother was beside her. Each chapter featured a dish that gave the reader new ingredients of her life that were made. The recipes that made the box weren't just her mother’s but other relatives and friends that were part of their journey as well. Since I consider myself somewhat of a foodie, I greatly appreciated the recipes and their origins. It gave a special touch to the book as well as some new additions to my recipe collection. I would add this book to your list. I think you will enjoy reading.

Reviewed by Michelle Bowles

Book Information
Publisher: Counterpoint Press
Publication date: 11/12/2013
Pages: 160

Review: Just One Year by Gayle Forman

Summary
“When he opens his eyes, Willem doesn’t know where in the world he is—Prague or Dubrovnik or back in Amsterdam. All he knows is that he is once again alone, and that he needs to find a girl named Lulu. They shared one magical day in Paris, and something about that day—that girl—makes Willem wonder if they aren’t fated to be together. He travels all over the world, from Mexico to India, hoping to reconnect with her. But as months go by and Lulu remains elusive, Willem starts to question whether the hand of fate is as strong as he’d thought . . .

The romantic, emotional companion to Just One Day, this is a story of the choices we make and the accidents that happen—and the happiness we can find when the two intersect.”

Review
Most of the time, teen romance novels are written from the perspective of a woman. So I found it intriguing and a little refreshing to read about love through the eyes of a man. I also found it a bit frustrating the way our hero behaved in the novel. But I liked how I could see into the heart of a man, even if fictional and understand him better. 

I felt bad going into this novel because Willem woke up in a hospital and thus there was a good reason why Allyson woke up alone in Paris. My heart bleeds for Willem as he tries to remember where he is and even worst, remember the girl he left in the “white room.” Yet as he travels back through his memory, he comes to all the right places but way too late past the time. And at the end of his journey, he is at double happiness, but with the wrong “Lulu” and suddenly he is without any happiness. 

Still, our hero is determined and he returns to the place where Lulu stored her suitcase, at Celine’s club. Celine, an old flame tells him to forget about her and sell the watch he took from Lulu but Willem refuses, not wanting to lose what little piece of her he has left. However, there is no clue to Lulu and Celine is steadily trying to lure Willem back into her clutches. Yet Willem escapes, severing his ties to Celine forever. 

Feeing lost, he returns home, or as close to home he can find, to Utrecht. Back “home,” he meets up with his friends Broodje, “W,” and Henk at the flat where he used to live. While with his friends, he sees a movie that reminds him of the reason why he dubbed her Lulu, short for Louise Brooks; and when he can no longer stomach the feelings of longing and loss, he decides to go for a drink. On the way out of the theater, he sees another old flame, Ana Lucia, to distract from his feelings for Lulu. 

However, the distraction doesn’t last long as the holidays come around and Willem recalls that Allyson spends her vacation in Mexico every year, at the same place every time. With this new found hope, he books a ticket for himself and Broodje to Mexico on Ana Lucia’s computer. When she finds out, she publicly breaks up with Willem, however, he feels no shame as his hope to see Lulu again rises. 

Now in Mexico, he goes to every hotel with an ancient Mayan ruin in or near it. He must find Lulu and he feels within she is here somewhere, all he has to do is look. Yet after many hours, many days and even managing to con his way into getting free tours of the hotels, Willem is tired as well as his hopes and his heart, and thus he decides to give up the search for Lulu. 

Here is where Willem and my sympathy part ways and frustration come into play. Willem forfeits as he resumes he vagabond lifestyle of “accidents,” however, he runs into someone, a woman named Kate who runs a small play theater who discredits his theory. She believes like life needs directions or guidelines at least, for without it, one would surely have “accidents.” Willem is forced to rethink his philosophy and begins to wander if there are ever really “accidents” and if he and Lulu were meant to be nothing more than the one day adventure or if fate isn’t done with them yet. 

Of course Willem hasn’t completely ruled out his “accidents” theory as he continues to fumble through Mexico, letting the wind blow him wherever he may go. It is not until he gets food poisoning and somehow calls his Israeli mother Yael, in India, that he considers the universe or rather his own deep seeded desires trying to take him home to his mother. 

And once again, I am not thrilled with Willem but I can understand. Sometimes when we are lonely or lost, we turn to the one person who makes it all better, our mother. Despite the three year separation, Willem runs to his mother, hoping she can help him yet he suspects she will be as distant as ever, even though they are within the same country, the same room. And Willem sees this as another destination he must journey away from and get lost somewhere else. 

Finding himself more lost than ever, Willem cannot and does not want to focus on the things in life he can’t achieve. He would rather stay lost, wandering the earth falling into “accidents” than face the problems in front of him. Losing and wanting Lulu, longing for the mother he never really had and even missing the father and family that is now gone. But most importantly, never being able to find a place to finally call home and reach the end of this life long journey of love. 

Will Willem ever get over Lulu, will he be able to patch things with his mother and will he ever really plant his feet in one place to call it home? True the novel solves these questions but romance novels typically tend to ask questions about whether the girl will get the guy or suffer an unhappy ending altogether? The thing I like about Just One Year is that delves into other types of love, not just romantic. We get a feel for platonic as well as familial love and see how it affects Willem’s journey to finding a place to rest his wandering body as well as his soul. 

Just One Year is a novel devoted to discovering what one wants out of life and how far are they willing to achieve it. Just One Year is also about love, not just romantic but friends and family and how we need loved ones in our lives to be there when we get lost as well as once we find our way back home. But most importantly, Just One Year is about finding a place to belong and obtaining happiness.

Reviewed by Camia Rhodes 

Book Information
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date: 10/10/2013
Pages: 336