Review: I Was Here by Gayle Forman

Summary

Cody and Meg were inseparable...Until they weren’t.
 
When her best friend, Meg, drinks a bottle of industrial-strength cleaner alone in a motel room, Cody is understandably shocked and devastated. She and Meg shared everything—so how was there no warning? But when Cody travels to Meg’s college town to pack up the belongings left behind, she discovers that there’s a lot that Meg never told her. About her old roommates, the sort of people Cody never would have met in her dead-end small town in Washington. About Ben McAllister, the boy with a guitar and a sneer, and some secrets of his own. And about an encrypted computer file that Cody can’t open—until she does, and suddenly everything Cody thought she knew about her best friend’s death gets thrown into question.

Review 

Meg was her whole world. Without her, Cody did not think she could exist. Then one day Meg kills herself. Now what is Cody to do? How will Cody survive without her sun? 

This is how our story begins. Cody is living her average life, in her average small town, when she receives and email from her best friend, Meg, saying she has killed herself. Suddenly, Cody’s life is anything but average. Now it is a dark, gloomy pit of despair. Well, more despair than she was already in. 

After all the memorials, vituals, and prayer services, Cody thinks she can finally lay Meg to rest, mentally, until Meg’s parents ask her to go collects Meg’s things from her apartment. Simple enough. Cody can get and get out, giving Meg’s parents some closure as well as herself. Or so she thinks.

As Cody is gathering Meg’s stuff, she reminisces over the adventures they’ve had. And over the ones they would have had if Cody had moved out here with Meg. Maybe Cody could have stopped this. Or helped in some way. Or at least she just could have been there; been a factor in Meg’s life, not a memory of the past.

As Cody is packing up the last of Meg’s things, curiosity gets the best of her and she opens Meg’s laptop. Cody starts going through her emails to see if there was something there she could have missed. Something in their conversations, before and after things got weird between them, that could have forewarned Cody of this. Then Cody notices these emails between Meg and this boy.  At first things are casual and flirty and Cody can see Meg really liked this boy. Then it becomes distant between the two. Until finally Meg writes, “You won’t have to worry about me anymore.” And now Cody is seeing red. This boy is the reason Meg is gone and her world with it. 

And now Cody is out with a V for Vengeance. Thus her search leads her to Ben, or the Tragic Guitar Hero, as Meg had labeled him. But Cody knows he’s the one that broke Meg’s heart and all Cody wants to do is break him. And break him she does. But it’s that look of guilt on his face that doesn’t give her quite the satisfaction. 

A few more run ins with Ben has Cody second guessing if he is the one who truly caused Meg’s death. That and the fact there are months of emails missing from Meg’s computer. Back home again, it occurs to Cody to ask Harry, Meg’s computer savvy roommate to retrieve the missing files from her laptop.

And retrieve them he does. There are tons of emails to the suicide support group, the kind of support group that encourages you to commit suicide, not help you fight against it, called The Final Solution. And even more surprising is this guy with the username All_BS. He’s the one who not only fully encourages Meg to take control of her life (ironic I know), but also tells her how to get the poison, where and how to off herself, and how to time release the emails to loved ones left behind. Thus giving Cody the final piece to the puzzle on why Meg killed herself.

But this is not enough for Cody. She needs to get this guy to fess up to what he did and take the blame for taking her friend. So Cody pretends to be a person ready to commit suicide, in order to lure him out. And not only does she lure him, she gets him. And with Harry’s help, she not only learns his true identity but also finds out where he lives. Now there is just the question of getting to where he is. And she can think of only one person to call: Ben. 

Yes, the same Ben who flirted and dated and slept with Meg; the same Ben who also charms his way into Cody’s heart. However this same Ben is the only person she can trust with this information about Meg, the person that ties them both together and the only person she’d want to accompany her.

Yet on this road of discovery, Cody gets more questions than answers and the truth becomes less clear. Or rather, the truth she thinks she knows begins to fade and is replaced with the actual truth that’s been staring her in the face. Maybe Cody didn’t know her best friend as well as she thought. Maybe Ben, All_BS, and even herself were never to blame. And maybe she isn’t a sunless planet after all, but a person grieving for the loss of a friend. 

I Was Here is a novel unlike any other. It not only addresses the issue of suicide from a religious and non-religious standpoint, but it also addresses the issue of suicide from the suicidal, to those left behind by the act. I would also say this is a thought provoking novel, in that it asks the big questions.  Such as “Who am I”, not only to ourselves but to others; as well as “Can I do this?” or “How strong am I really?”, not just in terms of depression or suicide, but in terms of life too. But most importantly, I Was Here gives meaning and value to each individual life. Helping us to understand that we all matter and that the ones you leave behind are not better off without the deceased.

Reviewed by Camia Rhodes

Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers (January 27, 2015)

Review: The Story of Awkward by R.K. Ryals

Summary

If you are looking for a happy book about beautiful people, this is the wrong story.

If you are looking for a narrative without emotion, without regrets, and without mistakes, this is definitely the wrong story.

This is by no means an uncomplicated tale about uncomplicated people. It is by no means sweet or light.

This story is ugly.

This story is complicated.

This story is emotional.

This story is tragic.

In short, this story is about being awkward.

Peregrine Storke is an artist with an odd sketchbook full of pictures she’s drawn since she was a child. It is a book full of strange sketches and awkward characters, for there is no better way to hide from bullying and life than to create a world of your own. With a stroke of her pencil, she has given life to a spectacled princess, a freckle-nosed king, a candy loving troll, a two-horned unicorn, and a graceless fairy.

At nineteen, Peregrine leaves her home, her sketchbook, and awkwardness behind. But what happens when something goes wrong in the world of Awkward? Trapped inside of her complex realm with the bully she thought to leave behind, Peregrine discovers there is nothing worse than falling for your own villain.

Review

This is one of the books that I feel conflicted about. I really enjoyed the book but I do feel initially misguided. When I read the first portion of the summary, I was preparing myself for a different type of book than I read.  I was expecting a narrative that was much deeper, emotional and dark. Not to say that it wasn’t emotional in certain areas but certainly not the story that I was expecting. Despite that initial detour, overall the book I felt presented us with a more impactful beauty lending a better experience than what the summary sets you up for.

Before you read the book, ignore the summary. Well, use it as a guide of some aspect of what the story will lead from. Read what the author shares about the foundation of what this story evolved from. I promise if you have ever felt like Peregrine, than this will definitely move and embrace the part of you that longed for that moment to feel belonged and accepted. Whether you have been bullied, insecure or your life experiences have left you defeated, there is that longing that if you went somewhere or became someone else, life would be different. You know the sentiment if your circumstances changed, your life would be perfect but as Peregrine Storke learned, that doesn’t define you. 

Not the ideal home or school life, Peregrine found comfort in a fantasy world she created on paper through sketches called Awkward. Awkward was everything that she wished her life could be since she was younger, bringing to life a world that accepted everything that seemed less than perfect. This world reflected the inner beauty and love that her heart desired that brought her comfort and sense of belonging.

Upon leaving for college, she decides to leave home and “Awkward” behind her. Determined to start a new life, on her way to college, an accident transports her to her fantasy world to face a challenge that she never thought she would have to confront. What she learns and experiences will hopefully move and inspire the reader for the narrative buried beneath that deserves to be heard.

The Story of Awkward brings so much more to the table than fantasy uniquely blending with reality. I think for some many people who have had similar experiences, her journey will resonate and the message gained of acceptance and that perfection is flawed, brings an honest liberation for those who have been imprisoned by our unattainable vision of conforming to a status quo.  Light but insightful, I would recommend this more for teens because I think it would have a greater impact but adults can appreciate the beauty within the story as well.

Reviewed by Michelle Bowles

Review: The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion

Summary

For Don Tillman—a brilliant, if socially awkward, genetics professor—order is a way of life. Methods, schedules, and data are his language. Until recently, Don had never had a second date. Then he got serious about finding a life partner, created a sixteen-page questionnaire (see: The Rosie Project) to find the perfect match, and met and fell in love with Rosie Jarman (“the world’s most incompatible woman”). Now living in New York City, they have survived ten months and ten days of marriage. 

Though the fiery Rosie has taught him the joys of unscheduled sex and spontaneous meal planning, Don is still learning the principles of optimal cohabitation. He is certainly not prepared for the mother of all surprises: 

Rosie is unexpectedly expecting. 

Soon Don must face the biggest challenge of his previously regimented life—at the same time he’s dodging deportation, prosecution, and professional disgrace. 

Is Don ready to become the man he always dreamed of being? Or will he revert to his old ways and risk losing Rosie forever?

Review

Don Tillman has finally found love and he is happily married to the most beautiful woman in the world, Rosie. Yet the most beautiful has informed Mr. Plans-everything-out that she is pregnant and he had not planned for such a thing. Now not only does Don have to handle life as a married couple, but prepare for fatherhood as well.

Don does not believe he will be a good father and it doesn’t help that some believe the same. And with the advice from a friend of one of Rosie’s friends, that Don should not have children, he is even more convinced he cannot be a good father. Plus, there is the fact that he and Rosie are living in a small apartment in New York and Don being the one with any real income while Rosie is still in school, how will they afford to raise a baby?

Not having too many friends with children, Don decides to illicit some advice from Gene, his best friend and father to two of his other friends, Carl and Eugenie. However, Gene’s marriage is over and Claudia, Gene’s wife, has thrown him out. Being the problem solver that Don is, he gets Gene a job at Columbia and asks him to move in to the apartment. Now Don can get the advice he needs and have his best friend by his side.

So far so good, except for Rosie’s disapproval of Gene staying with them. But Don still is afraid he will not be able to connect with the Baby Under Development or BUD for short. So Gene suggests that Don watch children at play to study their behaviors and learn how to relate to his unborn child. And Don being Don, he took that to literally mean “watch children play.” Thus the next thing Don knows, there are cops, an arrest, and a referral to a therapist. 

Not wanting to cause Rosie stress, Don hides “The Playground Incident” from her, however, there is still the dilemma of a future assessment with him and Rosie; said Rosie who was unaware of “The Playground Incident.” So he seeks advice again but this time he goes to his friend Dave’s wife, Sonia. And Sonia agrees to pretend to be Rosie so that Don may pass his assessment and avoid adding stress to Rosie and BUD. 

In Don’s mind, all the problems have been solved, aside from the first issue of connecting with the unborn child. Yet Don forgot about one thing: maintaining his marriage with Rosie and proving to her that he can be a good father. And Don being Don, takes Rosie’s pregnancy as a learning experience of human development, constantly informing Rosie of what to eat, to drink and how to experience. While just trying to be helpful, Rosie takes this to mean that Don is telling her what to do and control the pregnancy, all the while, still neglecting to show emotion towards BUD and this pregnancy. 

Now Rosie is sleeping in her study and working longer hours, as if to avoid being around him. Thus all of Don’s attempts to bond with BUD go unnoticed because he feels that by telling Rosie he would be essentially trespassing on her territory of pregnancy. And to make matters worse, Rosie is thinking about returning to Australia. Is their marriage over before it even begins? Will he even be a part of his child’s life? How can he prove to Rosie, and even more so, to himself, that he will be a good father to this unborn child? 

The Rosie Effect teaches us that you don’t have to be who everyone claims you to be. The Rosie Effect also teaches us that you don’t have to be who you once were. That you can change and be whoever you want or need to be, especially for the one you love. But most importantly, The Rosie Effect shows you that while you cannot always escape your past, you can learn from it and choose not to let it affect you. 

Reviewed by Camia Rhodes

Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster (December 30, 2014)

Review: Lucid by Irene Elliot

Summary

Olive hasn't had her own dreams since she was little. She spends her nights now stealing others, changing them, experiencing what others see when they sleep. Her best friend dreams about a boy, but that boy only fantasizes about a girl he already has. Her father dreams about a life with other women, away from his family, living out his mid-life crisis. Her mother is depressed and only sees the failures of her life turned real when she closes her eyes, trapped in a torrent of nightmares surrounding her ailing career as an artist. Olive can fix it though. She can change the way they think, change the way they feel - she can and will make them better... or so she believes

Review

Author Irene Elliot impresses us with her debut novel Lucid, a blend of fantasy and confident prose that borders on the psychological, at times. 

Our protagonist, Olive, has troublesome dreams—the catch, however, is that they are not her own. Instead, Olive experiences her loved ones’ dreams, which make for confusing, as well as deeply disturbing experiences. 

Elliot’s prose is sure of itself, which is remarkable in its own right, as well as admirable in a new author. The writing’s rhythm is tight, and surprising in its depth in moments, for there is an underlying intelligence to the prose that manages to fit comfortably within the young protagonist’s head. Elliot is also drawn to sentences that are tangible, allowing her story a pop of physical life—the heaving of a chest and prickle of skin—that make for a sensory reading experience. 

The attention to detail is what struck me the most about the novel—while the plot is also well-crafted, the minutia, the smaller things that Elliot pays due to in her words, is what captured me the most, and made me want to stay within the confines of her novel. This way of crafting her story also melts into her dialogue, which is believable, and not afraid of capturing the mundane half sentences we use in the every day: the Mm’s, the lazy slang we’ve all been privy to in our teenage years, and the straight-forward approach to the reality of dialogue—there’s both beauty as well as ugliness in it, which, if anything, completes the novel, full-circle, lending an air of humanness adjacent to the fantastical. Lucid is well worth a read. 

Reviewed by M.B. Sellers

Pages: 205
Published:  February 20, 2015

Review: President Me by Adam Carolla

Book Summary

Imagine a world where New York Times bestselling author, comedian, actor, television, and podcast host Adam Carolla is the President of the United States. Can’t do it? You don’t have to! Adam has done it for you!

Podcast king Adam Carolla first shared his unique, but always funny world view in his New York Times bestseller In Fifty Years We’ll All Be Chicks—but he’s not done.

In President Me, Carolla shares his vision for a different, better America free from big issues like big government down to small problems like hotel alarm clock placement. Running on an anti-narcissism platform, President Carolla calls for a return to the values of an earlier time when stew and casserole were on every dinner table and there were no “service dogs” on airplanes. President Me hits right at the heart of what makes our country really annoying, and offers a plan to make all of our lives, but mostly Adam’s, much better.

Review

Going into this book, I wasn't sure how I would feel about the read. Growing up catching a few episodes of Loveline, rolling my eyes at the Man Show and hearing a couple of his podcasts, his type of humor just isn't my cup of tea. Grasping onto the ideology of never judging a book by its cover, the premise of President Me intrigued me despite my preceding thoughts. I will admit to my surprise I found the book intriguing and entertaining but with some exceptions.

President Me: The American That’s In My Head, takes the reader through the departments of the federal government, sharing his positions and mandates, under the Carolla administration. Yes, the book based on the premise as if he were President and how things would be. Being an ultra-conservative, I found myself agreeing surprisingly with much of the commentary throughout the book. He brought up some valid positions that challenge much of today but really capture much of what people are thinking and saying privately rather than openly. When you really think about it, some of his positions on certain issues aren't so bad and make sense but then there are some that leave you shaking your head like I guess he is an equal opportunity offender because there is no group that hasn't been talked about.

So, here is what I didn't like about the book. If you know Carolla, than you sort of know what you are going to get when you read or hear something from him. Going into the book, I sort of expect to a degree of what would complement the funny parts. I have a low tolerance level for cursing and things that are a bit vulgar, so those aspects of the book slightly offended me at times but I’m sure for others it wouldn't be a big deal. There are parts of the books that feel like he is venting but veers off into a place that ruffled my feathers a bit but I give him props for the honesty about much of the book that definitely stirs up much conversation that is worth talking about.

Overall, despite my objections to some of the material, I feel the book was entertaining and his insights on certain issues bring some common sense to relevant issues that our current lawmakers can’t seem to resolve. If you are a fan of his, you will enjoy this for the humor it presents. If you aren't, go in with an open mind because the underlying humor outweighs the rest. Even though the book may not be to a degree politically correct, there is an authentic voice that offers a fresh perspective that is worth the read.

Reviewed by Michelle Bowles

Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Dey Street Books; Reprint edition (January 20, 2015)

Review: Fake by C.L Stone

Summary

Still on the hunt for her missing brother, Kayli Winchester's life amid the Academy team comes to an abrupt halt when she and Brandon are kidnapped. Mistaken for his identical twin brother, Brandon's life is threatened unless he helps a team of criminals hack into a secret underground cellular network and exploit it. 

The cunning Kayli makes a daring escape. With Brandon still held prisoner, she turns to the guys to help save him. Despite the team of Axel, Marc, Corey and Raven working tirelessly, this desperate search and rescue mission quickly changes into submission to the kidnappers. If the team doesn't give the bad guys what they want, someone will die.

It’s unavoidable: they’re going to need to bring in outside help... help that will come at a high price. Saving the guys might require Kayli to do the unthinkable, and may shatter the team forever.

Review

The series C.L. Stone writes are magical in the way they are able to grab readers and force their attention, you never want to put it down. Fake, the third book in Stone’s newest academy series, follows Kayli, a stronger female lead character in comparison to the first series. Kayli is a character that resembles her male peers in regard to their life events and experiences. 

Fake provides a story that seemed to be much longer and better developed than any story Stone has produced so far. I found the plot to be a rounded one, meaning that every event lead to another, and eventually it all made sense. Fake also has a plot so different than the books in the series, which all hold similar plots. Fake begins with Kayli being kidnapped, the unique component. Beginning with this was unexpected and pulled the reader into the story. 

However, slightly under produced in this series was the romance throughout Fake. Unlike in Stone’s other academy series, I am becoming aggravated at Kayli’s indecision. I can only take one series where five guys “share” one girl. So with that, I wished Kayli would stop being emotionally and physically involved with all the boys, and simply pick one. 

Kayli really makes the Scarab Beetle series my favorite of Stone’s, she is strong willed and is able to think for herself. I am extremely excited to have had a chance to read another amazing books by C.L. Stone and cannot wait for the next one, as per usual. 

Reviewed by Rachel Keane

Pages: 283 pages
Publisher: Arcato Publishing (January 29, 2015)