Review: Meet Me Here

Meet Me Here 

by Bryan Bliss 

Publisher: Greenwillow Books

Publication Date: May 31, 2016

MEET ME HERE, is a captivating story that takes place over the course of one night, and yet as a reader I felt I had known Thomas his whole life. Thomas is faced with choosing between the decision his brother made, to join the army and fight like everyone around him believes he should, or run away from that life, letting everyone down. Over the course of his graduation night, while faced with his decision, Thomas starts to realize that despite having been in the back of his mind all his life, there might be more ways to look at the situation than he always thought. All the characters in this book, from Thomas, to his brother, to his hometown friends, to the neighbor he hasn't talked to in years up until this night, come alive so vividly. By the end of this book you might just feel that you've spent your graduation night alongside Thomas, and the town he grew up in might start to feel like it was your hometown too.

Review: The Incredible Adventures of Cinnamon Girl

The Incredible Adventures of Cinnamon Girl 
By Melissa Keil

Publisher: Peachtree Publishers
Publication Date: April 1, 2016

THE INCREDIBLE ADVENTURES OF CINNAMON GIRL is a great feel-good book. The story follows the life of Alba, a teenage girl who has just graduated from high school. While all of her closest friends are making plans to move away, Alba wants everything to stay the same. She’s used to helping her mom out in the bakery, working on her drawings, and spending time with her best friend, Grady. Keil does a fantastic job of making every character in this story really come to life. I felt just as torn when it came to the decisions Alba has to make about whether she, too, wants to change with everyone around her. I recommend this book for anyone who wants to read something that'll make you smile! 

Review: A Drop of Night

A Drop of Night

By Stefan Bachmann 

Publication Date: March 15, 2016

Publisher: Greenwillow Books

A DROP OF NIGHT by Stefan Bachmann is a book that feels like a thriller movie; keeping you on the edge of your seat the whole time. It is the story of five teenagers who have been selected to explore an ancient underground palace that hasn’t been entered in over 200 years. Yet, upon arrival nothing is as it appears, and the teenagers soon find that this expedition is much more than they thought they were getting themselves into. A story with constant twists and turns, I had to look up and pause every so often while reading simply to reassure myself that in fact I wasn’t in the underground palace myself, even though my heart was beating as fast as if I had been running alongside the five teenagers. I recommend this book to anyone who is looking for an exciting book that is just scary enough to keep you turning page after page, desperately wanting to know what happens next!

Review: Not If I See You First

Not If I See You First 

by Eric Lindstrom 

Publication Date: December 1, 2015

Publisher: Poppy Books 

There are a lot of great books that have the ability to completely take me out of my everyday life and transport me to another world entirely. But every so often I'll come across a rare book that gives me a whole new perspective on my own reality even after I've finished reading it. NOT IF I SEE YOU FIRST did just that. It is the story of Parker Grant, a girl who loves to run. Not unlike other high school students, her sport is the one thing she can count on while she faces a number of other problems. Struggling to maintain her childhood friendships, figuring out impossibly complicated boys, and making it through family hardships; all things many people might deal with, yet for Parker one thing is drastically different --she's blind.  Lindstrom does a great job of giving the reader a true sense of the world Parker is living in, by enabling us to experience it the way she would; without any sense of sight or visual descriptions. The power of this book for me lies in the fact that I felt I knew each and every character in the story so well; all the layers of their personality and who they truly were. And yet I had never been given a single physical description of them. I recommend this book for anyone, and I promise you will take away from it more than just an incredibly moving story, but also a new way to look at the world and everyone around you.

Review: My Best Everything

My Best Everything by Sarah Tomp
Publication date: March 3, 2015
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Yesterday, I found myself thinking about Lulu and Mason driving into the forests of the Blue Ridge Mountains to go river rafting, as if it were a memory from my own life; that's how vivid and alive this book felt to me. The summer after high school, Lulu is desperately trying to make enough money to send herself to college, by making moonshine with the help of Mason and her two best friends. Sarah Tomp does a fantastic job of telling the story of a girl who realizes the rest of her life might depend on whatever happens in one summer. Lulu has always wanted nothing more than to get out of the small town of Dale, yet now she finds it hard to imagine truly saying goodbye to all she has known, and to the possibilities of what life could be like if she stayed. As Lulu faces bigger decisions than she ever had to before, she wonders about whether fate really does exist: is there such a thing as someone or something that's meant to be? This story perfectly captures emotions about the overwhelming idea of one's future I have often found so hard to articulate. I loved this book and wished it didn't have to come to an end! I would recommend it for anyone!

Review: I'll Meet You There

I'll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios
Publication date: February 3, 2015
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.

I couldn’t put this book down. Heather Demetrios’ vivid descriptions brought the characters and setting to life, and by the end of the story I felt as if I’d grown up alongside Skylar and knew the trailer park town of Creek View inside out. Told over the course of the summer before college, the story follows Skylar as she prepares to move away from all she has known, while trying not to leave behind the relationships and people she loves. Not only is her summer filled with goodbyes, but also with beginnings, such as her unlikely friendship with Josh, the boy she is only just getting to know after many years, who starts working alongside her at the Paradise Motel. Skylar is an extremely relatable character who struggles with trying to stay connected to her family and childhood friends, yet at the same time, desperately wants the independence of beginning her own life. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to enjoy a truly hopeful and uplifting story!

Review: All the Bright Places

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven
Publication date: January 6, 2015
Publisher: Random House

What really makes life worth living? This is the question that Finch and Violet both face. An unlikely pair of teenagers from opposite ends of the high school spectrum; Violet who blends in seamlessly and conceals her troubles beneath the surface, and Finch, a non-conforming outcast whose wild personality is out for the world to see, find themselves exploring their state of Indiana together on a school assigned project. As they wander from one place to another, and really get to know each other for the first time, Finch and Violet help each other confront the dark fears of their past and learn to experience life again after loss.

I became so immersed in both the uplifting and the heart wrenching moments of their story, that I deeply missed the presence of Violet and Finch long after I finished reading. It’s been a long time since I’ve found a story that made me feel as many different emotions as ALL THE BRIGHT PLACES did. Jennifer Niven does a wonderful job illustrating how the simplest moments of everyday life can be made beautiful just by being shared with the right person.

Review: The Summer of Letting Go

The Summer of Letting Go by Gae Polisner
Publisher: Algonquin
Publishing date: March 25, 2014

After four years, 16 year old Frankie still blames herself for her brother's death. Suffering from this guilt, Frankie watches as the boy she loves falls for her best friend, and her father and mother start to move on separately. Lost in the mess of her summer, the only thing making her happy is four year old Frankie Sky, the little boy she meets who shares her name, and resembles her brother so closely Frankie starts to question how much she really knows about death and life itself. Extremely intriguing, THE SUMMER OF LETTING GO is full of relatable characters that leap off the pages, and moments that will make you both smile and cry along with Frankie and everyone else who weaves in and out of her life.

Review: Why We Broke Up

Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler
Publisher: Little, Brown
Publication date: December, 27, 2011

Told as a series of flashbacks in the form of a long letter written by sixteen-year-old Min to her ex-boyfriend Ed, Why We Broke Up is a bittersweet love story. In each chapter, Min describes another gift from Ed that she is giving back, and the memory that goes along with it. As Min writes this letter, she is reliving every moment in her mind, and I felt myself thinking and breathing along with her; her thoughts became my thoughts, I fell for Ed as she fell for Ed, and I turned page after page because I too wanted answers to the questions Min was still asking herself. The beautiful illustrations of each gift at the start of every chapter are a perfect addition to the story that already makes you want to just keep reading, and find out really, why did they break up?