Meg Cabot Signing!!!

I had a total FanGirl moment today- Meg Cabot did a visit and signing hosted by Kansas City's Indie - Rainy Day Books. My mom went with me and we had a great time. Meg is such a cutie - the audience was cracking up throughout her talk.

One of the things that struck me most was the young girl's in the audience! YOUNG readers!! YOUNG bookworms!! YAY!!! I realize that Meg Cabot writes MG and YA so it is to be expected but it was very excited to see reading alive in youngsters. Made my heart happy!

Notice my red face - I'm a TOTAL BLUSHING FANGIRL!!! {shrugs}

Joining ~Another~ Reading Challenge...

Jacki over at Lovely Little Shelf is hosting a Presidential Challenge and I have finally decided to join in. I have been thinking about it since our non-blogging online book clubber started doing it and then really started thinking about when Jacki created the adorable challenge icon/thingie. I love reading about our country and presidents but it’s a daunting task – read a biography for each United States President in sequential order. We are talking years of committed reading.

What finally pushed me over the edge into participating was the realization that at the end of the challenge – I could have an entire bookshelf of the US Presidential history. The first book would be Washington’s biography continuing until it reached the present-day President. How awesome would that look in a home library?!! So, I am officially joining the challenge and will be posting my reviews here and they will be cross-posted on Jacki’s official challenge page.

The goal is to read one biography a month – but since I am starting out with Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow that is over 900 pages, this one might take a bit longer. I have already read John Adams by David McCullough and American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meacham by so my sequential order will be off just a bit, but otherwise I plan to read in order.

Anyone else interested in taking on this challenge? If so, head here to check out all the details on Jacki’s blog.

Review: The Last Little Blue Envelope (Little Blue Envelope #2) by Maureen Johnson

Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: April 26, 2011
Format: E-book
Pages: 288
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

From Goodreads: Ginny Blackstone thought that the biggest adventure of her life was behind her. She spent last summer traveling around Europe, following the tasks her aunt Peg laid out in a series of letters before she died. When someone stole Ginny's backpack—and the last little blue envelope inside—she resigned herself to never knowing how it was supposed to end.

Months later, a mysterious boy contacts Ginny from London, saying he's found her bag. Finally, Ginny can finish what she started. But instead of ending her journey, the last letter starts a new adventure—one filled with old friends, new loves, and once-in-a-lifetime experiences. Ginny finds she must hold on to her wits . . . and her heart. This time, there are no instructions.

My review: I am so glad that Maureen Johnson wrote this novel because I was just not satisfied with the ending of 13 Little Blue Envelopes. I need closure and the ending left one envelope roaming the countryside without having been opened. When an email arrives, Ginny hops a plane and sets out to find out what Aunt Peg’s final letter includes.

She is a bit braver, a bit stronger and a bit more confident this time around and she has her desire in sight. Yet, as many times in life, desire doesn’t equal reality so she makes another crazy trip around Europe trying to piece together her Aunt’s crazy ideas. Instead of dealing with the grief over her Aunt’s death, Ginny spends this book deciding how she wants to live her life. She knows she isn’t as free as her Aunt, but she knows she can’t just forget her experiences and the part of her she has discovered in herself.

I loved the addition of a few new characters, and love interest for more than one, this book was full of fun, laughter, craziness and more travel time. 

Review: 13 Little Blue Envelopes (Little Blue Envelope #1) by Maureen Johnson

Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: October 1, 2006
Format: Hardback
Pages: 336
Source: Library

From Goodreads: When Ginny receives thirteen little blue envelopes and instructions to buy a plane ticket to London, she knows something exciting is going to happen. What Ginny doesn't know is that she will have the adventure of her life and it will change her in more ways than one. Life and love are waiting for her across the Atlantic, and the thirteen little blue envelopes are the key to finding them in this funny, romantic, heartbreaking novel.

My review: The premise of this book is crazy, which is partly why it is adorable. Oh, how I wish I had a crazy Aunt that would send me to Europe in high school to live like a crazy artist. Except, I don’t know I have the guts or extroverted personality to do the tasks in some of those blue envelopes – so many I retract my wish! Ginny is a normal high school student, a little shy but with the nudges from Aunt Peg she breaks out of her shell.

The blue envelopes take Ginny on a physical journey across the world but also on an emotion journey, allowing her to deal with her grief over Aunt Peg’s untimely death. She handled each task into the unknown in a manor that seemed real – a mixture of dread, excitement, apprehension and pain. Her normal high school personality carried with her over the ocean into Europe, keeping the realm of reality in tact.

The characters she meets in Europe and around the globe really demonstrates the kind of person her Aunt Peg was, and that she hopes Ginny will be. The people are kind, but quirky. They are unique and understood Peg in ways that Ginny never really saw. Richard is the biggest piece of the Peg puzzle – providing Ginny with heartbreaking sadness, but also a new person to call family.

This novel was a fun road trip, but dealt with grief and death in a manor that includes the pain, but also the celebration of life.

Tot Tuesday: What Does Cow Say? by Joan Holub

Welcome to Tot Tuesday – a weekly feature where I review and share a children’s book. Children’s books are such a big part of my life now that I want to share them for other parents, grandparents or anyone who buys a child a book with the hope of instilling a lifelong love of reading.

The books I review and share are generally books from my daughter’s bookshelves and her library selections. She generally selects library books by a very technical method of grabbing every book in her reach and shoving them into the bag we bring with us. Thus, each week will be a surprising post.

What Does Cow Say? by Joan Holub – I won this book in a contest on the author’s blog and since the moment it arrived in our mailbox Sammie has been obsessed. She has asked to read “the cow book” before every nap and at bedtime, plus at least a handful of times during the day. The illustrations are beautiful and Sammie loves the rhythmic animal sounds and text. She loves lifting the flaps on each animal’s mouth to see what they say. If you have an older child in mind – check out the author’s middle grade book series (co-written with Suzanne Williams) - Goddess Girls and my review for one of the books, Persephone the Phony.

Review: Semi-Sweet: A Novel of Love and Cupcakes by Roisin Meaney

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Release Date: April 25, 2011
Format: E-book
Pages: 400
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

From Goodreads: Hannah Robinson is just about to open the doors to her new shop Cupcakes on the Corner when out of the blue her boyfriend Patrick announces that he's leaving her for another woman. Faced with starting a business on her own, Hannah begins to wonder if her life-long dream has just turned into a nightmare. So her best friend Adam sets his birthday as a deadline - seven months to make her shop a success, or walk away from it all. And as Hannah immerses herself in her new business, she soon discovers that she's too busy to think about Patrick and his now pregnant girlfriend ...or to notice an increasingly regular customer who has recently developed a sweet tooth for all things cupcake. But while Hannah is slowly piecing her life back together, family friend Alice's is falling apart. Her husband Tom's drinking is getting out of control and things are about to get a whole lot worse. As the seven-month milestone approaches, Hannah must decide her future. And while she's figuring out what's really important, it becomes clear to everyone that happiness in life, and in love, is all in the making.

My review: What is better than a cupcake to cure a broken heart? Hannah starts the story being dumped by her live-in boyfriend with the news of his cheating days before she opens her own business. A struggling and teary cupcake baker was not what she had envisioned but she refused to give up. That desire to see her shop to its demise or its success was the driving force in the story but there was plenty of drama, and more heartache, to come. In some ways the multiple sub-plots carried the story more than the cupcake’s operations but it wasn’t in way that left Hannah’s venture lagging behind. I have to say, the highly involved sub-plots brought me my favorite character, Hannah’s friend Adam. He was funny and went to long lengths to find the girl. It was adorable and funny which made me like him even more than Hannah.

In a few weird twists of events, heartache and disaster are intermingled in the lives of Hannah and those she knows. This aspect bordered on too much, but never went too far out of the realm of possibility. If you are looking for a light read – this probably isn’t the book for you but if you are looking for an interesting sequence of events, including tears and death – this story might be just for you.

In My Mailbox - April 24, 2011

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren. It is an opportunity to share any books I have received this week in my mailbox, on my nook or in my hands.

Yesterday was my daughter's 2nd birthday so she has whole bunch of new books in her mailbox. Look for those in future Tot Tuesday posts as we start reading them (over, and over again!)

In my mailbox this week I received two books. Sloppy Firsts from Paperback Swap to accompany the second and third in the series that I already have - I look forward to being able to start this series now. Happy Ever After was given to me from a friend because she had two of them. I have the first in that series and have requested the second and third from Paperback Swap so I should be able to dig into that series soon as well!

Sloppy Firsts (Jessica Darling #1) by Megan McCafferty

Happy Ever After (Bride Quartet #4) by Nora Roberts 

What did you get in your mailbox this week?

Review: Bumped (Bumped #1) by Megan McCafferty

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Release Date: April 26, 2011
Format: E-Book
Pages: 336
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

From Goodreads: When a virus makes everyone over the age of eighteen infertile, would-be parents are forced to pay teen girls to conceive and give birth to their children, making teens the most prized members of society.

Sixteen-year-old identical twins Melody and Harmony were separated at birth and had never met until the day Harmony shows up on Melody’s doorstep. Until now, the twins have followed completely opposite paths. Melody has scored an enviable conception contract with a couple called the Jaydens. While they are searching for the perfect partner for Melody to bump with, she is fighting her attraction to her best friend Zen, who is way too short for the job.

Harmony has spent her whole life in religious Goodside, preparing to be a wife and mother. She believes her calling is to bring Melody back to Goodside and convince her that “pregging” for profit is a sin. But Harmony has secrets of her own that she is running from.

When Melody is finally matched with the world-famous, genetically flawless Jondoe, both girls’ lives are changed forever. A case of mistaken identity takes them on a journey neither could have ever imagined, one that makes Melody and Harmony realize they have so much more than just DNA in common.

My review: I have seen reviews raving about this book (like this one and this one) and Goodreads status’ showing many Did-Not-Finish updates. Thus, I wasn’t quite sure how I would feel about this book and I am still trying to decide days after finishing the book.

I struggled initially with the lingo of this new world - it was like rapid fire in a foreign language. If there had been a glossary or lingo legend it would have helped me drastically. The premise was interesting from the beginning but I was deciphering the labels which led me away from being able to absorb the impact.

This book (as many dystopian/post-apocalyptic novels are) carries a punch in the deep changes in society and general life expectations. Imagining teenagers as surrogates hits you but for me it was the treatment of those who bond with their embryo that really punched me in the stomach. Such extremes in this genre are always hard to swallow but the complete shift from trying to minimize teen pregnancies to paying teenagers to have sex for the purpose of conception was completely disturbing. Yet again I felt the desperation of life without choice and deep in expectations. I did get drawn into the story and characters but not as deep as I had hoped.

This is the first book, but I am unsure of how many books with be in the series. There is at least one more that I know of. I wish this one had been more expansive or longer because it sort of just ended. No large cliffhanger or perfect happy ending either - just ended.

Basically - this book was a middle of the road read for me - not horrible, not great but an enjoyable read that keeps you thinking after you finish...you just have to get past the new language to get there.

Review: Fixing Delilah by Sarah Ockler

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Release Date: December 1, 2010
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 320
Source: Library

From Goodreads: Things in Delilah Hannaford's life have a tendency to fall apart.

She used to be a good student, but she can't seem to keep it together anymore. Her "boyfriend" isn't much of a boyfriend. And her mother refuses to discuss the fight that divided their family eight years ago. Falling apart, it seems, is a Hannaford tradition.

Over a summer of new friendships, unexpected romance, and moments that test the complex bonds between mothers and daughters, Delilah must face her family's painful past. Can even her most shattered relationships be pieced together again?

Rich with emotion, Sarah Ockler delivers a powerful story of family, love, and self-discovery.

My review: Can a Type A personality power her way through a family history of depression and dark secrets? That is what Delilah's Mom is trying to find out, leaving Delilah somewhere in the dust as she pushes her way forward. A few brushes with a man in blue puts Delilah in her Mom's spotlight - the place she most wants to be and the place she most wants not to be. The end result is a road trip back to the past for a summer at her grandparent's house. Not a fun trip, but a trip to bury her Grandma. The summer unfolds in heat, desire, romance and secrets long thought dead.

I loved Delilah - she was not full on self-destructive, just enough to push that boundary. Her relationship with her Mom takes center stage when they return to the place they speedily left many years before. Delilah finds the town much the same, except for one very gorgeous young man, who previously was her best playmate. This change in his looks and their chemistry causes lust, heartache and a few misunderstandings. This budding romance felt like it was years in the making, even though it really had only started with Delilah's return trip. It was romantic and still dramatic enough to be teenage love.

The huge fight that occurs towards the end is epic - stormy weather and rain included. I loved it! The plot had been building up to it, I could almost feel the tension and everyone exploded with anger, resentment and guilt.

This was an amazing story, will real life undertones and romantic characters. This includes a hot boy who sings. (I have been gravitating towards hot boys with musical talent lately - maybe I should get the Hubster guitar lessons for his next birthday?)
 

My NEW Wall of BOOKS!

Remember just a few weeks ago how I posted about my wonderful new bookshelf...and at the bottom I added a note that I was already trying to get hubby to go for another new bookshelf? Well - I totally convinced him ordered the new shelf and begged him to go pick it up at the store for me!!

Here is my new wall of bookshelves - it's like my own personal library in my bedroom - LOVE!

I have the shelves organized as follows - left bookcase is TBR and right bookcase is Read, with the exception of some of the bottom shelf on the left.

Top shelf is YA.  Second shelf is Historical Fiction. Third shelf is Non-Fiction. Fourth shelf is General Fiction. Bottom shelf is Hubster's books TBR and my Kay Scarpetta series on the right bookcase.

While cataloging them on Goodreads I found a book I had in the read pile that I have not read and realized I have over 204 books in my library! Swoon! A few are missing from my shelves in this picture because I have loaned around 10 books out.

I love having them all in a row by genre. I would love to be creative enough for color coding like my friends, Jacki and Julie...but alas my brain doesn't work that way!

Do you like???

Review: Stay by Deb Caletti

Publisher: Simon Pulse
Format: E-Book
Pages: 352
Release Date: April 19, 2011
Source: Simon & Schuster Galley Grab

From Goodreads: Clara’s relationship with Christian is intense from the start, and like nothing she’s ever experienced before. But what starts as devotion quickly becomes obsession, and it’s almost too late before Clara realizes how far gone Christian is--and what he’s willing to do to make her stay. Now Clara has left the city—and Christian—behind. No one back home has any idea where she is, but she still struggles to shake off her fear. She knows Christian won’t let her go that easily, and that no matter how far she runs, it may not be far enough....

My review: This novel was written in such a style I could hear a teenager on my couch telling me the story in person. On one hand, I loved this – the authenticity, the raw emotion, the teenage perspective. On the other hand – at times I wanted a bigger perspective of the story. There was one thing that remained the same throughout the story – the weight of the future. I could feel the foreshadowing in my heart with a weight on my chest. I didn’t know exactly what was going to transpire, but I could feel that something large and dark was ahead.

Clara is a teenager who falls in love, or lust, or whatever it is that teenagers find in one another, but this time the relationship became too much, too fast. Too much together, too much emotion, too much everything. Words took on new meanings, words became hidden questions and hidden accusations, secret threats and veiled danger. This story showed how a relationship can go from new and exciting to slightly dangerous and thrilling to twisted and unhealthy in a short matter of time. Warning signs were there, some missed and some pushed away. Clara knew something was different, dangerously different but by the time she could honestly admit it she was in too deep.

Clara's father has his own pile of secrets and the come out not in tiny trickles but like waves crashing into the shore – powerful and sweeping. I really enjoyed the relationship between Clara and her father – it was parent/child but also friend/friend. That balance was never perfect, but is anything ever perfect in life?

The scenery of a coastal town was delightfully perfect for such a powerful and haunting story as Stay is.

Tot Tuesday: What Do You Hear, Dear? (Play With Me Sesame) by Naomi Kleinberg

Welcome to Tot Tuesday – a weekly feature where I review and share a children’s book. Children’s books are such a big part of my life now that I want to share them for other parents, grandparents or anyone who buys a child a book with the hope of instilling a lifelong love of reading.

The books I review and share are generally books from my daughter’s bookshelves and her library selections. She generally selects library books by a very technical method of grabbing every book in her reach and shoving them into the bag we bring with us. Thus, each week will be a surprising post.

What Do You Hear, Dear? (Play With Me Sesame) by Naomi Kleinberg, David Dees (Illustrator) - Sammie loves the cast of Sesame Street, especially Elmo so anytime she sees an Elmo book at the library she rushes to get it off the shelf. I swear she gives any kids in the nearby area a death look as she flies by, just to warn them she has already claimed it! This book is fun because it explores different objects/acts that sound the same. It's a great learning book and it is full of fun sound to make as you read!

Author Interview: Anene Tressler

This morning I posted my review of Dancing with Gravity and now I have a wonderful interview to share with the author, Anene Tressler.

What inspired the idea of the circus?

I've always been intrigued by the circus...it has such allure, and yet, there is also a mysterious, some might say, dangerous undercurrent. I've done a lot of research for this book, but my most influential real-life experience came as a result of my involvement with a one-ring circus named Circus Flora, here in St. Louis. The first time I saw Circus Flora, I happened to be chosen from the audience to participate in an act with the terrifically talented Lorenzo Pickle. In Lorenzo's act, his character wanted to present me with a balloon, but the balloon was forever getting away, or getting damaged. At the end of the act, he brought an enormous balloon--really, the size of a car-- from back stage. It floated above the crowd and then burst and showered everyone with confetti. To this day...I've saved a shred of that balloon! I fell so in love with the artistry of Circus Flora that my husband and I even served as volunteers for a time.

When I was working on my novel, I wanted my main character, Father Whiting, to be taken out of his everyday life. I knew he was the kind of man who would appreciate the beauty and mystery of the circus...but that he might also be undone by it. Once I understood that, I knew I had to put the circus in my book.



Did you include the issue of animal cruelty in the circus to make a point, or just as a part of the novel?

Humane treatment of animals is a core issue for me and has been since my earliest childhood memories. Animals so enrich our lives...and many animals have been companions as well as workmates to humans. But history offers countless examples of our failure to appreciate and protect that relationship. I believe we should respect animals...and I tried to express that both in the circus blessing, and in the conversations between the characters. And since the humane treatment of circus animals continues to be an issue even to the current day, I felt that I really had to include a reference in the book.


How much research did you do into the world of priests and their personal lives?

I did extensive research— through reading, observation and direct interviews—with both priests and nuns. And although very few people have read the book thus far, I have received wonderful responses from Catholic priests and a Protestant (woman) minister who said they felt I really captured the life of a person in religious service: how a person is called to a very specific role in the community...and in answering that call, sacrifices some other ways of being in relationship with his/her community and family. The call to serve imposes a distance that is both necessary and that fundamentally changes that person's interactions with others. While I am both honored and grateful for these responses, I want to emphasize that Samuel Whiting is not a stand-in for all priests...but is a particular man. He is flawed. Lonely. And he suffers. He loves his mother and his friend, Jerry, yet he fails both of them. He is, I hope, as complicated and contradictory as we sometimes find ourselves.



What is your best writing suggestion/tip?

That's a particularly difficult question, because I've had some wonderful teachers and have come upon some fine resources and insights over the years. But I think, most certainly...it's essential to read and write as much as possible. It's important to discover the books coming out today in the U.S., and also in other countries...from large and small presses alike. Writers should also read the classics—Shakespeare, Tolstoy, Dickens...and the many others who helped bring story telling to its present form. I also suggest getting in a writing group or taking classes or attending workshops. Most importantly, make whatever you do a 'reach.' Demand of yourself that you grow. And write. Write every day. Writing is hard work. Unless you have hypergraphica, writing is punishing...and like anything else that demands commitment, if we take off a week or a month or a year, it's that much harder to come back to it. Once, I asked the writer, Claire Messud, for writing advice. She gave me the best, shortest answer I ever heard. She said, "Finish." Now that might seem obvious. But I suggest that we all know writers—talented people—who just can't finish their work. And one of the tyrannical (and redeeming) realities of writing is that we are known/judged/defined by our body of work. So....finish.

One last statement...(really I promise)...there are some wonderful resources out there and I've learned from many of them. But if I really am being pulled from the stage and can only shout out one resource, let it be Anne Lamott's Bird By Bird.

Thanks for stopping by Anene - I greatly appreciate it!

Review: Dancing with Gravity by Anene Tressler

Publisher: Blank Slate Press
Format: Paperback
Pages: 272
Release Date: March 28, 2011
Source: Author for Book Tour

Summary:
“Whether we love–or fail to love–there is always a cost.” – Nikolai

Father Whiting is asleep in his own life. As a St. Louis priest and the head of Pastoral Care at a local teaching hospital, he’s already on edge wondering if he’s up to the job and wondering how far his predecessor’s–and now his–secretary will go to sabotage him. He is fatigued by his mother’s increasingly erratic behavior, fears he is incapable of ministering to an old friend and fellow priest stricken with cancer, and secretly longs to share everything about his confused, mixed-up life with the very attractive Sarah James, the hospital’s head of public relations. When he overhears a heated argument between the Chairman of the Board and the Abbess who runs the hospital, he fears his job will soon be history. Instead, he finds himself tapped to minister to a small Central American circus bequeathed to an order of aging nuns in St. Louis. Through his deepening relationship with Nikolai, the enigmatic trapeze artist, Whiting wakes to his loneliness, realizes he has been living a half-life, and finally finds the courage to be the man he was meant to be.

In Dancing with Gravity, Anene Tressler, an Emmy Award-winning writer, paints an unforgettable portrait of the grand and petty motivations of the human heart.  Her poignant exploration of lost, unrecognized and courageous love will prompt you to consider your own journey toward purpose and fulfillment.

My review:  The emotions of love clash with the bonds of priesthood in this colorful story. The circus was such a unique way to bring such life and variety of characters into a novel full of priests. The circus was my favorite parts of the book – the imagery and circus revelry brought such activity into the life of Whiting. This was needed because I found Whiting to be a little boring and plain, a man without a lot of drama in his personal life.  He is full of emotion, seeming to lash out within a blink of an eye; to the point that I thought he should be seeing a counselor himself for his extreme emotional swings. The relationships that blossom through the time the circus is in town are meaningful and real – I just wish there had been a deeper inner monologue from Whiting regarding his feelings and his priesthood. There were people in his life that engaged him in conversation regarding the situation, but I never felt he really fought within himself over his situation. 

The underlying theme of love and hope was well written and the ending encompassed that theme perfectly. This novel provided an interesting look into the world of a Catholic priest, struggling with life, love and balance. 

For more reviews and thoughts check out a few previous stops in the tour:


Rundpinne 
This That and the Other Thing 

The next few stops in the tour:

Simply Stacie 

Day by Day in Our World

In My Mailbox - April 17, 2011

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren. It is an opportunity to share any books I have received this week in my mailbox, on my nook or in my hands.

This week was a slower week for me - which given how big my last few weeks have been, is a-ok with me! I ended up having to take some of my library books back before I read them because they were due and had wait lists so I couldn't renew them. Boo!

Via a wonderful online bookfriend (we do occasional gift exchanges - this time was flip-flops and books!)

Hush, Hush (Hush, Hush #1) by Becca Fitzpatrick

Charmed Thirds (Jessica Darling #3) by Megan McCafferty

Waiting for me at the library when I returned my sadly unread books was Matched (Matched #1) by Ally Condie.

Review: This Life Is in Your Hands: One Family, Sixty Acres, and a Family Undone by Melissa Coleman

Publisher: Harper
Release Date: April 12, 2011
Format: Paperback ARC
Pages: 352
Source: Publisher

From Goodreads: “Lyrical and down-to-earth, wry and heartbreaking, This Life Is in Your Hands is a fascinating and powerful memoir. Melissa Coleman doesn’t just tell the story of her family’s brave experiment and private tragedy; she brings to life an important and underappreciated chapter of our recent history.” —Tom Perrotta

In a work of power and beauty reminiscent of Tobias Wolff, Jeannette Walls, and Dave Eggers, Melissa Coleman delivers a luminous, evocative childhood memoir exploring the hope and struggle behind her family's search for a sustainable lifestyle. With echoes of The Liars’ Club and Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight, Coleman’s searing chronicle tells the true story of her upbringing on communes and sustainable farms along the rugged Maine coastline in the 1970’s, embedded within a moving, personal quest for truth that her experiences produced.

My review: I went into this book wondering if I would be disgusted that parents raised children in this manor. After all, no running water or indoor toilets is a bit disgusting and unsanitary. I was pleasantly surprised with how much I grew to admire their methods and reasons. Now, I am not going to give up my toilet or hot water showers, or even my electric blanket in the winter, but I do envy the less is more mentality. Also, the growing their own food and how involved they became with improving the soil they used. Possibly more important now than it ever has been the environmental benefits of locally grown produce is on the minds of many consumers.

I was also surprised by how much the book revolved around relationships, even during some of the more free love moments. Relationships come in all shapes and sizes and Melissa Coleman’s family and settlement friends were not lacking in relationships. Regardless of technology making a marriage survive takes work and the Coleman’s weren’t immune. After having children, their marriage was strained even more so when a senseless tragedy hits their family, everything falls apart. Melissa is left to try to pick up the pieces while dealing with her own guilt and grief. I wanted to scream at her parents to get their heads out of their own worlds – her father and his soil; her mother and her isolation – to help her understand what was going on…and why nothing would ever be the same again.

I find it hard to place this book into a well-rounded explanation because it encompasses so much. From a child’s view of a rocky marriage, to the obsession of a man turned farmer deeply invested in the earth and the down-world spiral of depression – this book contains it all.

If you are interested in reading this book - enter to win it on Goodreads here. 

Review: Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

Publisher: Viking Juvenile
Release Date: March 19, 2009
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 278
Source: Library

From Goodreads:

“Dead girl walking,” the boys say in the halls.
“Tell us your secret,” the girls whisper, one toilet to another.
I am that girl.
I am the space between my thighs, daylight shining through.
I am the bones they want, wired on a porcelain frame.

Lia and Cassie were best friends, wintergirls frozen in matchstick bodies. But now Cassie is dead. Li...more“Dead girl walking,” the boys say in the halls.
“Tell us your secret,” the girls whisper, one toilet to another.
I am that girl.
I am the space between my thighs, daylight shining through.
I am the bones they want, wired on a porcelain frame.

Lia and Cassie were best friends, wintergirls frozen in matchstick bodies. But now Cassie is dead. Lia's mother is busy saving other people's lives. Her father is away on business. Her step-mother is clueless. And the voice inside Lia's head keeps telling her to remain in control, stay strong, lose more, weigh less. If she keeps on going this way—thin, thinner, thinnest—maybe she'll disappear altogether.

In her most emotionally wrenching, lyrically written book since the National Book Award finalist Speak, best-selling author Laurie Halse Anderson explores one girl's chilling descent into the all-consuming vortex of anorexia.

My review: This book was written in such a desperate tone that I almost lost myself in Lia's pain and her illness. I felt her inner struggles, her light-headedness, her desire to be better, thinner and heard. I wanted to scream for her - scream loud enough someone, ANYONE, would listen to her. Everyone heard her, but no one truly listen to her. They checked her for weight changes, but they never truly saw her. She was self-destructing and no one witnessed it.

No one, but the reader. This makes the reader heartbroken, but it sends a hard message home to the reader. THIS IS NOT OKAY! GET HELP! I cried off-and-on throughout this book but the entire time I was reading it, I was hurting. Hurting for Lia and what she thought she should be, hurting her for the confusion and the haze she was living in. In one word this book was AMAZING. In two words this book was REQUIRED READING.

Related Personal Story: A long time ago I was a high school freshman in a very small town. A classmate, the first boy I ever kissed, shot himself and ended his life. Many of us struggled after such a tragic event, myself included. Countless times in my most teenage angst moments, I felt some of the same thing Lia feels in this story. I bet many young adults have felt these same things and probably many adults too. I talked with a counselor to work through the why behind my feelings but many don't get that chance.

I want to end this review with a plea - if you know someone who is struggling and needs help - please show them resources, please contact an authority - anything, something. Don't just pretend to not see the changes, the plea's for help - they are reaching out to anyone - they can't do it alone.