How To Be Brave

Although I was given an advanced copy of this book in return for my honest review, all opinions remain my own.

This book is a fictional young adult novel. It is from the viewpoint of Georgia, a high school senior who recently lost her mom, trying to figure out how to "be brave" as her mother told her to do. 

It goes back and forth between the story and memories. The memories are all in a more poetic format, broken short lines. I found it a refreshing break between the story of her senior year.

Set in Chicago, most of this story revolves around Georgia and best friend Liss and new found friend Evelyn. It also involves a bit with Georgia's father and classmates. I found the characters very relate-able and easy to understand. Being that Georgia had recently lost her mom, she became a character I was very attached to, able to relate to and understood what she was going through.

I think at it's core, this book is about making mistakes and learning from them and finding a way to live each day bravely.

As I mentioned above, having recently lost her mother, Georgia's story really got to me. There were parts of this book that were hard for me to read, it almost felt like the author was there when my mom died. This made the book really emotional to me.

There are a few parts of this book that I wanted to remember and also share, parts that really touched me. This is a part of Georgia's memory of her mom's final days.

And then, in the CCU that last time:
the glare of the cold white walls from the long fluorescent bulb that fell hard against her grey skin against the cold metal and plastic wires.
The mask on her face the steady, careful pulse of machines, monitors,
mechanical boxes that lived for her that sustained whatever was left.
Her body was broken.
She was like a butchered animal with her arms limp and her chest heaving with the push of the machine.
Her eyelids shifting, her feet trembling.
Automatic responses, they're called.
I wonder what was there, inside, the moments before her heart stopped.
I wonder if she could hear what I said how sorry I was just so deeply sorry.

This memory of Georgia's was so like my own that I actually had to stop reading for a while. The memories I have of that time with my mom were awful. Just thinking about another person going through that, made me feel a little less alone. Even though realistically I know that this is a fictional character. The author's insight was just so vivid. It was remarkable and a very life like story.

Life without mom is a little like that. At first, it was all pain and tears. Every day was hard. I'd wake up and the sun was there, still shining in the sky, but the world didn't make sense anymore. Then little by little... that pain faded even more. I cried only once a week instead of every day. And then I stopped crying. I moved forward.

Again, so much like my own experience that it gave me pause. Made me think of how much I have moved forward.

The book ends with this statement from Georgia:
I'm doing it all, mom. Even more than you could have ever imagined.
For me, and for you.

Again echos how I am feeling now. I want to live my life to it's fullest for me and for mom.

This book is a must read. Even if you haven't suffered a loss like me, I feel it gives you an insight into what grief really feels like. Georgia is forced to basically do it on your own. By reading this book, I feel like it gives you a little more of an idea of how someone might be feeling. There is so much more going on in people's lives, you need to stop and pay attention, give them grace. We all make mistakes, we also all need to learn how to move on and learn from them.

The Other F Word

A fresh, humorous, and timely YA novel about two teens conceived via in vitro fertilization who go in search for answers about their donor.

Milo has two great moms, but he's never known what it's like to have a dad. When Milo's doctor suggests asking his biological father to undergo genetic testing to shed some light on Milo's extreme allergies, he realizes this is a golden opportunity to find the man he's always wondered about.

Hollis's mom Leigh hasn't been the same since her other mom, Pam, passed away seven years ago. But suddenly, Leigh seems happy—giddy, even—by the thought of reconnecting with Hollis's half-brother Milo. Hollis and Milo were conceived using the same sperm donor. They met once, years ago, before Pam died.

Now Milo has reached out to Hollis to help him find their donor. Along the way, they locate three other donor siblings, and they discover the true meaning of the other F-word: family.


Although I received a copy of this e-book from NetGalley, all opinions remain my own.

My review: four out of five stars

This is another of those big social issue books. Two kids, fathered by sperm donors, work together to seek out the man who gave them half their genetics. I thought the author did an amazing job with how the kids must have been feeling, going into the project. It gave me another viewpoint that I wouldn't have otherwise thought of. The characters were interesting. I thought they showed some real growth through the book.

I think this book was very well written. I would totally recommend it to my friends.

The Best Possible Answer

AP exams—check

SAT test—check

College application—check

Date the wrong guy and ruin everything you’ve spent your whole life working for—check

Super-achiever Viviana Rabinovich-Lowe has never had room to be anything less than perfect. But her quest for perfection is derailed when her boyfriend leaks a private picture of her to the entire school—a picture only he was supposed to see. Making matters worse, her parents are getting divorced and now her perfect family is falling apart. For the first time, Vivi feels like a complete and utter failure.

Then she gets a job working at the community pool, where she meets a new group of friends who know nothing about her past. That includes Evan, a gorgeous guy who makes her want to do something she never thought she’d do again: trust. For the first time in her life, Vivi realizes she can finally be whoever she wants. But who is that? While she tries to figure it out, she learns something they never covered in her AP courses: that it’s okay to be less than perfect, because it’s our imperfections that make us who we are.

Although I received a copy of this e-book from NetGalley, all opinions are my own.

Devoured this book in just two sittings. In this novel you meet Viviana. It starts out with her in the hospital, having just fell asleep on her bike. You figure out that she has panic attacks. The way that Kottaras describes them was just as I experience them. Instant connection with Viviana's character. The things she goes through in the one summer this book covers is just extensive and seeing her work through things with her family and in her life was really thought provoking. Though this may not describe every person with an anxiety disorder, it certainly rang real for me. I really enjoyed this book, nearly as much as the first Kottaras book I read.

Wonder

I won’t describe what I look like. Whatever you’re thinking, it’s probably worse.

August Pullman was born with a facial difference that, up until now, has prevented him from going to a mainstream school. Starting 5th grade at Beecher Prep, he wants nothing more than to be treated as an ordinary kid—but his new classmates can’t get past Auggie’s extraordinary face. Wonder, begins from Auggie’s point of view, but soon switches to include his classmates, his sister, her boyfriend, and others.

This book has been on my radar awhile. It's the story of a boy with "a terrible facial abnormality." You get the medical term later in the book, but it doesn't mean anything to most people. 

I have been following the blog of a woman whose daughter has had some facial surgeries. This made the book feel a lot more real to me. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. The struggles that August deals with are very real. Even kids who aren't severely deformed get teased, I can't even imagine having a child who looked like that or being one!

This story was a look at his first year of school. He had never been before because his mom home-schooled him. In this book, the school goes above and beyond to make him more comfortable and feel welcome. But kids, being as they are, aren't that friendly toward him. Seeing the struggles he goes through and the joy he still has is wonderful. It was real to life, you could see the struggles that he was having and also how it hurt him for people to treat him differently. I loved that this book ends the way it does. Not going to give it away, but it gave me closure and left me feeling like there could more stories about August in his future. I one hundred percent loved this book. Whole heartedly recommend to everyone who has ever been a kid or has a kid.

Noni Speaks Up

Noni always tries to do the right thing. But she doesn't know how to help her classmate Hector, who is constantly bullied for his name, his size and his giant glasses. Noni stands by silently, afraid that the kids will turn on her if she speaks up. Yet "doing nothing" doesn't feel very good. Will Noni be brave enough to take matters into her own hands?

Heather Hartt-Sussman's charming story, complemented by the playful, expressive illustrations of Geneviève Côté, is a heartwarming exploration of conquering fear and finding the courage to help others.

My rating: five out of five stars

I received a copy of this e-book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This is another wonderful children's book with a great moral to teach them. Noni is a girl like any other, she wants to do the right thing, but it's hard. She fears what standing up for Hector will do to her. She worries that if she stands up for Hector that she won't have friends anymore or that they will turn on her. It's a worry I think a lot of kids have. Finally, at the end of the story, Noni has enough and speaks up to the bullies. As expected, they aren't quiet about it and tease Hector some more about having to be saved by a girl. But Noni and Hector just walk away. They have friends in each other.

The Specific Ocean

In this gently told picture book, a young girl is unhappy about having to leave the city for a family vacation on the Pacific Ocean (which she used to call the Specific Ocean). As the days pass, however, she is drawn to spend more time in and near the water, feeling moved by its beauty and rhythms. “The ocean does its own thing, rolling backward and forward. Wash, swash, splush, hush. There is no late or hurry or racing in ocean time.” 

By the end of the vacation, the girl has grown to love the ocean and now feels reluctant to leave it behind. But as she soon realizes, it doesn't ever have to leave her. “Calm. Blue. Ruffled. Gray. Playful. Green. Mysterious. Black. Foggy. Silver. Roaring. White. No matter where I am, this specific ocean will be with me.”

I received an electronic copy of this book in return for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

My rating: five of five stars

This book was beautiful. As a lover of the ocean, this book called out to me. I had to request it. I suspected (and was right!) that this is about the pacific ocean. The detail the author writes with made it feel like I was there. The young girl in this story, who hates being away from the city at it's start, hates it when it's time to leave. The pictures are beautifully done. Very calming. Really makes me long for the ocean!

How to be Brave

An emotional contemporary YA novel about love, loss, and having the courage to chase the life you truly want.

Reeling from her mother's death, Georgia has a choice: become lost in her own pain, or enjoy life right now, while she still can. She decides to start really living for the first time and makes a list of fifteen ways to be brave - all the things she's wanted to do but never had the courage to try. As she begins doing the things she's always been afraid to do - including pursuing her secret crush, she discovers that life doesn't always go according to plan. Sometimes friendships fall apart and love breaks your heart. But once in a while, the right person shows up just when you need them most - and you learn that you're stronger and braver than you ever imagined.

I was given an advanced copy of this book in return for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

My rating: five of five stars

This book is a fictional young adult novel. It is from the viewpoint of Georgia, a high school senior who recently lost her mom, trying to figure out how to "be brave" as her mother told her to do. It goes back and forth between the story and memories. The memories are all in a more poetic format, broken short lines. I found it a refreshing break between the story of her senior year.

Set in Chicago, most of this story revolves around Georgia and best friend Liss and new found friend Evelyn. It also involves a bit with Georgia's father and classmates. I found the characters very relate-able and easy to understand. Being that Georgia had recently lost her mom, she became a character I was very attached to, able to relate to and understood what she was going through.

I think at it's core, this book is about making mistakes and learning from them and finding a way to live each day bravely.

As I mentioned above, having recently lost her mother, Georgia's story really got to me. There were parts of this book that were hard for me to read, it almost felt like the author was there when my mom died. This made the book really emotional to me.

There are a few parts of this book that I wanted to remember and also share, parts that really touched me. This is a part of Georgia's memory of her mom's final days.

And then, in the CCU that last time: the glare of the cold white walls from the long fluorescent bulb that fell hard against her grey skin against the cold metal and plastic wires.

The mask on her face the steady, careful pulse of machines, monitors, mechanical boxes that lived for her that sustained whatever was left. 

Her body was broken. 

She was like a butchered animal with her arms limp and her chest heaving with the push of the machine. 

Her eyelids shifting, her feet trembling. 

Automatic responses, they're called. 

I wonder what was there, inside, the moments before her heart stopped. 

I wonder if she could hear what I said how sorry I was just so deeply sorry.

This memory of Georgia's was so like my own that I actually had to stop reading for a while. The memories I have of that time with my mom were awful. Just thinking about another person going through that, made me feel a little less alone. Even though realistically I know that this is a fictional character. The author's insight was just so vivid. It was remarkable and a very life like story.

Life without mom is a little like that. At first, it was all pain and tears. Every day was hard. I'd wake up and the sun was there, still shining in the sky, but the world didn't make sense anymore. Then little by little... that pain faded even more. I cried only once a week instead of every day. And then I stopped crying. I moved forward.

Again, so much like my own experience that it gave me pause. Made me think of how much I have moved forward.

The book ends with this statement from Georgia:
I'm doing it all, mom. Even more than you could have ever imagined.
For me, and for you.

Again echoes how I am feeling now. I want to live my life to it's fullest for me and for mom.

This book is a must read. Even if you haven't suffered a loss like me, I feel it gives you an insight into what grief really feels like. Georgia is forced to basically do it on your own. By reading this book, I feel like it gives you a little more of an idea of how someone might be feeling. There is so much more going on in people's lives, you need to stop and pay attention, give them grace. We all make mistakes, we also all need to learn how to move on and learn from them.

The Sister Pact

A suicide pact was supposed to keep them together, but a broken promise tore them apart
Allie is devastated when her older sister commits suicide - and not just because she misses her. Allie feels betrayed. The two made a pact that they'd always be together, in life, and in death, but Leah broke her promise and Allie needs to know why.

Her parents hover. Her friends try to support her. And Nick, sweet Nick, keeps calling and flirting. Their sympathy only intensifies her grief.

But the more she clings to Leah, the more secrets surface. Allie's not sure which is more distressing: discovering the truth behind her sister's death or facing her new reality without her.

I received a copy of this e-book in return for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

My rating: four out of five stars

This book was a tough read for me. It is about a girl who's sister commits suicide. While it looks to everyone else like she is just coping with the loss, what she is really struggling with is the fact that her sister did it without her. They had a suicide pact.

My current struggles with depression and my experiences with family with extensive mental health issues made this book really hard for me. My heart hurt to read about poor Allie trying to figure out how to go on without her sister, really struck a cord with me. Allie slowly learns things about her sister, things that her sister kept hidden behind her façade of being a "perfect" person. I love that Allie used her art as a way to express her grief. The characters were all very easy to relate to and understand.

Allie's struggle with an addiction to over the counter and prescription medications is a very real problem in today's culture. Its hard finding the right words to adequately describe how I felt about this book. While I did like the book overall, it was hard to read. Hard to see someone struggling. Hard to read about someone coping with a loss as big as a sister's suicide.

Overall this one gets four of five stars. I will say, I wouldn't recommend this book for the younger high school kids. Personally I wouldn't want my girls to read it until they were older, just a little too deep I think. Just a personal note.