Mini Review: Love & Leftovers by Sarah Tregay

Young Adult
Hardcover, 448 pgs.
Published December 27th, 2011 by HarperCollins
Source: Purchased

My wish
is to fall
cranium over Converse
in dizzy, daydream-worthy
love.

When her parents split, Marcie is dragged from Idaho to a family summerhouse in New Hampshire. She leaves behind her friends, a group of freaks and geeks called the Leftovers, including her emo-rocker boyfriend, and her father.

By the time Labor Day rolls around, Marcie suspects this "vacation" has become permanent. She starts at a new school where a cute boy brings her breakfast and a new romance heats up. But understanding love, especially when you've watched your parents' affections end, is elusive. What does it feel like, really? can you even know it until you've lost it?

Love and Leftovers is a beautifully written story of one girl’s journey navigating family, friends, and love, and a compelling and sexy read that teens will gobble up whole.

I'm gonna keep this one short and sweet since there are so many reviews out there right now.  Just want you to get the general idea of my feelings for this one.


I love verse novels and this one totally lived up to my expectations!  The style flowed well, the characters stood out and the plot was well done.  

Marcie is a person I 'got'.  I loved her personality and her thought process.  I loved how she worked so hard to be so perfect for everyone.  Supporting her mother while dealing with her father being gay and trying to support him as well, to her long distance relationship and friendships, and then feeling lonely and taking any sort of love and attention she can get.


I loved that I didn't know who Marcie would be with.  Or if she would maybe end up alone.  I had no idea how it would play out.  I loved both guys even while I felt suspicious when she did.  I loved how it all went and thought it was brilliant.  


Definitely a winner guys!  I highly suggest you pick it up!
4/5 stars

Book Review: Audition by Stasia Ward Kehoe

Audition by Stasia Ward Kehoe

Hardcover, 464 pgs.

Published Oct 13th, 2011 by Viking Juvenile 

Reading Level: Young Adult

Source: Purchased

When high school junior Sara wins a coveted scholarship to study ballet, she must sacrifice everything for her new life as a professional dancer-in-training. Living in a strange city with a host family, she's deeply lonely-until she falls into the arms of Remington, a choreographer in his early twenties. At first, she loves being Rem's muse, but as she discovers a surprising passion for writing, she begins to question whether she's chosen the right path. Is Rem using her, or is it the other way around? And is dancing still her dream, or does she need something more? This debut novel in verse is as intense and romantic as it is eloquent.

 I'm a big fan of verse novels but I think it takes a perfect balance and use of words to make the style work to where you can really feel the story.  Because you're only getting the meat of the story and no extra detail the words used are incredibly important.  And I think Stasia picked a perfect subject to write about.  Her words were like a dance themselves.  The whole time I was reading I was thinking that it was perfect to write about ballet in a verse novel because it was so gorgeous!  

This book is about Sara who is thrown into a new place with new people when she goes off to school to study ballet.  The feeling I got was that she was very shy and didn't talk much.  She feels really insecure since she's from a small town and doesn't have as much ballet experience as the other girls.  She immediately notices Rem, a very cute older choreographer in the studio.  Things progress once he notices her and suddenly they are thrust into this relationship that is all about dance {and dance in the bedroom} and very few words.  Rem seems to not have a lot of respect for her but yet she's so eager, so desperate for his attention.  In the book we watch as she struggles with ballet, school, and her relationship with him.  She has a journey ahead of her to discover her true self and what she really wants.

I think many teens (and adults) can relate to Sara and her need to fit in, to be more, and to discover her true self.  Being a teen is hard but being thrown into a totally new place with only strangers is very hard and once someone gives you attention, well, who wouldn't want that?  

This book has the characters on the cover.  Normally I don't like that because I don't like picturing the people as the people on the cover.  This one is different.  I think they portray what I would imagine them to look like and the expressions on their faces fit perfect.  It's easy to fall for Rem, but yet being on the outside looking in we also see how damaging and wrong it is.  

This book is beautiful and inspiring and absolutely what I want in a verse novel.  The words used, the descriptions thrown in, it was all perfect.  I can't wait for more from Stasia!

Find the author:

Website

Book Review: family by Micol Ostow

Title: Family 
Author: Micol Ostow
Details: ARC, 376 pgs; published Hardcover, 384 pgs.
Published: April 26th, 2011 by Egmont
Reading Level: Young Adult
Source: Amazon Vine Review program


Description:

i have always been broken.i could have. died. and maybe it would have been better if i had.  It is a day like any other when seventeen-year-old Melinda Jensen hits the road for San Francisco, leaving behind her fractured home life and a constant assault on her self-esteem. Henry is the handsome, charismatic man who comes upon her, collapsed on a park bench, and offers love, a bright new consciousness, and—best of all—a family. One that will embrace her and give her love. Because family is what Mel has never really had. And this new family, Henry’s family, shares everything. They share the chores, their bodies, and their beliefs.  And if Mel truly wants to belong, she will share in everything they do. No matter what the family does, or how far they go.Told in episodic verse, family is a fictionalized exploration of cult dynamics, loosely based on the Manson Family murders of 1969. It is an unflinching look at people who are born broken, and the lengths they’ll go to to make themselves “whole” again.

Family is a verse novel and I liked it, but I can't say I loved it.  I'm a huge fan of verse novels but this one seemed like it repeated verses over and although that was part of the style I didn't care for that style.  This book seemed more like poetry then most that just tell the guts of the story. I thought it would be fascinating 'seeing' into the mind of someone who was brainwashed (ish) but it really wasn't as complicated as you'd think.  I mean anyone who grew up like her, ran away and had nothing and then was invited to join a 'family' would have done what she did.  It was interesting watching it all play out though.  And although the book is nearly  400 pages it reads quite quickly.  The verse was not as sparse as you usually see, but rather close to full sentences in many parts.  
Even though the book is loosely based on the Manson family murders it's not as detailed or gruesome as you'd think.  Most of it is about her time with the family with only little snapshots of the murders.  I actually was a bit confused in those snapshots that were thrown in throughout the book but it was cleared up at the end when we got the rest of the picture.  

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book free of charge for review purposes.  I was not paid or influenced in any way.  All opinions expressed are my own.