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Thursday, August 30, 2012

Blog Tour Special- My Thoughts: Y by Marjorie Celona

“My life begins at the Y…” so starts Shannon’s story, a newborn baby dumped at the doors of the local YMCA. Bounced between foster homes, Shannon longs to uncover her roots. Where is she from? Who is her mother? And why would she abandon Shannon on the day she was born?

The answers lie in the heartbreaking tale of her mother’s family, and their flawed and desperate fate. Through Marjorie Celona’s intimate observations and quirky wit, present and past converge to shape a unique and lasting story of identity and inheritance. A novel that asks us to consider the “why” of our lives, even as it reveals that the answer isn’t always clear.


**Received ARC from Penguin Group Canada for review**





Prior to being invited to review Marjorie Celona's debut novel Y I knew very little about it. However, when I did learn more about the novel and what it was about I was very eager to read it. The synopsis had me thinking of Heather O`Neill`s Lullabies for Little Criminals. They are both stories about children who have lived less then stable lives. In saying that, I could not help but compare Y to Lullabies while reading it. Which wasn`t necessarily fair. They are two different novels telling two very different stories.

Let me say this. Marjorie Celona is a beautiful writer and I cannot wait to read more from her and to see how she matures as an author. Celona created an intense story with Y, one that gets readers examining the decisions of parents and the impact they have on their children. Y also does more than that, it encouraged  readers to examine their definition of family.

What I found the most interesting about Y was the way it was told. The story is Shannon`s narrative and she tells the whole story. She not only tells the story from her perspective and her birth mother's- Yula. She also tells the story from all her ages. It's Shannon voice we `hear` when she`s a few hours old, when she`s five and when she`s sixteen. It`s incredibly eerie and fascinating at the same time. I really liked that Shannon got to tell the story.  What I didn't like about this aspect of the novel was how unbelievable the intense feelings Shannon and Yula were supposed to be experiencing. I cringe when I say this knowing that so many readers are not going to agree with me.

 Let me explain.

When Shannon was describing her feelings in the earlier portion of the novel, when she was a child I was enthralled. I could not put the book down. I thought this child who was experiencing so much but couldn't explain what it was she was feeling was heart breaking and I thought it was a brilliant move on Celona's part. However I was expecting this is change and mature as Shannon got older, but it didn't and the confusion that Shannon continued to experience was hard for me believe. I could not understand why Shannon could not accept the family she was given, I could not understand why she had this intense need to find her birth mother. It felt empty, flat.

In saying all this, I really enjoyed this novel. It was beautifully told and Celona did a magical thing with it. She told a story that was not easy to tell and tackled subjects that can't be easy to write about and she did it, albeit there were some holes, don't let them keep you from reading Y. Because it was wonderful!

I want to thank Penguin Canada for including me in this blog tour.

~Happy Reading Everyone!









Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Teaser Tuesday #28

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

•Grab your current read

•Open to a random page

•Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

•BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

•Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!


Y by Marjorie Celona

"At night, I imagine that my real mother is coming for me, her arms outstretched. I imagine she looks just like me, that we have the same hands." 

(P.104 of ARC)

**I have already read this one, and if you are curious about what I thought check back here Thursday for my review**

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Teaser Tuesday #27

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

•Grab your current read

•Open to a random page

•Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

•BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

•Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!



Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult & Samantha Van Leer

'" Just a dog? Oliver stands, angry. "That 'dog' speaks three languages and is brilliant at chess and happens to be my best friend."'

(P.69

Thursday, August 16, 2012

My Thoughts: What She Left Behind by Tracy Bilen

“Don’t even think of leaving… I will find you,” he whispered. “Guaranteed.”

Sara and her mom have a plan to finally escape Sara’s abusive father. But when her mom doesn’t show up as expected, Sara’s terrified. Her father says that she’s on a business trip, but Sara knows he’s lying. Her mom is missing—and her dad had something to do with it.

With each day that passes, Sara’s more on edge. Her friends know that something’s wrong, but she won’t endanger anyone else with her secret. And with her dad growing increasingly violent, Sara must figure out what happened to her mom before it’s too late…for them both.







When I signed up for the 2012 Debut Author Challenge I saw the synopsis for Tracy Bilen's debut What She Left Behind it was first on my list of must reads. I did intend to read it as soon as it came out however it took me a couple weeks to get my hands on it and then to finally sit down and read it. But I did eventually read it. What She Left Behind is a short novel, just 237 pages and I flew through it. It took me about a day and a half to read it cover to cover. However, I did have a few issued with the novel.

The story begins with Sara's (she spells her name the same way I do) mother telling her that it was time to leave and to pack her stuff- they were finally going to leave Sara's extremely abusive father- but it had to be a secret. As the blurb above explains Sara's mother disappears before the two can make their escape. 

Now, I feel like what happened was VERY obvious,which is fine, but Sara doesn't see it. She somehow tricked herself into believing that her mother left her ahead of time to go look for living accommodations and a job in their new city. She believes her mother is coming back for her, she just needs to be patient. This is ridiculous. Absolutely insane. Sara knows that her father has previously threatened her mother if she ever attempted to leave and she knows how dangerously violent he is. Ding, ding, ding- warning sign, red flag. I don't know what else to say. I sort of feel like Bilen though that her reading audience were going to be idiots or she was purposely making Sara to look like a complete brainless and cowardly fool. What really irritated me about Sara and her whole response to her situation is how she was still able to meet a boy, go on dates, fall "in love". But still she's freaking out about her mother, and waiting unrealistically for her return. This really frustrated me. 

In saying this, my annoyance with Sara was a large concerns for while reading this novel, and Although I didn't understand why Sara was all of a sudden getting romantically involved with a boy from school-Alex- I absolutely loved him! I thought he was magically written. He was perfect for Sara. He would say the right things, he knew how to get her to open up. It was beautiful. I feel like this is where Bilen put most of energy. Because I was totally and completely compelled by Alex and Sara's relationship. I could gush about it for paragraphs.

But, I am not sure that I loved the climax of this story, to me it felt a little extreme and not that realistic. Sara's dad is crazy and dealing with some heavy stuff but really, the good things about contemporary novels are that they are realistic. What took place at the peak of What She Left Behind was not realistic at all. Sorry.

I am unusually critical of this novel because of it's theme- abusive parents exists and there will be teens who read this novel who are being abused by their parents. I feel like this novel does nothing to encourage a teen as to what to do, who to turn to. Novels that deal with heavy subjects, I believe, have a responsibility to their readers, and unfortunately I don't believe that What She Left Behind followed through.

~Happy Reading Everyone!

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Teaser Tuesday #26

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

•Grab your current read

•Open to a random page

•Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

•BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

•Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

**It's been a while since I've done one of these, but I've challenged myself to get back into them. I hope you enjoy!**


The Blessed by Tonya Hurley

"She kept replaying the evening over and over in her head, the little she could remember of it. After a while, the ER went almost totally quiet except for the sound of hurried footsteps." 

(P.15 of  the ARC)











~Happy Reading Everyone

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Young Adult Giveaway Hop





It's that time again! The Young Adult Giveaway Hop hosted by I Am A Reader Not A Writer and Reading Teen.  I love giveaway hops and I hope you do to cause I am giving away some COOL stuff!


For this hop I am giving away one of the following books:

1) Incarnate by Jodie Meadows
2) Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan
3) If I Stay by Gayle Forman
4( Leisl and Po by Lauren Oliver






These have been some of the best YA books I have read this year and I want to share the wealth.








There are a few things that you need to do to enter:

1) You MUST be a follower of this blog to enter
2) Please fill out THIS FORM
3) You can only enter ONCE
4) You can receive one EXTRA entry by heading over and liking my Facebook page
5) You can receive one EXTRA entry by Tweeting the giveaway.

**Open internationally- as long as The Book Depository ships to your country**




Contest runs from August 8-14 and I will notify the winners by email if they have won. Easy as pie. That is all! Good luck to all those who participate! Be sure to check out all the other blogs that are giving stiff away as well.


Wednesday, August 1, 2012

July Wrap Up



Well, it would appear that I had a slightly ridiculous month, But really I don't know about that. I think I actually had a pretty good month. I may have only posted seven times, I may have only reviewed two books. But I feel like I was more active in the blogging community. I read a ton of reviews, I commented a lot. For me it felt pretty good. And, I think it's only going to get better from here. I read five books, and instead of being disappointed with that number, I'm going to celebrate. Because two of those books were over 450 pages long! 

Books Read: 

1) Fifty Shades Darker by EL James
2) Nevermore by Kelly Creagh
3) The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
4) The Lovers by Eden Bradley
5) Happily Ever After by Harriet Evans 

Books Reviewed: 

1) A Season of Eden by Jennifer Laurens 
2) The Summer of No Regrets by Katherine Grace Bond

Challenges: 

I have read 47/80 books that I challenged myself to read this year. My hope it to be at 55 by the time schools come around again in September. But that is eight books and I am not sure I can do that. Maybe. 

I would like to challenge myself again this month and try to participate in 'Teaser Tuesday' every Tuesday and get one review up a week. So posting twice a week. That's my challenge. I would actually like to see a total of 10 blog posts in August. But we will see. 

Random Stuff: 

-I posted another 'From Book to Movie'. This was a unique one as I sort of reviewed The Perks of Being a Wallflower and commented on the movie trailer at the same time. I had a lot of fun with this post. 

-Just Another Story turned two in July, so I gave some stuff away. Thanks to everyone who participated! I am every so grateful! 

-I also took part in the 'Vacation Reads Giveaway Hop'. I love giveaway hops and I plan on participating in another in August, so stay tuned for that. 

That was my month for you. I hope yours were great and here's to August! 

~Happy Reading Everyone! 

"So, please, oh please, we beg, we pray, go throw your TV set away, and in its place you can install, a lovely bookcase on the wall."
— Roald Dahl