Tag Archive | medical

X is eXactly, as in Me Being Me Is Exactly As Insane As You Being You, by Todd Hasak-Lowy (book review)

Apr28

book cover of Me Being Me is Exactly as Insane as You Being You by Todd Hasak-Lowy published by Simon Pulse1. Parents shouldn’t change
2. Friends shouldn’t move
3. Lists should make it easier to cope
4. Really, they should help…

Darren’s life seems so out-of-his-hands right now, after the divorce and Dad’s lifestyle change and Nick being at college.

He copes by making lists, and skipping school with amazing artist Zoey to visit Nick, and making lists, and wondering where Zoey has gone…

Just published last week, Me Being Me is Exactly as Insane as You Being You  lets Darren tell his story in his own way.

What have you done to keep things under control during an extremely hectic time?
**kmm

Book info: Me Being Me is Exactly as Insane as You Being You / Todd Hasak-Lowy. Simon Pulse, 2015.  [author site]  [publisher site]  [book trailer] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: Making lists and enduring all the changes in his life leaves Darren enough energy to skip school (just once), get in trouble at brother’s university (just once), and have two girlfriends at the same time (just once), but the high school junior is still trying to figure things out – in lists.

After Dad and Mom divorced, they both were different – Darren’s not sure he likes either change, but what can he do? Making lists helps.

Names that he’d rather have, reasons that he can’t drive yet, ways to convince Zoey to take him to see Nate at college – lists are good.

But somehow, all the lists haven’t made it easier to tell a girl at band camp that he’s sort of dating Zoey or know why Mom suddenly needs to have Shabbat dinner every Friday or figure out what to tell Dad’s analyst…

Is visiting Dad’s new place going to be okay?
Where has Zoey suddenly gone?
Will anything be back to normal by his 16th birthday? (c’mon, universe!)

This Chicago teen tells his story in lists, but who knows what the last entry will be.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

T is Torn Away, by Jennifer Brown (book review) – tornado tears apart her family & life

Apr23

book cover of Torn Away by Jennifer Brown published by Little Brown Books for Young ReadersThe tornado smashed her house,
killed her mom and half-sister,
whirled away what she knew as truth…

As tornado season revs up in the Midwest and South, please be sure that your family has disaster plan in place for the likely perils in your area, including the part that Jersey’s family forgot – where to meet up when the all-clear sounds.

You’ll find this sad-but-hopeful 2014 book at your local library or independent bookstore with Jennifer Brown’s other strong books about teens in difficult situations.

Got a disaster story to share?
**kmm

Book info: Torn Away / Jennifer Brown. Little Brown Books for Young Readers, 2014.  [author site]  [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: As she is shuffled from her estranged dad’s house to the grandparents she never knew, Jersey regrets her harsh words to Mom and little sister on the day that a tornado swept them away.

Jersey did go into the basement when the warning sirens began, but couldn’t imagine that the tornado would really touch down in her Missouri neighborhood – or crush the dance studio with Mom and five-year-old Marin in it.

Her stepdad is devastated by their deaths and can’t cope with anything, so Jersey must go live with her alcoholic dad who abandoned them and his new family. So far away from her friends, unable to come home for any of the funerals…

Stashing tiny notes about what her mom and half-sister liked best in the old purse Marin loved, trying not to make problems for dad’s extended family who’d very grudgingly taken her in, things go from bad to terrible for the high school junior, and Jersey is forced to meet Mom’s parents who disowned her when she married.

How can she catch her fading memories of Marin and Mom?
Why don’t any of the relatives’ stories line up with what Mom told her?
Will anything ever feel right again?

Have a handkerchief handy – Jersey’s story of loss is so real and so true.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Q is questions about Things We Know By Heart, by Jessi Kirby (book review) – his heart in another body

Apr20

book cover of Things We Know By Heart by Jessi Kirby published by HarperTeenHis organs saved five lives,
Four meetings, four grateful recipients,
But where is his heart?
Hers has stopped until she knows…

Quinn knows the rules against directly contacting those who received her boyfriend’s organs after his death, but until she sees for herself that the ‘age 19 California male’ who got Trent’s heart really made it, she will have no peace.

Things We Know By Heart will be published tomorrow, April 21, and should fly off the shelves, just as Jessi’s previous books have done. Click on a title to read my no-spoiler recommendations of Moonglass, In Honor, and Golden to meet other teens experiencing love, loss, and the difficulties of trying to move on.

Up to 8 lives can be saved by a single donor. Have you talked with your family about your organ donation wishes?
**kmm

Book info: Things We Know By Heart / Jessi Kirby. Harper Teen, 2015.  [author site]  [publisher site]  Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher via Edelweiss /Abovethetreeline.

My book talk: Quinn has ghosted through the 400 days since Trent died, meeting 4 of the people whose lives changed when they received her boyfriend’s organs, but the California teen can’t move on until she sees that the guy who got his heart is really okay.

She misses everything about Trent, sleepwalked through her senior year without him, waits for the heart recipient to acknowledge the letter that she and his mom wrote. Hearing nothing, she scours the internet for transplants done in her area for male, age 19 – and discovers that Colton lives in a beach town nearby, his sister blogging his decline, surgery, and recovery.

Determined that merely glimpsing Colton alive and well will ease her mind (no matter the organ donation rules against seeking him out), Quinn drives to Shelter Cove and runs into Colton – literally!

When he asks her to kayak with him, to revisit favorite places that he missed when he was not able to travel, all Quinn can do is agree. During that magical summer, he never brings up his heart surgery or the anti-rejection drugs he must take like clockwork, and she never finds the right time to tell him why she came to Shelter Cove in the first place.

What will Colt say about the connection between his new heart and Quinn?
Does moving on mean forgetting her first love?

Every chapter begins with quotations about the heart – philosophical, medical, romantic – as Quinn struggles to be true to herself and to Trent’s memory without drowning in the past. (One of 7,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

K is killing rain in H2O, by Virginia Birgin (book review) – one drop of rain, one more death

Apr13
book cover of H2O by Virginia Birgin published by Sourcebooks Fire | recommended on BooksYALove.com

Every cloud carries death, rain that kills millions –
now in the drinking water, no cure in sight…
but somehow she will find her father!

“If you are reading this, you are very, very lucky to be alive…but you already know that, right?” (p. 7) says Ruby, in a near-future where an asteroid – blasted to bits before hitting Earth – brings a deadly plague that rains down, seeking the iron of our blood.

Listen to the prologue of the UK audiobook here free, as Ruby begins the story of the end of humanity, raindrop by raindrop, and her race to find Dad in far-off London.

Published as The Rain  in UK, there is a sequel to H2O; hope it gets to the US soon!

Ruby was kissing Caspar in the hot tub when the rain began – where would you want to be when the world started to end?
**kmm

Book info: H2O / Virginia Birgin. Sourcebooks Fire, 2014.  [author site]  [publisher site]  [book trailer] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: As deadly rain sweeps across the world, Ruby fights thirst, well-meaning survivors, and the army so that she can get to London and her father.

Blowing up the asteroid saved earth, but doomed mankind to die by the blood-eating virus it carried, now sweeping down as rain, every drop lethal, no cure.

Trying to find anything safe to drink, staying away from rain and groundwater and tapwater, the teen and her stepdad survive longer than most.

Despite the odds, Ruby must get to her father, so she finds a car with keys and heads toward London with a nerdy classmate, a frightened-silent child, and a single driving lesson – watching the sky every minute for the clouds bringing more death.

Is there any place to hide from the rain?
How much further?
Dad, are you there?

The Rain (UK title) doesn’t care where it falls, but will Ruby survive to see The Storm sequel? (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

J is Juliette and Abram in Finding Mr. Brightside, by Jay Clark (book review) – death, drugs & dog hair

Apr11

book cover of Finding Mr Brightside by Jay Clark published by Henry Holt Books for Young ReadersTheir parents had an affair and died together.
They really don’t talk to each other.
But sometimes, accepting an invitation really is the way to move on…

Juliette’s mom got her hooked on Adderall before the accident, Abram is zonked out on Paxil to get over his dad’s betrayal, both plan to help the other get off the meds – neither plans to fall in love.

Cue up the author’s “while I wrote this book” playlist, weigh the merits of Taco Bell vs. Orville Redenbacher popcorn, and enjoy Juliette and Abram learning more about themselves and one another while they’re Finding Mr. Brightside.

Can you still love your parents once you realize they’re just human?
**kmm

Book info: Finding Mr. Brightside / Jay Clark.  Christy Ottaviano Books-Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, 2015.  [author site]  [publisher site]  Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: A year after the accident, Juliette and Abram find themselves hanging out and possibly romantic – if they can just get past the affair that resulted in the death of his dad and her mom, the meds they take to deal with the grief, and the unhappiness of his mom and her dad seeing them together.

Being in the same school and Virginia subdivision, they’ve managed to ignore each other – brisk and efficient Juliette driven by Adderall and comfortably scruffy Abram so becalmed by Paxil that he doesn’t even play tennis anymore.

Trying to clear out their deceased parents’ clothes doesn’t really work, a road trip to his family’s rarely-used beach house in South Carolina gets strange, and maybe Juliette’s dad will finish his novel after 20 years… nah.

Moving from emotionally numb to finishing up their senior year with a wee bit of enthusiasm, Juliette and Abram tell their story in alternating chapters with growing affection, dog hair, and much popcorn.   (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

D for Heather Demetrios – I’ll Meet You There (book review) – choose love or escape from sad hometown?

Apr4

book cover of I'll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios published by Henry HoltEndure dead-end hometown one last summer,
escape to art school and freedom…
if only it were that easy.

Skylar can’t leave her alcoholic mother now, doesn’t want Josh to face his PTSD alone, but how can she give up her dream of college?

This strong novel tackles questions of responsibility and abandonment, duty and fear, almost-good-enough and too-good-to-abandon as Sky’s narrative is punctuated with Josh’s often-anguished thoughts.

Don’t miss the author’s letter to the reader here and the book’s first chapters that she shares for free.

Have you known a serviceperson who returned from war-front duty unchanged?

**kmm

Book info: I’ll Meet You There / Heather Demetrios. Henry Holt, 2015.  [author site]  [publisher site]  Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: As Skylar endures one last summer before college, her growing attraction to a young Marine disabled overseas and her mother’s inability to cope with life could strand the teen artist in her rural California hometown.

Math-genius Chris and artistic Sky have vowed to escape this agricultural backwater, heading for opposite coasts on big scholarships in just a few months. It’ll be hard leaving best friend Dylan (who’s never known that Chris adores her) and her baby, but it would be unbearable to stay in Creek View.

Sky and Chris drop by the as-usual-drunk weekend party to welcome home her former co-worker just returned from Afghanistan, but no one told her that brash, womanizing Josh had left his leg behind, as well as his self-confidence.

Counting down the days until she leaves for college, Sky is stunned when Mom loses her fast-food job and crawls back into the booze bottle where she’d retreated for so long when Dad died in a drunk-driving wreck.

Josh begins working at the Paradise hotel with Sky again, between therapy appointments, and they fall into an uneasy companionship that could become something more. Motel-owner Marge’s son died in the war before she moved here, so she understands when Josh suddenly freezes as a car backfires nearby.

The parts are coming together in the collage that Sky’s creating for Marge – more of the ‘California quirky’ that’s making the Paradise its own destination – but Sky can’t put her mom’s life back on track, can’t figure out where she and Josh fit into one another’s lives, and can’t see how she can give up her dreams or go after them either.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

B for Burning Kingdoms, by Lauren DeStefano (book review) – escape from tyranny to war

Apr2

book cover of Burning Kingdoms by Lauren DeStefano published by Simon Schuster BFYRTheir king betrayed his subjects’ trust.
Their only hope – fly over the Edge and pray,
pray that the land below has a wiser king…

Each refugee from stratospheric Interment has left for their own reason, but Morgan is shocked to discover Celeste’s motive and how far the princess will go to get what she wants.

You can read Burning Kingdoms without the first book in the Internment Chronicles (as I did), but learning in detail what led Morgan and friends to escape that Perfect Ruin high in the sky would certainly enhance your immersion into this almost-our-1920s world.

What would you give up to save those you loved?
**kmm

Book info: Burning Kingdoms (Internment Chronicles, book 2) / Lauren DeStefano. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2015.  [author site]  [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: Fleeing their floating sky-island, Morgan and other young rebels find themselves grounded in Havelais whose king wants to use their knowledge to ramp up his war for rare resources, the same ones abundant on Internment.

Morgan and her betrothed, her blinded brother, her best friend – they had to leave or be killed by the King. But why did the crown princess demand to come on this one-way journey?

Snow falling from the sky, multiple children in one family, an amusement park just for glimpsing ‘the magic floating island’ -Havelais has many things that Morgan had never imagined, including aerial warfare with bombs from a neighboring kingdom.

Housed at the amusement park hotel by the king’s advisor, only Morgan and Pen venture out regularly, sneaking into speakeasies and cinemas with Mr. Piper’s teenage daughter Birdie or riding in son Nimble’s beloved auto-mobile car, until the princess is granted an audience with the king and inadvertently gives Havelais a reason to travel to Internment at last.

How can the princess believe the king will become an ally?
Why does Morgan sometimes wish that her betrothed hadn’t stayed by her side?

This second book in the Internment Chronicles swoops down from the Perfect Ruin  created by Internment’s flawed king and his ever-tightening grip on its citizenry to bring new faces and voices into a conflict that may consume them all.   (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

A Different Me, by Deborah Blumenthal (book review) – surgery will make her life perfect

Mar21

book cover of A Different Me by Deborah Blumenthal published by Albert WhitmanThe bump on her nose absolutely dominates her face.
But no one else knows she hates it so.
If she could just make it go away, everything in her life would get better!

Having nose surgery isn’t a whim for Allie. At 15, she’s more than ready to erase the bump that’s bothered her for years, backed by teens she meets at online support group. If she can just convince her parents…

This September 2014 release should be available at your local library or independent bookstore. If not, ask for it – you need to read Allie’s story for yourself.

Would you change yourself drastically if you could?
**kmm

Book info: A Different Me / Deborah Blumenthal. Albert Whitman, 2014.  [author site]  [publisher site]  Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: Allie tries to lay low at school so no one comments on her nose, but a mentoring assignment and an online support group give the New York City teen enough courage to ask her parents for surgery.

Keeping quiet, hoping she’ll “grow into her nose” – it hasn’t worked for Allie, who tells no one about her preoccupation with a surgical fix, not her best friend, not her examine-all-options parents.

Forced into mentoring Amber who’s fallen behind in English gives the 15 year old a look into someone else’s troubles and helps her ignore goth David taking pictures all the time at school.

She meets Mel and Katrina in an online rhinoplasty support group, and the three are there for each other as they research nose surgery facts and recommended area surgeons.

Can Allie ever convince her parents to allow this surgery?
Can Amber shake free of the worries that are hounding her?
Will David ever put away that stupid camera?

Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but when looking at your own face in the mirror is painful, it takes much more than platitudes to change that view.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Out of the Dragon’s Mouth, by Joyce Burns Zeiss (book review) – fleeing Vietnam, holding on to hope

Mar17

book cover of Out of the Dragon's Mouth by Joyce Burns Zeiss published by FluxIf the communists find them – dishonor and death.
If the soldiers search the boat for refugees – death by drowning.
If they don’t get out of the refugee camp soon – death by despair?

Mai must obey her parents when they send her with uncle Hiep to escape the Vietnamese communists, but how will a sheltered teen schoolgirl survive the terrible trip across the gulf, packed like salted fish in the creaking boat’s hold, or the primitive conditions in the refugee camp?

Read the first chapter here free, then look for this recent paperback release at the local library branch or independent bookstore nearest you.

Forty years after the US military left as Saigon fell to communist forces, so many stories need to be told and remembered.
Did Vietnamese refugees settle in your community?

**kmm

Book info: Out of the Dragon’s Mouth / Joyce Burns Zeiss. Flux Books, 2015.   [author site]  [publisher site]   Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: Fleeing Vietnam after communist takeover, 14 year old Mai and her just-older uncle Hiep must survive the rough crossing to refugee camp before they have any hope of reaching their relatives in America, but living in the camp becomes an ordeal, too.

When Mai’s brother fell ill, the teen daughter of Chinese business family had to take his place with Hiep – the bribes were paid, and the Communist forces were searching too near their hiding place.

Fortunately, Small Auntie would be waiting for them at the Malaysian island camp; unfortunately, her nickname described her temper as well as her height. She demanded that Mai and Hiep pay to stay with the family in shelter of a small boat, even though the Red Cross provides food for all.

Every day, they listen for their names to be called so they may leave for their uncle’s home in America. Days turn to weeks – Small Auntie casts them out because they have no money left.

Weeks turn to months as Mai and Hiep live under a tarp tent with other young people whose parents didn’t make it to camp. Lan and her sister Ngoc teach Mai to knit – Chicago is very cold, says Uncle.  Kien of the blue eyes tells her about his American soldier father who tried to get him and his mother out of Saigon as US forces departed.

The slim gold bracelet that Mother sewed into Mai’s clothing seems to be running out, as accidents and disease touch the camp. Will Mai and Hiep ever get to America?

As the 40th anniversary of the Fall of Saigon nears, this refugee tale is both a moment in history and a reflection of realities still faced by too many. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Seed, by Lisa Heathfield (book review) – cult or commune? so many secrets

Mar12

book cover of Seed by Lisa Heathfield published by Running PressTending the crops,
striving to stop sinful thoughts,
did she really just imagine footsteps in the attic?

Pearl enjoyed an idyllic childhood at Seed, but as a young woman struggles with new ideas from Outside. Why would the children need school when Papa S. tells them everything they need to know?

Seed could be a commune, whose exceptional produce is eagerly sought by Outsiders at the market in town.

Or it could be a cult, whose leader controls every facet of life, from reproductive partnering to the exact moment for collecting honey from the beehives.

Just published on March 10, this novel is takes place in England today – even more frightening than a post-apocalyptic thriller or dystopian future tale.

**kmm

Book info:  Seed / Lisa Heathfield. Running Press, 2015. [author on Twitter]  [publisher site]  Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: At Seed, Pearl and her extended family are safe under the watchful care of Papa S. until a young man from from Outside questions why they’ve rejected modern medical care and schooling.

At last, Pearl has become a woman at age 15 and may soon be Papa S’s companion, there in the big house where all the children of Seed and Kindred adults live together. Working the land, worshiping nature under the stars… Pearl loves Seed and hates going away to the town market where their produce is sold.

Papa S. announces that new people are arriving – a woman he knew long ago who wants healing from what life Outside has done, along with her teen son Ellis and little Sophie.

Ellis questions so many things that Pearl knows as truth – the origin of the stars, how the oil they rub into motors helps clean pollution from the air as they drive to market, why Pearl shouldn’t know which Kindred woman is her mother.

When Jack is injured in an accident and pregnant Elizabeth becomes desperately ill, Papa S. refuses to call a doctor – Nature will heal all.

Did Pearl really see someone in the locked attic’s window?
Could Ellis be right about men going to the moon and other things?
Does Pearl really want to be Papa S’s companion?

In present-day Great Britain, Seed  could be a haven celebrating life in harmony with nature or a cult whose founder must control everything. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)