Tag Archive | divorce

Revenge of the Girl With the Great Personality, by Elizabeth Eulberg (book review) – pageant big sis breaks loose

Aug14

book cover of Revenge of the Girl with the Great Personality by Elizabeth Eulberg published by PointPageant fees week after week, check.
Hair falls for a seven year old, check.
Reality check for Mom… nope.

Oh, yes, Lexi realistically could be tagging along after her little sister to beauty pageants every weekend of the year – thank goodness for her supportive friends, especially when her mom’s obsession with Mackenzie’s pageant appearances gets out of hand.

Check out this video interview to find out where the title came from (she told this story at TLA2014, too), then find this 2013 release in hardback or paperback now at your own local library or favorite independent bookstore.

Where’s the line between looking good and living for your looks?
**kmm

Book info: Revenge of the Girl With the Great Personality / Elizabeth Eulberg. Point, 2013.  [author site]  [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: Her little sister is a Texas beauty pageant princess, so if 16-year-old Lexi wants more from life, she’ll have to overcome the “great personality” label and make her own way (despite their mom).

Downsized into a doublewide trailer because child support won’t cover house rent and Mackenzie’s pageant costs, Lexi feels unappreciated as she saves up for the fashion internship in New York City.

Cam thinks Lexi’s crush on Logan (boyfriend of beauty queen Alyssa) is ridiculous, Benny challenges her to a makeover in teeny steps, and she dares him to let cute guy Chris know his feelings.

Will she really stop hiding behind baggy clothes and messy hair?
Will Lexi and Benny ever escape their judgmental small town?
Will these pageants never ever end?

An average gal in the land of the gorgeous, Lexi decides that she must craft the ultimate Revenge of the Girl With the Great Personality if she ever wants to be herself. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Chapel Wars, by Lindsey Leavitt (book review) – Las Vegas, love, and rival families

Jun25

book cover of The Chapel Wars by Lindsey Leavitt published by BloomsburyDrunken brides,
Elvis performing the ceremony,
must be Vegas!

Holly loves the wedding chapel that she inherits, but her late Grandpa’s hidden debts and his stipulation that she befriend the (so handsome) grandson of their arch-rival chapel owner… what’s a girl to do?

This novel is a twist on the expected Romeo and Juliet scenario, with the addition of divorced parents, teens concocting strategies to help the “wrong” chapel get more business, and all the wackiness of Las Vegas leading up to Valentine’s Day.

What’s the craziest wedding you’ve ever attended?

**kmm

Book info: The Chapel Wars / Lindsey Leavitt. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2014.  [author site]  [publisher site]  Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: It’s up to 16 year old Holly to save her family’s wedding chapel from the wrecking ball, with or without the help of their arch-rival’s adorable grandson – only in Vegas!

Holly has always loved the hopeful possibilities in a wedding – must be why Grandpa Jim willed the Rose of Sharon Chapel to her. But he also left her a huge debt which must be paid in full soon and a letter addressed to Dax, whose sneering granddad owns the rival wedding chapel next door!

Having Dax so near makes it hard for Holly to concentrate on what’s important – saving the chapel, getting her just-divorced parents back together, keeping the peace with her older sister and volatile younger brother.

As the loan payment day nears, Dax, Holly, and all her friends go all-out to get new business for the chapel. Maybe there’s hope after all. Maybe there’s hope for Holly and Dax, too! (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

I’m With Stupid, by Geoff Herbach (book review) – play football where? change life how?

Oct18

book cover of I'm With Stupid by Geoff Herbach published by Sourcebooks FireStress!
Decisions!
Pressure!

Felton’s senior year was never going to be a cakewalk, but knowing that his college choice will be televised live on ESPN!?!? The road trip craziness of the previous summer chronicled in Nothing Special (my no-spoiler review here) was nothing compared to this!

Ask for I’m With Stupid  at your local library or independent bookstore (just saying the title is crazy) and also read YA authors’ own teen-wacky stories at I’mWithStupidStories.

Ever had an out-of-control situation like Felton’s?
**kmm

Book info: I’m With Stupid / Geoff Herbach. Sourcebooks Fire, 2013.  [author site]  [publisher site]  [book trailer] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My book talk: Felton’s college choice for football will be televised live! Too much stress, as he visits colleges, looks for something meaningful in his life for those entrance essays, and tries to survive senior year.

He knows he’s a super-fast football player, a sorta-okay big brother and son and grandson, but not sure about anything else. So he decides to do something with his senior year, something worthwhile – then maybe he’ll be able to figure out what college to pick.

Mentoring a bullied freshman boy, visiting colleges where coaches want him to change everything about his game, trying to ignore his mom dating the dad of the girl he wants to date, running over football opponents like crazy, wishing he could ask his dead dad for advice – fall is nuts for Felton.

Too bad he can’t just make wacky videos with Gus instead of worrying about that college commit date looming ahead, can’t keep his girlfriend from breaking up with him, can’t keep a friend from making terrible choices.

Where should he play college football?
What’s with Heather and the peach schnapps?
Why is this all so difficult?

The Stupid Fast  guy who considers himself Nothing Special  off the football field has to figure things out now so future friends won’t be wearing that “I’m With Stupid” shirt in this wild conclusion to Geoff Herbach’s story of Felton Reinstein’s high school years.

(One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

P for Pink Smog: Becoming Weetzie, by Francesca Lia Block (book review) – reinventing herself

Apr18

book cover of Pink Smog by Francesca Lia Block published by Harper CollinsDad leaves and Mom crawls into the bottle,
Mean girls with slam books rule the junior high halls,
Weetzie’s certainly glad of the guardian angel who popped into her life.

No one loves the quirks and history of Hollywood and LA like Weetzie Bat, named Louise after a famous silent film star by her B-movie director dad and former starlet mom.  No one has better friends than too-thin Lily and so-gorgeous Bobby. With their friendship, her angel, and those mysterious silver envelopes, she might make it through this year of break-ups and breakdowns in Tinseltown.

It’s Support Teen Literature Day during National Library Week, so meet Weetzie as she creates herself amid the Pink Smog, then find the rest of the Weetzie Bat books at your  local library  (or independent bookstore).
**kmm

Book info:  Pink Smog: Becoming Weetzie Bat / Francesca Lia Block. HarperCollins Children’s Books, 2012. [author site]  [publisher site]  [book trailer]

My recommendation: New school, Dad leaves, Mom drinks away her sorrows, and no one will call her by the right nickname – if this is what being 13 is like, then Weetzie feels cheated. But a guardian angel appears, and her life in LA takes on some new sparkle.

It must have been an angel who helped Weetzie pull her mom from the swimming pool, who did CPR till the ambulance came. The family who just moved in upstairs are no angels though, that girl with long black hair and empty eyes and creepy laugh, the mother who knew Weetzie’s movie director dad a little too well. The angel guy turns out to be Winter, and somehow Weetzie’s dad asked him to watch out for her… wherever Dad is.

Eventually her solitary lunchtimes at junior high give way to friendship with Bobby and Lily, against all the mean kids who hurt everyone’s feelings. With Bobby and Lily, life is better, and when hand-delivered silver envelopes start appearing with messages for her (ransom note style, with the cut-out letters), life starts to get interesting. Weetzie turns well-loved old clothes into fantastic fashions, tries to get Mom to eat dinner instead of drink it, wonders how love so sweet could turn so bitter.

Does that girl upstairs really have voodoo dolls?
Can Winter help Weetzie find her dad again?
What are all the silver envelope messages telling her?

This long-awaited prequel to Block’s popular Weetzie Bat series weaves the pivotal life events of young Weetzie through LA’s orange blossoms, star-sprinkled pavements, and Pink Smog of the 1970s.   (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Return to Me, by Justina Chen (fiction) – moving away, moving on…or not

Feb15

book cover of Return to Me by Justina Chen published by Little BrownHooray for going away to college at last!
Umm, family moving there, too?
One part breaks, everything shatters…

Reb is trying to figure out whether she and Jackson can make things work for now, not forever. But this is not just another long-distance teen romance; it’s a novel with real heart and soul (and a few visions along the way).

How have long-distance, long-term relationships worked out in your life?
**kmm

Book info: Return to Me / Justina Chen. Little Brown, 2013. [author’s blog] [publisher site]

My Recommendation: Rebecca is so ready to go far away to college. When her dad moves the whole family to her new college town across the country for his new job, then immediately abandons Mom, she’s shocked. If she can’t trust rock-steady Dad, who can she trust?

She’d already decided that she must break up with Jackson before the family leaves Seattle, convinced that a long-distance relationship won’t work out. Her best friends agree with her, but she just can’t do it.

When Reb gets an overwhelming sense of something about-to-happen, she learned long ago to keep it to herself. She will be able to use her innate sense of whether a space works or not as she studies architecture, following in the footsteps of her dad’s business-minded family.

In the too-large McMansion in suburban New Jersey, far from their cozy island home and Reb’s custom-built treehouse, she watches her mom crumble as Dad makes the separation permanent and sees her 10-year-old brother retreat ever further into himself. After Reb calls Grandpa for advice, he invites them to his Hawai’i home to restore themselves.

Perched in a tropical treehouse, Reb worries about Jackson, about whether she really wants to do commercial architecture, about whether she really wants to go to college at the end of summer.

What’s this prophecy that women of her family can never stay with the men they love?
How can she balance family expectations about her career with what she truly wants to do?
How hard must she shake her phone so that Jackson will start communicating again?

Separation and reunion, perception and reality – Justina Chen once again brings readers a story with the right ending in a complex real world. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Fish in the Sky, by Fridrik Erlings (fiction) – everything changes at age 13?

Jan16

book cover of Fish in the Sky by Fridrik Erlings published by CandlewickMath on Monday mornings,
Bullies in the gym shower,
Long-legged girls who ignore him…

Why would 13-year-old Josh want to be at school when he could be nestled into an almost-cave on the rocky seashore, wondering when his dad will come back again from his cargo ship voyages, when his strange cousin will move out, when anything in his life will make sense?

As his own translator from the Icelandic, Erlings captures this teen boy’s voice and ever-circling worries perfectly. Listen to the first three minutes of the novel here, as Josh wakes up on his thirteenth birthday and finds his long-traveling father’s gift.

Another great book from Candlewick Press to pick up at your local library or independent bookstore.

What would you do with a stuffed falcon, staring at you from its tree branch perch those black eyes?
**kmm

Book info: Fish in the Sky / Fridrik Erlings; translated from Icelandic by the author. Candlewick Press, 2012. [about the author] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My Book Talk: A stuffed falcon? That’s what Dad sent Josh from the ocean freighter for his 13th birthday? Yet another thing that’s not understandable in his universe, like why the girls allow themselves to be chased at recess or how no one stands up to the bullies who throw underwear in the showers after PE or why Mom lets his 17-year-old girl cousin move in with them.

She’s in trouble back home, this Trudy, and Josh is sure that it won’t be better at his house with her here. Mom has transformed his huge walk-in closet into Trudy’s room, so this girl who’s practically a stranger has to walk through his room to get anywhere!

School is even worse than being home: the agony of morning math with the headmaster, the giggling girls who send knowing looks but never walk with him during break time, the torture of PE class and the mean locker-room monitor and the bullies who pick on everyone different than them.

Josh decides that he’s learned enough for now and forges a series of excuse notes to stay away from seventh grade; if Mom weren’t so busy with two jobs, she’d do it, right?

How will Josh and Peter work on their film about falcons with Trudy barging in all the time?
And a growing guy needs his sleep; doesn’t that girl ever turn down her music?
Wait, it’s too quiet in Trudy’s space – has she snuck out after promising mom that she’d behave?
Dad’s calling from shore – why isn’t he on the cargo ships, like always?<

The confusion of becoming a teen and trying to understand other people wanders through Josh’s days and dreams in this coming-of-age novel, translated from the Icelandic by the author.

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Daylight Saving, by Edward Hogan (fiction) – swimming, mystery, time loops to break

Oct17
book cover of Daylight Saving by Edward Hogan published by Candlewick

Cute girl in a swimsuit,
lovely lake in the woods.
Everyone can see the water,
but no one can see the girl struggling there…
except Daniel.

The days are growing shorter at the resort, giving him less and less time to solve the mystery of Lexi. Shouldn’t injuries heal up over time, instead of getting worse? As the teens stay near each other through his vacation, Daniel awakens to find the same injuries on himself.

If Lexi is a ghost, why can he touch her? If Lexi is a girl, why is she at the resort alone… and how can they prevent terrible things from popping into the woods during that hour everyone relives when Daylight Saving Time ends and the clocks fall back?

Published in September 2012, you should be able to find Hogan’s first YA book at your local library or independent bookstore now. Then find some uninterrupted reading time – you won’t want to put it down!
**kmm

Book info: Daylight Saving / Edward Hogan. Candlewick, 2012.  [author’s writing room] [publisher site] [book trailer]  

My Recommendation:  An “active holiday” away with Dad…couch-potato Daniel can’t imagine a worse vacation. Bicycling through Leisure World’s well-manicured woods to avoid sports activities, the English teen spots a cute girl swimming in the fake lake. And she’ll even talk to him – about his parents’ divorce, Dad’s spiraling depression, but not herself.
Daniel wonders if Lexi is playing hard-to-get or hiding a dangerous secret. He only seems to see her at the lake, never at the pizza place or the pool. She says swimming is a good way to let your mind relax while your body works, so Dan hits the pool, huffing and puffing at first. The more he swims, the more he worries about Lexi.
How can a teenager be at this fancy resort by herself? Why can’t anyone else see her?  Why is her watch running backwards? What’s causing her wounds which seem larger each night?
As the autumn evening approaches when all Great Britain’s clocks turn back one hour, Lexi and Daniel try to find a way to stop a terrible past event from happening again. Part mystery, perhaps some ghost story, all thriller – will the night of Daylight Saving be too late?  (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

D is Dying to Tell Me (fiction) – hearing the dead, dog on a mission

Apr4

D for a dying man, red flashes of light,
D for dread, cold whispers of wind on a still night…
Approaching the old stone jail cell, Sasha’s visions get worse.
Red flashes, a dying man,
The past or the future??

Do you believe in messages from beyond the grave? Are premonitions true indicators of what may happen in the future? Can there be mental communication between people and animals?

Moving to a strange small town is bad enough, but being immediately tagged as the policeman’s kids and mostly shunned makes it that much worse. Sasha wonders if her more-frequent visions of blood and peril are part of the town itself or simply mean that she’s losing her mind. Hearing King somehow speak to her makes her suspect the latter – retired police dogs do not talk to grumpy teen girls, they just don’t!

Many mysterious things in this novel by Sherryl Clark, who firmly places readers in Manna Creek, Australia, with the town itself as one of the book’s main characters. Look for Dying to Tell Me at your local library or indie bookstore.
**kmm

Book info: Dying to Tell Me / Sherryl Clark. Kane Miller, 2011 [author’s website] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My Recommendation: Strange chills and odd visions – doesn’t anyone else in Manna Creek sense them? Sasha and her younger brother aren’t impressed with the little town where their dad has moved them for a “fresh start.” After the troubles that landed her in Teen Court, Sasha doesn’t have any voice in this, of course.

They nearly hit a scrawny dog as they drive up to this shabby little house that can’t even hold all their furniture. The shops in town look dusty and tired, and the townspeople aren’t very friendly to the new policeman or his family. Sasha knew that her mum wouldn’t un-divorce her dad, but she never dreamed that they’d move away from Melbourne, out to nowhere.

On their first walk around, Sasha slips off the trail and into icy Manna Creek, hitting her head on the way. Rescued by little brother Nicky and the local ambulance squad, she keeps getting visions of a man, a hunted-looking man. The visions are worse in their backyard, which they share with the police station – flashes of red and the image of a man in the old stone building.

A gun-shy retired police dog comes to live with the family. At least King likes them! Bored during the long school break, Sasha and Nicky visit the local history museum and learn about a man who hanged himself in that police cell 100 years ago. And the small art gallery includes original masterworks of famous Australian painters that Sasha recognizes from her art classes. Out here?

As Nicky and Sasha roam Manna Creek and discover more about its people and past, her visions get worse. Images of fire and death – are they shadows of the past or premonitions? Can she stop a tragedy before it happens? Why does King seem to understand what she’s thinking before she says it? And that man in her visions – who is he?

More than one mystery hides in Manna Creek and in the pages of this well-written novel by Australian author Sherryl Clark. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Statistical Probability of Falling in Love, by Jennifer E. Smith (book review) – love is in the air?

Jan27

Bridesmaid’s dress? check.
Passport? yes, Mom!
Dickens novel to throw at Dad? of course.

Even if you’ve never missed a travel connection or worried about having to get along with people you’ve never met or been stranded in a crowded airport, you can still imagine Hadley’s anxiety about traveling by herself from JFK to London for her dad’s second wedding…

Meeting Oliver makes the delay and the flight so much more bearable for her. All those crazy statistics he quotes – he must be making them up! Why, oh why couldn’t they have gotten to say a proper goodbye at Heathrow Airport before she had to find a taxi and rush to the wedding?

Twenty-four hours of hurry and bother – wonder if it’s the last thing that Hadley needs or merely what she’d never expect…
**kmm

Book info: The Statistical Probability of Falling in Love / Jennifer E. Smith. Poppy Books, 2012. [author’s website] [book’s Facebook page] [publisher site] [Hadley’s book trailer] [Oliver’s book trailer] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My Recommendation: Four minutes late! The plane is leaving; Hadley will be late for her father’s wedding. At least there’s a cute guy to talk to as her trans-Atlantic flight is rescheduled and she tries to calm down in the overcrowded airport.

She can understand why Dad went to study in England – he is a poet, after all – but why did he fall in love with someone there? How could he leave her and Mom alone? Just sneaking in and taking his personal things from their house while they were on vacation – ha! How can he expect her to be a bridesmaid in this wedding and be happy? She’s never even met the woman – her new stepmother – arrgh!

Thankfully, the cute guy is on her flight. Oliver is British, studying at Yale, listens a lot, talks a little. He even has the seat next to hers and helps Hadley relax on her first long plane ride, inventing silly statistics and listening to her worries about the future.

Separated at the passport checkpoint in the London airport, Hadley hopes she can see Oliver one last time before she heads into a strange city and a strange new relationship with her father. With the delays, she’ll barely make it to the London church in time for the wedding.

As the day goes on and Hadley moves her jet-lagged self through the ceremony and family photos, she feels compelled to find Oliver, to find out why he was returning to England suddenly, to see if he can come up with a statistic that will make her feel better about what lies ahead.

Can she remember enough from their sleepy conversations to figure out where he is? Can she travel there without getting run over by traffic traveling on the wrong side of the road? Can she just make it through this nerve-wracking day and go back home to Mom, please?

It’s easy to understand Hadley’s fears and frustrations during all the changes in her life and to root for her to find someone special for herself, even if she doesn’t believe in love at first sight. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Pieces of Me, by Charlotte Gingras (fiction) – seeking friendship, hiding Mom’s illness

Jul14

Being a teenager is difficult. Coping with a parent’s mental illness can make it unbearable. And it’s just Mira and her mom, in that basement apartment.

How can you be anyone’s friend if your mother has your walk home from school timed to the second? Who wouldn’t have a crush on the only teacher who ever encouraged you?

Originally published in French as La Liberté. Connais pas… this slim, lyrical story won a 1999 Governor General’s Literary Award from the Canada Council for the Arts. Susan Ouriou’s translation is flowing and true, bringing us Mira’s story from the chilly Quebec streets.

Find this gem at your local library or independent bookstore to hear Mira’s tale.
**kmm

Book info: Pieces of Me / Charlotte Gingras; translated by Susan Ouriou. Kids Can Press, 2009. [author biography in French] [publisher site]

Recommendation: At 14, Mirabelle feels separated from real life – trapped in the basement apartment by her divorced mother who knows to the minute how long it takes Mira to walk home from school, reading in the school library so she doesn’t have to talk to anyone at lunch, hiding behind her long golden hair so no one sees her sketches.

Then Catherine arrives at school, and Mira’s life moves out of its dark cloud, bit by bit. They invent a club so that they can meet after school in the café once a week. Cath brings Mira to a table of friends at lunch. And they both work hard at the challenging assignments in art class.

Cath gets a boyfriend and drifts away, just a little, as Mira’s admiration of her art teacher becomes infatuation, and life becomes more complicated. Her wildlife biologist father returns to the city, asking about her plans for college – a startling idea for Mira, who isn’t sure how her mother would survive without her.

Discerning older teen readers will remember Mira’s love of color, her worries about her first kiss, and her dreams of escaping the basement apartment long after they close this slim volume, lyrically translated from the French by Susan Ouriou. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy courtesy of the publisher.