The Light Fantastic by Sarah Combs

I finished this novel on the plane back from Atlanta.  The Light Fantastic was a wonderful novel about the pain that some kids are hiding below the surface, and the extremes they may go to to get rid of that pain.  Told through the neatly interwoven stories of several different characters, it also becomes a tale of redemption as our characters #findthehelpers that guide them through the pain, through the isolation, and into the light fantastic.  When it all comes down to it, I think our character Lincoln says it best:

From Amazon:

Seven tightly interwoven narratives. Three harrowing hours. One fateful day that changes everything.

Delaware, the morning of April 19. Senior Skip Day, and April Donovan’s eighteenth birthday. Four days after the Boston Marathon bombing, the country is still reeling, and April’s rare memory condition has her recounting all the tragedies that have cursed her birth month. And just what was that mysterious gathering under the bleachers about? Meanwhile, in Nebraska, Lincoln Evans struggles to pay attention in Honors English, distracted by the enigmatic presence of Laura Echols, capturer of his heart. His teacher tries to hold her class’s interest, but she can’t keep her mind off what Adrian George told her earlier. Over in Idaho, Phoebe is having second thoughts about the Plan mere hours before the start of a cross-country ploy led by an Internet savant known as the Mastermind. Is all her heartache worth the cost of the Assassins’ machinations? The Light Fantastic is a tense, shocking, and beautifully wrought exploration of the pain and pathos of a generation of teenagers on the brink—and the hope of moving from shame and isolation into the light of redemption.

Still Life With Tornado by A.S. King

As usual, I was blown away by the writing of A.S. King.  It was such a strong and powerful novel about the struggle that kids go through living in an unhappy home.  Sarah tries her hardest to fully understand what is going on in her life while being helped along by both past and future versions of herself.  These characters help guide her through the turmoil while at the same time reassuring her that things are going to be okay.  It is a novel full of heartbreak.  Heartbreak for Sarah as she learns the full truth.  Heartbreak for her brother, Bruce, and their mother for having to have dealt with the worst of the abuse coming from their father/husband.  But in the end it is hopeful.  We have hope that Sarah, Bruce, and their mother are going to find a life of peace and love.  A future where they don't have to be afraid.  A future where they can be original.

From Amazon:

A heartbreaking and mindbending story of a talented teenage artist's awakening to the brokenness of her family from critically acclaimed award-winner A.S. King.

Sixteen-year-old Sarah can't draw. This is a problem, because as long as she can remember, she has "done the art." She thinks she's having an existential crisis. And she might be right; she does keep running into past and future versions of herself as she wanders the urban ruins of Philadelphia. Or maybe she's finally waking up to the tornado that is her family, the tornado that six years ago sent her once-beloved older brother flying across the country for a reason she can't quite recall. After decades of staying together "for the kids" and building a family on a foundation of lies and domestic violence, Sarah's parents have reached the end. Now Sarah must come to grips with years spent sleepwalking in the ruins of their toxic marriage. As Sarah herself often observes, nothing about her pain is remotely original—and yet it still hurts.

Insightful, heartbreaking, and ultimately hopeful, this is a vivid portrait of abuse, survival, resurgence that will linger with readers long after the last page.

Kids of Appetite by David Arnold

"The lived, and they laughed, and they saw that it was good."

I just want to start out by saying I love this book.  David Arnold has done it again.  Mosquitoland is one of my favorites and I wondered how he would ever live up to it, but he did.  I just can't get it out of my head.  There are so many wonderful lines in this book.  Lines that make you stop what you are doing and just sit there and think.  I took so many pictures of this book, parts that I just loved and wanted to remember.  Lines from the book that I had to text to my wife so she could read them.  In fact I am trying to convince her to get a tattoo with me that was inspired by this book so that we "never lose each other."  I think all I can do at this point is leave some of those pictures here and let you see for yourself.  And after you have looked at these pictures, go read it!

From Amazon:

The bestselling author of Mosquitoland brings us another batch of unforgettable characters in this tragicomedy about first love and devastating loss.

Victor Benucci and Madeline Falco have a story to tell.
It begins with the death of Vic’s father.
It ends with the murder of Mad’s uncle.
The Hackensack Police Department would very much like to hear it.
But in order to tell their story, Vic and Mad must focus on all the chapters in between.

This is a story about:

1. A coded mission to scatter ashes across New Jersey.
2. The momentous nature of the Palisades in winter.
3. One dormant submarine.
4. Two songs about flowers.
5. Being cool in the traditional sense.
6. Sunsets & ice cream & orchards & graveyards.
7. Simultaneous extreme opposites.
8. A narrow escape from a war-torn country.
9. A story collector.
10. How to listen to someone who does not talk.
11. Falling in love with a painting.
12. Falling in love with a song.
13. Falling in love.

The Memory of Things by Gae Polisner

Wow!  What a fantastic read.  This was such a beautiful read and one that has just continued to linger with me since I finished it last night.  I'm pretty sure it will be sticking with me for a long time. 

This story is told from the perspective of two main characters, Kyle and the mystery girl he found covered in ash and wearing wings as he returned home on the morning of the attacks of 9/11.  It is told in both narrative and verse and weaves them together beautifully. 

While this is a tragic tale of people directly effected by the attacks of September 11, it is so much more than that.  This is a story, most importantly, of hope.  It teaches us that through tragedy, through disaster, through sadness, we can all find hope that things will be better.  We can all believe in the hope that things will be good again, that things can one day return to normal. 

It is also a story about family and all the ways that our family plays a part in our lives.  About how our family is our life line, our tether to everything that is important to us. 

It is about first love and discovering who we are.  Discovering what are face looks like, even if that means we have to lean all of this through terrible tragedy. 

I can't recommend this book highly enough!!!


From Amazon:

On the morning of September 11, 2001, sixteen-year-old Kyle Donohue watches the first twin tower come down from the window of Stuyvesant High School. Moments later, terrified and fleeing home to safety across the Brooklyn Bridge, he stumbles across a girl perched in the shadows, covered in ash, and wearing a pair of costume wings. With his mother and sister in California and unable to reach his father, a NYC detective likely on his way to the disaster, Kyle makes the split-second decision to bring the girl home. What follows is their story, told in alternating points of view, as Kyle tries to unravel the mystery of the girl so he can return her to her family. But what if the girl has forgotten everything, even her own name? And what if the more Kyle gets to know her, the less he wants her to go home? The Memory of Things tells a stunning story of friendship and first love and of carrying on with our day-to-day living in the midst of world-changing tragedy and unforgettable pain―it tells a story of hope.

The Smaller Evil by Stephanie Kuehn

So I finished The Smaller Evil over the weekend and I'm just not sure what to think.  On one hand I enjoyed it because it was a book that keeps you thinking and keeps you guessing.  Something terrible has happened and Arman is trying to figure out what exactly it is.  Was he responsible?  Did he imagine the whole thing?  Is there a much bigger and more sinister plan going on? 

I like books that want you to try and figure out the puzzle, but there was something about this one that just didn't stick with me.  There were moments that I didn't want to put it down, but the overall experience just left me kind of indifferent. 

From Amazon:

Sometimes the greater good requires the smaller evil.

17-year-old Arman Dukoff can't remember life without anxiety and chronic illness when he arrives at an expensive self-help retreat in the remote hills of Big Sur. He’s taken a huge risk—and two-thousand dollars from his meth-head stepfather—for a chance to "evolve," as Beau, the retreat leader, says.

Beau is complicated. A father figure? A cult leader? A con man? Arman's not sure, but more than anyone he's ever met, Beau makes Arman feel something other than what he usually feels—worthless.

The retreat compound is secluded in coastal California mountains among towering redwoods, and when the iron gates close behind him, Arman believes for a moment that he can get better. But the program is a blur of jargon, bizarre rituals, and incomprehensible encounters with a beautiful girl. Arman is certain he's failing everything. But Beau disagrees; he thinks Arman has a bright future—though he never says at what.

And then, in an instant Arman can't believe or totally recall, Beau is gone. Suicide? Or murder? Arman was the only witness and now the compound is getting tense. And maybe dangerous.

As the mysteries and paradoxes multiply and the hints become accusations, Arman must rely on the person he's always trusted the least: himself.

The Merciless II by Danielle Vega

So....it has taken me more than a month to finish reading this book.  I didn't read a whole lot in July, as you can tell.  Life (and Dexter) got in the way of reading.  But I finally finished The Merciless II.

This was very much a continuation of the first book.  It was a lot of fun and definitely will keep you on the edge of your seat at times.  Much like the first one, it has a definite creepy factor to it. If you like tales of evil, the devil, exorcism, or the like, you will enjoy this one.  But if you haven't read The Merciless, I would read it first before diving in to this one.   

From Amazon:

Danielle Vega—YA’s answer to Stephen King—once again brings major scares in the spine-tingling sequel to horror hit The Merciless, which MTV calls “Mean Girls meets The Exorcist.”

Sofia is still processing the horrific truth of what happened when she and three friends performed an exorcism that spiraled horribly out of control. Ever since that night, Sofia has been haunted by bloody and demonic visions. Her therapist says they’re all in her head, but to Sofia they feel chillingly real. She just wants to get out of town, start fresh someplace else . . . until her mother dies suddenly, and Sofia gets her wish.

Sofia is sent to St. Mary’s, a creepy Catholic boarding school in Mississippi. There, seemingly everyone is doing penance for something, most of all the mysterious Jude, for whom Sofia can’t help feeling an unshakeable attraction. But when Sofia and Jude confide in each other about their pasts, something flips in him. He becomes convinced that Sofia is possessed by the devil. . . . Is an exorcism the only way to save her eternal soul?

Readers won’t be able to look away from this terrifying read full of twists and turns that will leave them wondering, Is there evil in all of us?

Stick by Andrew Smith

Stick was another wonderful read by Andrew Smith.  Like everything else I have read by him, I loved it.  Smith provides the reader with another wonderful voice in that of Stark "Stick" McClellan.  He makes you want to root for and rescue Stick and his brother Bosten as they deal with the terrible situation they are stuck in with their abusive parents.  When Bosten finally runs away, we want nothing more than for Stick to find his brother and become whole again.  Smith again gives us a story that is both heartbreaking and hopeful all in one.  Only a couple more books to check off my Andrew Smith list and I will be all caught up.   

From Amazon:

Fourteen-year-old Stark McClellan (nicknamed Stick because he's tall and thin) is bullied for being "deformed" - he was born with only one ear. His older brother Bosten is always there to defend Stick. But the boys can't defend one another from their abusive parents.

When Stick realizes Bosten is gay, he knows that to survive his father's anger, Bosten must leave home. Stick has to find his brother, or he will never feel whole again. In his search, he will encounter good people, bad people, and people who are simply indifferent to kids from the wrong side of the tracks. But he never loses hope of finding love - and his brother.

From Andrew Smith, the Printz-Honor author of Grasshopper Jungle and Winger, this is a powerful young adult novel full of joy, heartbreak, and survival.

An ALA Best Book for Young Adults