Blog Tour: How I Lost You by Janet Gurtler

TITLE How I Lost You
AUTHOR Janet Gurtler
PUBLICATION April 23rd 2013 by Sourcebooks Fire
READ April 13, 2013
SOURCE Sourcebooks for review

There are a few things Grace Anderson knows for sure. One is that nothing will ever come between her and her best friend, Kya Kessler. They have a pact. Buds Before Studs. Sisters Before Misters. But in the summer before senior year, life throws out challenges they never expected. And suddenly the person who's always been there starts to need the favor returned. Grace and Kya are forced to question how much a best friend can forgive. And the answer is not what they expected.

As a Canadian I am always quick to support Canadian authors, so last year when I found out that Janet Gurtler was not only from Canada but lived in Calgary, I was quick to pick up some of her books. Prior to HOW I LOST YOU I had only gotten to read one, WHO I KISSED and I have to say that HOW I LOST YOU blew that one out of the water. This was a novel full of characters that I connected to emotionally and at the heart of the story is one of the most wonderful family units I have had the pleasure of reading about.

The real charm here kicked off in the very first chapter when it came to light that Grace (our MC) and her best friend Kya are kickass paintball players. These girls don’t just play the game here and there but they excel at it. They take part in tournaments and most of the time they whip the guys butts. They have earned a level of respect in the paint balling environment as they compete and work at Grace’s dad’s indoor paintball arena, Splatterfest. The added element of the sport and camaraderie gave me a feeling reminiscent of what I have always felt when reading Miranda Kenneally’s Hundred Oaks series, which was definitely a welcome feeling. I loved what a headstrong character Grace was and watching her function in this primarily male environment.

This novel doesn’t only have the adrenaline that the sports scenes lend to it, it also throws some strong emotion at the reader as it deals with some pretty heavy issues. Grace, Kya, and their other friend James’ relationships are really put to the test as they harbor secrets and hidden feelings for one another. I couldn’t really peg James for much of the novel but as his story came to light and we find out what he has had to deal with with the girls and with his mother who is ailing from MS I really felt for him. He was a caring, present friend in their lives despite all that he was going through. Kya was someone that I felt really bad for but I also wanted to slap some sense into her. She was incredibly impulsive to the point of being self destructive. We also get to watch the characters grow and along with that comes relationships and hurt feelings. Grace’s romance with Levi was incredibly sweet and I loved watching it grow very slowly and naturally.

The relationship at the forefront of the novel is Grace and Kya’s. These girls have been best friends forever and we watch them grow apart. There is an elephant in
their closet that has been letting Kya get away with her unhealthy antics for too long and watching Grace come to that realization was pretty emotional. It was intense to see her come around and start putting herself first. Helping her get there is a great support system in the form of her family. Her parents were awesome! Her dad was an ex-cop and her mom an ex-lawyer with quite the personality. Their witty banter with one another was heartwarming and I loved her mom’s dry sarcasm so much.

HOW I LOST YOU is an exceptional novel with so many layers that it has a little something for everyone. Chalk full of great action sequences, layered relationships and well-developed characters, it’s a fun, empowering read that isn’t scared to draw out emotion. I think Gurtler has hit it out of the park with this one and I can’t wait to see what she throws at us next.

Excerpt from How I Lost You

     “Climb over,” Kya called from her yard.
     I sized up the fence. It wasn’t designed for climbing. I shook my head. “I’ll come around to the front on the street.”
     “Come on. Climb over. You’re already out here. It’s not hard. We’ll catch you,” Kya shouted.
     It was a test. One she didn’t necessarily want me to pass. I found out later how much Kya liked to test people.
     “Come on, new girl. Try,” Kya called.
     I could hear James protesting, trying to stick up for me.
     But the challenge trickled over the fence. And right there, I fell for her hard. Actually, I fell right on top of her. I climbed the fence and when I swung my leg over the top of it, my pant leg caught on a branch of lavender. I hung there until Kya grabbed my leg and yanked. Hard to say which was louder, the rip of my jeans or my shriek, and then I landed on top of Kya. Fortunately, she laughed. The crazy snort laugh didn’t suit her stunning looks but it was contagious. I started to laugh too and then James joined in. Lavender flowers came down with me and tickled at my skin, and when I pulled them out of my pant leg, the smell filled my nose, mingling with our laughter. Lavender would forever remind me of that day.

Janet's Website | Twitter | Goodreads

Janet lives near the Canadian Rockies with her husband and son and a little dog named Bruce. She does not live in an Igloo or play hockey, but she does love maple syrup and says “eh” a lot. Janet only gives 5 stars to the books she reviews because she is an author herself and knows that no book can appeal to everyone, but like a child, it is very special to the creator.

I'M NOT HER was published by Sourcebooks Teen Fire in May 2011 | IF I TELL released Oct 1, 2011 from Sourcebooks Teen Fire | WHO I KISSED Sourcebooks Fire 2012.

Janet's work will also appear in the THE FIRST TIME anthology, DEAR TEEN ME anthology and WHO DONE IT anthology.

This post is a part of the How I Lost You blog tour brought to you by Jean Book Nerd

Click the tour banner below to see all the stops on this tour

Who I Kissed Review

TITLE Who I Kissed
AUTHOR Janet Gurtler
PUBLICATION October 1st 2012 by Sourcebooks Fire
READ September 15 - 16, 2012

She never thought a kiss could kill…
Samantha didn’t mean to hurt anyone. She was just trying to fit in...and she wanted to make Zee a little jealous after he completely ditched her for a prettier girl. So she kissed Alex. And then he died—right in her arms.
Was she really the only person in the entire school who didn’t know about his peanut allergy? Or that eating a peanut butter sandwich and then kissing him would be deadly? Overnight Sam turns into the school pariah and a media sensation explodes. Consumed with guilt, abandoned by her friends, and in jeopardy of losing her swimming scholarship, she’ll have to find a way to forgive herself before anyone else will.

After the Edmonton Book Blogger love fest that took place last week at the Smart Chicks Kick it book tour I was excited to get into a conversation with author Janet Gurtler on Twitter and find out that she is from Alberta! How cool to find so many bookish people near me. What was weird about it, was that I went to my shelf and grabbed Who I Kissed to start reading it and checked my phone and there was a tweet from her. It was quite the cowinkidink. So anywho, I read it, and I really enjoyed it. It's a quick read that I easily finished in two sittings and at no point did I ever feel bored or that the story was in any way lagging. Sam is an avid swimmer and after relocating to a new school she joins the swim team and quickly has eyes for senior swimmer Zee. She gets invited to a party at her friend Taylor's house and is overjoyed when Zee seems to be coming onto her and takes her outside. Well, things don't go quite as planned and one of Zee's old fling steps right between them and snatches his attention away. Out of the dark comes a boy who had been checking Sam out a lot lately, Alex. She decides in the moment to kiss Alex to make Zee a little jealous. She didn't think anything about the peanut butter sandwich that she had eaten as a snack prior to the party.... and Alex drops dead. Mid-kiss.

I had expected Who I Kissed to be a bit more funny than it was. Weird I know. To think that a book about a boy dying mid-kiss due to an anaphylactic peanut allergy would be funny, but I did. I hadn't expected to connect with the characters as much as I did. I felt so bad for Sam, she was the new girl at school and had no idea. Alex was pretty popular and everyone but her knew about his allergy. She goes into a depression and stops doing the one thing that she loves because she knows that Alex will never be able to fulfill his dreams so she feels as if she shouldn't be able to either. It was crushing to see how ruined she was after the incident, knowing that it was in no way her fault, and there was no way she could have known. I was pretty mad at Zee for holding it against her even though I could see what would make him do that. Sure it was her kiss that did the deed, but she had no idea about the allergy and it was an honest mistake.  I have to say that my favourite character was Sam's aunt Allie.  Her free spirited way of life and her patience and understanding for those around her was really admirable.  She was the perfect cooky aunt!

While this book definitely goes to an extreme with the issue, I have noticed the peanut issue becoming rather important. I remember being in school and you could eat what you wanted, when you wanted. Your mom could make cupcakes for you to take to school on your birthday and hand out to the other kids in celebration. But now that my daughter is in school there are strict regulations, it is a peanut free zone and we can't even bake cupcakes or cake for them to take in. It has to come pre packaged with the Peanut Free symbol on it. This story tackles that issue through the plot of course but also through the news stories that Sam watches. It's shocking how serious a nut allergy can be, and I'll admit, I hadn't realized it myself.

I was so happy to have enjoyed this book as much as I did and I will definitely be looking out for more books by Janet and supporting my fellow Albertan!

A copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.