Thousand Words Review

TITLE Thousand Words
AUTHOR Jennifer Brown
PUBLICATION May 21st 2013 by Little Brown Books for Young Readers
READ April 20 to 21, 2013
SOURCE From Hachette Canada for review

Ashleigh's boyfriend, Kaleb, is about to leave for college, and Ashleigh is worried that he'll forget about her while he's away. So at a legendary end-of-summer pool party, Ashleigh's friends suggest she text him a picture of herself -- sans swimsuit -- to take with him. Before she can talk herself out of it, Ashleigh strides off to the bathroom, snaps a photo in the full-length mirror, and hits "send."

But when Kaleb and Ashleigh go through a bad breakup, Kaleb takes revenge by forwarding the text to his baseball team. Soon the photo has gone viral, attracting the attention of the school board, the local police, and the media. As her friends and family try to distance themselves from the scandal, Ashleigh feels completely alone -- until she meets Mack while serving her court-ordered community service. Not only does Mack offer a fresh chance at friendship, but he's the one person in town who received the text of Ashleigh's photo -- and didn't look.

Acclaimed author Jennifer Brown brings readers a gripping novel about honesty and betrayal, redemption and friendship, attraction and integrity, as Ashleigh finds that while a picture may be worth a thousand words . . . it doesn't always tell the whole story.

I was quick to bump THOUSAND WORDS to the top of my reading pile because of my love for author Jennifer Brown. She has fast become one of my favorite contemporary authors because I love the way she deals with gritty issues in such a head on manner & creates characters that I can really empathize with. Her latest novel delivered everything that I have come to expect from her and while I did long to be a bit more moved emotionally, I came out having met characters that I really connected with in a story that is very relevant in this modern world.

Ashleigh was a high school girl who was definitely not without her flaws. From the very beginning of the novel she comes across as someone who has selfish thoughts and is quite susceptible to peer pressure. In these ways I could put myself in her shoes quite easily. I remember being that age and how easy it was to be swayed by the people around you and I could also really connect with her attachment to her first love. I was that girl, I had my first serious boyfriend and he became my world and I quite literally thought that I would never survive without him. As we watch the rocky road that Kaleb and Ash have found themselves on there was a lot that I could latch onto and I think that is due to Brown’s wonderful writing. It’s not flowery or over the top, it is straight and to the point, I really felt as if I was in the head of a teenage girl.

At the core of this novel it is really about the decisions that we make and the repercussions those decisions can have on us and our loved ones. Not only does Ashleigh pay the consequences for the photo that she sends out but her parents also face some pretty heavy tribulations. I liked how we got a wide picture of the whole scenario, we didn’t just get a tunnel view of how what happened affected Ash. I did long to see more of the consequences that Kaleb faced, he did a pretty heinous thing in the heat of the moment and ended up in some pretty hot water. We do get to see what has come of him but I would have liked some more resolution to know where he was at the end of the story.

I think this is an incredibly relevant story at this point in time and I think it has a very important message. One thing that I truly appreciated was that it didn’t make everything pretty. Even at the end of the story Ash’s life isn’t back to perfect and when we leave her she is definitely still struggling with figuring everything out. I would have been sorely disappointed had everything ended up perfect because life doesn’t usually work like that. She does have a better outlook as she brings some new people into her life and works on relationships of her past. In her community service hours she works after school everyday in a program for teens who create information pamphlets on whatever crime they had committed. I haven’t looked into this too much yet but I hope programs for community service like that really exist because not only is it giving the kids their hours but it’s making them face what they did head on and become more fluent in the issues they are facing.

A novel that feels like it could have been ripped from the headlines, THOUSAND WORDS is sure to please fans of issue books and contemporary in general. Jennifer Brown is remaining on my favorites list and I can’t wait to see what topic she tackles next.

Perfect Escape Review

TITLE Perfect Escape
AUTHOR Jennifer Brown
PUBLICATION July 10th 2012 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
READ November 07, 2012
SOURCE Hachette Book Group Canada for review

Kendra has always felt overshadowed by her older brother, Grayson, whose OCD forces him to live a life of carefully coordinated routines. The only way Kendra can stand out next to Grayson is to be perfect, and she has perfection down to an art -- until a cheating scandal threatens her flawless reputation.

Behind the wheel of her car, with Grayson asleep beside her, Kendra decides to drive away from it all -- with enough distance, maybe she'll be able to figure everything out. But eventually, Kendra must stop running and come to terms with herself, her brother, and her past.

With undeniable grace and humor, acclaimed author Jennifer Brown explores OCD, the pressure for perfection, and the emotional highs and lows of a complex sibling relationship.

As we all know, I am a sucker for a good contemporary story. I am also a proven lover of Jennifer Brown; her writing is beautiful and I always find her novels heartbreaking and yet uplifting. So when I saw Perfect Escape, I knew it was one I had to get my hands on.

I'm always on the lookout for a novel that will pull at my heartstrings, and at the center of achieving that lies great characters. In each of the novels by Brown I have read I became friends with the characters. I haven't come across any that are as easily relatable as hers and I always find myself emotionally invested in their well being and the outcome of the story. In Perfect Escape we meet Kendra who is a 17 year old high school student living in the shadow of her older brother's OCD. All her life she has strived to be perfect and at the top of her class because she has always felt that her brother's shortcomings fell into her lap. She wanted to be the smart, good child that she felt her parents deserved. It was so engrossing to see the family from Kendra's eyes. Being the sister of someone with a debilitating mental disorder could never be easy but the extent to which it affected her everyday life was heartbreaking.

Kendra was an amazing MC. She was funny, she was smart and she was flawed. Choosing to have the story unfold from her perspective was such a fantastic idea. On her path to achieve the perfection she strived for she took some missteps along the way and I really enjoyed how the depth of her troubling situation remained a mystery throughout much of the novel. The mystery left you wondering what happened that was so serious that she felt the need to run away for a while. While I didn't always agree with how she handled the situations she got herself into I could understand why she acted the way that she did. I often found myself holding my breath when she put Grayson into situations that were definitely not good for him. He was also a character that I came to love and it broke my heart that there was a mentality in some of the people around him that he could be "fixed" like it was his choice to have OCD. At the end of the novel we really get to see how this sickness has affected both of their lives in a very strong way and I truly felt terrible for both of them.

Perfect Escape is a touching story that takes you through a roller coaster emotions. At its heart it is a tale of love, sibling rivalry and acceptance. I think it changed my perception on how something like OCD can affect a family, and made me realize the potential severity of the illness. I definitely recommend Perfect Escape to contemporary lovers and people who love a good character driven story.

Bitter End Review

TITLE Bitter End
AUTHOR Jennifer Brown
PUBLICATION May 10, 2011 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
READ August 15, 2012

When Alex falls for the charming new boy at school, Cole -- a handsome, funny, sports star who adores her -- she can't believe she's finally found her soul mate . . . someone who truly loves and understands her.

At first, Alex is blissfully happy. Sure, Cole seems a little jealous of her relationship with her close friend Zack, but what guy would want his girlfriend spending all her time with another boy? As the months pass, though, Alex can no longer ignore Cole's small put-downs, pinches, or increasingly violent threats.

As Alex struggles to come to terms with the sweet boyfriend she fell in love with and the boyfriend whose "love" she no longer recognizes, she is forced to choose -- between her "true love" and herself.

After reading Brown's Hate List and seeing how she tackled tough issues in a very realistic, head on manner I was quick to pick up everything I could by her and knew that I had to read them all. I went into Bitter End with mixed emotions as I had high hopes due to the author's previous work but I often find myself struggling to connect to abused women in books. Yes, I am that girl, I read through the pages and roll my eyes at the characters inability to just walk away from the situation and come out having had a less than enjoyable experience. Bitter End changed that, I literally could not put this book down. I read it on a sunny afternoon and found myself unable to walk away from it. I went and made the kids breakfast and raced back outside to pick up where I left off in Alex's story.

What this novel did for me, I haven't come across before. I connected with Alex and I completely understood her reasoning for sticking around in a toxic situation. She had found love and was feeling it in a way that she had never felt before. Her inner dialogue takes the reader through the thought patterns of being abused so perfectly; pain, anger, betrayal, and ultimately regret. Bitter End is written so perfectly in every way I can think of that I connected to it having never been abused myself. The progressions were spot on, whether it was the abusive relationship, Alex's friendship with Zack and Bethany or her home life with her family.

Alex was a complex character, who even though she was an abused person staying in the relationship, she had her head on her shoulders. I have never been able to understand the mentality that would make someone stay in an abusive relationship, but I think Alex made me understand. She had a crappy home life, didn't get along with her sisters and her father has been absent since her mother's death but she had the kind of friendships anyone would hope for. The scenes with Alex, Bethany and Zack were hilarious and oftentimes I found myself laughing out loud at their jabs toward one another. Even though she had such strong friendships she longed for a love and understanding that you can't find in friends and when she found it in the, seemingly, perfect Cole she thought she had it all.

Cole was bang on your typical abuser. He was sweet as pie at first but as their relationship went on and he became jealous his dark side began to push through the surface. He would hurt Alex and then say all the right things to get her back into the relationship. I was heartbroken watching him play her emotions and make all the false promises he could. There is a scene with him that involves drunk driving that probably should have been at least addressed in the story and wasn't but with so much going on I can see why it would have been glossed over in the expanse of things.

This is by no means a happy story with a happily ever after. It is gritty and does not shy away from the issue at hand, but it is real and I think that is needed to make a good, memorable story. I'm not a believer in thinking the bad parts of our society should be avoided in novels, because it's out there and it's reality, and Jennifer Brown knows how to write about them in the most perfect way I can possibly imagine.

Read. This. Book. NOW.

Hate List Review

TITLE Hate List
AUTHOR Jennifer Brown
PUBLICATION September 1, 2009 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
READ June 17 - 20, 2012

Five months ago, Valerie Leftman's boyfriend, Nick, opened fire on their school cafeteria. Shot trying to stop him, Valerie inadvertently saved the life of a classmate, but was implicated in the shootings because of the list she helped create. A list of people and things she and Nick hated. The list he used to pick his targets.

Now, after a summer of seclusion, Val is forced to confront her guilt as she returns to school to complete her senior year. Haunted by the memory of the boyfriend she still loves and navigating rocky relationships with her family, former friends and the girl whose life she saved, Val must come to grips with the tragedy that took place and her role in it, in order to make amends and move on with her life.

 Hate List by Jennifer Brown was a book that I wanted to read because I can remember the Columbine shooting so vividly and I can remember feeling so affected by the incident just because I was a high school student myself.  I remember walking down the hallways for months afterward watching all the bullying going on around me and thinking "that could happen here." There were so many kids at my school that were bugged relentlessly, that would walk down the hallway and avoid eye contact by staring at the floor just trying to make it without incident to their next class. I have said it so many times before but I'm going to say it again, high school is a scary place that's full of hate.

Jennifer Brown has excellently portrayed the dirty high school politics in this novel.  I felt like I was brought back to that time and watching the bullying happening right before my eyes.  Valerie broke my heart so many times throughout, she had it so rough at school as well as at home. She was full of anger when she made the hate list, and she made it just to have an outlet for that anger.  For her that's all it was, an outlet, but for her boyfriend Nick it was so much more, it was a list of potential targets.  The relationships portrayed in Hate List are so hard to read, I didn't agree with most people but I understood how they would feel the way that they did.

Valerie's parents were the worst for me, they were in no way supportive of their daughter.  It was difficult for me to believe, because I at least come from a family where a conversation would be had. Her parents jumped to some pretty damning conclusions and were quite cold to her after she went through the shooting.  I can see their motives for feeling that way, and maybe there are some parents out there like that, but I didn't believe it and the whole thing made me really mad.  They were terrible parents living in a loveless marriage and I hated them.  A LOT.

Hate list is very character driven, it is all about people dealing with the shooting and learning from it.  One thing that I really wanted out of this, that I don't feel I got enough of was Nick's feelings & motives.  I wanted to get inside his head a little more to see what made him tick. I liked the approach Jennifer took at conveying the story, we have the present day which is Valerie dealing with going back to school after the shooting, and we have the past which tells us the story of the shooting and the days following.  Interspersed with those two timeframes are newspaper articles from the local newspaper.  It was all very emotional and left me feeling pretty depressed, but I feel it's a very gritty, realistic approach to a really tough subject.