Forgetting was only the beginning. When seventeen-year-old Sia wakes up on a park bench, she has no idea who or where she is. Yet after a week of being homeless, she’s reunited with her family. At school, she’s powerful and popular. At home, she’s wealthy beyond her dreams. But she quickly realizes her perfect life is a lie. Her family is falling apart and her friends are snobby, cruel and plastic. Worse still, she discovers she was the cruelest one. Mortified by her past, she embarks on a journey of redemption and falls for Kyle, the “geek” she once tormented. Yet all the time she wonders if, when her memories return, she’ll become the bully she was before…and if she’ll lose Kyle. Summary via Amazon I bought this book for a whopping ninety-nine cents, and so I didn't have...high expectations, to tell you the truth. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the characters, although lacking in exceptional depth, were very relatable and believable as the people they were chosen to represent. The romance plot in this book was very nice, but felt like an afterthought. The description stresses the romance's importance to the plot while it's not the most important element in reality, but overall it still serves its purpose. At times it seems a little unreasonably fake, like it's SO HARD to incorporate romance for this author that he just kind of... placed it there. It wasn't at all woven into the story like good romances are, but hey, it's not a romance book, right? Click Read More to see some spoilers and my opinions on some of the plot points! -Mallory
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Goodreads Summary: Peyton, Sydney's charismatic older brother, has always been the star of the family, receiving the lion's share of their parents' attention and—lately—concern. When Peyton's increasingly reckless behavior culminates in an accident, a drunk driving conviction, and a jail sentence, Sydney is cast adrift, searching for her place in the family and the world. When everyone else is so worried about Peyton, is she the only one concerned about the victim of the accident? Enter the Chathams, a warm, chaotic family who run a pizza parlor, play bluegrass on weekends, and pitch in to care for their mother, who has multiple sclerosis. Here Sydney experiences unquestioning acceptance. And here she meets Mac, gentle, watchful, and protective, who makes Sydney feel seen, really seen, for the first time. I received the sneak peek of this book (the first 3 or 4 chapters) from NetGalley since it hasn't come out yet so I decided to share my review of it. I'll be doing a full review of the book once it does come out so this review will be spoiler free. I absolutely love Sarah Dessen so this was exciting for me to read. Dessen always has a serious issue going on in her stories that always makes them seem less shallow than it would have been without it but is still able to have a thorough plot about romance and not overwhelm the reader with real modern issues and this one is no different. The main's brother is jailed for drunk driving and injuring someone and we see the family slowly falling apart just within the first couple chapters, Dessen gets right to the point without writing unnecessary fluff. One can already tell the main character is relatable just like many of Dessen's characters and I appreciate she has continued putting her girls in high school so high schoolers can connect with them. Sydney (the main) has always been outshone by her older's brother's achievements up until those achievements changed to him being a juvenile delinquent. She's accepted her fate as being the "invisible" (I believe that will be a motif throughout the novel) though cherishes the moments she is given attention by her parents. Though up until the point I read to, she (obviously) didn't have much character development yet so she seems a bit like a Mary Sue archetype at the moment but a touch less of the "I'm lonely and beautiful" since she does have some close friends and is outshone by her brother's looks. Dessen's fans know that she likes to put special Easter eggs from her other books into her latest novel so her fans won't be disappointed by any lack of them since there is a healthy abundance of them within just the first few chapters. I'm really excited to learn the significance of the title, what do you think it means? I found an old review I did of this book from when it first came out and thought I should post it. Disclaimer: I was obsessed with this book as a freshman in high school Between the Lines is by Jodi Picoult & Samantha Van Leer published by Simon Pulse on June 2013 and written as a Companion novel to Off the Page. Summary from Amazon: Delilah is a bit of a loner who prefers spending her time in the school library with her head in a book—one book in particular. Between the Lines may be a fairy tale, but it feels real. Prince Oliver is brave, adventurous, and loving. He really speaks to Delilah. And then one day Oliver actually speaks to her. Turns out, Oliver is more than a one-dimensional storybook prince. He’s a restless teen who feels trapped by his literary existence and hates that his entire life is predetermined. He’s sure there’s more for him out there in the real world, and Delilah might just be his key to freedom. The summary alone compelled me to read it since lonely high school girl + book obsession + fairy tales = me at the time. It really wasn't that cliche as some would expect and this idea of being able to fall in love with a book character and your feelings being reciprocated is pretty much every book lover's dream, which in this book, Delilah was able to achieve. Overall, the book kept me enraptured the whole time and I had to read it all in one day. The pictures are beautiful and add to the story though they do seem slightly at odds with the cover (more on that below). Read more for further discussion! -Alise |
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