Cybil Challenge

Dumplin’

2016, Audiobooks, Books in Bed, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Fiction, Young Adult /

When it was time to leave Chicagoland, we were on the last disc of the audio version of Dumplin’. Grrr. So frustrating, particularly since it wasn’t available on Overdrive or Hoopla. HMPH.

But, we got lucky because the first thing I did when I picked up my Alachua County Library card was to head for the audiobooks and guess what was there waiting for us? DUMPLIN’!

Woot.

We finished it today. It was awfully cute but it kept giving me Dolly Parton earworms. (Also, I would have liked to know who won, darn it.) And, I’ll be honest and say that I didn’t expect the Willowdean in the beginning of the book to be the Willowdean in the middle of the book. And, I can’t decide if that’s good or not good.

I really don’t like it when teenagers have their acts TOO much together. It doesn’t ring true. So when the book started and Willowdean had her act together, I was skeptical. And for awhile there, I thought maybe the shift that seemed to occur was too big of a shift. But, as I thought more about it – it made more sense to me that she would have started to struggle more, or admit the struggle, with her body image as she got older, had to deal with changes in her friendships, relationships with boys, and the loss of her aunt. Makes total sense. I think.

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Blackthorn Key

2016, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Fiction /

I really enjoyed Blackthorn Key and hope I remember to look for the sequels at some point down the line. Christopher is a good character. So is Tom. I am disappointed about one thing that happened, pretty early in the book but I understand why it did… I really hate it when characters I like die very early in the first book of a series. (And as TW said, Harry Potter must have been hard for me — and yes, yes it was.)

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Infandrous

2016, Books in Bed, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Fiction, Young Adult /

It was a bit of a mistake to read Infandrous right after reading All the Rage… all the bad things that can happen to girls can get a little overwhelming and depressing when you’re reading about it constantly.

But, I really liked Infandrous except I’m not sure it read as YA. The myths scattered throughout the book went a long way towards making this one hell of a dark and deep novel. Not to mention “Felix”… I wonder if teens reading this would have realized who Felix was without having it spelled out at the end. I wish I knew a teen who might read it so I could find out, lol.

Anyway. I really liked this one. It’s one of my favorite books of the year, so far.

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All the Rage

2016, Books in Bed, Cybil Challenge, Fiction, Young Adult /

Courtney Summers, y’all. Some of you will know why I say that. Some of you won’t, (sorry!) All the Rage is exactly the right title for this book.

Romy has rage, as she should. And that rage wreaks havoc with her relationships with everyone and especially with herself.

I’m not sure I liked Leon’s character… liked might not be the right word. I liked his character well enough, I’m just not sure it was the right character for this particular book. I get that Romy needed someone sort of like Leon but I am not convinced that the story line between the two of them really worked. Might just be me, though…

Ultimately, this is one of my favorite Courtney Summers books so yay?

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Every Last Word

2016, Books in Bed, Cybil Challenge, Fiction, Young Adult /

I was really enjoying Every Last Word — very interesting story about a teen girl with Pure-O OCD. I had some questions that weren’t being answered but that was ok, the story was good and the characters were interesting.

And then I got to something like page 282 and wanted to throw the book across the room. (I didn’t, it’s a library book, after all.) I did NOT see that coming and I did NOT think it was good for the story…

Still, I stuck with it and mostly liked it after that, too. Mostly. I’m still not really happy with that little Caroline twist but whatever. It’s not all about me, is it?

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