Book Review: Gravity

Book Review
Gravity by Sarah Deming
Publishing date: November 12, 2019
Read courtesy of Netgalley.com

I really enjoyed this book and look forward to recommending it to my high school students. It will appeal to a wide range of readers because it crosses cultural, gender, and pastime boundaries.

Deming did a nice job of giving characters personalities and motivations (for ex., why a guy named Monster always wore pink.) The characters had distinct and interesting personalities. Their interplay was purposeful and engaging. Readers will want to continue to read to go through the characters' ups and downs with them.

Not knowing Spanish or NYC culture, I had to look up quite a few terms (foods or the name of a game) that I couldn't figure out from their context. As a teen I probably wouldn't be as hung up, i.e. anal, about looking up those words, but as a former English teacher/current librarian, I had to 😉. I also didn't know some of the boxing terms - yes, I looked them up, too - even though they were a little easier to figure out. On the other hand, Deming did well explaining the difference between a puncher and a boxer, which was important to some of the characterizations.

Deming inserted off-color but tame humor that teens at which teens might groan but secretly appreciate. She also inserted a red herring in the story that really threw me off (no spoiler, but it included a selfie); I kept expecting this inclusion in the plot to have serious repercussions, but that never materialized. It was probably left in the story to show how distracted Gravity was at that point, but that could have been accomplished in a different way, especially since nothing came of it. There was also a gratuitous mention of Michael Phelps -- I'll assume to create the timeline and setting.

Favorite line: "Regrets are like roaches. Exterminate them before that multiply."

A missing piece for me is explaining how Gravity got the money to do all of her international traveling.

Milk became a motif. I have nothing more to say about this [yet].

I'll also have to say that I'll recommend this book to students who can keep a fairly large number of characters straight. In spite of often using nicknames and not given names, I still sometimes had difficulty with remembering which character had what role for this story.

Book Review: Girls Like Us

I read Girls Like Us by Randi Pink, due to be published October 29, 2019, through the courtesy of NetGalley.com.

I liked this book as historical fiction because it made the characters realistic. It forayed into things with which I am unfamiliar and told the story well enough for me to be interested as well as engaged. I'll admit that at first I was confused by the hopping around of characters, but that soon dissipated when I realized it as a storytelling technique for how the girls were intertwined.

The author created characters in which I was invested. I believed them. I felt for them.

I would have given the book 5 stars if it weren't for the ending. It was not a bad ending, but it was jarring. I understood the point of the ending; however, after reading 91% of the book in a different time, the last 9% was more message or platform than story. I couldn't keep myself from comparing the three witches from Witches of Eastwick with the three grandmothers in this ending. It felt more surreal than real.

Regardless of the in-your-face message at the end, I still think this book is a good way to make an important point: women's choice. This book will make a good jumping off for many conversations about the topic of abortion, teenage pregnancy, and women's right to choose.

Book Review: 10 Blind Dates

Book Review:
10 Blind Dates
by Ashley Elston
Publishing Date: 01 Oct 2019 
Read courtesy of Netgalley.com

Though not as sophisticated, I believe this book fits in with what the Sarah Dessen - Jay Asher - John Green - Deb Caletti readers might enjoy.

The main character, Sophie, has a very large family, necessary for the plot to take place. However, I got confused trying to keep them straight. The author, Ashley Elston, had to create a lot of personalities to give her secondary characters motivation, and I often had to re-read parts I'd previous read to get their relationships clear.

I made some comments to myself of things that distracted me from the story, really minor things, but I felt if these were able to distract me, then I wasn't too invested in the story. Things like "Who makes peanut butter cannolis?" and "Muffalettas aren't Italian," and "Seriously, another librarian stereotype?"
To be fair, there were times when I found myself engaged enough to try to guess who the dates might be, to chuckle where the reader was supposed to chuckle at a corny line or two, and to think, "Good pick! Good surprise and fits with the picker's personality," when one of Sophie's relatives picked someone Sophie already knew.

I'm still contemplating whether there was a need for a secondary story line as extensive as the one for Sophie's sister, Margot. I got that family was important and that the author needed a plot device to get Sophie to visit her relatives, but that story line didn't add to the family-importance theme in a significant way, and it often distracted from the primary story line.

Half-way through the story it was obvious with whom Sophie was supposed to end up. The author did do a nice job, though, of drawing the reader into routing for him even while Sophie was going on dates with others.

This story allowed the author to be creative, and it was (briefly) fun to see all of the different dates Sophie's relative planned for her. But like Sophie said, "I never thought I'd get tired of going on dates, but I'm officially there." Once each date was revealed, I also got tired of being on the dates with her. And I wondered how great her family could be if they were using these young men for their own entertainment.

Book Review: The Twilight Zone

Book Review
The Twilight Man
a graphic novel by Koren Shadmi
Publish date: 08 Oct 2019
Read courtesy of Netgalley.com

I don't care whether you're a fan of "The Twilight Zone" or not. This graphic novel biography about Rod Serling is excellent. It's strength is that it showed the evolution of the man and his storytelling. The drawings were clear and not confusing while maintaining drama and emotion. It was a quick read for 169 pages. And the ending didn't disappoint; well, in real life it did, but this iteration of the storytelling did not. I cannot wait to get this for my high school library!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Book Review: The Liars of Mariposa Island

Book Review
The Liars of Mariposa Island
by Jennifer Mathieu
Publication Date 17 Sep 2019
Read courtesy of NetGalley.com

I have to be honest; I forgot what the title of this book was while I was reading it. Now that I see it has the word "Liars" in it, the book makes more sense. It's about liars. I like the book a 1/2 star better than I did before remembering the title.

The story is about a dysfunctional family fooling itself at every turn. Each family member lies to him/herself and, in turn, to each other. And it's not the kind of lying that's obvious; it's a self-preservation technique, yet it crumbles rather than coheres the family. On the other hand, some of the lying is so obvious that it's hard to believe its believed.

I enjoyed the point in the book when the reader is finally let in on the biggest lie perpetuated by the two teen children in the family. Once it is revealed, the mother's self-denial becomes more apparent and more dysfunctional.

The mother's lie to her children comes to light later in the story; however, it's revealed in too obvious a manner. It felt the plot point that allowed this lie to emerge lacked narrative creativity (been there, done that).

The story includes sex, and drugs, and boozy beach parties. These feel gratuitously included to "appeal" to teen readers.

Finally, the ending was abrupt. The only truth to the story is that no one wins in the end, including the reader.

Book Review: The Stone Rainbow

The Stone Rainbow
by Liane Shaw
Pub Date: 17 Sep 2019 
Read courtesy of NetGalley.com

My first note to myself early in the book was, "As a straight person, I've been curious about this. Maybe I'll find out," in reaction to Jack wondering how to find out if someone he might be interested in is gay or not.   It ends up that I don't explicitly "find out," due mainly to the fact that there's nothing to "find out." One simply asks someone, no different than a straight person finds out if a straight person is interested in return -- and sometimes the person isn't straight! People are people! (I also didn't find out because Jack's crush, Benjamin, isn't shy about liking other guys.)

The author's message is clear throughout the book. "I don't live in a fantasy land where being gay is easy. It should be. I don't know why it isn't. Why would anyone care who I decide to spend time with?" and "I'll always have a different heaven from hers. In her heaven, everyone starts fresh, reborn into something better than before. Blind men can see, and the lame can walk...and I would guess the gays become "straight" if they make it that far." [Powerful in the declaration that some see "straight" people as better than "gay" people, that "straight" is something to aspire to.] And the more obvious parade rally cry, "Kindness rules": "If everyone just decides to treat everyone else with kindness, it all goes away. Intolerance,, disrespect, racism, homophobia, misogyny, bullying...all wiped out with one simple command. Be kind."

At first I thought this was just a romance novel, which felt a little light and fluffy and not holding my attention, but it took a more serious turn. I found myself immediately drawn into things that happen in real life... and I cannot believe people do this to others. But they do, and the author offered a way to counteract violence with grace.  This story didn't need to be written in great literary prose in order for a clear message and interesting story to come through.

Book Review: Flutter

Flutter
by Gina Linko
Pub Date: 23 Oct 2012 
read courtesy of Netgalley.com

Note: I, too, received this as a galley copy to review many years ago, but I just got around to posting about it.

This was a quick read, well, a compelling read, because I was pulled along by the plot, the mystery of Emery's illness, and the connections all of the characters had. Time travel always messes with my head (think Back to the Future), so I had fun trying to piece the story together at the same time Emery was. Then... and I agree with other reviewers on this, too ... I had my WTF moment at the end. If I hadn't read the print version and instead read the Netgalley digital version, I might have missed the author's note that she likes to pursue "What if...?". Only this note, that the author was purporting that alternative inevitabilities are her passion, allowed me to understand why Linko surprised her readers with this twist.

Overall, this was good, interesting YA writing. Yet, though I understand why Linko couldn't have built up to this ending earlier, it really did come out of nowhere with the minor exception of a conversation Emery and Ash had late in the story.

This book would be hard to classify as scifi, because it turns into fantasy. Recommend this book to readers who like the book The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold or the movie The Sixth Sense.

Caution: Spoiler alerts:

1. Where did Dala go when she fluttered with Emery? If the past was an afterlife, then did Emery kill Dala somehow?
2. How could Emery take people/things from the present back and forth to the afterlife? Did they temporarily die, too?
3. Why could Emery see her grandmother, Ash's brother, her mom, but not Ash's mom in the afterlife?
4. In hindsight, it makes sense that Emery couldn't see Ash's father in the afterlife, but that still doesn't explain why she didn't see his mother.

Book Review: Hope Is Our Only Wing

Hope Is Our Only Wing
by Rutendo Tavengerwei
Pub Date: 10 Sep 2019
read courtesy of Netgalley.com

Note: Let your readers know that there is a glossary at the back of the book. Because I read this as a digital galley, I didn't find the glossary until after I finished reading, and it would have been helpful to have been aware of it earlier.

I agree with prior reviews that this is a middle school book, but I also think that it's not as easy a read as others have noted. While the vocabulary is not too difficult (besides the references to African terms, for which there is a glossary), the concepts of politics and disease and cultural references might pose a challenge for some students. We're lucky, however, in this time of the Internet, that we have the ability to easily quench our curiosities. For example, as a result of a reference to "Oliver Mtukudzi's timeless voice," I was able to find out that he died recently, January 2019, and hear an example of his sound on YouTube (https://youtu.be/p-JUy6p0Qpw). And though I could figure out what ZESA was from context, I could also look up that it's the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority.

As an educator, I was drawn to the words of wisdom one character's grandfather imparted, one "could quit if it was the instrument that was making him miserable. But if it was the learning he was trying to avoid, he would have to toughen up."

In spite of the unfamiliarity with the setting, readers will be drawn in by the developing friendship between the two main characters. As readers we're given room to experience the interplay of actions and feelings the two girls experience rather than being explicitly spoon fed what to think and feel. I liked that about Tavengerwei's style. I think sophisticated middle school readers will like this story.

Book Review: Dreamland

Book Review: Dreamland (YA edition)
by Sam Quinones
Publication Date: July 16, 2019 
read courtesy of netgalley.com

You know how there are One School, One Book or One City, One Book campaigns? Well, Dreamland (YA edition) by Sam Quinones should be a candidate for One Country, One Book. It's that good and that meaningful. I'm going to try to find a way to get as many people as I can at my high school to read this.

Quinones does an amazing job of clearly explaining a vast amount of research, of pulling all of the information together in a hugely accessible manner. Quinones has reinforced my already-existing tendency to question everything - which under some circumstances can be quite annoying, but in this instance is well justified. From a worldwide organization to the smallest home towns, Quinones pieced together the story of an epidemic.

Quinones addresses the metamorphosis of communities, societies, people, families, borders, industries, professions, and policies all under the influence of opioids. The author smoothly discusses the human effects as well as the business prowess associated with OxyContin and heroin. The confluence of events that created the perfect storm of addiction and death is astonishing, and Quinones provided a way for everyone to understand how it happened... and unfortunately is still happening.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED as an independent read or as a curriculum connection in a psychology, sociology, economics, marketing, journalism, biology, or health class.

Book review: Wilder Girls

Book review: Wilder Girls by Rory Power
read courtesy of Netgalley.com
Publication date: July 9, 2019

I didn't want to put this book down, until I did... at the end... disappointed & frustrated.

Back to the beginning. I was hesitant at first to even begin the story when I read its comparisons to Lord of the Flies, which I didn't like. (Sure, I understand LOTF's significance and symbolism and all of that, but I just wasn't into reading about an island full of 12 year old boys.) So I wasn't too excited to read about an island full of teenage girls. The author of Wilder Girls, however, caught my attention with a very telling sentence of how the girls were about to become, um, wilder, "Even when there's no bread, there's always shampoo." Though I didn't know at the time that was prescient, or actually backstory, but either way, it provided me a way to see the "feminist" point of view without having the perspective shoved down my throat -- for which I was honestly also fearful, given the fem-LOTF references.

Some notes I took along the way...

• I was surprised that the islands on which the story took place were in Maine; I think 'islands,' and I think tropical. I liked the Maine setting, because it made sense that a girls' school would be in Maine.
• I was confused that all of the girls had different symptoms. If they were all suffering from the same 'disease,' then why were they all showing different manifestations? This was even more confusing when, later on, the girls figured out that one thing was causing everyone's illnesses. 
• The different manifestations of the disease felt derivative to me of the Star Trek: Next Generations' episode called Genesis.
• It wasn't cleared up until the end why males and animals and plants also got the disease, which of course is the point of a mystery 😏 
• It never made sense to me why the Navy would keep arming the girls' school and replenishing their ammunition. The adults were also keeping knives away from the girls but not bullets - although, some of that is explained later in the story. And... the Navy sends bullets but not space heaters?
• Another good, succinct explanation of the girls situation, "At some point the order was alphabetical but we've all lost things, eyes and hands and last names."
• Feminism isn't the same as female... what purpose did it have to not have the disease kick in until puberty, especially since the disease struck males and animals, too?
• It's not clear why the girls had to surreptitiously and clandestinely be moved to be examined, especially because the attending physician seems like a mensch. 
• When the girls were running,  and had to shoot a gun, how come no one back at the school heard the shot?
• I loved the reason the parents were given to cut off communication with the students, especially because the reason the girls were initially told communication was cut off made no sense.
• Towards the end, just at the point where I was having difficulty remembering which 'side' everyone was on, the author provided a brief memory through a character that helped place each character in perspective again.

And that's when it all fell apart. The end of the story made no sense. It felt rushed and didn't follow any trajectory that was started anywhere prior to the end. So, so disappointed! I really, really wanted to like the story, but it ended so abruptly and awkwardly that I felt cheated out of a real ending.

Book Review: The Lovely and the Lost

The Lovely and the Lost
by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Pub Date: 07 May 2019 

Read courtesy of Netgalley.com

I really enjoyed the way the author had the character think like a dog. It added interest to the story. I LOL'ed at the "Boop." Look for it :o) 

That being said, though, I'm not sure the author (or maybe it's the publisher) knows who her audience is. The vocabulary is very lofty, and it doesn't seem to match the genre of the story. Moreover, the author uses some old references that I'm not even sure today's readers would understand (for example, John Hughes movies, Fred Astaire).

I found myself not engrossed enough in the story to follow the mystery itself. Following the mystery, therefore, was more confusing than intriguing. As a whole I wanted to like it more than I did, but I struggled to finish it.

Book review: Mera: Tidebreaker

Book review: Mera: Tidebreaker by Danielle Paige; illustrated by Stephen Byrne
Pub Date: 02 Apr 2019
Read courtesy of netgalley.com

Mera: Tidebreaker is an origin story of Mera and Aquaman. It says so on the back cover. Otherwise, I never would have known these characters already existed. I'm not a comic book hero follower, so this was a total introduction to these characters for me.

As a graphic novel, it fell a little flat. As others have opined, the romance developed too quickly in story form; although, I could see the foreshadowing of Mera being unable to fulfill her plan and to end up loving rather than hating her father's foe. That's part of the story's flaws, too; it was really a quite predictable story. But there was confusion, too; without background knowledge of the characters, I had to read others' reviews of the graphic novel to know that Xebel was a penal colony.

I was enthralled by the drawing, however. It's difficult to give the ocean a personality, and illustrator Stephen Byrne's portrayal of water was fantastic. On the other hand, his portrayal of Mera was inconsistent.

Because of the terse treatment of the plot, I don't know whether or not this would best be recommend to fans of DC Comics or to people who are newbies of the DC Comics franchise. Both might be disappointed.

Book review: All Our Broken Pieces

Book review: All Our Broken Pieces by L. D. Crichton
Publishing date: May 7, 2019
Read courtesy of NetGalley.com

I didn't think I'd enjoy a sappy love story, but that's OK, because this wasn't sappy. I really liked these believable characters. Kyler was very romantic, and Lennon made for a very good example of how to understand OCD in others.

The OCD portion of the story was handled very well, both normalizing and explaining how it's not normal, or rather when it's not normal... when it interferes or embarrasses or makes others uncomfortable. The facial disfigurement part of the story was not quite as revealing as far as creating empathy, but it did allow for some insight.

Even though most YA novels entail hyperbolic parents, and All Our Broken Pieces is no exception, the author did a good job of reining in the parental extremes and bringing them back down to sensible characters. Any characters are good who can admit when they are wrong, and these adult characters do just that. Graciously, too.

I'll probably shelve this acquisition for my high school library in our "death/drugs/disease" genre sticker category, but it could easily just be categorized as realistic fiction or romance.  In any event, I'm looking forward to recommending this title to my students.

Book Review: Internment by Samira Ahmed

Book Review: Internment by Samira Ahmed
Publish date: March 19, 2019
Read courtesy of netgalley.com


This is an important, timely, well-written story - However, I will NOT be purchasing it for my high school library because in spite of the poorly veiled (i.e., blatant) innuendos to Trump as a bad Nazi-type president and Obama as the underdog who persevered. Regardless of which political persuasion our author and readers are in, direct allusions to our President in this manner in a YA book is in poor taste and, I'll go as far as saying, morally irresponsible. Granted, the book is current historical fiction, but I honestly cannot condone overlook the Presidential characterization in this book when the President has been identified and crudely fictionalized to match the author's political intentions. Which is a shame, really... this book deserves to be read.

I'm not the only one who identified the conspicuous negation of our government. Another NetGalley reviewer expressed similar sentiments while still giving the book high praise: "...scathing critique of our current civil environment. ...Internment will make you think twice about how the hatred and rhetoric of our current federal administration can cause real harm to people. I'm glad this one is fictional, and I hope it stays that way." One reviewer wrote, "The lack of awareness of society is what drives this story." YES! And THAT'S what the focus of the story could have been without Trump-bashing.

Damn. I'm doubting myself. I don't believe in censorship, and two of my favorite books were "scathing critique[s]" of their own times, 1984 and The Jungle. So, yes, I'll be getting this for my high school library, but I sincerely hope that my YA readers are willing to discuss how much "fake news" or "biased reporting" is in this book. I don't intend to ruin the story by making it a research assignment; I would rather use the story as a way to discuss our differences and our mutual morals and ethics, not our conflicting politics. This is, after all, an important, timely, well-written story.

Book Review: The Similars by Rebecca Hanover

Book Review: The Similars by Rebecca Hanover
Publishing date: January 1, 2019
read courtesy of netgalley.com

I'm going to start at the end... there's a sequel in waiting. That gives you an idea about the ending: it's a cliffhanger. Unfortunately, I'll never find out how it all ends; I won't be purchasing the sequel for my high school library. I'm not sure how much my students recognize cliched writing, but since it interfered with my enjoyment of the book, I'm not going to expose them to the triteness.

As a mystery, Hanover did what she was supposed to do, provide clues or throw out distractions as to the "real" perpetrator. However, I found these clues too obvious -- they were spelled out instead of implied or alluded to -- which took some of the guesswork out of reading a mystery. Hanover also heavily depended on the readers' willingness to suspend disbelief that a 16-year-old girl would be able to save her best friend from the evil mad scientist when the friend'as own father couldn't or wouldn't -- in the guise of having to wait for his wife to die -- so it HAD to be the teenager to come to the rescue.

One of the Similars, who are all brilliant geniuses, couldn't estimate how large the place from which he came was, claiming that it was hard to "have a sense of scale" when you're inside the place. Really? That felt out of character. (If it sounds like a nitpick, it is; but it irked me to have such a blatant character misrepresentation.)

Basically, the story was a little too schizophrenic for me. the majority of the story was about cloning and clones, and then the last part suddenly became about virtual reality and two mad scientist brothers. Then at the end... I mean near the cliffhanger... a character who had been declared dead via suicide was found alive and returns to the boarding school. Clunk... the cliffhanger was only a 2-foot drop for me. In spite of those who knew cloning was involved, the rest of the world didn't (wouldn't the suicide have made the news?) How could a teenager reappear, and no one called the FBI?  No one did because then it wouldn't be a cliffhanger. But like I said, it wasn't a cliffhanger for me. I stepped back up the 2-foot drop and walked away. It was my suspension of disbelief that was the only thing left hanging.


⭐⭐☆☆☆

Book review: XL by Scott Brown

Book review of
XL by Scott Brown
Pub Date: 26 Mar 2019
Read courtesy of netgalley.com


I love Scott Brown's writing style: interesting vocabulary, descriptive metaphors, a glimmer of breaking the fourth wall, and a bit of dry, subtle humor. It works. If you don't like being given one of the funniest lines of a movie during a trailer, don't read the next part of this sentence since I'm going to ruin a chuckle for you: car mitzvah, when you turn 16 and get your driver's licence and your parents buy you a car. OK- you can resume reading.  I also like that Brown gave me things to ponder, like if are there only two kinds of quests (end of chapter 2).

I do beg to differ with one factoid that seemed to play a large (pun intended) part in the plot; Will says, "Fact. Small things don't live as long." But that's not true; small dogs live longer than big dogs. Just sayin'.

Brown did a nice job of consistently characterizing each of his secondary characters; they had unique personalities. He also did well with his extended metaphor of the gorillas in the zoo at which his father worked with the three-way relationship of Will, Drew, and Monica - the three main characters. In chapter 6 Will's impending experiences are even foreshadowed by the gorilla's behavior.  Some symbolism was just a little too obvious, though, like the placement of the necklace given to him by one girl when he was in the presence of another (chapter 12).

I stayed interested in how the conflicts were going to resolve themselves, but I was, unfortunately, slightly disappointed with the unfinished, happy ending. So, they all stay friends, but... What happens to Will and his XL situation? Does Monica, who is a strong character throughout the story, end up compromising her Plan? Now that Drew abandoned his Plan, where does that leave his future? I know... "the best-laid plans of mice and men..."; that's the message in itself. But I'm not sure I've been given enough information about the characters to strongly speculate about their futures. In spite of this, I enjoyed the underlying premise of, "Be careful what you wish for; you might get it."

⭐⭐⭐⭐/☆☆☆☆☆

Book Review: What We Buried

Book Review: What We Buried by Kate A. Boorman
To be published February 26,019
Read courtesy of Netgalley.com

Riveting. RIVETING!

From the double-meaning title to the adept use of flashbacks entwined with the glimpses of memory, What We Buried by Kate A. Boorman epitomizes a psychological thriller. I'm so glad I read this and cannot wait to get this book for my high school library.

I read this in one sitting, from 9am to 2pm on a Sunday, and it was time well spent. Most of us would admit that we hold a secret prejudice against kids who sue their parents; OK, I'll admit that I didn't have sympathy for children suing their parents (it's Kramer vs Kramer-esque and shades of my-parents-owe-me-a-college-education lawsuits that have shaped my thinking); however, I really appreciated how Boorman validated a child's experiences and perceptions. The author did an amazing job of having Liv and Jory explain how the siblings had their relationship marred by how each of them had been treated by their parents, and she did so without being preachy or obvious or by making the characters seem blaming and whiny.

Moreover, the author flawlessly made this skeptical reader accept the validity of how untrivial Liv's lawsuit against her parents is. In Liv, Boorman created a character who grows up right before our eyes ... albeit flawed ... but, hey, that's what makes a character so interesting!

What We Buried deftly fits together convoluted puzzle pieces of memory and plot, making this a psychological thriller I wanted to figure out. I kept flipping back and forth as to whom I believed was in the cabin, and even after finishing the book and reading the book flap teaser, I still can make a case for multiple perceptions of the ending. It would be fun to make a book discussion out of the possible endings with my teen readers.

As I read, I had shades of Lovely Bones and Thelma & Louise float into my consciousness at different times, but What We Buried is its own unique story. Highly recommended!

Book Review: Roam

Book review: Roam by C. H. Armstrong

Publication date: February 5, 2019

Read courtesy of NetGalley.com

In spite of the serious nature of homeless families, this is a warm fuzzy, feel good, happy ending kind of story. With a new boyfriend too good to be true and an instant flock of new friends, teenage Abby allows her homelessness to color her daily life (but who could blame her?). None of the people in her new school know that her family's "house" is a van or a church basement, and Abby tries desperately to keep it that way. The difficulty Abby has keeping her secret is exasperated by her new neighborhood -- an uber-rich area near the Mayo Clinic -- a jealous ex-girlfriend, and a homecoming dance.

With a fairy tale, full-of-forgiveness ending, readers might feel the story tied together too neatly, but it was refreshing to read a story where there really was a plausible ending. Well, believable if the readers accept a school where teachers and counselors are helpful and caring, where the hottest guy in school is also always a gentleman, where everyone accepts the out-of-the-closet gay kid, and where people still want to date the class bitch. 

I chose to believe, and I had a great time doing so. Because of this, I am able to give the story 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐. The story was tight and left me with no questions. I thought the characters were well drawn out, and the plot flowed naturally. I recommend this book for anyone who sees silver linings and is able to put aside skepticism.

My NetGalley.com Book Reviewer BADGES

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Book Review: Any Second

Book Review:
Any Second by Kevin Emerson
Pub. date: November 20, 2018
Read courtesy of netgalley.com

5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Review!
I cannot wait to get this book for my high school's library!

My students are taught to be an upstander instead of a bystander. In Any Second, Maya did this... and beyond.  Kevin Emerson wrote a story that is both unique and scarily possible, which is what makes it such a compelling read.

Emerson did a great job with the pace of the storytelling and the points at which the narrator's focus switched between Maya and Eli. There was also enough detail to create mental pictures without being grossed-out to the point at which the story's narrative could have been overshadowed by the horror of the circumstances. There was enough to make the reader squirm without having to be told the minutia of Eli's torture and captivity.

The author created an atmosphere that allowed the reader to be drawn into Maya's and Eli's decision making. As a reader I was being told things each character couldn't know, and since I had no way of telling them, I had tension, sympathy, relief, anxiety, and hope right along with them.

The main characters had consistently true personalities, which helped this reader connect with the plot and action. The minor characters never felt extraneous and were used well to move the story forward. One Second will appeal to many different kinds of readers and could be recommended to readers of realistic fiction as well as of action/adventure or suspense fiction.

[The only negative critique -- a hiccup I encountered -- is in chapter 17, where Eli contemplates "how some commentators said Eli's disappearance would have been a bigger deal if he'd been white." Emerson has already made the book uber-inclusive (ex., religion, sexual orientation, gender roles, class, etc.), so this one line struck me as intrusive to the flow of the story, an extraneous or obvious attempt to highlight what the author had already made clear about Eli's ethnicity when discussing Eli's names.]