Review for Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira

Love Letters to the Dead 

by

Ava Dellaira

It begins as an assignment for English class: Write a letter to a dead person. Laurel chooses Kurt Cobain because her sister, May, loved him. And he died young, just like May did. Soon, Laurel has a notebook full of letters to people like Janis Joplin, Amy Winehouse, Amelia Earhart, Heath Ledger, and more -- though she never gives a single one of them to her teacher. She writes about starting high school, navigating new friendships, falling in love for the first time, learning to live with her splintering family. And, finally, about the abuse she suffered while May was supposed to be looking out for her. Only then, once Laurel has written down the truth about what happened to herself, can she truly begin to accept what happened to May. And only when Laurel has begun to see her sister as the person she was -- lovely and amazing and deeply flawed -- can she begin to discover her own path in this stunning debut from Ava Dellaira, Love Letters to the Dead.

Amazon Link:

https://www.amazon.com/Love-Letters-Dead-Ava-Dellaira-ebook/dp/B00FCR3M2O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1533000899&sr=8-1&keywords=love+letters+to+the+dead

My 3 star review

I am not sure how I felt about this book. I am torn. I gave this read 3 stars because it was good I just think it could of been better. I wanted to know about Laurel without her writing so many letter. But in the same breath I learned a lot about the people that she wrote her letters to.

Sky mad me angry because I feel like people use the word love just as they use the word like. But let's be honest when we are in High School do we really even know what love truly is?

Then my heart broke for May. She was really depressed and no one knew it. May ended up taking her own life. P.S. while reading this book Smells like teen spirit by Nirvana kept playing in my head.

About the Author

I was born in Los Angeles. One of my first memories is of looking out the window of the Cadillac that my family drove across the desert when we moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, which is where I grew up, and where my sister and I spent countless summer afternoons making fairy potions, battling evil witches, and playing other imaginary games that probably contributed to my proclivity to make up stories.

My first memory of writing is as a 2nd grader. I had been assigned to write a poem about the things I liked and why. I started out pretty unassumingly: "I like rainbows because they are pretty. I like kittens because they are soft." And then I wrote, "I like my Mom--" but I couldn't come up with the end of the sentence. I remember it vividly because it was my first awareness of that space between a feeling, and the language that we have to name it. No words seemed big enough. I thought about all of the things that I loved about her, all of the fun stuff we did together, and finally I settled on, "I like my Mom because she gave birth to me." That just seemed the most basic. It was, in part, her beautiful life and sudden, untimely death (just after I had graduated college) that inspired me to write this book.

After a lot of growing up (stories for another time), I went to college at the University of Chicago, and then received my MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where I lived on the bottom floor of a farm house once occupied by Kurt Vonnegut (how cool is that?!) and studied poetry.

After graduating from Iowa, I moved to Los Angeles with aspirations of becoming a screenwriter, and had the good fortune to get a job working for Stephen Chbosky. When I gave him some of my writing, he said, "I think you should write a novel." The idea had actually never occurred to me before. But that night, on my drive home, I was staring absently at the half-full moon while waiting for a red like to change, and the title popped into my head:. Love Letters to the Dead. I started writing the book that night.

Now I live in Santa Monica, in an apartment the size of a shoebox close to the beach. Running, walking, or riding my bike by it are some of my favorite activities. My windows are almost always open, even in the winter. (Cheers to Southern California!) I also love going the farmers market and buying myself flowers, binge watching TV, and going to movies (where I am always the one crunching the popcorn during the supposed- to-be-quiet moment). I don't have a dog but I hope to one day very soon. I love spending time with my boyfriend and with my wonderful family. I visit New Mexico as often as I can (I'm addicted to its wide-open endless skies). Sometimes I drive home from work and still feel astonished by the shock of blue water ahead of me as I come over the hill, and I feel so grateful that I am here. That's how I also feel about publishing my first book, and I am profoundly grateful to you for reading it.

Ava Dellaira is a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where she was a Truman Capote Fellow. She grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and received her undergraduate degree from the University of Chicago. She believes this book began when she bought her second album ever--Nirvana's In Utero--which she listened to on repeat while filling the pages of her journal. She currently lives in Santa Monica, California, where she works in the film industry and is writing her second novel.
Bio and photo from Goodreads.

Review The Truth about Alice by Jennifer Mathieu

The Truth About Alice 

by Jennifer Mathieu

Everyone knows Alice slept with two guys at one party. When Healy High star quarterback, Brandon Fitzsimmons, dies in a car crash, it was because he was sexting with Alice. Ask anybody.

Rumor has it Alice Franklin is a slut. It's written all over the "slut stall" in the girls' bathroom: "Alice had sex in exchange for math test answers" and "Alice got an abortion last semester." After Brandon dies, the rumors start to spiral out of control. In this remarkable debut novel, four Healy High students tell all they "know" about Alice--and in doing so reveal their own secrets and motivations, painting a raw look at the realities of teen life. But in this novel from Jennifer Mathieu, exactly what is the truth about Alice? In the end there's only one person to ask: Alice herself.

This title has Common Core connections.

Amazon Link:

https://www.amazon.com/Truth-About-Alice-Novel-ebook/dp/B00GVSABUO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1532309432&sr=8-1&keywords=the+truth+about+alice

My 3.5 star review 

I am not sure what to think about this book. My heart broke for Alice and it made me question her all together. Then I feel like a jerk for questioning her.

All of the lies. All of the secrets. All of the rumors. The life that was taken.

I will say that this book I am sure has been a reality in so many of our teenage lifes. I can't tell you how many rumors I actually started not as a way of a big screw you but just joking around.

I look back and think what did I do and what if their life turned out like Alice's.

I wasn't sure about the writing, it sounded like it was written by the minds of multiple kids in high school.

So I am torn with my star rating.

About the Author

Hi! I'm young adult author Jennifer Mathieu. (It's pronounced Muh-two, but if you speak French you can pronounce it better than that. Sadly, I don't speak French.) I'm a writer and English teacher who lives in Texas with my family. . A native of the East Coast and a former journalist, I enjoy writing contemporary young adult fiction that treats teenagers like real people. My debut novel is The Truth About Alice followed by Devoted, Afterward, and Moxie.

I love to eat and hate to cook. For more information about me, visit www.jennifermathieu.com

To check out the amazing Moxie Tumblr, visit www.moxiegirlsfightback.com.

Review for About a Girl by Mary E. Palmerin

Sprucewood High School changes everyone. The girl with sad eyes who walked out of the bathroom stall; she made herself puke. The star basketball player can’t read an entire sentence, so he takes his anger out on the introverted kid after third period. His face turned purple and blue.

Olive was just a girl.

Fletcher was just a boy.

And there they were, together, wandering in the chaos of it all. Their paths crossed, all because of fate. She was the lost girl who wanted to love, but she also wanted to die. He was the mysterious new kid with golden eyes that held a story she wanted to know.

Together, they attempt to figure out a way to numb themselves from the pain of finding out who they are in this world, where they belong, and how to handle the memories that haunt them in their nightmares. Addiction in its nastiest of forms torments them, threatening their false paradise as they attempt to escape their pain.

Will their self-destructive ways be too much for the love they start to feel? Or is it even love when it is clouded by the H they shoot into their veins? Hearts break and souls get crushed at Sprucewood High.

Amazon Link:

https://www.amazon.com/About-Girl-Heartless-Book-1-ebook/dp/B07BTHVBNC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1530834079&sr=8-1&keywords=about+a+girl+mary+palmerin

My 5 Star Review

I have read almost every single one of Mary's books. I can tell you all about each and every one of them without even batting an eye. I don't have to re-read them to know what they are and I can even tell you why I love them so much. 

About a Girl is a little different for me. This book is definitely a 5 star read but in my opinion this is different from any other book she has written. This book is about a girl named "Olive" and a boy named "Fletcher".

In a way this is a better modern version of Romeo and Juliet but a million times better and without them being in revival families.  

Olive and Fletcher had me in tears and my heartstrings literally broke for them. It could be because they are my children's age or could it be because I could of been one of them when I was their age. 

While reading this book there were times when I had to put this book down and take a deep breath because the author writes this book as if she is the character and we are stepping into her story. It is beauty and a masterpiece. I say that because once you start this book you will not want to stop until it is done. 

Olive and Fletcher are a beautiful disaster....They are perfection and beauty in another life but in this life they are a disaster so my Olive and Fletcher are a beautiful disaster.

Olive is sad period and it is a if all of her life is dead inside. This character makes the reader what to jump into the story and save her. Save her from dying and save her from herself, but then you sit back and think....Does she really want to be saved and can you even save her without losing yourself.

Fletcher is the new kid on the block and no one really knows him but yet you are dying to know all about him. He is the pure version of you never know what and how someone truly is until you peel back the layers that we are humans make for ourselves. 

I wanted to hate Fletcher with every fiber of my soul but I couldn't. While reading this book he jumped into my soul and set up shop in there. There is something about this young man and I can't quite figure it out just yet, but I will in book two. 

There are two songs that play over and over in my head when I was reading this book, you may like them, you may love them, and you may hate them. 

So I had the pleasure of attending Mary's book signing in Arkansas and it was at the cutest little book store ever. Have a look....

We caught a picture of a gentlemen buying her book for his daughter. 

The cutest cookies in the world. One is a heart and the other are ballerina shoes.

Me and Mary E. Palmerin! aka Thelma and Louise

Mary Signing my book.

Review for Love you Though it by Fabiola Francisco

After witnessing Bri Carmichael's pain, Cole Burkely is determined to help her heal.

That home visit changed my life.

She is a shell of the person I knew.

I just want each day to end so the night can swallow my pain.

She still has so much to give.

I'm empty.

I want to help her stand on her own again.

I'm not ready to let go.

She's worth sticking around for.

My will to keep moving forward is stalled.

I want to make her smile again.

He has a good heart, but I can't be the one to take care of it.

She doesn't know that a long time ago I dreamed of her heart and soul.

My story has ended.

Our story is just beginning.

Amazon Link

https://www.amazon.com/Love-Through-Rebel-Desire-Novel-ebook/dp/B076XS1PHD/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1530832773&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=Love+you+Though+it+by+fabiola+francisco

My 4 star review

This book was definitely not like book three. Yes I know I am reading this backwards, sorry.

This book is about Cole and Bri. Cole is the whore of the group. I mean I believe this is what I would call him. He has a reputation of sleeping around with groupies. Bri is a young women who has lost her husband, who in fact was the love of her life for years.

Now to me this book was very emotional and I know that every person goes through things differently. I can tell you that I have no idea how it feels to lose someone like your husband.

While reading this book I was a wreck because I couldn't picture my life without my husband. I would go insane. What Bri did in order to try and move on with her life gave me hope in a way.

I really enjoyed this book!

About the Author

#1 Best Seller in Country Music
Amazon Top 100 Bestselling in New Adult & College Romance

Fabiola Francisco loves the simplicity—and kick—of scotch on the rocks. She follows Hemingway’s philosophy—write drunk, edit sober. She writes women’s fiction and contemporary romance, dipping her pen into new adult and young adult. Her moods guide her writing, taking her anywhere from sassy and sexy romances to dark and emotion-filled love stories.

Writing has always been a part of her life, penning her own life struggles as a form of therapy through poetry. She still stays true to her first love, poems, while weaving longer stories with strong heroines and honest heroes. She aims to get readers thinking about life and love while experiencing her characters’ journeys.

She is continuously creating stories as she daydreams. Her other loves are country music, exploring the outdoors, and reading.

Connect with Fabiola and get the 411 on her books and upcoming releases here: http://eepurl.com/cJKvIX