YA ARC Review: Past Perfect Life by Elizabeth Eulberg

Past Perfect Life
Author: Elizabeth Eulberg
Publication: Bloomsbury YA (July 9, 2019)

Description: An exciting new direction for acclaimed author Elizabeth Eulberg, Past Perfect Life is a tense and tender read about secrets and lies, reality and identity, and the ways we put ourselves back together when everything is broken.

Small-town Wisconsin high school senior Allison Smith loves her life the way it is--spending quality time with her widowed father and her tight-knit circle of friends, including best friend Marian and maybe-more-than-friends Neil. Sure she is stressed out about college applications . . . who wouldn't be? In a few short months, everything's going to change, big time.

But when Ally files her applications, they send up a red flag . . . because she's not Allison Smith. And Ally's--make that Amanda's--ordinary life is suddenly blown apart. Was everything before a lie? Who will she be after? And what will she do as now comes crashing down around her?

Perfect for fans of Far From the Tree, this is the story of one teen's search for herself amid the confusion of a shattered past and a future far from all she planned.

My Thoughts: Ally Smith has a great life. She loves living in Valley Falls, Wisconsin. She has a close circle of friends and has been adopted into the Gleason clan who run the town. A Gleason is the Sheriff. A Gleason owns the Hardware Store. A Gleason owns the local garage.

She and her dad were welcomed with open arms when they arrived eight years earlier. It has been just the two of them for all of the life that Ally remembers. Ally's dad is her best friend. They have a wonderful relationship with many rituals and family traditions. Ally is number one in her class and looking forward to going to college at nearby University of Wisconsin-Green Bay if she can only get through the college admission essays. What is a significant event anyway?

Things start to go wrong when she submits her college applications and they are bounced back because of an invalid Social Security number. A visit to the school's guidance councilor sets massive changes in motion. A visit from the Sheriff and the FBI puts the icing on an unwanted cake. Ally Smith isn't Ally Smith. She was kidnapped by her dad when she was three-years-old and they have been on the run since. Her mother didn't die of cancer. In fact, she has been searching for her daughter Amanda for fifteen years and living her life around the hunt from impassioned pleas on television to the annual march in Tampa to keep her memory alive.

Ally has the foundations of her world shaken. She loved her father even though he made a terrible mistake by taking her. She doesn't know her mother or her mother's new husband and daughter. But her mother is determined to bring Ally home to Florida. She wants Ally to be the daughter that she envisioned during all the missing years.

This is a story of a strong young woman who was raised to be a confident young woman and who is now thrown into a situation where she knows no one and has no control over her own life. She's angry at her dad but she is equally angry at this woman who is trying to erase all the of Ally's past.

I could certainly understand Ally's mother's side and can imagine the heartbreak losing a child would bring. But I still didn't really like the woman who didn't want to see who Ally was and who seemed only concerned with what she wanted. I liked the resolution of the story though thought it was rather a quick turnaround for Ally's mother.

This was an amazing and engaging story filled with wonderful characters. I couldn't put it down. I had to know how things were going to work out for Ally. Fans of contemporary YA stories won't want the miss this one!

Favorite Quote:

Grandma Gleason takes the bowl from my shaking hands and places it on the coffee table. "Are you okay?"

Jesus Christ, can people stop asking me that? I'm going to start wearing a T-shirt that says, No, I'm Not Okay and It's Not Going to Get Better.

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from Bloomsbury YA. You can buy your copy here.

Friday Memes: Past Perfect Life by Elizabeth Eulberg

Happy Friday everybody!

Book Beginnings on Friday is now hosted by Rose City Reader. The Friday 56 is hosted at Freda's Voice. Check out the links above for the rules and for the posts of the participants each week. Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

Beginning:

I don't...

I can't...

This can't be happening.

This has to be a horrible joke. Some sick prank.

Friday 56:

"I heard about Lee's party," Dana says with a hint of envy.

Who didn't hear about the party? It's not uncommon for people to show up to one of the Gleasons' many parties uninvited. It happens often, and that person is greeted with open arms. What's one more person when ther are so many of them?

This week I am spotlighting Past Perfect Life by Elizabeth Eulberg which is a recent arrival on my review stack. Here is the description from Amazon:

An exciting new direction for acclaimfffed author Elizabeth Eulberg, Past Perfect Life is a tense and tender read about secrets and lies, reality and identity, and the ways we put ourselves back together when everything is broken.

Small-town Wisconsin high school senior Allison Smith loves her life the way it is--spending quality time with her widowed father and her tight-knit circle of friends, including best friend Marian and maybe-more-than-friends Neil. Sure she is stressed out about college applications . . . who wouldn't be? In a few short months, everything's going to change, big time.

But when Ally files her applications, they send up a red flag . . . because she's not Allison Smith. And Ally's--make that Amanda's--ordinary life is suddenly blown apart. Was everything before a lie? Who will she be after? And what will she do as now comes crashing down around her?

Perfect for fans of Far From the Tree, this is the story of one teen's search for herself amid the confusion of a shattered past and a future far from all she planned.

YA ARC Review: Call It What You Want by Brigid Kemmerer

Call It What You Want
Author: Brigid Kemmerer
Publication: Bloomsbury YA (June 25, 2019)

Description: New York Times bestselling author Brigid Kemmerer pens a new emotionally compelling story about two teens struggling in the space between right and wrong.

When his dad is caught embezzling funds from half the town, Rob goes from popular lacrosse player to social pariah. Even worse, his father's failed suicide attempt leaves Rob and his mother responsible for his care.

Everyone thinks of Maegan as a typical overachiever, but she has a secret of her own after the pressure got to her last year. And when her sister comes home from college pregnant, keeping it from her parents might be more than she can handle.

When Rob and Maegan are paired together for a calculus project, they're both reluctant to let anyone through the walls they've built. But when Maegan learns of Rob's plan to fix the damage caused by his father, it could ruin more than their fragile new friendship . . .

In her compulsively readable storytelling, Brigid Kemmerer pens another captivating, heartfelt novel that asks the question: Is it okay to do something wrong for the right reasons?

My Thoughts: This was an excellent, readable, angst-filled YA contemporary story about two kids who are both dealing with trauma.

Rob has become a social pariah at his high school since his father was arrested for embezzling millions of dollars from the people he was supposed be investing money for. If that wasn't enough, a failed suicide attempt has left him brain-damaged and helpless with only his wife and son to take care of him. He doesn't have any friends since his childhood best friend Connor has dropped him. Of course, Connor is also the son of his parents' friends and Connor's father is the one who turned Rob's father in.

Maegan was an A-student taking all sorts of AP classes when a moment of pressure caused her to cheat on the SATs which ended up invalidating the scores of all the people who took the exam with her. Now she has the reputation of being a cheat following her around. When her older sister comes home from Duke pregnant and not willing to name the father to their parents and not knowing what she is going to do, the pressure gets even greater. Her sister has shared her secrets with Maegan but swore her not to tell their parents.

Then the Calculus teacher decides to pair up Rob and Maegan for a class project and the two get to know each other. And Rob gets to know Owen who is a poor kid whose mother got taken in by his dad's schemes. And Maegan has a falling out with her best friend Rachel and Rachel's boyfriend Drew.

It seems like every page is filled with drama and moral dilemmas in this page-turning story. Fans of emotional drama will adore this one.

Favorite Quote:

After a moment, I consider that Owen is still silently sitting across from me with his sad little bag of chips and his orange.

He must see my eyes on his food, because he says, "So, my plan was to get all the snacks in one day, and then have a side dish for my cheese sandwich."

"Good plan."

"Yeah, well, the lady guarding the lunch line disagrees. She said I should have been more judicious with my money."

He says this without emotion, like he's discussing the weather, but it lights a fire of anger inside me. It's not like the lunch lady personally buys the bread and the cheese.

I received this review copy from Bloomsbury. You can buy your copy here.

YA ARC Review: Caterpillar Summer by Gillian McDunn

Caterpillar Summer
Author: Gillian McDunn
Publication: Bloomsbury Children's Books (April 2, 2019)

Description: Cat and her brother Chicken have always had a very special bond--Cat is one of the few people who can keep Chicken happy. When he has a "meltdown" she's the one who scratches his back and reads his favorite story. She's the one who knows what Chicken needs. Since their mom has had to work double-hard to keep their family afloat after their father passed away, Cat has been the glue holding her family together.

But even the strongest glue sometimes struggles to hold. When a summer trip doesn't go according to plan, Cat and Chicken end up spending three weeks with grandparents they never knew. For the first time in years, Cat has the opportunity to be a kid again, and the journey she takes shows that even the most broken or strained relationships can be healed if people take the time to walk in one another's shoes.

My Thoughts: This is a middle grade contemporary story about two kids and what they learn on their summer vacation.

Cat has just finished fifth grade. She has a younger brother called Chicken who has just finished first grade. Chicken has some issues that sounded to me like he would fit somewhere on the Autism Spectrum. He is subject to "meltdowns." He is bright and very focused on sharks. Lately, he has taken to running off. Cat spends a lot of time taking care of Chicken so that their mother can write her picture books about Caterpillar and Chicken which Cat sees as loosely based on their life.

Cat is old enough to remember the father that they lost to cancer when Chicken was a baby. She thinks of herself as the glue that holds her family together. But, as she is growing older, she is beginning to feel the restrictions that taking care of Chicken are adding to her life.

They are looking forward to a Summer vacation in Atlanta where her mother is teaching a writing seminar and they will be able to spend time with their best friends who recently moved away. Things fall apart when the friend Rishi's family has to take an emergency trip to India to take care of his grandmother.

Cat's mom decides that the kids should spend time with her parents on an island in North Carolina. Cat has never met those grandparents. Apparently their mom and their grandfather had some sort of falling out. Cat is worried about taking care of Chicken and getting to know her stranger grandparents. She is also very disappointed that she won't be able to spend as much time as she wanted with her mother.

The grandparents and the island come as a pleasant surprise. Grandma Lily is good with Chicken which allows Cat to be a child herself instead of a caregiver. Her grandfather takes a bit longer to warm up to the kids but Cat is a persistent child. Between new friends, biking and a fishing contest, Cat comes to love living on the island and becomes determined that her mother and grandfather make up their differences so that they don't lose track of these new people.

Cat is thoughtful and older than her age mainly because of the responsibility she feels for her little brother and for her mother. The story was moving and engaging and I read it in one sitting. I recommend it for thoughtful middle grade readers.

Favorite Quote:

A wave bubbled her back a step. Cat dug her toes deep in the sand. She glanced again at Chicken, who held Lily's had like it was the most normal thing in the world. Cat wanted to flop down and cry, like Chicken had at the airport. The difference was, Chicken knew someone would carry him and Cat didn't. She always picked herself up. She would have to figure out how to do that here.

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from the publisher. You can buy your copy here.

YA Book Review: The Storm Keeper's Island by Catherine Doyle

The Storm Keeper's Island
Author: Catherine Doyle
Series: Storm Keeper's Island
Publication: Bloomsbury Children's Books (January 22, 2019)

Description: Fionn Boyle comes from a long line of brave seafarers, people with the ocean behind their eyes. But he can't help but fear the open sea. For years, Fionn's mother has told him stories of Arranmore Island, a strange place that seems to haunt her. Fionn has always wondered about this mysterious island, and from the day he arrives he starts noticing things that can't be explained. He can sense the island all around him, and it feels like the island is watching him, too.

Once in a generation, Arranmore Island chooses a new Storm Keeper to wield its power and keep its magic safe from enemies. The time has come for his grandfather, a secretive and eccentric old man, to step down. But as Fionn and the other descendants of Arranmore's most powerful families fight to become the island's next champion, a more sinister magic is waking up, intent on rekindling a long-ago war and changing Fionn's life and the island's future forever.

My Thoughts: Eleven-year-old Fionn Boyle has come to Arranmore Island with his 13-year-old sister Tara to stay with their grandfather for a while. Their mother suffers from depression and can't take care of them. Fionn didn't want to come. He is terribly afraid of the sea and doesn't want to leave his mother to stay with a strange man he hasn't met.

Fionn's mother left Arranmore right after her husband's death and before Fionn was born. Strange things begin to happen as soon as he steps foot on the island. It feels like the island is watching him. His grandfather is rather a strange man. He is called the Storm Keeper but all he seems to do is make various candles. With Tara preoccupied with a new boyfriend, Fionn is left alone to figure out what is going on.

It is time for the old storm keeper to step down and the rival Beasley family, including Tara's new boyfriend Barley, really wants the job of being the next storm keeper. It takes a while before Fionn learns that his grandfather is charged with keeping the island safe from an ancient evil named Morrigan who is sleeping somewhere on the island.

There are a number of magical things about the island. The Sea Cave, if it can be found, lets the finder ask for one wish. Bartley with Tara's assistance is looking for the cave in order to ask for the power the comes along with being the next storm keeper. Fionn would like to find it too. Since he can't wish his father back alive, he'd like to have a cured mother.

Fionn goes on a number of adventures with his grandfather. Each time a candle is burned, it takes the one holding it back to the time and place preserved in the wax. One of their first adventures takes them back to the very beginning when Dagda united the five clans and defeated Morrigan and her soulstalkers.

This book was filled with adventures. I loved the characters especially Fionn who doesn't think that he is very courageous but surprises himself with his actions. I loved Fionn's grandfather Malachy who is nearing the end of his term as storm keeper and losing his memory.

This was an excellent middle grade fantasy.

Favorite Quote:

"Did you just say the Sea Cave is magical? Did I hear that correctly?"

"Clear as a bell," said Shelby, unfazed. "I had elocution lessons as a child. It was either that or fencing and since I'm not a sixteenth-century monarch, I chose the speech stuff."

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from Bloomsbury. You can buy your copy here.