Category: YA Reads

It’s the summer and Arthur is in New York. He lives in Georgia but every summer his mother sends him to New York City to stay in her office. Thanks to Broadway plays he believes in the universe and romance.

One day when he was walking to the post office he sees this handsome boy.  He can’t resist- he has to go up and talk to him! They start to make small talk and with butterflies in his stomach, Arthur realizes this boy is gay, like him.

Arthur notices he has a big box with a name on it, Hudson. It’s probably his name but Arthur doesn’t want to be creepy and ask. Once they both dropped their stuff off, they head back outside. They’re so engrossed in conversation that they don’t see a marching band coming towards them! The band separates them, and they lose each other.

Arthur gives up and goes back to the office, but he can’t get that Hudson boy off his mind. Neither can the Hudson boy. They want to find each other so badly but it seems impossible. How can they track each other down without even knowing their names?

When I read this book I instantly got hooked on to it. It shows both of the main characters perspectives and has such a good story line. There’s some parts that made me  parts that made me really emotional because Arthur  was trying his hardest to look for “Hudson”, he wanted to be with him and love him but he tried everything. I think people who like romance will really enjoy this book.

What if it’s us by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera can be found in the library under FIC ALB.

Will has a daily routine.

He works at the Dollar Only store, attempts to recreate his father’s cornbread recipe and never takes public transportation. Instead of taking the bus or the train, Will chose to walk to get to his destination. However, there are things he tries to avoid at all costs. He doesn’t walk past the blessings store, his childhood friend Playa’s house and the bridge on Fourth street….

where his father committed suicide.

After his father’s suicide, Will decided to walk in order to escape his own problems. It’s been three whole years, yet, Will still has a habit of walking. However, after finding out that Playa has been raped at a party, Will comes to realization that instead of avoiding his problems, he needs to face it head-on. Especially the fact that he could’ve easily prevented that if he had just hadn’t left the party early. Since that, he begins to put some good in the neighborhood by leaving gifts for people. Along with that, he uncovers the truth about his father’s cornbread.

Reading What I Leave Behind by Alison McGhee was a meaningful experience for me. It brought me back to reality, showing me the dark side of the tunnel and how to get out of it. Alison McGhee did a spectacular job at unraveling the story. She managed to make Will a character that’s complex and deep. The reader feels like he’s real, and has a chance of discovering themselves within the ink that stains the pages.

Kudos to Allison McGhee.

Find out what happens next in the library.

Written in the format of poetry, Jason Reynold’s Long Way Down has caught my interests, being the first novel in verse I’ve encountered. Will, the main character, lives in a neighborhood where there are certain rules to follow or else there will be consequences. He is kept there, along with his mother and older brother, Shawn. His older brother is someone Will looks up to, yet some dark secrets are kept hidden in Shawn’s drawer. 

The rules Will needs to follow include…

“NO. 1: CRYING
Don’t. No matter what. Don’t
NO. 2: SNITCHING
Don’t. No matter what. Don’t.
NO. 3: REVENGE
If someone you love gets killed,
find the person who killed
them and kill them.”  -pg. 31-33

Everything changes after his brother is shot, leading to his death that sets a spark off within Will. Sadness has taken another level, taking a form of a monster that Will cannot control. It brings light to Shawn’s character and who he truly is, revealing secrets and what led to his death.

Will decides to take action into his own hands, seeking revenge for the death of his brother. He suspects it was Shawn’s friend, Carlson Riggs, who has moved to another part of the neighborhood where it’s the most dangerous. The only problem was…how can he do it without getting himself killed? Was Carlson Riggs even the murderer, or was Will just mistaken? How will he make sure that no one will come after him after he kills Carlson as revenge?

Favorite quotes:

“Another thing about the rules…
They weren’t mean to be broken.
They were meant for the broken
to follow.”
-Another Thing About the Rules, page 35

“People always love people more when they’re dead.”
-It Used To Be Different, page 43

The second quote is more meaningful for me due to the fact that it speaks the truth in some dark way. For example, Vincent Van Gogh received no recognition throughout his career as a painter, but after his death, people began recognizing his work and he became someone. He wasn’t a nobody anymore but gained a title.

While reading this, I felt this anticipation for learning even more secrets that would impact the story. Long Way Down is one of those novels where you have to pay attention to every single detail or else you’ll become lost, sort of like a detective. It shows the way fear manages to change people and what that can do to you.

Find out what happens next in the library.

Before there was a Hazel, there was An Abundance of Katherines. This time, love seems to steer away from Colin Singleton, the protagonist of the novel. The thing is, Colin only dates girls that are named Katherine, and all of his relationships have ended by Katherine dumping him.

“Colin Singleton’s type was not physical but linguistic: he liked Katherines. And not Katies or Kats or Kitties or Cathys or Rynns or Trinas or Kays or Kates or, God forbid, Catherines. K-A-T-H-E-R-I-N-E. He had dated nineteen girls. All of them had been named Katherine. And all of them- every single solitary one-had dumped him.” -page 15.

Makes sense that his last name is Singleton, right?

K-19 (Katherine nineteen) is the one that breaks his heart, unlike the rest. Before that, most of the Katherines had different ways of parting ways with him, from thinking boys were gross, wanting to be just friends and eventually one of them dumped him through e-mail.

Colin’s friend, Hassan, suggests they go on a road trip to prove Colin’s theory. The theory? It’s the Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability.

Throughout the road trip, they drive around aimlessly, just looking for adventure. They pass by Kentucky and Tennessee, encountering many things from monuments to dangerous feral hogs. Colin hopes that he’ll be able to avenge all the Dumpees in the world, as well as win himself a girl, perhaps another Katherine. Will he prove his theory correct, or is he just cursed to get dumped by Katherines?

Reading this book made me feel like I had something to connect to. He reminded me of a friend I have, making me wonder if he’ll actually do the same things Colin does. When it comes to talking, both of them tend to be socially awkward, sprouting out random facts about anything. Now that I think about it, Colin also reminds me of Sheldon, from the Big Bang Theory.

To wrap this up, I can connect with Colin’s behavior, personality and how he strongly resembles people I know. It’s a whole adventure while reading this book, full of laughter and the truth of the real world. The thing that attracted me to this book was because instead of love coming to him, love runs away from him.

Find out what happens next on Colin and Hassan’s road trip in the library.

Written by Laurie Halse Anderson, author of Fever 1793, which won a Margaret A. Edwards award, The Impossible Knife of Memory takes a turn to examine the reality of war for the children of today’s soldiers. Hayley Kincain and her father have arrived back to the town where her father grew up. The main purpose of the move was so Hayley could attend a proper school, but it isn’t that easy for her.

Hayley has to deal with her supposed ‘step-mother’, Trish. Trish isn’t the best parental figure out there.  She raised Hayley while her father was serving the military but walked out on them years ago. Now she manipulates and attempts to control Hayley’s life, once again, by providing  the principal with information that her father was hiding.  Who does she think she is to interfere, now?

“She’s not my stepmother. (…) She’s a cheating, alcoholic a**hole who can’t open her mouth without lying. She… You can’t talk to her about me. Can I go?” 

-Hayley Kincain to the principal, about Trish, page 27. 

Due to her father returning from the war in Iraq, he isn’t in the most stable condition. Having no job and unable to escape from the evil spirits that haunt him, he isn’t the best father, either. He has PTSD and chooses to depend on drugs to escape from his terrible memories.

“PTSD, post traumatic stress disorder, is a mental disorder that is characterized by failure to recover after experiencing or witnessing a terrifying event” (Mayo Clinic).  PTSD often affects soldiers, due to the fact that they’re in the battlefield witnessing many gruesome things that not many people can handle.

PTSD can cause anxiety and flashbacks, nightmares, and the inability to participate in something that can bring back the trauma. They may have behavior changes, emotional detachment and much more. Due to Hayley’s dad experiencing that, he isn’t the same father she had before he went to the army.

Picture this; Your father entered the army years ago and finally returned, but he’s not the same person anymore. He’s different. You could say he’s broken or being haunted, the past lurks, waiting to take its chance and pounce. What do you think would happen if that happened to your own father? Would he be able to handle it?

Hayley Kincain is honestly the most relatable character out of all the characters I’ve met when reading different books. Unlike many protagonists who have a life changing moment where they gain powers, meet their soulmate, etc, Hayley struggles to get over regular things. For example, she wants to help her father cope with PTSD and wants to think about the future. She has hope for the future.

Hayley is in conflict with her own self. If anything, we’re able to do a character analysis on Hayley Kincain, analyzing her entire persona, personality and choices. I believe that‘s the most interesting thing about it, the reason why I decided to keep reading. I recommend this book to anyone seeking to find a protagonist that doesn’t have powers or their lover to save them from their problems, to deal with the true reality of the world and it’s dark side. Find out what happens next in the library.