Very Cool

The third installment of The Perfect Score series, The Perfect Star was really, really good.  Again, Buyea took on important issues without it feeling forced or preachy.  Made it really real and again, the characters are really real.  Great, great series. 

What Can Be Said about Brian Freeman

I mean the guy writes about the best state in the 50.  The state that gave us not only Judy (which would have been enough) and Prince, William Worrall Mayo, Jessica Lange also claimed Eddie Albert from age 1, John Sandford, Matt Goldman and Gary Paulsen have all written books set in Minnesota and I love them (the authors and their books). But there is just something...something that makes Brian Freeman's Johnathan Stride that just makes him my favorite Minnesotan (well...next to Judy, of course).   Thief River Falls was so excellent.  It is a stand-alone and just so well done.  Thanks, Mr. Freeman--- PLEASE PLEASE keep writing!  Thief River Falls is a real place! 

While I Didn't LOVE

Robert B. Parker's Colorblind, I had to give it the five stars because I am just so darn proud of Jesse Stone.  I just love that he went to rehab and I just love that Jen is no more.  I just really, really love that.  And that made all the difference.  Yes, Reed Farrel Coleman writes a different Jesse from Parker's Jesse, but Jesse is still a great guy.  This one just didn't grab me like some have.  But still, you go, Jesse.  I love you. Long may you run. 

Yeah...

The Careful Undressing of Love was pretty good.  It was good, yes, but it didn't suck me in or "wow" me.  Still, I can see that it was well written.  It was just that the ending was super rushed, it seemed to me.  I also have to say I don't really understand the title.  But still, it was pretty good.  And I would read another book by Corey Ann Haydu for sure. 

Colors

was a fantastic movie.  The Astonishing Color of After?  Well, it just didn't work for me.  I think it was the writing style, maybe?  Just too descriptive and flowery for my personal taste.  I guess I also didn't get all of the drama there was about Leigh not getting to know her grandparents.  A lot of people don't get to know their grandparents, for a lot of different reasons.  But this seemed to be SUCH a huge point of contention.  Not to say it shouldn't be a point of contention-- everyone would love to have a close family.  Yes, that is ideal.  But for it to be SUCH a big deal...well...
I did appreciate the mention of the good uses of electroconvulsive therapy, which is so often misunderstood.  I have a dear friend who found this to be the only cure for her depression.  And I know it does work for some.  Most times when it is demonized, it is because people get it confused with a lobotomy and think of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest or they don't realize how different it is now, from when it was first used.  Not to say that others wouldn't like it, but I had a hard time finishing it. 

I Have No Idea

How I chose to read Setting Free the Kites, but wow, I am so glad that I did. 
Do I overuse the word "wow?"
Probably.
But wow.
What a really good book.  Alex George is a new-to-me author and I need to read more from him. 
I loved this quote, described as an "old Irish rhyme:"
"Death leaves a heartache no one can heal.  Love leaves a memory, no one can steal."
I don't want to say too much, don't want to spoil.  But man, read this.  Excellent. 

As I Write this

I am listing to Love is a Losing Game by Amy Winehouse.  Amy, My Daughter is written by Mitch Winehouse.  I didn't really know much about her but then I read what Roxane Gay had written about her in Bad Feminist and I was intrigued.  I think this might be it.  What a fantastic talent Ms. Winehouse was.  And from stories about her, she seemed like a beautiful, giving person.  I also read this and this and this.  And indeed, many parallels can be drawn.  I really do wish that Ms. Winehouse had been able to overcome her disease.  She gave much when here on earth and she had a lot left to give. 

Dogs and All

I am not a big dog fan.  I am not anti-dog, it's just that I am a much more a cat person and dogs do scare me.  Now I know this book was about MUCH more than dogs.  But the only reason why I didn't love this as much as the other books I have read by her.  Ward won the National Book Award for Salvage the Bones and it is one of those cases were an award committee gets it right!  It is set during Hurricane Katrina in Ward's fictional Mississippi town of Bois Sauvage on the Gulf Coast. 

Author Binge

Obviously I am on an author binge with Robert Cormier.  After the First Death was harder for me to get into at first, but once I was hooked, I was HOOKED.  It was brutal.  It was very well done.  It raises a lot of questions about service to one's country and what that might mean. 
Powerful. 

Loss

Is never, ever easy.  History is All You Left Me was a book I changed from 4 to 3 stars just because I really didn't enjoy listening to it and for me I thought it could have been a bit shorter.  I would have maybe liked an abridged version!  It just seemed to drag for me.  However, it was very good in that it captured the feeling of the incredible loss that comes when a loved one dies.  My best friend died in 2005 and there is not a day that goes by that I don't think of her.  Our friendship was not romantic at all, we were best friends, but I loved her very much.  Her youngest son died tragically last year and that was so very hard and her husband went Home that year as well.  I don't think either of them recovered from Joanie's death, to be honest.  So I appreciate the way in which Silvera really makes Griffin's love and loss honest and real.  This is one of those things that I think must be hard to do if one hasn't had the experience, but maybe not.  I also completely loved the way in which it was no big deal at all (very Christ-like) that Theo and Griffin were boyfriends.  The "what body parts does the person you love have?" issue didn't really come up and I think that is just beautiful.  This is hopeful, this is Christ-like.  This is the way things should be.  I am not sure if it is Printz worthy though.  But assuredly close!

Being Brave

As Brave as You is an interesting title.  At first I didn't get why it was the title of the book (which is wonderful, by the way) but then I thought about it for a second and it is a great fit.  There are so many brave actions in this book.  From Genie to Ernie to Grandpop.  Great book about what scares us and what happens when we are brave or when someone is brave for us.  What other wonderful things can I saw about Jason Reynolds!

Before and After

The Ethan I was Before has a great cover and a great title and it really is a great book.  I just thought that the end dragged just a wee-wee bit with the fox cubs.  The fox cubs were the only thing that kept this from being a 5 star for me, but I get why they were important.  This was an incredibly powerful book.  If there could have been some other way to work in heroism/sacrifice by Coralee, for me, this would have been one of the best books I read all year.  Highly recommended, but the foxes just took a lot a way for me. 

Sweet Boy

I think that Archer is one of the sweetest characters I have come to know.  I really enjoyed The Best Man very much for the ways in which it is just really not a big deal that some people are gay and some people are straight.  I mean it is a big deal to SOME people in this book, sure.  But the book isn't about the struggle for acceptance by the majority.  In The Best Man, the people who seem to have an issue with those who are attracted to those of the same sex are in the minority.  And that was refreshing.  And loving.  And Christian.  I really, really liked this one!

Spoilers!

Robert B. Parker's The Hangman's Sonnet written by Reed Farrel Coleman is Jesse #16.  I gave it a 4 of 5 stars but maybe it is 4.5 because (SPOILER) Jesse goes to rehab at the end!  I was so happy!  And also very happy that Jen seems to finally be gone!  Jesse's decision to try to give up alcohol just made me so happy.  I loved Jesse in this book and the characters and town of Paradise, of course, it was just that the mystery itself didn't thrill me so I didn't give it 5 stars.  But it is still a great addition!  Great cover!  And a cameo from Spenser, but I didn't like the voice for him!  Haha! 

More Like 3.5

Again it would be nice to have the 1/2 star option on goodreads.  I think that I Call Upon Thee was a 3.5 way more than a 3.  I read it in a book drought and was so thankful to have it.  It did have very interesting characters, I thought, even though the plot was a little hard to follow sometimes not because it was complicated but because it was spotty.  I found the characters so interesting that I wouldn't have minded it being a little longer, just to get to know them better and here more about their stories. 

Wow

Bang is an incredibly excellent book.
It is just a wow book.
I think Barry Lyga is one of my most favorite authors.
I think this is Printz worthy.
I just really, really thought the whole thing was realistic and hopeful and sad and horrible and really, really real.  This and The Hate U Give are my picks so far for Printz, but I think this one edges out HUG.  Of course, that could be because I just finished this one, so I will have to see how I feel about both a little further on down the road.  But this one?  Wow.

Again, not a review

Just because I gave Plus One a 3 of 5 stars on goodreads doesn't mean that it isn't a 5 for someone else.  It was just a little too out there for me.  I loved the message here, that love is love and classism is horrible and people should be free to love whom they love!  I mean that is important!  This was one of those Alternate History kind of deals, which I didn't figure out until a bit later. The United States was divided into people who were allowed to work and live in the day time and people who were allowed to work and live in the nighttime. And it was President Wilson who decided this, so yeah, that didn't happen, but I liked that.  That whole "alternate history" thing was new to me, so that was cool.  As an aside, but important to get the word out in case others have been under the same rock I have been under apparently, Wilson was a nasty racist.  So he has fallen off of my list of decent human beings!

My Chemical Romance

I don't know many contemporary musical groups.  I don't even know if My Chemical Romance is still a popular musical group!  But to someone who wears Judy Garland t-shirts, MCR is very modern!  Actually no, I see they broke up a long time ago!  Oh well!  Regardless, I really liked their songs I'm Not Okay (I Promise) and Helena.
Every time I see the title of We Are Okay I think of I'm Not Okay (I Promise). Because Marin isn't really okay.  She is trying to be okay.  She is doing a good job of getting to be okay.
Marin is pronounced like the county in California, not Mar-IN.
I have read a few books by Nina LaCour and enjoyed them very much so I had super high expectations for this one but it just didn't quite do it for me.  I think that I thought that the big, terrible thing that happened to Marin would be more big and terrible (isn't that terrible of me).  But wouldn't that have just been Printz bait?   So I shouldn't be really disappointed that the big and terrible thing didn't seem too too big and terrible?  Of course, the big and terrible thing in the book wasn't happening to me!  Maybe if it did, I would see it differently!  Still, I didn't get sucked in as far as I wanted to be.  But I did love Marin and Mabel. And I absolutely, positively LOVED the ending.  

Short Series

Tears of a Tiger and Forged by Fire are two of the three books in the Hazelwood High series by Sharon M. Draper.
Tears of a Tiger was a challenge for me.  I am militant in my disgust for drunk drivers.  I admit that I have no compassion or understanding about it at all.  Yes, I judge completely when it comes to this.  To me, one makes a choice to get behind the wheel when drunk.  And that is like taking a gun and shooting it into a crowd.  Only even more dangerous because one stray bullet can most likely only kill or hurt one person, whereas a vehicle out on the road, driven by a drunk driver?  Many people can die or be injured for life.
As I have mentioned here, I call the police when I see someone driving as though they might be drunk.
In TOAT, Andy is drunk.  And he is driving and he wrecks the car and his best friend dies.  Andy's life is over, too, pretty much, as he can't live with what he has done.  I was surprised that I found myself feeling compassion for him.  And also guilt for feeling compassion.  And also guilt for not feeling compassion.  And surprise and shock and anger at the teachers and coaches and friends and counselors who did have compassion for Andy.
I really like this guy's article.   How does it work with being a Christian though?  It's so hard!!!!!!!!  But these were really, really good books.  Love Sharon Draper.  Love her.

Potential Series?

I love a good stand-alone book.  And sometimes a book should just be you know, a book!  But The Mesmerist seems to me like it would be a good series! Ronald L. Smith wrote Hoodoo which I have not read, but I want to read it now, especially after reading this.  I was attracted to it because of the whole spiritualist thing, which I have found fascinating.  It makes me sad that people don't know that when their loved ones die they are in perfect peace with God (Jesus is my path and He said He has sheep that belong to other flocks and so I KNOW this is true!  EVERYONE! Christian Universalist  that I am!) and so I can see that people would want to find answers and assurance.   This book takes place in Victorian England and so it was neat to find out more about the time period and spiritualism.