Different Kinds of Struggles

Better than Perfect and Zane and the Hurricane and Sarny all had struggles. How can one put a value on struggles?
I know that we can't rank pain.
This book tells the story of "perfect" Juliet Newman who is from a "perfect" family that starts to fall apart.
Her mom ODs, her parents divorce, she is struggling with her "perfect" boyfriend" and her pending acceptance?  into Harvard.
There is no "perfect" life.  Facebook and Instagram and Twitter might make us think that others have perfect lives.
I knew a woman who was always complaining about other people have such perfect lives.
I would ask, many times, "How do you know their lives are perfect?  Their children are perfect?"  She would tell me that she sees it on Facebook.
There really isn't much to say to that.
I would sometimes (though not often because she was not a woman of good temper) that her Facebook page also displayed a perfect life.  That just didn't seem to sink in at all.
Juliet would be seen as a "perfect" girl and this ill-tempered acquaintance of mine would compare her to her own daughter, and wonder why her own child couldn't be more like Juliet, I am sure.  But this book just hits home the lesson that no one is perfect.

If you have ever been there....

Joanie Deluca and me :) 

If you have ever had a close friend with a life-threatening illness, you will be blown away by Melissa Kantor's Maybe One Day.  That doesn't mean that won't enjoy the book if you haven't been there.  In fact, I think this is a book that everyone can relate to in some way.  And even if they can't, they will be moved by it.  I've enjoyed every book by Kantor that I've read and was disappointed when I learned that she wasn't planning on another book about The Darlings.  I had emailed her to see if there was another one in the works and she kindly took the time to write back to me.
Zoe and Olivia are best friends and have been forever.  They were ballet students together and had planned to make it their career, but didn't make the cut.  Olivia has dealt with it, but Zoe is still grieving.  Then Olivia learns that she has leukemia.  What follows is just so real and so painful and hopeful and horrible and beautiful.  Books don't usually make me cry.  But man, having gone through this with my own best friend...the waiting for tests, the treatments, the hanging on every word of the doctor.  It brought back a lot of memories.  So well done.  So very well done.

Not it!

I always hated being it.  It is funny how that idea of being "it" changes.  I am NOT an it girl at all.  Never have been, sadly.  Jan (pronounced Yahn, she is named for one of her parents' favorite artists, Jan Van Eyck.  I like him too, but I wouldn't name a kid after him!) Miller isn't either.  Confessions of a  Not It Girl is her story of love non-existant and love almost lost and love found.  This is another from Melissa Kantor and I liked it, but Jan wasn't very likable, but again, not liking the main character all that much and yet still being able to enjoy the book says something good about the book.  I think Kantor is a really good author.  A good, quick read and there are some very funny, funny lines.

Broken Hearts

The Breakup Bible is SO accurate.  It really does show what a broken heart can do.  Jenny has just been dumped by Max and just can't get over him.  Great book.  The only thing that kept me from loving it is that Jenny is not really a likable girl.  She's pretty judgmental about everyone else in the world.  Hints of a less evil Margaret Simon.  But that's it.  Written by the author of Girlfriend Material and the Darlings series.  Good book for someone going through the pain of a break up.

Love is in the air

Never really liked the song Little Darling too much. I'm not sure why. Still it is one of those songs you somehow know all of the words to, isn't that weird? The Darlings in Love is the long-awaited sequel to The Darlings are Forever. At least I've been waiting for it, ever since I read the first one. Can I help it if I think it would have been pretty darn cool to grow up on Manhattan and have NYC be your playgroud, like Dash and Lily and and the Darlings and any number of teen protagonists in the YA fiction I've read over the last few years?

I love the Darlings and I can't wait for more! In this installment each of the very different girls (all best friends even though they are very different) each have their troubles with guys. The story lines are fresh and ring true. A great, fun series!

What's Forever For?

Does anything last forever?  What's Forever For is a good, sad song.  It reminds me also of the poem "Nothing Gold Can Stay."  I wish I could say that I am such a student of the arts that I just knew about "Nothing Gold Can Stay" because of my familiarity with the work of Robert Frost, but actually I know about the poem from that awesome scene in the movie The Outsiders when the very hot and loveable greasers talk about the meaning of the poem.  I know it was in the book, too and I love the book, but I really remember the movie part about it. 
I must say that nothing on this earth lasts forever.  Not the Dewey Decimal System (thank goodness) and not earthly love.  The only thing that lasts is God and God's love.  But you know what?  That is okay!  Because that is all we need.
Okay. 
But it does look like The Darlings are going to be around for a long time...at least I hope so!  The Darlings are Forever is the first book in a new series by Melissa Kantor who wrote Girlfriend Material. 
The Darlings are three friends, all new freshmen at different schools in and around NYC.  Jane, Victoria and Natalya are very different girls.  Jane is the arty one, the actress, attending a performing arts high school.  Natalya is the brain, attending a very prestigious private high school on scholarship.  Victoria is attending a private school, too and is in the media spotlight because of her father's run for a very important Senate seat.
Going to different schools after eight grades together is bound to put a strain on their relationship, along with the fact that each of the girls is having a tough time fitting in and figuring out where they stand in their own school.
The Darlings are NOTHING like the 4 PTSs which is why I will read the next book in the series for sure!