Review: Dead Ends by Erin Jade Lange

Dane Washington is one suspension away from expulsion. In a high school full of “haves,” being a “have not” makes Dane feel like life is hurtling toward one big dead end. Billy D. spends his high school days in Special Ed and he’s not exactly a “have” himself. The biggest thing Billy’s missing? His dad. Billy is sure the riddles his father left in an atlas are really clues to finding him again and through a bizarre turn of events, he talks Dane into joining him on the search.
A bully and a boy with Down syndrome makes for an unlikely friendship, but together, they work through the clues, leading to unmarked towns and secrets of the past. But they’re all dead ends. Until the final clue . . . and a secret Billy shouldn’t have been keeping.
As a journalist, Erin Jade Lange is inspired by hot button issues like bullying, but it is her honest characters and breakneck plotting that make Dead Ends a must-read.

My Review:

Dead Ends is Erin Jade Lange's sophomore novel.  Her first book was Butter, which I loved, and I loved this book as well.  It had great characterization and a gripping storyline.  I enjoyed this entire read.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD

This book is told from the 1st person perspective of Dane, a bully who doesn't sometimes even seem to realize that he's a bully.  He often gets detentions and suspensions for beating other boys up at school, but he always thinks that he's justified in beating them up since they provoked him in some way.  Later in the book, he realizes that sometimes he's beaten up people who haven't done anything to him at all.  Dane feels like he's the only teenager who doesn't have a car, and he thinks he could have one if his mom cashed her lottery tickets in instead of saving them all on the wall.  Despite the fact that he gets fed up with this, he still has a good relationship with his mother.  She got pregnant with him in high school, and she's raised him since then.  His dad has never been involved in his life, and Dane doesn't even know his dad's name.

Billy is a good character as well.  He is a boy with Down Syndrome, and he becomes friends with Dane.  He wants Dane to teach him how to fight, and he wants to find his dad.  He tells Dane all about his dad, making him out to be a great guy.  It turns out that he's been keeping a secret about his dad.  His dad is not such a great guy.  Billy is good at manipulating Dane to do what he wants.  Dane knows that if he does whatever Billy wants, he won't get kicked out of school.  Billy uses this against Dane whenever he needs to.  He is sure that he can find his dad by solving some clues in an atlas.  These clues give the names to towns, and Billy thinks his dad is in one of those towns.

Another one of the characters in this book is Seely.  She is a tomboyish girl who loves to skateboard and knows a lot about cars.  She has two dads, and neither of the boys in this book have a dad.  She is in the opposite situation as them.  She helps Dane and Billy in their search for Billy's dad.  There is a bit of a start of a romance between Seely and Dane.  He kisses her after he realizes that he's started to like her.  She and Dane make a good couple.  At first, Dane is hesitant to be with her because he thinks Billy might like her.  He makes sure Billy is okay with him and Seely dating before he kisses her.

If you like YA contemporary, read this book.

Katie 

2013 Debut Author Bash: Steven dos Santos and Giveaway

 

I had the chance to interview Steven dos Santos for the Debut Author Bash which is hosted by YAReads.  Here are the questions I asked, and his answers.

YA Reads Debut Author Bash Interview Questions for Steven dos Santos

1. What made you decide that you wanted to be a writer?

I’ve loved to write ever since I was in second grade and wrote my first “book,” The Enchanted Prince. During my school years, I was very passionate about creating stories and even wrote scripts which I acted out and recorded with friends. There’s always been a part of me that wanted to be a film maker, and writing novels is a way of sharing that “movie-in-my-head” with readers where anything I can dream of winds up on the page, without the restraints of a studio budget to hamper the creative process.

2. Where did you get your inspiration for The Culling?

The idea for THE CULLING actually has its roots in childhood, where I used to imagine the scenario of having to choose which one of my relatives I would save if I could only choose one. Yes, I know, I was a strange kid ;-) Since then, stories with moral dilemmas have always fascinated me, and THE CULLING is a combination of this theme, with my love for science-fiction.

3. Do you have any other shelved manuscripts that you wrote before The Culling?

Actually yes, I do! The first novel I wrote was called Darius Devine and the Necromancer’s Curse, a middle grade fantasy about a young boy determined to do anything to bring back his beloved mother from the dead. This was a very emotional experience for me because I lost my own mother after I started writing the book.

The next novel I wrote was called Dagger, a Young Adult, paranormal/espionage story about a gay teenager who moonlights as a secret agent that combats supernatural terrorism.

4. How long did it take you to write your first draft of The Culling?

My first draft of THE CULLING took about a year and a half and clocked in at 130K words. The final edited version ended up around 90K words, so a lot got left on the cutting room floor.

5. Do you have a favorite of the Recruits?

Hmmm. That’s a really tough question! I really feel for all of them and the predicament they’re in. That being said, I do have a soft spot for Lucian, because on top of having to endure the horrors of The Culling, he’s also dealing with betrayal from someone he loved and trusted, as well as potentially finding true love that may end before it’s had a chance to thrive.

  

6. How do you feel when you kill off one of your characters?  I felt sad when some of the Recruits died as a reader, so I feel like it would be even harder to write their deaths.

This was the most emotionally draining aspect of the novel for me. I felt like I knew all these characters so well, and I hated having them suffer and ultimately dying. Many times I found myself depressed because it was like losing a close friend/loved one, as though a part of me had been “culled.”

7. Are you able to give any non-spoilery hints about what will be going on in The Sowing?

Without giving away too much, I would say that in THE SOWING, readers will find out a lot more about how the world in THE CULLING came to be the way it is. And remember those creepy Fleshers? Let’s just say, you haven’t seen the last of them! ;-) THE SOWING will be released on March 8, 2014.

Thanks Steven for sharing all your advice. You can find Steven at:

www.stevendossantos.com

www.facebook.com/stevendossantosauthor

www.twitter.com/stevendossantos

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12617286-the-culling

http://www.amazon.com/The-Culling-Torch-Keeper/dp/073873537X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1359997732&sr=8-2&keywords=the+culling

   

The Books:

Steven dos Santos is giving away three signed copies of The Culling.  If you like in the US or Canada, you can enter.  To enter, leave a comment saying that you want to enter and give your email address.  This contest ends the second week of October.

Katie

Waiting on Wednesday #64: Faking Normal

                                                                           

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine.

My pick for this week is:

An edgy, realistic, and utterly captivating novel from an exciting new voice in teen fiction.

Alexi Littrell hasn't told anyone what happened to her over the summer. Ashamed and embarrassed, she hides in her closet and compulsively scratches the back of her neck, trying to make the outside hurt more than the inside does.

When Bodee Lennox, the quiet and awkward boy next door, comes to live with the Littrells, Alexi discovers an unlikely friend in "the Kool-Aid Kid," who has secrets of his own. As they lean on each other for support, Alexi gives him the strength to deal with his past, and Bodee helps her find the courage to finally face the truth.

A searing, poignant book, Faking Normal is the extraordinary debut novel from an exciting new author-Courtney C. Stevens.

---
This sounds like an amazing and emotional contemporary debut.  It sounds like the type of book that I like to read.  This will be releasing on February 25th.

What are you Waiting On this Wednesday?

Katie

Review: Personal Effects by EM Kokie

After his older brother dies in Iraq, Matt makes a discovery that rocks his beliefs about strength, bravery, and honor in this page-turning debut.

Ever since his brother, T.J., was killed in Iraq, Matt feels like he’s been sleepwalking through life — failing classes, getting into fights, and avoiding his dad’s lectures about following in his brother’s footsteps. T.J.’s gone, but Matt can’t shake the feeling that if only he could get his hands on his brother’s stuff from Iraq, he’d be able to make sense of his death. But as Matt searches for answers about T.J.’s death, he faces a shocking revelation about T.J.’s life that suggests he may not have known T.J. as well as he thought. What he learns challenges him to stand up to his father, honor his brother’s memory, and take charge of his own life. With compassion, humor, and a compelling narrative voice, E. M. Kokie explores grief, social mores, and self-discovery in a provocative first novel.

My Review:

This is an emotional contemporary with strong characterization.  It has a bit of a mystery too that you want to find out more about.  

POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD

This book is told from the 1st person perspective of a male narrator named Matt.  He clearly is in a lot of emotional pain after his older brother's death at war.  His father won't even talk about TJ's death, and Matt wants to get to see the things that the Army brought them after TJ died.  His father won't let him look at that stuff, though.  When Matt eventually decides to look at the stuff when his dad isn't home, he finds out that he didn't really know his brother.  He finds letters to TJ from someone else that Matt doesn't know.  When he reads them, he decides that TJ must have a wife and a daughter, and he decides he needs to go meet them.  

The relationship between Shauna and Matt is developed extremely well.  They have been best friends since they were children.  Back then, they only saw each other as friends, but now Matt hopes there could be something more between them.  He doesn't tell Shauna he likes her because he thinks she only likes him as a friend.  They have some misunderstandings, especially after he goes to Shauna's sister's house when Shauna is babysitting.  She tries to give off the signals that she likes him, and he doesn't take the chance to kiss her.  Then, she asks to come along on his trip to meet TJ's wife, and when Matt says that it's something he has to do on his own, she thinks that means he doesn't like her back.  Eventually, these two are able to figure.

Celia and Curtis are also good characters.  Matt thinks that his brother was married to Celia, but it turns out that things aren't as he thought they were.  TJ was actually in a relationship with Curtis, Celia's brother, but they sent the letters from Celia's address so no one in the Army would find out about TJ and Curtis.  Curtis was a good guy, and it was obvious that he really loved TJ.  Matt doesn't have the best reaction to finding out his brother was gay, but eventually, he learns to accept that his brother wasn't who he thought he was.

If you like YA contemporary, read this book.

Katie   

Review: Nantucket Blue by Leila Howland

For Cricket Thompson, a summer like this one will change everything. A summer spent on Nantucket with her best friend, Jules Clayton, and the indomitable Clayton family. A summer when she’ll make the almost unattainable Jay Logan hers. A summer to surpass all dreams.

Some of this turns out to be true. Some of it doesn’t.

When Jules and her family suffer a devastating tragedy that forces the girls apart, Jules becomes a stranger whom Cricket wonders whether she ever really knew. And instead of lying on the beach working on her caramel-colored tan, Cricket is making beds and cleaning bathrooms to support herself in paradise for the summer.

But it’s the things Cricket hadn’t counted on--most of all, falling hard for someone who should be completely off-limits--that turn her dreams into an exhilarating, bittersweet reality.

A beautiful future is within her grasp, and Cricket must find the grace to embrace it. If she does, her life could be the perfect shade of Nantucket blue.

My Review:

I read Nantucket Blue while I was on a vacation to the beach, and this book is the perfect vacation read.  I actually bought it the week of its release back in May, but I saved it for a vacation read.  The story is enjoyable and engaging, and the characters and romance are well-developed.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD

Part of this book focuses on Cricket finding herself without Jules by her side.  She has been best friends with Jules for four years, but the death of Jules' mom changes Jules.  She becomes less of a friend to Cricket.  She copes with her mother's death by shutting everyone else out of her life.  Cricket realizes that Jules is no longer the friend that she had known before.  Cricket learns to be independent in this book by living on Nantucket by herself.  She's not with her mother, and she doesn't have Jules.  She learns a lot because of this one summer.

The romance in this book is very sweet.  It is between Cricket and a guy that she thinks she should never get involved with because he is Jules' younger brother.  Zack is two grades below Cricket in school.  Their relationship remains a secret for a while because they believe that Jules will be mad if she finds out about it.  Zack is awesome and a very sweet guy.  I liked how he really wanted to take Cricket out on some good dates.  He doesn't think that their age difference really matters, since it is only a couple years.

Cricket makes some good new friends in this book.  One of these people is Liz, her coworker at the Cranberry Inn.  Cricket and Liz are in charge of cleaning the rooms when people leave.  They do lots of different things around the inn.  Liz really wants Cricket to find a guy during the summer.  There is also a man named Gavin who runs the inn.  He ends up friends with Cricket as well.  Cricket starts an internship for a journalist named George Gust who is at the inn while she is working there.  They grow to be friends, and he tells her that she could even have a future in journalism.  

If you like YA contemporary, read this book.

Katie