Unbreak My Heart (YA)

Unbreak My Heart. Melissa Walker. 2012. Bloomsbury. 240 pages.

I definitely enjoyed Melissa Walker's Unbreak My Heart. I thought it was a wonderful way to spend a summer afternoon. Clementine, the heroine, is an emotional mess when the novel opens. All will come to light as the story unfolds chapter by chapter, but, essentially she's lost someone really super-close to her, her best friend, Amanda, someone she's known and loved since grade school. Why are these two friends no longer speaking? (Or at least with words that can be repeated?!) Well, it has a little something to do with the notion of being betrayed. It's up to readers to decide just how much betrayal was involved and if Clementine is deserving (or not) of a second chance.

Unbreak My Heart is an intriguing YA book in that there are two stories unfolding at once. 1) The present summer (the summer before her senior year) where she is on a three month sailing trip with her parents and her younger sister, Olive. 2) The previous school year (her sophomore year) where readers see Amanda and Clementine and their friends and boyfriends. Readers, of course, know this is building to something allegedly BIG and SHATTERING.

The summer might be lonely, incredibly lonely, for Clementine, if it wasn't for meeting James, a cute red-haired guy with issues of his own. James and his Dad are sailing for the whole summer too. With James and tag-along Olive, Clementine does stop moping occasionally. And James does awaken something in her...

Read Unbreak My Heart

• If you're a fan of Melissa Walker, Sarah Dessen, Elizabeth Scott, Deb Caletti, Susane Colasanti, etc.
• If you're a fan of YA Romance, particularly YA Romances with an emphasis on music and playlists.
• If you're looking for YA novels with complexly drawn characters, particularly if you're looking for well-drawn families. Truth be told, it's rare for parents, sisters, etc. to get fleshed out. But I think she did a great job making this feel like a real family on a real vacation. 
• If you're looking for YA novels that explore the tension of friendships and relationships.

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

My Extra Best Friend

My Extra Best Friend. Julie Bowe. 2012. Penguin. 224 pages.

 I'm Ida May and I could use a little light. That's because I'm digging around in my bedroom closet, trying to find my flashlight. If I had a flashlight, it would make looking for one a lot easier. 

This is Ida May's fifth adventure, and I still love and adore this character!!! I do, I just love seeing the world through Ida May's eyes. I love her observations and her insights. There are times, of course, when Ida May just doesn't get it, especially in My Extra Best Friend. But. I think this just makes her more realistic, more authentic. 

In My Extra Best Friend, Ida May is off to Meadowlark Camp with her classmates: Jenna, Brooke, Stacey, Randi, Meeka, Jolene, Rusty, Tom, Joey, and Quinn. The girls will all be staying in the same cabin, with the addition of one more camper, a girl named Liz. Could this Liz be the same Elizabeth or "Lizbutt" of days of old? You know, the Elizabeth who moved with her family to New Mexico and never, ever, ever, ever, ever wrote to Ida May no matter how many letters Ida May sent her. That Elizabeth.

While the novel is definitely about the full camping experience--arts and crafts, singing, swimming, hiking, etc. It is also a novel about trust, friendship, and accepting change and growth as a good thing. The lesson, of course, is a good one. Brooke and Ida and Liz all have something to learn it seems.

The Friends for Keeps Series:

My Last Best Friend
My New Best Friend
My Best Frenemy
My Forever Friends
My Extra Best Friend

Read My Extra Best Friend

• If you want to meet one of the best girl heroines ever, I just LOVE Ida May. 
• If you are a fan of the Friends for Keeps series by Julie Bowe
• If you are looking for great books to share with young readers; probably 8+ unless you've got an advanced reader ready for long chapter books.  

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

My Mixed-Up Berry Blue Summer (MG)

My Mixed-Up Berry Blue Summer. Jennifer Gennari. 2012. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 119 pages.

Unlike some people, Lake Champlain was a friend I could count on. I knew her every mood--sometimes she was flat like a cookie sheet, and other times she was whipped up like meringue on a butterscotch pie. That was the way I felt, too. Ever since Eva had moved in with Mom and me last month, I was as changeable as the lake.

June Farrell isn't quite having a perfect summer. Her mom's girlfriend, Eva, has moved in with them. And soon afterwards the two announce their plans to get married--Vermont's new civil union law has just been put in place. June isn't the biggest Eva fan. Sure she wants her Mom to be happy. But if she's honest, June doesn't quite feel comfortable around Eva, at least not yet. There is some personality clashing going on...

And the town's mood has definitely changed in recent months. There is a campaign, a movement, to "take back Vermont" and to undo what's been done. There are many in the town who are not exactly thrilled with Vermont's new law, and who feel it is their right to let this be known. Mainly through putting up signs and flyers about their campaign to "take back Vermont." But also through distributing a list of businesses owned and operated by gays so that those businesses can be boycotted in the future.

June is embarrassed that her mom's business is on that list. And that they are temporarily at least losing some of their customers. And she's also not thrilled that some of her friends parents are part of this campaign. That is that their political views do not match up with her family's. She doesn't want to lose friends because of this. But at the same time, she doesn't know if she's still welcome. She doesn't feel comfortable when her friends' parents express their views on homosexuality. Everything seems so complicated now, whereas just a few months ago, things seemed to be going so well.

This book isn't just about family drama and a tension-filled town. It is also about pies and the joy of baking.

Read My Mixed-Up Berry Blue Summer

• If you're looking for lgbt books for elementary age children; the book is about how an eleven year old handles having two moms planning a wedding/civil union.
• If you're looking for a little politics in your fiction;
• If you're looking for books with young heroines who love to bake

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews