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Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Mini Reviews: Something Like Normal & First Comes Love



Something Like NormalSomething Like Normal
Trish Doller
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children's
Release Date: June 19, 2012

Click here for Goodreads description.

This is my first venture into a book where the main character has PTSD. Although heart-breaking at some parts, I really enjoyed it. Travis has been through a lot (as you would expect). He's working to get over his guilt. Something Like Normal is about Travis figuring out how to deal with everything and trying to heal. I really enjoyed Travis's character. I feel that Doller really captured the voice of this young man (I also liked that the MC is a male--a seemingly rarity in YA these days). He could be really funny one minute and really sweet and serious the next. Don't get me wrong, he did make mistakes and made some decisions that I didn't agree with, but I like to think that he learned from them and grew. I really liked this book, but it didn't wow me. It was just lacking that extra something to make me love. Maybe if it were a bit longer I think I would have loved it.


First Comes Love
First Comes LoveKatie Kacvinsky
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Release Date: May 8, 2012

Click here for full Goodreads description. 

I, unfortunately, did not enjoy this one as much as I would have liked to. I am finding out that young adult books solely about romance are either eh or absolutely amazing. Anyway. I think that this book was supposed to be character driven (it definitely wasn't a plot-driven book) but I just didn't fall in love with the characters. They were definitely different, which I should have loved. Dylan was really quirky and Gray was seemingly dark and broody but had a lot of depth on the inside (okay, maybe he's not so different). I just found it hard to relate to these characters. Actually, Dylan's quirks kind of bothered me sometimes. And, this book could be predictable and cliche. Now, there were some parts that I enjoyed. All in all, First Comes Love is a cute and sweet love story, but for me it was a bit lacking.

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