Review of "Falling" By Jolene Perry

Kindle edition
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Synopsis (Taken from Amazon)

Dana is definitely not the kind of girl to be living in the dump of a wilderness lodge she finds herself waitressing in. But when Craig, the sexy cop who’s handling the murder case where she’s a witness, suggests it—it seems like a good idea. Now she’s got no BMW, no shopping and an assortment of hairy Alaskan men who definitely belong in a run-down old lodge. Her exciting visits from Craig are getting less exciting, and the lodge owner, Jason, is quickly moving from grouchy and judgmental, to funny, smart and unexpectedly complex. Jason knows exactly the type of girl Dana is—beautiful, spoiled, and high maintenance. She’s everything that hurt him in the past, and why he now lives as far away from city life as he can manage. If he wasn’t so hard-up for help, he would have never said yes to his friend, Craig. Despite his reservations, Dana becomes the perfect antidote to everything in his life—both his disaster of a divorce and precocious little sister who shows up on his doorstep. Jason realizes he’s falling for Dana too late to stop it, or even slow it down. As the trial approaches, Dana knows it’s time to move on with her life—but is her life back in the city she left or with a guy she never meant to fall for?

My Review

Jolene Perry writes so vividly that Falling plays out like a film, and a romantic comedy, at that. The beauty of Alaska and the inn where the story unfolds is the perfect, chilly setting for a cozy and classic love story to play out.

Dana and Jason are imperfect but over-all good people, trying to do the right thing, once they figure out what that is. The story alternates chapters from both their perspectives. Their flaws make them more relatable than characters you find in most fiction of a romantic nature. And this is technically New Adult, as opposed to young adult. So that -ahem- some steamy scenes take place. The intimate moments, and sexual tension in Falling are certainly nothing to dismiss, but the subtle humor woven throughout the plot is the cherry on top! Jason's friend, Boz, offers comic relief and fun interactions with Dana. (He's so Seth Rogen in my mind!) 

The down-to-earth love story and breath-taking, wintery setting make Falling a cool a pleasant read. If this novel was a food. It'd be mint-chocolate chip ice cream: Sweet and refreshing!

Review: Sweethearts by Sara Zarr

Synopsis : (From Sara Zarr's website)

About the Book

Published February 2008

When Jenna Vaughn’s childhood sweetheart unexpectedly comes back into her life during her senior year of high school, she is forced to confront her troubled past. This is a story about the power of memory, the bond of friendship, and the quiet resilience of our childhood hearts.

The story of Jenna/Jennifer and Cameron was inspired by a friendship I had as a child with a boy, Mark, who came back into my life when we were both adults. When Mark and I got back in touch, I was surprised at what a strong bond we had despite having not seen nor heard from one another since third grade. I started asking myself—what if Mark and I had been reunited in high school? What if our lives had taken divergent paths? Would we still be loyal to each other, based on that childhood friendship, even if we wound up in different social circles and with different destinies? If so, why? What kinds of emotional and practical challenges would that bring? Though the details of what happened to Jennifer and Cameron were all made up, I did my best to be as emotionally truthful as I could with their story. I continue to be been blown away by reader response to this book, and how many people out there have Jennas and Camerons of their own.

My Review:

There is a delicious kind of pain and melancholy that comes from looking back into those powerful memories of childhood. Sweethearts captures the yearning for those powerful first friendships made at a time in our lives when we are raw and real, and the story of a girl who can't let go of the ghost of her childhood sweetheart.  

Zarr gives us the story of Jenna, a normal, well-adjusted high school girl by all appearances, who can't forget her only childhood friend, Cameron Quick. Bonded by their misfit status at school and a painful secret, Jenna and Cameron become constant companions and confidantes. Cameron disappears from Jenna's life suddenly, and she's told he died. Years pass, but Jenna is never able to move on. She goes through the motions of being upbeat and social, but her thoughts are on an endless loop of memories and longing that involve her lost playmate. But Cameron isn't dead. He comes for Jenna so they can face down the past together.

From, Jenna's snippets of memories, I was aware that the secret she was harboring was that Cameron was abused by his father, physically and perhaps sexually. And I was dreading these memories being recounted in detail upon Cameron's return. I didn't want to have to go through that with the character, but Zarr manages to make the reader aware that Cameron endured abuse and the impact it had upon him without graphically describing it. When Jenna asks to talk about it, Cameron simply says, "Why? We know what happened." The story isn't about abuse, nor is it about Cameron. In fact, Cameron stays a quiet enigma to the very last page. Sweethearts is about a girl coping with the loss of her friend and learning how to find the right amount of space in heart for that all-encompassing friendship while still leaving room for new ones. For a moment, I harbored hope that Cameron and Jenna would become high school sweethearts and be making out, dating and overcoming everything just to be normal teenagers. But Sweethearts isn't about fun teen romance. It's about the truest and most innocent kind of love: friendships forged in early childhood.

I loved this book from it's sorrowful tone, to the magical bond between Cameron and Jenna, to the wisdom about love that we're left with at the end of the novel. Like Cameron Quick, Sweethearts is a book I won't soon forget.

5 stars!

Review: Once Upon A Toad

The sweet, green glittering book jacket of Heather Vogel Frederick’s Once Upon a Toad proclaims the novel to be “charming.” And a more concise and precise thing has never been said. The world of young adult fiction these days is dark – sexy vampires, sexy heroin addicts, sexy post-apocalypse survivors, sexy demons. We YA readers apparently like our novels morose and - well - sexy! Once Upon A Toad is neither. It’s a light and fun; an easily digestible spoon full of sugar about two-twelve year old step-sisters becoming friends after a little unwanted magic enters their lives.




Cat Starr is the perfect young heroine: unconcerned about her looks, popularity or boys; passionate about learning and the bassoon; a drama-free pre-teen with a large vocabulary and a sense of humor; a kid who respects and enjoys spending time with adults. In other words, a completely unrealistic adolescent, except that Cat is very realistically rude and spiteful when it comes to her snobby step-sister, Olivia. Pretty and prim, Olivia resents that Cat is spending three months with her and her family and getting so much attention for being such a nice darn person. A war breaks out between the step-siblings. Olivia gets their classmates to create an elaborate tap dance routine while chanting “Catbox” to our protagonist. Cat gets even by manipulating Olivia’s precious room décor models. The girls seem more foes than family until the mysterious, orange-haired Great Aunt Aby shows up at their house in her rickety RV. Armed with a twinkle in her eye and a pep talk for her great-niece, Aby soothes discouraged Cat just a bit before departing, urging her to find “common ground” with Olivia. Cat holds no hope that she will ever bond with boy-crazy, selfish Olivia. Common ground comes in the form of supernatural oral ejections. Olivia is spitting flowers and diamonds with every word she utters, and Cat is coughing up toads. Could Great Aunt Aby be behind this? When Olivia’s gem-producing ability hits the news, criminals are gunning to get to her precious stones. Drama unfolds and the girls set out on the road to Las Vegas, being brought closer together by near death experiences and team work.




I absolutely adored this story. From Cat’s snarkiness to the humor that develops from toad-spitting situations to the non-stop action of the sisters’ road trip – this novel was book was a little diamond. Toadally awesome.







Five stars!