BLOG TOUR: Normalish by Margaret Lesh [Review & Giveaway]

Hi darling! I am really excited to be taking part in the blog tour for the contemporary young adult novel Normalish by Margaret Lesh. If you're interested in following the rest of the tour to the end or even to the next stop, click HERE for the list of the awesome blogs participating. In the following you'll find my review of Normalish, a little about the author Margaret Lesh, and an international giveaway! 

Happy Reading! xoxo

-Kaede

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Normalish

By: Margaret Lesh

Review by: Kaede

Publisher: Musa Publishing

Pages: 175 (E-book)

Series: N/A

Format: E-Book Review Copy

Source: Xpresso Book Tours 

Purchase: Amazon

Fifteen-year-old Stacy questions the strange world of high school, love, her role in a harsh universe, and life, in Normalish.

People tell you high school's so great and wonderful, but they're lying. It's mostly horrible and full of disappointment. It sucks. Your best friend abandons you. The jerk you're in love with pretends to be into you, and then the big dump. The boy you've really clicked with as a friend decides to go all crushy over you, so you break his heart just like yours was -- smashed into little pieces. Your sister goes mental, and you get involved with a guy who’s even crazier than she is (who you know is a very bad idea, but you do it anyway). Math only adds another stink of failure to the whole thing. High school blows. Just ask freshman Stacy. She’d want you to know.

Going into Normalish, I had no set expectations. If I liked it, then I liked it. If I didn't, then I didn't. Because I had somehow managed to formulate such a simple idea, I decided to go with it because I honestly wasn't sure what to quite expect, much less hope for. The cover leaves me with much to want, but the general synopsis made it seem like something that I could enjoy under most circumstances. And enjoy I did. 

One look at the cover should indicate some sort of sweet or fluffy read. In a way, I guess it is. But overall, most fluffy contemporary novels don't usually fall far from that spectrum. 

Normalish marks freshman Stacy York's transition into high school, which is, if Stacy is anything to go by - the oddest of things. Still trying to come to terms with her father's death and her former best friend just dropping her, Stacy isn't sure what she wants and what she needs. She's a lot more fragile that she'd admit, but she does manage to overcome it all. Even when the hot guy she is certainly not stalking isn't displaying the slightest interest in her. And the guy who was suppose to only remain a best friend is expressing interest that leaves Stacy unsure, because going down that route is not what Stacy had in mind for their relationship. 

Chad, who was said best friend that was in love with the main character, is slightly stereotypical. Being characterized as the semi-geeky sweetheart isn't going to do him much favors in my long list of hottest guys in Young Adult literature. However, it's clearly seen that he genuinely cares about Stacy, even if she isn't quite reciprocating of the same feelings. Even if she isn't always nice to him. But I liked that when she wasn't kind, Chad didn't let his feelings get in the way and let her walk all over him. 

In turn, Chad wasn't the only potential "love" interest of the story. There's also Bobby and Anthony, and both were essential to the story in their own ways. Anthony served as the popular major player jerk, who Stacy thinks she wants. She really doesn't. Because not only is he selfish, he's manipulative of girls' feelings. I don't like guys like that. Especially guys who do that for no reason.

Bobby, on the other hand, is remarkably intriguing. Like a unpredictable child, Bobby isn't exactly the calmest person you'll ever meet. He has his own set of problems, and certainly isn't perfect. He handles things differently than most people, but does that make him any less real? In fact, I think that attribute makes him only that much more human. Like he's someone that anybody could know. Somebody that people can love, even if he is a bit messed-up. 

While I didn't love Normalish, I did enjoy it. It wasn't Take-My-Breath-Away amazing, but it was a solid good read. There's much potential in Margaret Lesh's writing. While there's definite room for progression, I can still wholeheartedly recommend Normalish without hesitation. If you're a fan of cute contemporaries mixed with humor and tragedy, Normalish may just be the book for you. 

Overall, while this book isn't the most spectacular piece of writing I've seen, but it's worth the read. You're able to, if you read from beginning to end, witness the impressive growth of Stacy York from a vulnerable girl to somebody who's willing to accept what fate brings her. Things don't end off perfectly though. It isn't one big happy ending tied off with a bow, which I really liked. But, you know, things happen for a reason. 

And that's something Stacy York now knows.

3 ½ coffee cups!

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Add NORMALISH to Goodreads

Find Margaret Lesh on Goodreads | Website | Twitter

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I'll bet you thought that was it, didn't you? A'ha! I knew it! Wait...what? You didn't think that was it? Ermm, well...err - JUST FORGET I SAID ANYTHING AND ON TO THE GIVEAWAY. 

RULES & INFO: 

• Open INTERNATIONALLY 
• Contest ends January 28th, 2013 
• No cheating. Cheaters never prosper. 

PRIZES: 

• One $25 Amazon Giftcard

 • One e-book copy of Normalish 

• Normalish bookmarks

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Contact Kaede: 

Email: kimberlyho75@yahoo.com
Goodreads: Kaede
Twitter: Kami178xx

Review of What's Left Of Me by Kat Zhang

by: Sarah
Release Date: September 18th, 2012
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pages: 343 pages
Series: Hybrid Chronicles #1
Source: ARC provided via Netgalley

I should not exist. But I do.
Eva and Addie started out the same way as everyone else—two souls woven together in one body, taking turns controlling their movements as they learned how to walk, how to sing, how to dance. But as they grew, so did the worried whispers. Why aren’t they settling? Why isn’t one of them fading? The doctors ran tests, the neighbors shied away, and their parents begged for more time. Finally Addie was pronounced healthy and Eva was declared gone. Except, she wasn’t . . .
For the past three years, Eva has clung to the remnants of her life. Only Addie knows she’s still there, trapped inside their body. Then one day, they discover there may be a way for Eva to move again. The risks are unimaginable-hybrids are considered a threat to society, so if they are caught, Addie and Eva will be locked away with the others. And yet . . . for a chance to smile, to twirl, to speak, Eva will do anything.

Here's a funny story: I actually requested this on Netgalley by accident. Yeah. But I figured oh well I probably won't get approved for this anyway and promptly forgot about the whole thing. Then, weeks later, imagine my surprise when I received an email saying I'd been approved. Clearly this is an act of a higher power and I was meant to read this book. (I said to myself.) So I dropped everything and dove in.

So. Two things,first off:

1. From me to this book: it's not you, it's me. No really. I'm not just saying that. No. No, no there's no one else. Nothing like that. Please don't cry. I hope we can still be friends. P.S. I want my pink shirt back. 

2. This is one of those books that you have to really suspend your disbelief for from the get-go. I am very bad at doing this. Well actually I guess I should say I am very unpredictably good at this. Sometimes a book can start out with the most nonsensical shit and I'm just like yes this is happening I accept this reality and then I breathe softly onto my monocle and rub it against my smoking jacket before popping it back into place. And sometimes I just go eeeehhhhhwhatno. That's what happened with this book, unfortunately. Early on in reading I kept impatiently waiting for a big breakdown of what this having two souls/hybrid thing was all about...I guess you're just supposed to be like okay this is a thing. It's not really a fault but I just was expecting something different, so let's cross that one off as my bad.

Now onto things that were your bad, book. In the same vein as my previous gripe, there's a big lack of explanation going on in this book; the world building is virtually non-existent. I'm still confused as to why the war that's periodically referred to even happened (it's glossed over a few times but never fully explained) , why hybrids are seen as this big bad threat to society (again, kind of touched on but nowhere near as in depth as it should have been), and what time period is this even taking place in? This is another fault of mine but I went into this book expecting a dystopian future, but I remember Eva mentioning during the wars that there was no TV News and all the battles were depicted through paintings, which leads me to believe it's a dystopian present. I think? Maybe I just had my brain turned off when I read this book but I was lost on all that. I'm usually not someone who needs heaps of backstory to enjoy a book but in this case it was a constant distraction. Particularly during scenes where Addie and Eva are starting to rage against the machine..there was a line that went something like "we're going against everything we've been taught about settling (the term for the submissive soul to fade into oblivion)" and it wasn't nearly as powerful as it could have been because I had no idea what they'd been taught about settling except that it was good and not settling was double plus ungood. I also find it very very hard to believe that a parent would just so willingly accept one of their children disappearing? I'm not really an expert on the matter but this isn't like The Giver where emotion doesn't exist and shit love is a normal thing in this society so I just don't see how loving parents would be like "well bye less extroverted child sorry you didn't make the cut see ya never!"

This book didn't really get going until last 90 or so pages, but the end was a pretty good set up to the next book in this series. I had pretty much convinced myself I didn't have any interest in continuing on but now I'm not so sure. But most importantly, as I said earlier, there's really nothing horribly wrong with this book. In my opinion it's a unique, interesting, and poignant novel. The sibling relationships being the focus while the "romance" being on the backburner was definitely refreshing in a YA novel like this. This book is definitely worth a read. It just didn't really hit the mark with me but it's got a very Never Let Me Go Jr. feel to it and I think young people who maybe couldn't quite grasp the depth or hang with the intensity of a book like NLMG could really sink they're little baby teeth into something like this. Not to say any adult who enjoyed this have baby teeth, I'm sure your teeth are very mature for their age.

PS: Looking through reviews I've seen several people say they had a hard time concentrating while reading this and found themselves putting it down a lot or not being able to really get into it. I had this problem too, which might be a contributing factor on why I wasn't over the moon with it. Hmm!

2.75 cups of out 5!

Kaede my sweet princess, I HAD to get on board with this coffee cup idea of yours because it's adorable. Hope you don't mind! You know what they say, imitation is the greatest form of stealing :P

Review of The Golden Lily by Richelle Mead

by: Sarah
Release Date: June 12th, 2012
Publisher: Razorbill
Pages: 418 pages
Series: Bloodlines #2
Rating: ★★★☆☆/ 3 out of 5

Sydney Sage is an Alchemist, one of a group of humans who dabble in magic and serve to bridge the worlds of humans and vampires. They protect vampire secrets—and human lives.
Sydney would love to go to college, but instead, she’s been sent into hiding at a posh boarding school in Palm Springs, California–tasked with protecting Moroi princess Jill Dragomir from assassins who want to throw the Moroi court into civil war. Formerly in disgrace, Sydney is now praised for her loyalty and obedience, and held up as the model of an exemplary Alchemist.
But the closer she grows to Jill, Eddie, and especially Adrian, the more she finds herself questioning her age–old Alchemist beliefs, her idea of family, and the sense of what it means to truly belong. Her world becomes even more complicated when magical experiments show Sydney may hold the key to prevent becoming Strigoi—the fiercest vampires, the ones who don’t die. But it’s her fear of being just that—special, magical, powerful—that scares her more than anything. Equally daunting is her new romance with Brayden, a cute, brainy guy who seems to be her match in every way. Yet, as perfect as he seems, Sydney finds herself being drawn to someone else—someone forbidden to her.
When a shocking secret threatens to tear the vampire world apart, Sydney’s loyalties are suddenly tested more than ever before. She wonders how she's supposed to strike a balance between the principles and dogmas she's been taught, and what her instincts are now telling her.
Should she trust the Alchemists—or her heart?

Well isn't this EMBARRASSING. When I finished Bloodlines I was left underwhelmed with the characters and unimpressed with the writing. Now I'm shaking as I type because SYDRIAN. It was apparent within the first few pages of The Golden Lily that the writing had improved considerably. I don't know what happened during the first book to be quite honest. Maybe Mead was just rusty or tired or simply had used up all her fucks to give when that book was written. Because in my humble opinion the writing in that book was a hot mess. However, the writing throughout this book was much more crisp, coherent, and engaging. It wasn't perfect by any means, but it flowed heaps better than its predecessor and annoyed me a lot less. One major problem I had with Bloodlines was that there seemed to be just way too much going on. This may because I jumped into it without reading all of the Vampire Academy books, but with all the characters and their separate dramas going on I was just like what what what what. With TGL, there's even more characters thrown into the mix, but the way it was written was much easier to follow and reminded me of why I love a great ensemble of characters! Previous characters from Bloodlines who I found to be one-dimensional and useless -like this Trey fellow, for instance- were fleshed out this time around and I was pleased. As far as our mains go, I am glad to see that Sydney is growing. She has started acting more like a heroine and less like 

Oh, Sydney. You know how people sometimes latch onto to these deeply troubled, brooding male characters in YA and just want to squeeze them and take their pain away? Yeah, I think that's how I feel about Sydney. I've got a hopeless crush on her I just want to kiss her stupid face and say GIRL GET IT TOGETHER WE'RE ALL COUNTING ON YOU. She's still got her flaws, but I was pretty impressed with her character development and the way it was written. There were still some pitfalls, though. Such as one of Sydney's main traits is that she's petrified by seeing vampire magic in action and when Adrian tried to do harmless things in Bloodlines like heal her or talk to her in a dream she went into a full blown panic attack yet in this book when he compels someone right in front of her (which personally I think would be the scariest of all vampire powers???? I mean...mind control hello?) she just sort of proverbially slaps him on the wrist and says Oh, That Darn Adrian! I get that she's slowly getting used to it but that seemed shockingly out of character for her.

 I liked Adrian a lot better this time around. In Bloodlines I rolled my eyes at everything he said and couldn't stand the way he was playing the victim all the time. I love a devil may care bad boy type as much as the next girl but I just found him to be generic and blaahhhhhhhhh. I have been told that he got his little heart trampled on in Vampire Academy but I didn't see that firsthand so I didn't have the same amount of poor bb feels for him going into this series the way most people probably did. All that being said, there was enough information about him in this novel that had my poor bb feels going berserk. And his chemistry with Sydney was snowballing into shipping territory. There were some really great scenes between them. The dialogue, the body language, it was all on point. However, I still think it was wildly inappropriate and not even a little bit cute the way he ~called Sydney out~ on not just her eating habits, but her body in general. I'm sorry but I just simply cannot with a man telling a woman what her body should look like. I understand completely that he meant well and that Sydney is down an unhealthy path and it came from a place of compassion, but the way that scene was written was just nope nope nope. He should not have said what he said. Dems da breaks.

 Jill is still a stupid idiot. But I try to give her a break because she is quite young. Still, homegirl needs to get it together almost more than Sydney does. Eddie is still...there. He was more interesting to me than in the first book when he could have quite literally been replaced with a jar of peanut butter and I wouldn't have noticed, but I actually managed to almost care about his relationship woes this time around. And Angeline seems feisty, she could do great things maybe probably won't but maybe.

 The way this series handles plot is with the old hey this is nothing but actually it's really something. It's like something odd will happen and all the characters will go 'Oh that's just an irrelevant foreshadow don't mind it' and then once you've forgotten all about it it springs up to say HEY REMEMBER ME! THAT WEIRD THING/FEELING/STRANGE ENCOUNTER? NOW I'M A PLOT TWIST IT'S GOOD TO BE HERE. Mead doesn't pull off this type of writing flawlessly, but it's good enough to keep you wanting more. Even though I didn't particularly enjoy Bloodlines I was still interested enough to read the sequel and see what was going to happen. And look at me now. I'm dying to know what's up with Sydney's blood. And I can't wait for shit to hit the fan when The Alchemists realize how friendly she really is with all these vampires. This is how they getcha, YA readers....this is how they getcha...

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Review also on goodreads

Review of Team Human by Justine Larbalestier and Sarah Rees Brennan

by: Sarah
Author Website/Goodreads/Amazon
Release Date: July 3rd, 2012
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 352 pages
Rating: ★★★☆☆/ 3 out of 5

Just because Mel lives in New Whitby, a city founded by vampires, doesn’t mean she knows any of the blood-drinking undead personally. They stay in their part of town; she says in hers. Until the day a vampire shows up at her high school. Worse yet, her best friend, Cathy, seems to be falling in love with him. It’s up to Mel to save Cathy from a mistake she might regret for all eternity!
On top of trying to help Cathy (whether she wants it or not), Mel is investigating a mysterious disappearance for another friend and discovering the attractions of a certain vampire wannabe. Combine all this with a cranky vampire cop, a number of unlikely romantic entanglements, and the occasional zombie, and soon Mel is hip-deep in an adventure that is equal parts hilarious and touching.

Pretty simple set up here. Girl meets moody vampire. Moody vampire realizes girl is very very very very special. They want to be together 5ever. She must become a vampire immediately because of reasons. Except, in this story, the main character is not the very very very very special girl, but her fiercely protective best friend who is not buying any stockholm syndrome today.

 This is one of those books that as you close it makes you glance up wistfully at the sky and nod slightly to yourself. That is, if you like it. If you don't like it, it will probably just make you roll your eyes a lot. I liked it but I can see how this book could be really annoying to some people. Our main character, Mel, isn't exactly super likeable most of the time. But in my case that's what I sort of liked about her. She's a seventeen year old girl with some good opinions and some cringe-worthy ones, but her character did grow throughout the book and I'm sure she will continue to grow in that alternate universe where all book characters still go about their lives.

 I liked that this book takes place in a world a la True Blood where everyone knows that vampires are real and the trials and tribulations of coexisting etc etc. I find that a lot more interesting and entertaining than the whole vampires are real but no one knows and when someone finds out they are shocked -SHOCKED- even though we are surrounded by vampires in all types of media. I also liked the unique take on how people become vampires and what can happen if a "transition" goes awry.

 High Point: Kit was adorable. It's the usually the male love interest I'm narrowing my eyes at in YA books but in this case I was doing all my eye-narrowing at Mel the whole time so Kit got off easy. It was a cute book with a good message about acceptance and thinking for yourself hidden in there somewhere. Not a must-read, but still enjoyable.

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Review also on: goodreads

Review of Monstrous Beauty by Elizabeth Fama

by: Sarah
Author Website/Goodreads/Amazon
Release Date: September 4th, 2012
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Girroux
Pages: 304 pages
Rating: ★★★☆☆/ 3 out of 5

Fierce, seductive mermaid Syrenka falls in love with Ezra, a young naturalist. When she abandons her life underwater for a chance at happiness on land, she is unaware that this decision comes with horrific and deadly consequences.  Almost one hundred forty years later, seventeen-year-old Hester meets a mysterious stranger named Ezra and feels overwhelmingly, inexplicably drawn to him. For generations, love has resulted in death for the women in her family. Is it an undiagnosed genetic defect . . . or a curse? With Ezra’s help, Hester investigates her family’s strange, sad history. The answers she seeks are waiting in the graveyard, the crypt, and at the bottom of the ocean—but powerful forces will do anything to keep her from uncovering her connection to Syrenka and to the tragedy of so long ago

This story is divided up into two parts, past and present, with three different perspectives. Hester in the present, Ezra in the past, and Syrenka in the past. Syrenka is a mermaid who is enfatuated with human life and longs to be with a human man. After a thousand years of mishaps, she meets a young man named Ezra and they fall in love. Happily ever after except for the fact that it all goes horribly, disturbingly, Shakesperian-level tragically wrong. Now let's flip to the present. We have a young girl named Hester who isolates herself from people because all the women in her family have been doomed to die in childbirth, including her own mother. Hester vows she will not pass on this mysterious ailment to another baby, not to mention she really doesn't want to die herself. She shuns all physical affection and refuses to let herself feel desire until she meets a mysterious young man on the beach named Ezra who speaks in an odd old fashioned way and seems to be from a different time... I'm sure you can guess what's going on here.

This is the first mermaid book I've taken on, I don't know anything about mermaid lore aside from what I'm sure was very accurately portrayed in Walt Disney's gritty and controversial classic. (That was a joke.) But I'm glad I've started out with Monstrous Beauty, which seems to have nailed it as far as all that goes. I loved reading about the mermaids and how their culture and magic worked. I loved that they were strong and somewhat violent creatures. I loved Syrenka and Ezra's tragic love story and the beautiful way it was written. I loved the history. All of those things are 4 star material for me, but I'm sorry to say Hester and her probz really brought the entertainment value of the book down for me, overall.

Hester wasn't my cup of tea. I understood where she was coming from and I really liked her at first, but the more I read the more she annoyed me. I didn't really buy into her "love" with Ezra. Yes, I understand that spoiler(highlight to read):Syrenka/Sarah's soul was in her so it's technically not insta-love, but it still felt like it. And maybe it's just the fact that the dramatic irony in this book was so strong, being that the reader is privvy to Syrenka and her story and Hester is not, but most of the time she came across as a total dummy one minute and a genius the next. Don't get me wrong, she had her moments, and I really loved the scenes of her underwater with the mermaids, but for the most part I didn't really care about her as a character, I just enjoyed watching the mystery unravel through her point of view.

If you're super into mermaids, you will love this. If, like me, you never really felt one way or the other about them, this book still might surprise you. The storytelling was very strong when it was from Syrenka/Sarah's point of view though it did feel a bit lacking throughout Hester's bits. Still, a quality book and definitely one that lingers. I'm all jazzed up on mermaidy goodness now I'm going to go jam to Poor Unfortunate Souls.

A very rock solid 3 stars.
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Review also on: Goodreads

Young Adult Book Review: Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

by Isabelle Doan

Website/Goodreads/Amazon

Random Information:

Publisher: Little, Brown Books
Pages: 563 pages (Hardcover)
Series: Yes, this is #1
My Format: Library
Time to read: A Very Long Time.
Rating: Library/Borrow/e-Book/Paperback/Hardcover

There were no surprises in Gatlin County.
At least, that's what I thought.
Turns out, I couldn't have been more wrong.

There was a curse.
There was a girl.
And in the end, there was a grave.

Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she's struggling to conceal her power and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.

Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.

In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.

 

The cover and the title of Beautiful Creatures drew me in, and no doubt that they will seal the deal for you as well. So I plucked the book off the shelf and read the summary. Guess what? The summary DOES NOT TELL YOU ANYTHING. You can read what was on the front flap verbatim on Goodreads. In fact, I'll reiterate to you right now.

WOW! You don't know how much I don't freaking care, front flap.

But other than that, the authors are expecting you to read to find out. I was sort of offended, but I read anyway.
And yeah, I didn't really find out anything until like page 130 of the book. And even then, it was less than a page of conversation. This is literally what happened:
Lena (girl main character): I'm a caster.
Ethan(guy, main character, narrator): [This dude is basically breathing in and out quickly, but is relatively calm.] Oh, so you're... a witch?
Lena: Don't be silly. That's a stupid stereotype.
Ethan: That's okay my household is weird too.
Lena: [Sort of sad]
Ethan: [Wants girl to kiss him]

So, yeah. This book is about a family of Casters (God forbid if I say witch) and their problem: if Lena is going to become dark or some crap when her birthday comes around.

(Because EVERY PARANORMAL THING happens to you when you're a teenager.) Ethan (who is one of the first guy narrators I've seen in paranormal romance) is pulled into Lena's world, simply because he's the only dude who would talk to her and not make fun of her.

Even.

Though.

Lena.

Is.

Called.

Hot.

By.

Everybody.

HOWEVER, I do have to give props to the authors for the writing. It's simplistic. Yeah. But most YA fantasy is, and the authors give us readers enough room to think and guess what's happening, and don't suffocate us with their thoughts.
That's another thing. A lot of people agree that for a boy narrator, Ethan is rather effeminate in his retelling. Okay, yeah, sure, he reads a lot of books and talks about Gone With the Wind a lot. I didn't think this was a problem because one, mostly girls read this anyway, so they won't notice, and two, the detailing is, again, simplistic enough that it's believable. But yeah, sometimes he is a little girly. I guess that's what makes Ethan more than a one dimensional character. I think that's sort of nice.

He could even pass... for a brony.

(Just kidding. He's not cool enough.)

And to be fair, the authors do make some lame attempts at guy-ness. Ethan asks his friends if the "new girl" (Lena) is hot. But that is not what propels Ethan to fall in love with Lena and vice versa. It's the fact that Ethan is the only person who's nice to Lena.
Oh yeah, and we never really learn what Ethan looks like. I'm imagining that he's also hot because apparently one of the two hottest girls in the school used to date him. I just imagined him as African American because everyone else in the story was white. WHITE.

And despite all of that... I found myself rooting for them. I kept asking myself WHY. WHY ON EARTH WOULD I LIKE A ROMANCE LIKE THIS? And I did not have an answer. I mean, it has all the elements of a bad romance. You know they're gonna end up together and it should be tedious. It's a Twilight-esque romance that made me want to stick my head in a panini press. But I read ravenously until they had their first kiss. I suppose it's because I'm so alone.

And the other thing that I wanted to address: the southern setting. I live in South Carolina, where the story takes place. People seemed to be taking the southern setting very offensively, saying it's stereotypical. I live in Greenville, South Carolina, a more populated area of the South. But parts of the southern life sound correct. 
For instance, Savannah [a ridiculously popular southern name] and Emily are two dyed blonde girls with over-bearing mammas who have a lot of influnce on the community. Sounds about right. Down here in SC, you have a lot of white girls tanning themselves and sticking their pelvises out in pictures so their fat PTA moms can be proud.
And Lena is sort of goth and is bullied. Also sounds about right. I had a goth girl in my school who wore tutus and drew butterflies on her face as part of her makeup. Now maybe Lena doesn't do that, but this girl in my school was bullied to no end for being goth. And mostly by the tan, duckface whores like Savannah and Emily.
But the cooking is bothersome. We don't have biscuits and gravy for breakfast everyday. At least, I don't think so. But there was a time that Ethan had egg rolls for dinner, and that's more correct than I've ever noticed. (We got diversity, man! And lots of guns.)
And the end. The end was... weird. I had to read it over and over again. And I guess I was sort of tired because this book was about 560 pages and by then I just wanted to pick up another book.
I guess what I'm saying is that if you have the patience and you like a book where you can think for yourself, read this. The plot was entertaining at least, so if you're one of those people who read and see the book in their heads like a movie, then go ahead. It killed time.

* I own none of these pictures, bro.