Ash Reads Stuff

Little Do We Know  by Tamara Ireland Stone Publication Date:   June 5th, 2018 Pages: 416 (hardcover) Genre: Young Adult My Goodreads Rating: 5 Stars Goodreads Synopsis:  Next-door neighbors and ex-best friends Hannah and Emory haven’t spoken in months. Not since the fight—the one where they said things they couldn’t take back. Now, Emory is fine-tuning her UCLA performing arts application and trying to make the most of the months she has left with her boyfriend, Luke, before they head off to separate colleges. Meanwhile, Hannah’s strong faith is shaken when her family’s financial problems come to light, and she finds herself turning to unexpected places—and people—for answers to the difficult questions she’s suddenly facing. No matter how much Hannah and Emory desperately want to bridge the thirty-six steps between their bedroom windows, they can’t. Not anymore. Until their paths cross unexpectedly when, one night, Hannah finds Luke doubled over i...

 Now is Everything  by Amy Giles Publication Date: November 7th, 2017 Pages: 368 (kindle) Genre: Young Adult My Goodreads Rating: 3.5 Stars Goodreads Synopsis: Now Is Everything is a stirring debut novel told in alternating THEN and NOW chapters, perfect for Sarah Dessen and Jennifer Niven fans, about what one girl is willing to do to protect her past, present, and future. The McCauleys look perfect on the outside. But nothing is ever as it seems, and this family is hiding a dark secret. Hadley McCauley will do anything to keep her sister safe from their father. But when Hadley’s forbidden relationship with Charlie Simmons deepens, the violence at home escalates, culminating in an explosive accident that will leave everyone changed. When Hadley attempts to take her own life at the hospital post-accident, her friends, doctors, family, and the investigator on the case want to know why. Only Hadley knows what really happened that day, and she’s not talk...

A List of Cages  by Robin Roe Publication Date:  January 10, 2017 Pages:  320 (hardcover) Genre:  Young Adult  My Goodreads Rating:  3.5 stars Goodreads Synopsis: When Adam Blake lands the best elective ever in his senior year, serving as an aide to the school psychologist, he thinks he's got it made. Sure, it means a lot of sitting around, which isn't easy for a guy with ADHD, but he can't complain, since he gets to spend the period texting all his friends. Then the doctor asks him to track down the troubled freshman who keeps dodging her, and Adam discovers that the boy is Julian--the foster brother he hasn't seen in five years. Adam is ecstatic to be reunited. At first, Julian seems like the boy he once knew. He's still kind hearted. He still writes stories and loves picture books meant for little kids. But as they spend more time together, Adam realizes that Julian is keeping secrets, like where he hides during the middle of the day, an...

The Summer I Wasn't Me  by Jessica Verdi Publication Date:  April 1, 2014 Pages:  346 (paperback)  Genre:  Young Adult  My Goodreads Rating:  3 Stars Goodreads Synopsis: Lexi has a secret. She never meant for her mom to find out. And now she's afraid that what's left of her family is going to fall apart for good. Lexi knows she can fix everything. She can change. She can learn to like boys. New Horizons summer camp has promised to transform her life, and there's nothing she wants more than to start over. But sometimes love has its own path... My Review:  This was my second book by Jessica Verdi, but definitely not my favorite. I had the privilege of reading What You Left Behind  as an ARC and loved it. This one was kind of difficult for me to love.  I guess it all begins when Lexi's father dies and her mother finds out she's gay. To appease her mother and save their relationship Lexi agrees to go to New Horizons, a s...

Swear on This Life  by Renee Carlino Publication Date: August 9,2016 Pages:  320 (paperback)  Genre:  Contemporary Romance My Goodreads Rating:  3 Stars Goodreads Synopsis: When a bestselling debut novel from mysterious author J.Colby becomes the literary event of the year, Emiline reads it reluctantly. As an adjunct writing instructor at UC San Diego with her own stalled literary career and a bumpy long-term relationship, Emiline isn’t thrilled to celebrate the accomplishments of a young and gifted writer. Yet from the very first page, Emiline is entranced by the story of Emerson and Jackson, two childhood best friends who fall in love and dream of a better life beyond the long dirt road that winds through their impoverished town in rural Ohio. That’s because the novel is patterned on Emiline’s own dark and desperate childhood, which means that “J. Colby” must be Jase: the best friend and first love she hasn’t seen in over a decade. Far from being...

Big Little Lies  by Liane Moriarty Publication Date:  July 29, 2014 Pages:  462 (kindle)  Genre: Fiction/Contemporary My Goodreads Rating:  4 Stars Goodreads Synopsis:  Big Little Lies follows three women, each at a crossroads: Madeline is a force to be reckoned with. She’s funny and biting, passionate, she remembers everything and forgives no one. Her ex-husband and his yogi new wife have moved into her beloved beachside community, and their daughter is in the same kindergarten class as Madeline’s youngest (how is this possible?). And to top it all off, Madeline’s teenage daughter seems to be choosing Madeline’s ex-husband over her. (How. Is. This. Possible?). Celeste is the kind of beautiful woman who makes the world stop and stare. While she may seem a bit flustered at times, who wouldn’t be, with those rambunctious twin boys? Now that the boys are starting school, Celeste and her husband look set to become the king and queen of the scho...

Exit, Pursued by a Bear  by E.K. Johnston Publication Date: March 15, 2016 Pages:  248 (hardcover) Genre: Young Adult  My Goodreads Rating:  4.5 Stars Goodreads Synopsis: “ I love you,” Polly says suddenly when I’m almost to the door. “I know,” I say. Hermione Winters has been a flyer. She’s been captain of her cheerleading team. The envied girlfriend and the undisputed queen of her school. Now it’s her last year and those days and those labels are fading fast. In a few months she’ll be a different person. She thinks she’s ready for whatever comes next. But then someone puts something in her drink at a party, and in an instant she finds herself wearing new labels, ones she never imagined: Victim. Survivor. That raped girl. Even though this was never the future she imagined, one essential thing remains unchanged: Hermione can still call herself Polly Olivier’s best friend, and that may be the truest label of all. Heartbreaking and empowering, Exit,...

Wrecked  by Maria Padian Publication Date: October 4, 2016 Pages: 368 (harcover/kindle) Genre: Young Adult/Realistic Fiction My Goodreads Rating: 3  Stars Net Galley Summary: Everyone has a different version of what happened that night at MacCallum College. Haley was already in bed when her roommate, Jenny, arrived home shellshocked from the wild Conundrum House party. Richard heard his housemate Jordan brag about the cute freshman he hooked up with. When Jenny accuses Jordan of rape, Haley and Richard find themselves pushed onto opposite sides of the school's investigation. But conflicting interests fueling conflicting versions of the story may make bringing the truth to light nearly impossible—especially when reputations, relationships, and whole futures are riding on the verdict. Maria Padian offers a kaleidoscopic view of a sexual assault on a college campus. Wrecked will leave readers thinking about how memory and identity, what's at stake and who sits in...

Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira Publication Date: September 29, 2015 Pages: 352 (paperback) Genre: Young Adult  My Goodreads Rating: 3.5 Stars Goodreads Synopsis:  It begins as an assignment for English class: Write a letter to a dead person. Laurel chooses Kurt Cobain because her sister, May, loved him. And he died young, just like May did. Soon, Laurel has a notebook full of letters to people like Janis Joplin, Amy Winehouse, Amelia Earhart, Heath Ledger, and more -- though she never gives a single one of them to her teacher. She writes about starting high school, navigating new friendships, falling in love for the first time, learning to live with her splintering family. And, finally, about the abuse she suffered while May was supposed to be looking out for her. Only then, once Laurel has written down the truth about what happened to herself, can she truly begin to accept what happened to May. And only when Laurel has begun to see her si...

Whistling Women   by Kelly Romo Publication Date:  November17, 2015 Genre: Adult Fiction/Historical Fiction My Goodreads Rating: 3.5 Stars NetGalley Description:  Set against the backdrop of the 1935 world’s fair, Whistling Women explores the complex relationships between sisters, the sacrifices required to protect family, and the devastating consequences of a single impulsive act. Kelly Romo’s assured and compelling debut novel, Whistling Women (Lake Union; November 17, 2015), takes readers back in time nearly a century to an America where economic pressures and shifting societal norms were shaping a new world. Centered on two indomitable female characters—a long absent aunt and the niece she never knew she had—this wholly original historical novel brings to life San Diego, circa 1935, as its dazzling world’s fair provides the backdrop for a story of family, fidelity, and the choices women have been forced to make to protect themselves and those they...