Ash Reads Stuff

How Far We Go and How Fast by Nora Decter Publication Date:  September 25, 2018 Pages: 264 (paperback) Genre: Young Adult My Goodreads Rating: 3 stars Synopsis: Sixteen-year-old Jolene, named after the girl in the Dolly Parton song, is from a long line of lowlifes, but at least they're musical lowlifes. Her mother is a tanning-salon manager who believes she can channel her karaoke habit into a professional singing career. Jolene's dad, a failed bass player, has gone back to the family demolition business and lives by the company motto: "We do not build things; we only tear them down." But Jolene and her big brother, Matt, are true musicians, writing songs together that make everything Jo hates about their lives matter less. When Matt up and leaves in the middle of the night, Jo loses her only friend, her support system and the one person who made her feel cool. As it becomes clear that Matt is never coming back, Jo must use music to navigate her loss. ...

Lucky Boy  by Shanthi Sekaran Publication Date:  January 10, 2017 Pages: 480 (hardcover) Genre:  Fiction  My Goodreads Rating:  4 stars Goodreads Synopsis: Solimar Castro Valdez is eighteen and dazed with optimism when she embarks on a perilous journey across the US/Mexican border. Weeks later she arrives on her cousin's doorstep in Berkeley, CA, dazed by first love found then lost, and pregnant. This was not the plan. But amid the uncertainty of new motherhood and her American identity, Soli learns that when you have just one precious possession, you guard it with your life. For Soli, motherhood becomes her dwelling and the boy at her breast her hearth. Kavya Reddy has always followed her heart, much to her parents' chagrin. A mostly contented chef at a UC Berkeley sorority house, the unexpected desire to have a child descends like a cyclone in Kavya's mid-thirties. When she can't get pregnant, this desire will test her marriage, it will tes...

A Monster Calls  by Patrick Ness Publication Date: August 2, 2016 (Originally in 2011) Pages: 240 (Movie Tie-In Paperback) Genre:  Young Adult/Fantasy My Goodreads Rating:  4 stars Goodreads Synopsis:  An unflinching, darkly funny, and deeply moving story of a boy, his seriously ill mother, and an unexpected monstrous visitor. At seven minutes past midnight, thirteen-year-old Conor wakes to find a monster outside his bedroom window. But it isn't the monster Conor's been expecting-- he's been expecting the one from his nightmare, the nightmare he's had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments. The monster in his backyard is different. It's ancient. And wild. And it wants something from Conor. Something terrible and dangerous. It wants the truth. From the final idea of award-winning author Siobhan Dowd-- whose premature death from cancer prevented her from writing it herself-- Patrick Ness has spun a haunting and darkly funny novel ...

The First Rule of Swimming  by Courtney Angela Brkic Publication Date: May 28, 2013 Pages:  336 (kindle)  Genre: Adult Contemporary  My Goodreads Rating:  3 Stars Goodreads Synopsis: A woman must leave her island home to search for her missing sister-and confront the haunted history of her family. Magdalena does not panic when she learns that her younger sister has disappeared. A free-spirit, Jadranka has always been prone to mysterious absences. But when weeks pass with no word, Magdalena leaves the isolated Croatian island where their family has always lived and sets off to New York to find her sister. Her search begins to unspool the dark history of their family, reaching back three generations to a country torn by war. A haunting and sure-footed debut by an award-winning writer, The First Rule of Swimming explores the legacy of betrayal and loss in a place where beauty is fused inextricably with hardship, and where individuals are forced to make...

Beneath Wandering Stars  by Ashlee Cowles Publication Date:  August 1, 2016 Pages:  272 (hardcover)  Genre: Young Adult My Goodreads Rating:  4.5 Stars  Goodreads Synopsis: After her soldier brother is horribly wounded in Afghanistan, Gabriela must honor the vow she made: If anything ever happened to him, she would walk the Camino de Santiago through Spain, making a pilgrimage in his name. The worst part is that the promise stipulates that she must travel with her brother's best friend--a boy she has despised all her life. Her brother is in a coma, and Gabi feels that she has no time to waste, but she is unsure. Will she hesitate too long, or risk her own happiness to keep a promise? An up-close look at the lives of the children of military families, "Beneath Wandering Stars" takes readers on a journey of love, danger, laughter, and friendship, against all odds. My Review:  This is, in my opinion, what a YA book should be like. Sure, i...

Hooray, another Top Ten Tuesday (a weekly feature brought to you by The Broke and the Bookish ). This week's topic is ten books to read if you're in the mood for ________. My list is the Top Ten Books to Read If You're in the Mood to Cry Your Face Off. This is probably a terrible idea, but here we go! (Click the books to go to Goodreads!) Well, there you have it. Get your tissues ready. 

The Way Back to You  by Michelle Andreani & Mindi Scott Publication Date: May 3, 2016 Pages: 384 (kindle) Genre: Young Adult  My Goodreads Rating:  4 Stars Goodreads Synopsis: In this witty, heart-tugging novel, two teens take a spontaneous road trip across the Southwest to meet three strangers who received the life-saving organs of their late best friend—charting a journey of loss, hope, and love along the way. Six months ago, Ashlyn Montiel died in a bike accident. Her best friend Cloudy is keeping it together, at least on the outside. Cloudy’s insides are a different story: tangled, confused, heartbroken. Kyle is falling apart, and everyone can tell. Ashlyn was his girlfriend, and when she died, a part of him went with her. Maybe the only part he cares about anymore. As the two people who loved Ashlyn best, Cloudy and Kyle should be able to lean on each other. But after a terrible mistake last year, they're barely speaking. So when Cloudy discovers th...