Young Adult Summer Reading Challenge: The Alienation of Courtney Hoffman by Brady G Stefani

This summer, members of the Vise Library are participating in a Young Adult Summer Reading Challenge. We have received copies of several books from publishers for honest reviews. We hope that you enjoy these reviews (and books)!  This week's book is The Alienation of Courtney Hoffman by Brady G Stefani!

About the book:

Fifteen year old Courtney wants to be normal like her friends. But there’s something frighteningly different about her―and it’s not just the mysterious tattoo her conspiracy-obsessed grandfather marked her with when she was a child. “Mental illness is a slippery slope,” her mother warns her. And the last thing Courtney wants to do is end up crazy and dead like her grandfather did.

But what about the tattoo? And the alien scouts who visit Courtney in her bedroom at night claiming to have shared an alliance with her grandfather? And her new friend Agatha’s apocalyptic visions? They have to be connected. Courtney has a mission: untangle her past, discover the truth, and stop the apocalypse before anyone from school finds out she’s missing.

Courtney Hoffman is seeing aliens...or at least she thinks she is seeing them.  She could just be plain crazy, just like her grandfather.  She has been lead to believe many things about her grandfather and she can't decide if they are real or not (kind of like the aliens).  She has a mysterious tattoo given to her by her grandfather and she has been told that her grandfather tried to kill her (did he or didn't he??).  Courtney has to take a journey in order to find out who she is and if she really belongs in a mental hospital, because...aliens.  

This book was a lot of fun.  It might have aliens, an adventure, funny characters and wormholes involved in the story.  This book grabs you from the word go.  It's fun to watch Courtney and friends get to the bottom of the truth.  There are a lot of great lines in this book that made me laugh out loud.  I can't decide if it's better to be seeing visions with aliens not actually being real or those visions actually being real aliens.  What do you think?  You will have to read The Alienation of Courtney Hoffman to find out!  

Find it: | Amazon | Barnes & Noble |

About the author:

Brady G. Stefani has a bachelor's degree in creative writing, and a graduate degree in law. During law school, he interned with the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health, where he interacted with patients suffering from severe thought disorders, including numerous patients presenting with subjectively real memories of being visited and abducted by alien beings. It was through his study of these patients, along with his own struggles with anxiety and cognition, that Stefani became aware of just how deceiving, mysterious, and powerfully resilient the human mind can be. 

In an effort to provide awareness of mental suffering, and spread hope to all those touched by it, Stefani is focused on writing YA novels that explore the experience of being different, and the other-worldly places our boundary-less imaginations can take us. Alienation is his first novel. But with two works currently in progress, the journey has just begun.

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Summer Reading Challenge: First Comes Love by Emily Giffin

This summer, members of the Vise Library are participating in a Summer Reading Challenge. We have received copies of several books from publishers for honest reviews. We hope that you enjoy these reviews (and books)!  This week's book is First Comes Love by Emily Giffin!

About the book:

A pair of sisters find themselves at a crossroads in this dazzling new novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Something Borrowed, Where We Belong, and The One & Only.First Comes Love is a story about family, friendship, and the courage to follow your own heart—wherever that may lead.

Growing up, Josie and Meredith Garland shared a loving, if sometimes contentious, relationship. Josie was impulsive, spirited, and outgoing, Meredith hardworking, thoughtful, and reserved. When tragedy strikes, their delicate bond splinters.

Fifteen years later, Josie and Meredith are in their late thirties, following very different paths. Josie, a first grade teacher, is single—and this close to swearing off dating for good. What she wants more than the right guy, however, is to become a mother—a feeling that is heightened when her ex-boyfriend’s daughter is assigned to her class. Determined to have the future she’s always wanted, Josie decides to take matters into her own hands.

On the outside, Meredith is the model daughter with the perfect life. A successful attorney, she’s married to a wonderful man, and together they’re raising a beautiful four-year-old daughter. Yet lately Meredith feels dissatisfied and restless, secretly wondering if she chose the life that was expected of her rather than the one she truly desired. 

As the anniversary of their tragedy looms, and painful secrets from the past begin to surface, Josie and Meredith must not only confront the issues that divide them but also come to terms with their own choices. In their journey toward understanding and forgiveness, both sisters discover that they need each other more than they knew—and that in the search for true happiness, love always comes first.

The night that Josie and Meredith's brother, Daniel, passed away changed their lives forever.  Neither sister has really dealt with his death in the fifteen years that have passed since Daniel's tragic accident.  Josie is a teacher that is having to deal with the fact that her ex-boyfriend's daughter is now in her class.  It is making her question a lot of things and one of them is motherhood.  She also has a sinking feeling that she may have played a role in her brother's accident (but did she??).  Meredith is struggling with her marriage.  She feels like there is something missing and wonders if they got together because of death of her brother.  Meredith and Josie have a tumultuous relationship at best.  They do not see eye to eye a lot of times and Meredith struggles with the fact that Josie never talks about Daniel.  Each sister has a decision to make and it will not be an easy journey. 

This is a book about relationships, family and if there is a "right" way to go about things.  This book shows that everybody grieves in different ways and that just because someone does not grieve they way that we do does not make it wrong.  I loved that Josie was such a "glass half full" type of person but wasn't obnoxious about it.  Meredith was always looking for something more and eventually learns try to find happiness instead of it just being there.  If you are a fan of Giffin's writing then you will enjoy seeing past character's incorporated into this story.  Ultimately this was a very heartfelt book and shows how the power of forgiveness (including forgiving ourselves) and love can make such an impact on our lives.  I am sure that this book will be enjoyed by a lot of people and become Giffin's next bestseller.  Our copy is available for checkout in our Popular Collection. 

Find it: | Amazon | Barnes & Noble |

About the author:

Emily Giffin is a graduate of Wake Forest University and the University of Virginia School of Law. After practicing litigation at a Manhattan firm for several years, she moved to London to write full time. The author of seven New York Times bestselling novels, Something Borrowed, Something Blue, Baby Proof, Love The One You're With, Heart of the Matter, Where We Belong, and The One & Only, she lives in Atlanta with her husband and three young children.

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Book Review: Conquest by Jaime Boust

We were given the opportunity to read Conquest by Jaime Boust.  Read below to find out what this book is about and to see what the Vise Library thought about it!

About the book:

Brie Baggio thinks she’s ready… for marriage, kids, the whole shebang. She’s pushing forty, and even though she’s the Senior Anti-Aging Ambassador at Los Angeles’s hottest med spa, Botox can’t paralyze that nagging feeling that it’s now or never. But when she witnesses a wild act of public sex, Brie tears her marriage plans apart and composes a sexual bucket list of scenarios she wants to experience before she settles down. She has life yet to live, lessons to learn, and someone to find—herself—along the way. Smart, sexy, chock full of pop culture, Conquest is a love letter and instruction manual to modern women everywhere struggling to find love. Brie’s list will take her into the murky waters of adulthood, make her tangle with sexbots, undergo Trinidadian cleansing rituals, and engage in full-scale social media self-sabotage, but will it lead her to love?

Brie thought she was ready for marriage.  She found the guy and fixed him up to fill the spot.  However, on the afternoon that she should be saying "yes" to the guy, she instead has a revelation after she sees a couple in public in a very compromising exhibition.   She realizes "the guy" really isn't perfect after all.  She realizes that she hasn't experienced everything she feels like she should have before she ties the knot.  This leads Brie to coming up with a list of sorts to engage in before she finds the perfect guy that she doesn't have to fix to make perfect.

Conquest is hilarious.  It is also a modern take on women going after what they want without feeling shamed by being female.  Brie's new list makes her let go of the pressure of finding the "right" person and it was refreshing.  This book pushes gender roles and what one is "expected" to be like.  This is a very fast read and the beginning of episode ten had me laughing out loud!  Brie's friends are just hilarious and by the end of the book you wish you had Brie as a friend in real life.  

Find it: | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | 

About the author:

Jaime Boust is a writer whose work ranges from literotica to magical realist alternate histories. She is the recipient of the inaugural David Carr Prize for Emerging Writers at SXSW. Her fiction includes Book Club and Conquest, stories that stroke the zeitgeist of sex-forward female comedy tackling topics of beauty, aging, relationships, and self-worth with a feminist bent. She got her wits about her on the hills of San Francisco, the streets of London, the sewers of Paris, and the suburban wilds of Oakland. These days you'll find her dodging traffic in Los Angeles with her husband and two kids.

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Yong Adult Summer Reading Challenge: One Paris Summer by Denise Grover Swank

This summer, members of the Vise Library are participating in a Young Adult Summer Reading Challenge. We have received copies of several books from publishers for honest reviews. We hope that you enjoy these reviews (and books)!  This week's book is One Paris Summer by Denise Grover Swank!

About the book:

Most teens dream of visiting the City of Lights, but it feels more like a nightmare for Sophie Brooks. She and her brother are sent to Paris to spend the summer with their father, who left home a year ago without any explanation. As if his sudden abandonment weren't betrayal enough, he's about to remarry, and they’re expected to play nice with his soon-to-be wife and stepdaughter. The stepdaughter, Camille, agrees to show them around the city, but she makes it clear that she will do everything in her power to make Sophie miserable.

Sophie could deal with all the pain and humiliation if only she could practice piano. Her dream is to become a pianist, and she was supposed to spend the summer preparing for a scholarship competition. Even though her father moved to Paris to pursue his own dream, he clearly doesn't support hers. His promise to provide her with a piano goes unfulfilled.

Still, no one is immune to Paris’s charm. After a few encounters with a gorgeous French boy, Sophie finds herself warming to the city, particularly when she discovers that he can help her practice piano. There’s just one hitch—he’s a friend of Camille’s, and Camille hates Sophie. While the summer Sophie dreaded promises to become best summer of her life, one person could ruin it all.

This has been my favorite book (so far!) in the YASCR!  To me, One Paris Summer is the perfect example of what a YA novel should be.  It has a teen going through a real life event and showing tremendous growth throughout the story.  Sophie and her brother, Eric, are being forced to visit their dad in Paris.  That should be great, right?  Well unfortunately for Sophie and Eric, their dad moved away unexpectedly and is getting remarried.  They have not heard from him in about a year, so to say that this will be a heart-felt reunion would be a lie.  On top of all of that, their new stepmom's daughter, Camille is anything but friendly.  Sophie struggles with the strained relationship with her once, close father and with being in a new city.  Camille and here friends take Eric and Sophie on sight-seeing adventures, but Camille does not make these outings very fun for Sophie.  

Sophie loves playing the piano and is hoping to study music in college one day.  One of Camille's friends, Mathieu, is the son of a very prominent piano teacher and allows Sophie to practice playing the piano at his home.  However, Mathieu and Sophie must keep this a secret (and more!) from Camille since she has the power to ruin Mathieu's future.  Sophie has a great opportunity to pursue her dreams but her father does not seem to be on board.  Something horrible happens to threaten that chance (and her relationship with Mathieu) and there may be no going back for Sophie.  

Over time, Sophie warms to the city, its people and her newly repaired relationship with her father.  This is a great story about overcoming fears, dealing with family issues, growing as a person and about love.  I loved how Sophie became braver and stronger as the story went on and how she started to make decisions for herself and not because of someone else.  You get a great background in Paris and it is fun to watch Sophie learn her way through the language barrier.  I adored this book.  Or should I say J'adore?  This is a great summer read and it doesn't hurt that there is a great love story (but it's not the sole focus of the novel)!  Our copy will be arriving sometime this week and will be available for checkout soon!

Find it: | Amazon | Barnes & Noble |

About the author:

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Denise Grover Swank was born in Kansas City, Missouri and lived in the area until she was nineteen. Then she became a nomadic gypsy, living in five cities, four states and ten houses over the course of ten years before she moved back to her roots. She speaks English and smattering of Spanish and Chinese which she learned through an intensive Nick Jr. immersion period. Her hobbies include witty Facebook comments (in own her mind) and dancing in her kitchen with her children. (Quite badly if you believe her offspring.) Hidden talents include the gift of justification and the ability to drink massive amounts of caffeine and still fall asleep within two minutes. Her lack of the sense of smell allows her to perform many unspeakable tasks. She has six children and hasn’t lost her sanity. Or so she leads you to believe.

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Young Adult Summer Reading Challenge: Within Reach by Jessica Stevens

This summer, members of the Vise Library are participating in a Young Adult Summer Reading Challenge. We have received copies of several books from publishers for honest reviews. We hope that you enjoy these reviews (and books)!  This week's book is Within Reach by Jessica Stevens!

About the book:

Dying wasn’t on seventeen-year-old Xander Hemlock’s summer to-do-list. Finding ways to spend more time with his girlfriend, Lila, was the most critical thinking he planned on doing. But that was before he found himself trapped in a realm of only darkness with thirty days to convince Lila he’s not actually dead―well, not completely, anyway.

As Xan tries to show Lila she isn't alone, she struggles to comprehend how her life has changed so completely. Six months ago her life was perfect: she was on her way to becoming a professional dancer, her parents were still married, and her boyfriend was alive. But now, with her anorexic tendencies stronger than ever, she must decide which is the lesser of two evils: letting go to be with a boy she doesn't love, or holding on to the unreasonable, yet overpowering, feeling that Xan is still within reach...and trying to show her something.

Improbable and endearing, Within Reach is a story of two soulmates discovering that sometimes it takes more than one lifetime to get it right.

Within Reach is a story about soul mates, love, death and the decision of letting go.  Xan and Lila are soul mates and completely in love.  However, Xan is murdered and his soul is trapped in a realm where he has to prove to Lila that he is still there.  There is someone trying to pull Lila away from Xan in order to have a chance with her.  Xan has to continue fighting and looks for help to show Lila that he is not completely gone.  This book is full of suspense and you will be rooting for Xan and Lila (and booing someone else) throughout the story.  It is heartbreaking and sad because Lila not only has lost Xan, but also something she had a true passion for: dancing.  It is also very sad from Xan's point of view because he sees Lila suffering without being able to help her.  The ending is really interesting and keeps you wondering until the very last sentence!!

Find it: | Amazon | Barnes & Noble |

About the author:

Jessica Stevens grew up knowing without a doubt that she would become a professional ballet dancer. When life told her otherwise, she went to college like the rest of the world and earned a degree in psychology. Shortly after, while raising her two boys, she found herself glued to her computer all hours of the night while everyone else slept. Today she lives in suburbs of Milwaukee spending as much time as possible on lakes and rivers.

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Young Adult Summer Reading Challenge: Running for Water and Sky by Sandra Kring

This summer, members of the Vise Library are participating in a Young Adult Summer Reading Challenge. We have received copies of several books from publishers for honest reviews. We hope that you enjoy these reviews (and books)!  This week's book is Running for Water and Sky by Sandra Kring!

About the book:

They say that right before you die, your whole life flashes before your eyes. But what they don’t say is that the same thing can happen when your soul mate is dying.

After spending most of her 17 years being shuffled between families that don’t want her, Bless Adler has no intention of opening her heart to anyone. And then she falls in love with Liam Reid.

The closer Bless lets Liam get, the more fearful she becomes. Then her new friend, Maylee, convinces her to go see a local psychic―and the woman’s glimpse into the future is anything but reassuring: Bless’s absent father, drunk and bitter. A frantic crowd gathered at the beach. Liam lying in a pool of blood, a gun at his side.

Now Bless has 14 blocks to reach Liam on the shores of Lake Michigan. If he’s still alive, she’ll beg for him to fight for his life. If he’s not, she’ll say good-bye to the first person who made her want to fight for her own. Edgy, intense, and emotional, Running for Water and Sky is a story of the elation and angst that comes with love, and the challenge of learning to trust when betrayal is all you’ve ever known.

Bless has not had an easy life growing up.  She has been been passed around and been shown that she is not a priority.  That is until she her dad unexpectedly shows up and takes her to live with him.  When she moves away with her dad this is where she meets Liam.  Liam becomes someone that she trusts to open up about her life and her heart.  One afternoon she is talked into visiting a psychic (by her friend Maylee) and is given a warning about someone she deeply cares about.  In order to see if the vision of Liam committing suicide is true or not, she must travel 14 blocks to find out.  

I felt very surprised by the ending of this book and it was an intriguing read through the entire story.  There are a lot of great lessons about love, trust and how to not let our past determine our future.  There are also social issues to think about that are associated with this book, such as abuse and poverty.  I really felt for all of these characters and felt heartbroken for them when things did not go their way.  Overall this story was a very great read and hopefully Kring decides to continue writing in the YA world!

Find it: | Amazon | Barnes & Noble |

Connect with the author:

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Young Adult Summer Reading Challenge: Remember to Forget by Ashley Royer

This summer, members of the Vise Library are participating in a Young Adult Summer Reading Challenge. We have received copies of several books from publishers for honest reviews. We hope that you enjoy these reviews (and books)!  This week's book is Remember to Forget by Ashley Royer!

About the book:

In Remember to Forget from Watty Award-winning author Ashley Royer, Levi has refused to speak since the tragic death of his girlfriend, Delia, and can't seem to come out of his depression and hindering self-doubt. Desperate to make some positive change in Levi’s life, his mother sends him to live with his father in Maine. Though the idea of moving from Australia to America seems completely daunting, Levi passively accepts his fate, but once he lands faces personal struggles and self-doubt at the same time he and his dad battle through resentment and misunderstanding. And then, while at therapy, Levi meets Delilah, a girl who eerily reminds him of someone he lost.

Levi is struggling with anxiety and depression after the death of his girlfriend Delia (what happened to her???). He has stopped talking not just to his therapist but even to people that he truly cares about.  Levi's mom has run out of ideas in order to help him.  She decides that maybe Levi needs a fresh start in a new place.  So, his mom sends him away from his home in Australia to live with his dad in Maine.  She knows that she is going to miss him but she hopes being away from the reminders of Delia and her death will do the trick.  At first, Levi is very angry about his new life and his new surroundings.  The relationship with his dad is strained at first and he tries to keep the two teenagers (Aiden and Delilah) that live down the street from him at a distance.  Aiden and Delilah are persistent and eventually wear Levi down.  They are even a big help to Levi when he experiences his panic attacks.  Slowly, but surely, Levi starts to come out of his shell thanks to his new friends and through some of the people he meets through his new therapy.  This book shows how having support and forgiving yourself can really help someone get through something that they think is insurmountable.  Levi does just that through his friends and family.  This book was a really wonderful read and it really shows what living with anxiety and depression can be like.  It just felt very genuine and authentic.  The characters in this book are so great and make this such an enjoyable read despite such a hard subject matter!

Find it: | Amazon | Barnes & Noble |

About the author:

Ashley Royer is a seventeen-year-old high school honor student. She lives north of Boston, Massachusetts. She works at a local retirement community where she is part of the wait staff and serves the residents. Ashley has been publishing her writing on Wattpad since she was thirteen years old, and she has over 30 million combined reads on her stories. “Remember to Forget” is her first published book. Ashley also has a YouTube channel, callmeashley98, where she posts videos and covers of songs. (taken from author's web site)

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Summer Reading Challenge: The Sweetheart Deal by Polly Dugan

This summer, members of the Vise Library are participating in a Summer Reading Challenge. We have received copies of several books from publishers for honest reviews. We hope that you enjoy these reviews (and books)!  This week's book is The Sweetheart Deal by Polly Dugan!

About the book:

A widow and her husband's best friend fall in love, but even if it's what the husband wanted, is it real?
Firefighter Leo McGeary has always joked that, in the event of his death, he wants Garrett, his best friend and a consummate bachelor, to marry his wife, Audrey. One drunken New Year's Eve, he goes so far as to make Garrett promise to do so. Twelve years later, Leo dies in a freak skiing accident. Within hours, Garrett quits his job and purchases a one-way ticket to Oregon to be with Leo's family. As Audrey learns to navigate life as a widow and a single parent, her feelings for Garrett become more than platonic, and he begins to fall for her, too. But when she learns of the drunken pact made long ago, the promise that brought Garrett into her world becomes the obstacle to his remaining in it.

The Sweetheart Deal is a story of a widowed mother, Audrey, and her three boys. Before her husband, Leo's, death, he made his best friend Garrett promise to look after and marry Audrey in case something every happened to him.  Leo was pretty persistent with his plea and Garrett agrees through a signed piece of paper.  Leo never told Audrey about the arrangement with Garrett and when Leo dies she is still left in the dark.  Garrett uproots his life (and helps with building a house in process) in order to fulfill his promise to Audrey to the point that his intentions towards her are very genuine and not out of duty.  Of course, Audrey is dealing with grief and at first only looks at Garrett as a friend, until she doesn't.  However, the pact that brought Garrett and Audrey together is something that becomes a driving force to tear them apart when Audrey finds out the truth of the pact.  

In this book you will read through the perspectives of Audrey, Garrett and Audrey's sons.  The grief in this book feels very real.  Audrey is struggling, for obvious reasons, and you can just imagine those instances taking place.  This book is about love and the different kinds that exist: between friends, family and spouses.  Garrett has his own issues to deal with, like, why did he actually uproot his life to help Audrey?  You realize that there is more to it than just helping out a friend and it's something that has been there all along.  Audrey has to sort through the hurt and coming to terms with her own feelings.  This was a really well written book and I think readers will enjoy the unique situation that Audrey and Garrett finds themselves in, even if it is out of a sad situation!

Find it: | Amazon | Barnes & Noble |

About the author:

Polly Dugan lives in Portland, Oregon, and is a reader at Tin House magazine. A former employee of Powell's Books, she is an alumna of the Tin House Writer's Workshop. Dugan's first published story, "A Matter of Time," was Line Zero's Spring 2012 Literary Contest Winner, "Masquerades" (as "One At a Time"), was Narrative's Story of the Week (December 2012), and "Kitten Season" was an Honorable Mention Recipient in Glimmer Train's Short Story Award for New Writers (August 2009). (taken from author's web site)

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