YA Pick: A Short History of the Girl Next Door

This book makes me

A Short History of the Girl Next Door
by Jared Reck
Knopf Books for Young Readers
2017
272 pages
ISBN: 9781524716073

Move over, Sarah Dessen and John Green. Make way for Jared Reck. A Short History of the Girl Next Door is the most promising book of 2017.  Reck has captured unique characters who will resonate with readers. Teen voices are pitch perfect, spot on, memorable and lovable.

Matt (Matty) Wainwright grows up with Tabby who seems more like a sister than a neighbor. Tabby's mother walks away from the family leaving Tabby with a working father who can barely deal with himself. Matt's family steps in and raises Tabby as the daughter they never had. Tabby and Matt share every day together for years until high school. Tabby begins to drift away and into the arms of a senior basketball star.

In high school, Matt realizes he  has "feelings" for Tabby. She has always been there--his partner in crime--the kid he could always count on. A girl, yes, but most of all a friend. Suddenly,  he sees how the light shines off her hair, how the way she moves is like no other girl, how she walks into the room and the atmosphere changes. She is the Halloween Nerds for Matty--"...so good, so amazing, they're not even part of the rankings...You're the Nerds, Tabby," Matt tells her. This line, like the ubiquitous, "You had me at hello," from movie "Jerry Maguire" will be quoted forever. It is the most perfect line of YA prose--capturing both the promise of something indescribably sweet and the youthful innocence of first love.

Besides falling for Tabby, Matt has a fierce love of basketball and his drive to make the varsity team is intense. Teammate and best friend Trip is the perfect sidekick for Matt--bright, hilarious and under it all, deeply caring. All the characters in this YA are so well developed that it is hard to close this book--and readers won't want to!

Make no mistake, this is not a simple love story. It is not a sports story. It transcends both those labels and all others. It is that ONE book you will FEEL long after you finish the last page. A Short History of the Girl Next Door will cause laughter and tears. I wept buckets as I kept turning the pages. Bring your BOX of tissue; you will need the entire box. This YA debut is my early pick for TAYSHAS.

Brilliant cover design and a title that is the best in YA debuts. The marketing department gets kudos for this one!

I see this one as the next big Hollywood teen film! Jared Reck, quit your day job and please write faster! I cannot say it loud enough--this is a MUST READ.

Highly, highly recommended! Put this on your order form NOW. Publishing drop date is September 26, 2017--make sure you reserve your copy!

Grade 9-up. Some language that is "normal" for high school students.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received the ARC from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

Adult Read Pick: Only Love Can Break Your Heart

Only Love Can Break Your Heart
by Ed Tarkington
Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
2016
307 pages
ISBN: 9781616203825

Available January 5, 2016

Stunning, moody, rare, eccentric, and brimming with Southern gothic-ism and down home charm, Only Love Can Break Your Heart will leave readers stunned, amazed and gasping. Only a few days into January and the best adult read has appeared! You won't want to miss Ed Tarkington's love letter to the 1970's and an "easier" down to earth way of life.

Rocky (Richard) idolizes older brother Paul and reports the beginning of the story through eight year old eyes. It's easy to see why Paul plays a central role in Rocky's life. . Paul is sophisticated, cool, aloof, and sometimes downright dangerous. Rocky explains, " My brother Paul had a reputation around town as a 'bad kid.' This wasn't entirely undeserved..." but he goes on to inform the reader that in larger, more cosmopolitan cities Paul's hijinks wouldn't have raised an eyebrow. Paul's rebellious side was smoking endless packs of cigarettes, throwing back beers, breaking the speed limit, sneaking out at night and running around with other "nefarious" hoodlums. Typical teen boy behavior, but it sends their father, "the Old Man," into a rage at every turn. The "Old Man"  doesn't let it fester; he tends to look the other way when Paul misbehaves. Although not spoken aloud (ever!) there is a deep love between older boy and the Old Man. Paul's mother Ann left for Akron, Ohio, never looking back. The Old Man instructs his boys "never marry a Yankee!"

Ann does  make a brief appearance when she arrives for Paul's high school graduation. After embarrassing herself, her son and family, she returns to Ohio where it's all downhill from there. Paul's first love is beautiful, ethereal Leigh who as the novel progresses becomes more and more damaged. Most of the characters throughout the novel are damaged if not broken (that's life!). Rocky's mom is much younger than the "Old Man," and she married if not for love--for security and money. In those days in a small town, if a woman isn't married by age twenty five, she is considered an old maid--a fate that no girl can endure. The boys both attend a fancy and pricey private school where they can mingle with other wealthy students from "good" homes. There are class lines in Spencerville, and although Rocky's family  lives in a comfortable home and the "Old Man" earns a good living, he came from nothing. His family was dirt poor, therefor the privileged and snooty old wealth shuns him. No matter how successful or rich he becomes, he will never be accepted into their lofty ranks and it eats at him. Seeing a way to make a real "deal," he loses everything.

Twin Peaks (shades of Gone With the Wind meets To Kill a Mockingbird) has been abandoned and haunted for years. When Paul takes Rocky over to explore the old mansion, Paul is shot and the story soars. All the characters are now in place with a bone or two to pick with each other. This one kept me guessing until the ending. Even now, looking back, I have some unanswered questions, and I mean that in the best ways! A great novel really gets to you and bothers you to the bone and that's just what Only Love Can Break Your Heart does.

If you love Southern tradition, Ed Tarkington is your author. I would put him in the ranks of Flannery O'Connor, Tennessee Williams and William Faulkner. Only Love Can Break Your Heart may do just that! Bring your box of Kleenex because you'll need them! I will not likely forget Paul, Rocky or Leigh. The Old Man who is first seen as a grouchy ogre redeems himself and the reader will see the true man when he develops Alzheimer's. In fact, I respected the Old Man after I realized his life story. "Love can make people do terrible things..." is oh, so true!

Poignant yet promising, this is the BEST adult novel I've read in a very long time. It's right up there with my favorite all time novels: To Kill a Mockingbird, The Shadow of the Wind and Life Among Giants.

Highly, highly recommended. Order or grab a copy today. You won't be able to put down this book.
In fact, I finished reading it during the Broncos' game (and I'm a Broncos fanatic), but I couldn't stop reading. I found myself not even listening to the game. I was in Spencerville with Rocky and Paul.

Suitable adult title and recommended for all adult book clubs. Mature content, profanity, murder.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

This review has been posted in compliance with the FTC requirements set forth in the Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (available at ftc.gov/os/2009/10/091005revisedendorsementguides.pdf)

Now in Paperback: Give a Boy a Gun

Give a Boy a Gun
by Todd Strasser
Simon & Schuster
2012 (new paperback edition)
224 pages

Riveting, terrifying, and tragically true, the statistics used in this haunting new ya novel should scare everyone living in America. Every day, thousands of students are bullied in our schools, and every day, some kid might snap. What happens when enough is finally enough? And what can be done to prevent it?

Ask the kids who were at Columbine. Ask the kids who attend Chardon High School in Ohio where on February 27, 2012, a student wounded five other students, three of whom later died. These are not isolated examples. Strasser includes facts and statistics from various sources as footnotes to the story of Ryan, Brendon, and Gary, three friends who are not popular or athletes at their high school. They are not the "in" crowd, and they dread coming to school every day.

This fact comes from Rolling Stone, 6/10/99: "In 1996, handguns alone killed 15 people in Japan, 30 in Great Britain, 106 in Canada, and 9,390 in the United States." It illustates the growing gun problem in America. Our teens know how easy it is to obtain a weapon. According to one statistic, 12% of American students have seen another student with a gun at school.


The three boys are constantly bullied and harrassed on a daily basis. Teachers do nothing to stop it other than say to the popular kids, "Hey, guys, cut it out." There is no back-up and no consequences. Gary chooses to fight back. Gary grows increasingly darker and practices with video shooting games, even buying a gun from another student. It is his descent into vile hatred and blind rage that carries the story.

Readers know that nothing but tragedy can come from Gary's actions, yet he is like a wounded animal himself. The daily barrage of tiny abuses multiply and grow exponentially in his mind.

This is not a feel-good story. It's a story that one hopes will make people pay attention to the facts that weaker people get bullied and they can only take so much.

Recommmeded for teens who like realistic fiction with an edge. Grades 9-up. Language, violence, guns.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.