Caleb + Kate by Cindy Martinusen-Coloma

Caleb + Kate is a re-telling of Romeo and Juliet and a reminder that true love still exists. Kate and Caleb couldn't be more different. Being the heiress of the Monrovi Inn, Kate is both rich and popular. But she's bored. She wants more meaning in her life and she discovers that when she meets Caleb. Caleb makes her feel like she's never felt before. This could be a love that lasts a lifetime. The only problem is Caleb clearly doesn't fit into the life she's grown up with. In fact, he works at the Monrovi Inn with his father doing maintenance. And to top it all off, Caleb and Kate's family have a deep-rooted history that hasn't been resolved. With all the odds against them will Caleb and Kate be able to save their love for each other? What will it take?

This novel was very sweet. This was a great read that I think all teenagers who have ever been or dream about falling in love should read. It explores faith and love and God in a way that I've never read about in young adult literature. And although this is considered a Christian religious novel, it's not preachy or overbearing. It's a genuine novel about two teens who test their faith and the limits or lack thereof of God's love.

But this is also a novel about the human experience of love. Will we fight so hard for someone that we love? Caleb and Kate tell us that we will. They cherish each other and do things for each other that made me evaluate my own relationships. Selfishness and doubt will get in the way but in the end they overcome the forces working against them for each other. I wish Caleb had fallen in love with me!

Something I also really enjoyed was the writing. The characters were realistic and the pacing was great. At the beginning of each chapter there was a quote from Shakespeare which was fun to fit in with the current conflict going on in the novel. Caleb + Kate also spoke a great deal about family and friendship. When normalcy gets turned upside down as it did with Caleb and Kate, everyone is affected. I think that Kate and Caleb's family, being sometimes supportive and sometimes stubborn as most families are, was a great portrait of families struggling to make ends meet. And Kate's friends, at first calling Caleb simply a "cabana boy", come to understand their love for what it really is and try to accept their new relationship.

Overall, this novel was fun, quick, and sweet. It makes you think about your own relationships and gives you insight into how other people fit love into the world. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and I think you will too!

Rating: 4.0

So I ask you all a question: do you think true love exists? Do you think people can stay in love even when everything is working against them? I'd love to hear what you think!

My Most Excellent Year by Steve Kluger

My Most Excellent Year by Steve Kluger is a novel about first love, frienship, family, and letting people in your heart and letting them love you back. T.C. and Augie have been brothers since they were six. When T.C. lost his mother the only person who seemed to handle and understand what T.C. was going through was Augie. They since declared themselves brothers. What's biology anyway? Now they're freshman in high school and everything begins to change. T.C. is falling in love with Alejandra, who is trying her best to push him away as far as possible. Augie likes boys? And a six-year old Hucky comes into their lives to forever change the way they think and love each other. And baseball. There is a LOT of baseball.

This heart-felt novel is flawless. It has drama (Augie knows everyone from Liza Minelli to Barbara Streisand-and can countlessly quote them): a hilarious talent show and show stopping production of Bye Bye Birdie. It has a whole lot of love. The parents of Augie and T.C. really know their kids and their relationships are pine-worthy. And it had rock-solid friendships. You will want to have Augie and T.C.'s relationship by the end of this novel.

My favorite part, however, was Hucky. The six-year deaf kid who doesn't have parents and has almost a magical ability to call pitches. He is the shining character in my opinion. He's the only one who really has any flaws (try not to melt at his mad face- I dare you) and he works through them and everyone falls in love with him. Really, he's the only character who grows exponentially through out the novel. He's adorable and funny. And he loves Mary Poppins-with taste like that how can you refuse to love him?

This book, however unrealistic, tries to achieve a LOT of things. From political to emotional it strives to be on a whole other level of reading. And it succeeds for the most part with optimism, hilarity, and tenderness. I recommend this book to anyone who has a best friend, or loves baseball, or loves theatre and humor, or especially who has any tiny soft spot for love.

Rating: 4.5

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman is about a twelve year old girl whose life has been less than perfect. Her mother, stuck in her days of being the 1951 Vidalia Onion Queen is mentally ill, her father is never around, and the only friend she has is her elderly neighbor Mrs. Odell. Until one day her mother suddenly dies and she's whisked away to Savannah by her extravagant Aunt Tootie. There, Cecelia (CeeCee) will learn about love, good cooking, friendship, and finally face her past she's tried her hardest to push away and ignore.

The women in this novel are fabulous. I couldn't believe that this was a debut novel for Hoffman. And this novel is entirely about women...but I loved it. Each woman is so intricate and quirky. They're funny and tragic. I could've listened to their stories all day. I think my favorite part of the novel is when Oletta takes CeeCee to see her Aunt Sapphire. Aunt Sapphire is racist and sassy and when we meet her she's wearing her dress backwards. And her friend, Miz Obee sneaks marbles down the front of her dress and grows gorgeous orchids inside an old, run down car.

Every part of this novel was full of detail. I loved how Hoffman described the old Georgia houses and the flowers in the gardens. And the cooking. This novel made my mouth water! There's so much Southern comfort in this novel I almost wanted to nestle in my arms and never let the story go. CeeCee was charming, perceptive, and strong. I couldn't have imagined the story being told in anyone else's perspective.

I recommend this novel to mothers, daughters, friends, and neighbors because this novel encompasses this and much more. It's sweet, tragic, and funny-all woven together beautifully to create a story about a girl learning what love is and where to find it, even if it's been waiting there all along.

Rating: 5.0


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Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler

From the book jacket: According to Anna's best friend, Frankie, twenty days in Zanzibar Bay is the perfect opportunity to have a summer fling, and if they meet one boy every day, there's a pretty good chance Anna will find her first summer romance. Anna lightheartedly agrees to the game, but there's something she hasn't told Frankie-she's already had her romance, and it was with Frankie's older brother, Matt, just before his tragic death one year ago.

"Sometimes I think we all feel guilty for being happy, and as soon as we catch ourselves acting like everything's okay, someone remembers it's not".

This is exactly what Anna feels-guilty. Guilty for lying to her best friend and guilty for mourning someone who she's not sure she's even "allowed" to mourn. This is a novel about discovery. Discovery of love then immediate loss, of friendship, how people can change and how you can still love them, of finding love again, and letting go. This novel was real-my heart literally ached through parts of this book. I felt what Anna was feeling 100%. To me, this novel was reminiscent of Sarah Dessen and I think that is a huge compliment. It was absolutely beautifully written and I feel in love with the characters and their plights.

"I really don't even know you, and yet, in my life, you are forever entangled; to my history, inextricably bound".

After Anna goes to Zanzibar with Frankie and her family (the same vacation spot where Matt would have been had he not died) everything changes. She discovers that life can go on and that it can go on without erasing memories of the past. She also discovers that she can't save everyone, that people need to go through things their own way and sometimes just being there is the best thing. And she discovers herself. This is the most important discovery for Anna and the one that made me cry at the end. That no matter what she will always look in the mirror and see the same face.

"Nothing ever goes away-it just changes into something else. Something beautiful".

I loved, loved, loved this book. I didn't want it to end. I might even have to read it again soon. It's so raw and truthful, I can't believe how sucked into this story I was. I recommend it to everyone, seriously, it's the best thing I've read in a long time.

Rating: 5.0 (but I would give it an even higher rating!)

Women's Month Celebration Question:
Q: As a woman, do you feel you've accomplished anything for fellow women?
A: Actually, yes. I am a color guard instructor and currently I teach 14 girls. Each of them are different and I am constantly trying to empower them. Whether it's loaning them a book, giving them advice, or grieving with them-they know someone is there who cares about them. And although it's a small number of lives to enrich, I am content with that for now.

Hold Still by Nina LaCour

dear caitlin, there are so many things that i want so badly to tell you but i just can’t.

Ingrid left behind a painful farewell in her journal for Caitlin. Now Caitlin is left alone, by loss and by choice, struggling to find renewed hope in the wake of her best friend’s suicide. With the help of family and newfound friends, Caitlin will encounter first love, broaden her horizons, and start to realize that true friendship didn’t die with Ingrid. And the journal which once seemed only to chronicle Ingrid’s descent into depression, becomes the tool by which Caitlin once again reaches out to all those who loved Ingrid—and Caitlin herself.

I was pretty reluctant to pick this book up because it is about suicide. The content is so fragile that I'm always afraid to read books concerned with it because I'm afraid it will be too graphic or too emotional. I want to be able to get through the book, ya know? But I'm also afraid a novel like this won't be strong enough.

However, Hold Still was executed brilliantly. There was enough hope in the novel to keep me reading but still enough pain to break my heart. This was such a realistic depiction of someone going through an unexpected loss. I grieved with Caitlin and I went with her in her journey of figuring out how to live without someone you love. It was so fresh and new to see Caitlin find solace in her creativeness. She was creating new things out of the wreck around her. The writing was beautiful and the flow of the plot was smooth (as much as it can be concerning suicide).

I don't know if I could re-read this again anytime soon because it is so heart-breaking but I think there are some really strong healing powers in this novel. I recommend this novel to anyone who has ever lost someone or even something they cared about dearly. There aren't many novels out there like this that can make you feel as satisfied, stronger, heartbroken, and hopeful as this novel can all at the same time.

Rating: 5.0-definitely

Happy Reading!