Book Review: When Life Gives You Mangos by Kereen Getten

Delacorte Press
TBP Sept. 15th, 2020
208 Pages

Twelve-year-old Clara lives on an island that visitors call exotic. But there’s nothing exotic about it to Clara. She loves eating ripe mangos off the ground, running outside in the rain with her Papa during rainy season, and going to her secret hideout with Gaynah–even though lately she’s not acting like a best friend.

The only thing out of the ordinary for Clara is that something happened to her memory that made her forget everything that happened last summer after a hurricane hit. Sometimes things come back to her in drips like a tap that hasn’t been turned off properly. Other times her Mama fills in the blanks…only she knows those aren’t her memories and it is hard feeling like she is not like everybody else.

But this summer is going to be different for Clara. Everyone is buzzing with excitement over a new girl in the village who is not like other visitors. She is about to make big waves on the island–and give Clara a summer she won’t forget.- Goodreads

It is hard for me to write this review because all 208 pages was perfect.  Seriously. This book was perfect.

The moment I knew it was perfect was I loudly gasped and my jaw dropped. I felt betrayed by the shock I felt and it is hilarious thinking about it but I wasn’t expecting this book. I wasn’t expecting the curiosity and the heart that came from this book.

I freaking loved it. The pace was on point. The imagery had me thinking I was about to experience a storm myself. The tone of the novel moved with the plot i.e. it wasn’t monotone or boring. Clara was relatable as well as her family.

Everything about this novel was so on point that I have no idea how I am going to read after this.

Overall, highly recommend this read.

5 Pickles

Book Review: When You Were Everything by Ashley Woodfolk

Delacorte Press
March 10th, 2020
400 Pages

It’s been twenty-seven days since Cleo and Layla’s friendship imploded.

Nearly a month since Cleo realized they’ll never be besties again.

Now, Cleo wants to erase every memory, good or bad, that tethers her to her ex–best friend. But pretending Layla doesn’t exist isn’t as easy as Cleo hoped, especially after she’s assigned to be Layla’s tutor. Despite budding new friendships with other classmates—and a raging crush on a gorgeous boy named Dom—Cleo’s turbulent past with Layla comes back to haunt them both.

Alternating between time lines of Then and Now, When You Were Everything blends past and present into an emotional story about the beauty of self-forgiveness, the promise of new beginnings, and the courage it takes to remain open to love.- Goodreads

This book was written fantastically. However, HOWEVER, it needs to be known that Cleo is not exactly the victim. Here is why.

She is a terrible friend. Layla meet new people (who weren’t that great but that is not the point) because Cleo left her alone at a party. When Layla begins connecting with these people Cleo gets extremely jealous and begins saying hurtful things to Layla, privately and publicly. She expected Layla to see that she was jealous despite these horrible things and act like nothing happen.

It didn’t work that way and through out the entire novel, Cleo repeatedly makes it seem as if it is Layla’s fault for wanting new friends. Cleo is selfish from the beginning to the novel to the end. The people that she surrounds herself with only encourage that mindset.

It is extremely possible that their friendship would have just faded out on good terms or Layla would have seen what type of friends her new friends were and just stayed isolated with Cleo but Cleo screwed up on multiple times and tried to ruin peoples’ lives.

This is not to say that Layla was the perfect angel. She didn’t give her friendship with Cleo the time it deserved and although she tried to include Cleo in her new friendship, Layla didn’t take Cleo’s word when she noticed certain things and that could be since she knew Cleo didn’t like her being with new people. Did Layla do something messed up? Yeah (ish) She did something out of her character, but I do not feel that it was THAT messed up.

As much as I hated the fact that this book glorified a selfish, entitled, vindictive girl and made her seem as if this break up was not her fault, I loved the fact that it pulled emotions from me and kept me reading. It took some time for the book to get going but once it did, it was great.

I would have loved or love to see Layla’s viewpoint. But then again, I don’t see that happening specifically if this book is based on some truth.

Overall,

4 Pickles

Book Review: The Door That Lead to Where by Sally Gardner

Delacorte Press
To Be Published Nov. 8, 2016
288 Pages

AJ Flynn has just failed all of his exams but one. Considered a failure by his mother and at 17 years old, he believes there is no hope for him. When he receives a job as a junior clerk at a law firm, he believes there is a future for him.

While working, he finds a key with his name on it and that key leads to 1830. With the help of his two best friends, AJ goes to explore and realize the year may have changed but love and hardship has not. When they discover a crime, only they can solve, the three embark on an adventure not like anything they would have imagine.  

Let me start off by saying that I loved this cover. The book was originally published last year and the cover wasn’t that exciting but this was.

I loved the premise of this book, which is why I picked it up. However, this was a difficult read. It was long and it was slow. There was also something about AJ that didn’t seem real. His tone of voice was indifferent for too long in the book.  There wasn’t a display of huge emotions and that bothered me. It made the book harder to continue. But I kept reading because the author did a really good job of not answering a question and giving me the burning need to find the answer.  I love when authors do that. It is a skill not everyone has perfected.

The same goes for the lack of predictability. There is always a hint at the future of certain characters or an ending. The trick is to not make it so obvious that the reader will see it. Unfortunately, because I saw it, the ending did nothing for me. Beyond that the ending overall was a weak attempt to lead into a second book.

The pace was very slow. I can see the attempts to pick up the story but it didn’t exactly work out. AJ as well as his two best friends, weren’t the most interesting characters. I did, appreciate their differences and their similarities. It made sense that there were friends.

I wanted so much more from this book. It really could have been, easily, a five pickles book but it wasn’t there.

2 Pickles

Book Review: The Girl at Midnight (The Girl at Midnight #1) by Melissa Grey

Delacorte Press
Published April 28, 2015
357 Pages

Little to people’s knowledge there is an ancient race called the Avicen that live under the streets of New York City. With feathers for hair and magic at their finger tips humans are nothing compared to them.

17 year old Echo, knows about the Avicen.  . .they are the only family she knows despite the fact that she has made a life of pick-pocketing.

When she is asked to follow up on the legend of the firebird, a mythical beast that has power not one has ever dreamed of, Echo doesn’t know that she is stepping into a centuries old war and that her part in this maybe bigger than what she planned.

Let’s get right into this.

For at least half the book this was a hard read. Oddly enough it wasn’t a character issue but it was just really really slow. I would say that around the 200 mark which is a little past half is when the book got good.

Echo is an unapologetic smart ass who is just perfect. I like her because she is loyal without being naive about it. She is fierce and a really good protagonist. All of the characters were perfect because they all balanced each other out. Even though Echo was the main connection to everyone in the book, each character had their own sub story which was cool. At first I thought it was too much going on and a part of me still feels that way but I don’t think this would have been a better book without it.

Another thing I enjoyed about this read was the fact that there were clear roads I thought the author was going to take and it didn’t turn out that way. Was there complete unpredictability  in this book? No because once you saw the route the author was going you saw how things were going to pan out. But again I am not even upset about that.

The book got knocked down in points because it took too long to get into. The build up was too slow for my taste.

Overall, I look forward to book two.

Kudos, Ms. Grey. This wasn’t a book I was expecting to fall for.

3.5 Pickles