Review: Cut Me Free by J.R. Johansson

I am a big fan of Johansson ever since I first read the copy of Insomnia that I won.  When I saw her post about how we could contact her publisher about possible getting an early e-galley of this title, Cut Me Free, I immediately had to contact and see about getting a copy. Then wouldn't you know it, they made it available on Netgalley, and I think maybe on Edelweiss as well.  This is a very intense story.  A lot of emotion in it, and at times a bit tough to read.

The main character is 17 year old Piper. At least she thinks she's 17, and she thinks her name is Piper, or it was. She starts the story by asking for a new identity, which gives her the name Charlotte.  Charlotte is on the run from her abusive parents, that she called The Mother and The Father. And it is not just that she's running to escape being abused.  She doesn't have to worry about that anymore, because she killed them when she was leaving.  She finally couldn't take it anymore when her younger brother Sam died because of them.  So now she's in a city and looking to disappear.  Piper never went to school, but she tried her best to teach herself with books and things her grandmother had given her.  Her grandmother tried to help her, until again Piper's parents left her to die from her cancer.

Piper/Charlotte goes to someone she's heard is the best for help.  And he just happens to be a pretty attractive boy named Cam.  Charlotte isn't big on people touching her, she's just barely used to being out in the open with lots of other people around. And she's still very paranoid that maybe her father didn't die, and maybe he is after her.  Cam helps her out with a new identity, and he wants to help her even more.  But she doesn't want to let him.  While she is out getting her new apartment, she sees a little girl that she can tell is dealing with abuse like she was.  And in her head, the voice of Sam, tells her that she has to help the girl.  But in helping the girl, Sanda, while she may be doing something to help quell her feelings of not being there to save Sam, she also may be letting another bad person into her life.  She sets the apartment on fire after knocking the guy out, and while she assumes he dies in the fire, again like with her father, she doesn't know for sure.

And the reason she thinks someone is still out there?  She starts getting little notes, and someone tries to break into her apartment.  The notes and other things left in her apartment seem to be only something a person from her past could leave because they are things that very few people would know.  So Charlotte must learn to be her new self, take care of Sanda, and deal with Cam and his seemingly supportive personality that is intrigued by her.

This is a very intense read.  The beginning was kind of hard to read, as you got to hear about some of the things Charlotte/Piper went through.  How her life was, and then finding out what Sanda has gone through, and feeling so sorry for this little girl.  You want so bad for Cam to be able to help her out, but it is easily understandable to see why Charlotte acts the way she does.  Even though as I read I kept saying in my head, try to trust him, just try!  This is a very realistic fiction with a very important theme, one that unfortunately is probably more true than any of us outside this type of a situation may know.

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The Living by Matt de la Pena

First of all, thanks to Delacorte Press and Edelweiss for allowing me to read an e-galley of this.  I've read one book by this author before, We Were Here, when I was reading to help select one of my state library association's book award nominees for the year.  And it was a good book.  But basically a realistic fiction story, and it seems the other books by this author that I've seen on library shelves are also realistic fiction.  So, I guess that might give this one a way a bit.  It seems to be more of a thriller than a drama type piece.  Not that there isn't drama, relationship, Mexican boy problems, family problems are all ones that you see.  I'm normally not the biggest reader of realistic fiction, not that I don't always seem to enjoy the ones that I read, I just don't seek them out to read.  So I was very pleased to get not only this author's great writing, but also a story that was more like what I normally enjoy.
The main character is Shy.  And to help raise money for his goal of going to college, he's taken a job for the summer aboard a cruise ship.  The first cruise started out pretty well until one of the passengers commits suicide by jumping off the boat right in front of Shy.  So now he is still having trouble sleeping because he keeps seeing the moment reply over whenever he closes his eyes.  Fortunately he has found a confidante in one of the other staff members, and her name is Carmen.  Carmen is great because she comes from a background very similar to Shy's.  Unfortunately, Carmen is already engaged to a law student back home.  So while Shy finds himself very attracted to Carmen, he must struggle to keep their relationship as friends only.  But Carmen has said she is there for him any time he needs someone to talk to.  Which Shy will even take her up on late at night.  On this 2nd cruise things seem to be okay.  Until Shy is alerted to the fact that there is someone in a black suit going around asking questions about him.  Shy has only told people the basics, not any of the odd conversation he had with the man before he jumped.  So now he feels like he's being watched, plus at one point he goes back to his cabin to find it's been ransacked.  Nothing is missing, just everything has been pulled out as if it has been searched for something. 
One thing in their background that both Shy and Carmen have in common is that they've lost someone to this new disease called Romero's disease.  Shy's grandmother, and Carmen's father.  While all this stuff is going on, Shy also gets an email from his mother telling him it is urgent for him to try to Skype with her the next day.  When he is finally able to do that, it is as he dreaded, bad news.  Now his nephew has been diagnosed with Romero's disease.  His mother does say there is possibly a vaccination that if they caught it in time can help.  Shortly after this talk, Shy has another strange interaction with some passengers.  An older gentleman starts talking to him at the pool and invites him to dinner with his daughter and her friend.  These two girls are kind of snooty, and so of course Shy doesn't want to go, especially since the crew is not allowed to do this anyway. 
At dinner, an announcement comes over the ship's speakers saying that a storm is headed their way and they will have to ask all passengers to stay inside and off the decks.  Shy goes out to clear the deck and pull the tables and chairs and even the stand he uses to pass things out and put them into a safe area to make sure they don't go off the side of the boat.  Shy knows this means a serious storm, as he's never had to do this, and he can see the fear in his co-worker/boss's eyes.  On the deck he sees the snooty girls from before, one of them is crying. 
Then he goes back in to the dining hall.  And there is another announcement, this one saying that a huge earthquake has hit the west coast of the United States, and there is massive damage from Washington state all the way down to Mexico.  When images of the destruction are shown on the dining room screens, areas that are where Carmen and Shy are from are shown in complete disarray.  About this time passengers are told to go back to their rooms, not to stay in larger areas like the dining room because a tsunami is headed their way.  Life jackets are passed out to everyone.  But as they begin panicking, it soon becomes too late for them to get to safety because the  ship is hit.  Shy watches the wave come through one of the windows.  At this point the story takes the turn for suspense.  There are not enough life boats as the wave hits and knocks many off.  Many people won't even make the life boats as the first strike of the first wave has killed many.  And even once they get into life boats, there are sharks, and the waves aren't done coming.  And who will be able to help with all the destruction back in the United States where the help would come from.  The ship is supposed to be near something called the Hidden Islands.  So if they can only make it that far, what could they find?  Help?
I'll stop there, and let you read the story yourself.  There are many other little side stories and characters I've not talked about, so much for you to read and discover yourself.  I will say it is going to have a sequel, thank goodness, because it ends on a major cliffhanger.

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

I got a free copy of this book at the RT Convention back in May.  I think I saw the author there, but didn't get an autograph, although now that I've finished the book, I wish I had!  I'd heard so many other bloggers talk about this book.  But I really don't read that much realistic fiction, and not a lot of romance stories really, well, not just romance when it is YA.  But, I started reading, and when I did, I was quickly caught up in the story and loving it.  So, for those few of you out there, besides myself, who hadn't read this yet, here is my review.
Anna is the main character and her famous author father has decided that she is going to spend her senior year at a fancy boarding school in Paris.  (P.S. - I love that her name is Anna and she is going to Paris because my younger sister's name is Anna, and she loves all things French.) Anna doesn't want this.  She has a wonderful best friend, not to mention a growing romance with a boy named Toph.  So of course we start out with Anna in her room at her boarding school and her parents leaving.  Now this boarding school seems to be for children of rich/famous/important parents, like Senators, etc.  Whereas she doesn't really consider her dad to be that.  You would probably compare her dad to Nicholas Sparks for what type of books and movies he writes.  Fortunately for Anna, her next door neighbor comes over and introduces herself. Meredith is really nice, and Anna is so glad for the immediate friend, and then her friends that kind of come along as a package.  One of them she meets the first night as she is leaving Meredith's room.  His name is St. Clair, Etienne St. Clair to be exact.  And he is that boy.  You know, the one that is just as cute as can be, and so funny and nice that all the girls have a crush on him.  And of course, he has a girlfriend.  Her name is Ellie and she went to the school with all of them last year, and is now at a college nearby.  The others in the group are Rashmi and her boyfriend Josh.  Throughout the year as Anna gets closer to all of them, there seems to be a connection between her and St. Clair.  And it seems that he may feel it too.  But since he has a girlfriend, she just assumes it is that he's such a nice guy she mistakes that.  And they do become best friends.  Which makes it harder whenever one of them seems to give in or do something that brings to light their feelings.  St. Clair's dad is a jerk, but rich.  When he finds out his mom has cancer, his father won't let him come home to visit for Thanksgiving, makes him wait till Christmas.  Now, St. Clair has an English accent (swoon!), but his father is French, and  his mother lives in California, and really he is American.  Anna also doesn't get to go home till Christmas, why waste the money her dad figures.  So they get even closer since the rest of their friends, and his girlfriend do go home over that break.  Now this is a school for American children, so when people leave, they go out of town for real.  When Anna goes home over Christmas, something horrible happens, and the only person she feels she can talk to is St. Clair, and as you can guess their feelings get even stronger.
Of course there are all kinds of mixed signals, and stubborn moments that keep them from really ever being able to get together.  At least until they get some things figured out.  I love how there are real life examples and things that happen in their classes that help them figure things out.  It's not like they just have these epiphanies out of nowhere.  And really the story is told from Anna's point of view, so we only get to hear about St. Clair's epiphanies when he tells her about them.  Personally, I enjoyed and really connected with the story because I know how often I have been in what feels like the same situation as Anna.  At least at the beginning.  Being in love with such an awesome, funny, nice guy who is a friend, but has a girlfriend.  So while it seems they're  flirting with you, you know they can't really be.  Unfortunately for me, it's never changed and turned out the way it does for Anna.  Which is why I read books like these.  Such a good, good read.  Love it, and will be reading more by the author from now on!

2013 Truman Possibility 9: The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen

I always have trouble picking up the non-paranormal, out of the ordinary stories.  I just seem to be drawn to the dystopian, paranormal, futuristic, sci-fi, horror, more than realistic fiction.  However thanks to reading to help choose the Trumans, I get exposed to great stories like these that I would probably never read otherwise.
The main character is Jessica, and she's a runner, or she used to be, before the accident that happened right before this book began.  It was a bus accident on a way to a track meet.  But Jessica was lucky, she lived, another girl on the bus, Lucy, died.  However, Jessica doesn't feel likely, because they had to amputate one of her legs.  Running was the thing Jessica loved most in the world.  Now even seeing other people's legs haunts her.  This is her story.  How she deals with getting a prosthetic leg.  When she goes back to school, and the track coach has researched and wants to help Jessica get a running leg prosthetic.  The bad thing, it costs $20,000.  Not only that, but her family is already having to deal with the insurance companies fighting about who is going to pay, and just the regular prosthetic will cost the same amount.  But the track team is determined to raise the money.  And what is even better, they get an anonymous person that promises to match $10,000 if they raise the other half.  But along the way Jessica learns a lot.  She has to take a step out of her world, first when she comes to school in a wheelchair, and the only place in one class that she can sit is at a table in the back with a girl who has cerebral palsy.  Soon Jessica becomes friends with Rosa, who helps her pass math class.  And of course, there's a boy, Gavin.  He can't possibly be into the girl with a stump can he?
It was a good, emotional story.  And a happy ending.  And that's good sometimes, but sometimes it makes me think that the world isn't really that perfect.  And there are some things that just seem to good to be true.  But maybe it's because I'm an adult, and a bit jaded, maybe it will help the kids it is meant for keep their hope and learn to be positive in the face of adversity.
Another good choice, while it is very realistic about what happens to someone going through all of that with the leg, etc., I still stand by my thought that it's a little too happy/perfect ending.

Gateway 9: Liar by Justine Larbalestier

All I can say about this book is WOW! It started out as what seemed to be a total realistic fiction type YA novel. Our main character Micah, is a liar, hence the title. She lied when she came to her new school, or just let a misconception spread without correcting it. And when that lie was found out and corrected, she changed it to something else. First she had a teacher call her a boy. Then when it was found out she was a girl, she told people she was born with parts for being a boy and a girl. Then she tells us that she was born covered with hair. The whole main part of the story is that a boy, Zach, has been found dead. It turns out that Micah was his girlfriend, on the side, anyway. He had a girlfriend at school that everyone knew about. We constantly learn about all the stuff she lies about, as she tells us lie after lie. And then, about halfway in, it turned into a fantasy book. Werewolves. And at the time you're wondering, is this another big lie, or is she actually telling the truth now? It's the truth, and the end of the book is very interesting. We never do find out for sure about what happens to her brother, at least I don't remember, so that is one question left open.

All in all it was a good read, kept me interested, etc. I think the kids will enjoy it.