The Me I Meant to Be by Sophie Jordan

Flor and Willa are best friends. Willa and Zach are best friends. Zach and Flor had been couple but were now broken up. Willa has been in love with Zach, her next door neighbor, since they were kids, but now that he and Flor were broken up, the Girl Code kicked in: you don’t date your friend’s ex.

The narration switches between Flor and Willa chapter by chapter, starting with Willa. The two points of view create an interesting dynamic. The readers get to see the story in a more rounded way with the two narrators yet keep that personal first person point of view. I found myself relating to both characters which upped the ante in the story’s main conflict. And each character had other conflicts that spurred in the story and made them seem more real. 

The main characters were well rounded and dynamic. They came across as real, complicated individuals, not just a cookie-cutter cop out to teen stereotypes. Although the tone occasionally got a little whiny for my taste, over all it was handled well. It definitely has a few big surprises that kept me reading to see where the story would go next until it reached it’s ultimate conclusion.

Bottom line: strong characters, interesting plot. I recommend this book.

I received a free ARC of this book through Netgalley.com in return for an honest review. 

Jess Chunk, and the Road Trip to Infinity by Kristin Elizabeth Clark

I got quite caught up in this book; I almost read the whole thing in one sitting. 

I have not read a book from the pov of someone transitioning from one gender to the other. I liked that, while that was a very important part of the book, it wasn't the entire focus of it. 

Jess, the narrator, is transitioning from male to female. She has been taking hormones for the past 7 months, ever since she turned 18. Her estranged father had refused to give consent for her to do it before that. Now her father is getting married and she has decided, even after RSVPing no, that she was going to go. As herself. She had some vague plans to make him look at her and see her for who she really is. 

The road trip was the idea of her best friend, Chunk. Not surprisingly, given the nickname, Chunk (real name Chuck) is overweight. There is never an explicit mention of how overweight he is, but it was enough to get him picked on all through school. He is also brilliant, like over genius level. When he proposes the trip, Jess decides that it might be a good idea. And it would allow her to really start living as a female. Up to this point she had only come out to her mother and Chunk. 

There is a lot to this book. Some of the other reviews I read mentioned that they felt the author did a really poor job of representing fat people. I think that it could have been gone into more deeply, but that would have made this a different book. Jess has to confront her issues with physicality be it hers to other's. I believe that was what the author was aiming for. At least that's the way I saw it. 

Bottom line, I would recommend the book for older students.

I received a free electronic ARC of this book in return for an honest review. 

Posted by John David Anderson

Find your people. Make them your tribe and stick with them. I could have used a book like this when I was in middle school. It has realistic characters. The four boys in the group: Bench, Wolf, DeeDee, and Frost, are well written. They come across as real people not just cardboard cutouts. They are the oddballs who have found each other to form their own group. Then she walked into their lives. Rose is the new kid in school and decides to sit at their table at lunch. This forces the group out of their comfort zones and is the catalyst for much change. On top of this the school has just totally banned all cellphones. So the boys come up with a different way to communicate: they start leaving Postit notes on each other's lockers. This catches on and does not always go well.  It has a plot that the author keeps moving with hints of foreshadowing which pulled me along, making me think and predict where the story was going. The author was never completely predictable, though. He provided several twists and turns that I did not see coming. I like that in a book. Even better, this book has heart. I recommend it.

Dear Rachel Maddow by Adrienne Kisner

This book was written in the form of (mainly) unsent emails to Rachel Maddow. Brynn,the main character, writes to Rachel about the way her life has gone to hell. Once an honor student, now she is all remedial classes. She is no less intelligent, but after her brother's death and her breakup with her first serious girlfriend, what's the point? It's not like her mother or stepfather care whether she does well or not. Then there is the class election coming up. And there's a new girl she's interested in. And maybe there is a point to things after all?

The narrator's voice is strong and clear. I felt myself cheering for Brynn as she navigates all the pitfalls of her life. The characters mainly ring true The "villain" is a little too stereotypical, but no one likes him anyway. This was a fun book to read and I recommend it.