Audiobook Review: Something Like Gravity by Amber Smith
Something Like Gravity
Author: Amber Smith
Narrators:
MW Cartozian Wilson
Sandy Rustin
Published: June 18, 2019
Audiobook: 9 hours 7 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Listened To: October 21-25, 2024
Jessica’s Rating: 3 stars
Book Description:
Chris and Maia aren’t off to a great start.
A near-fatal car accident first brings them together, and their next encounters don’t fare much better. Chris’s good intentions backfire. Maia’s temper gets the best of her.
But they’re neighbors, at least for the summer, and despite their best efforts, they just can’t seem to stay away from each other.
The path forward isn’t easy. Chris has come out as transgender, but he’s still processing a frightening assault he survived the year before. Maia is grieving the loss of her older sister and trying to find her place in the world without her. Falling in love was the last thing on either of their minds.
But would it be so bad if it happened anyway?
Jessica’s Review:
I saw this one in my Audible account and it was available until October 30th, so I decided to go ahead and listen to it. And it was just ok. I didn’t really connect with Maia as she was just so… I’m not sure but poor Chris. He had experienced so much bad in life already at a young age! But really both Chris and Maia are going through losses. They are two traumatized teens who meet when Chris almost hits Maia with his car!
I had no issue with one of the characters being transgendered, we need more of those books for trans youth. But maybe they should be written by trans authors. Authors who know what these characters are going through. The author is in the community, but not trans herself, so it may have been some of the issues I felt. I did not know this about the author until I went to go write my review. I have read some books about trans characters written by trans authors and I felt what I was supposed in those books!
There is a little bit of spice for a YA novel, but nothing too much. Its two young people having their first relationship and experiences.
The narrators MW Cartozian Wilson and Sandy Rustin both gave fabulous jobs in their narration!
Overall, I give this novel a solid three stars. It was a good effort with intended love written by the author that just overall did not work for me.
Audiobook Review: Chaos Theory by Nic Stone
Chaos Theory
Author: Nic Stone
Narrators:
Nic Stone
Dion Graham
Published: February 28, 2023
Audiobook: 5 hours 41 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Listened To: July 7-10, 2023
Jessica’s Rating: 4 stars
Audiobook Description:
The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Dear Martin, delivers a gripping romance about two teens: a certified genius living with bipolar disorder and a politician’s son who is running from his own addiction and grief. Don’t miss this gut punch of a novel about mental illness, loss, and discovering you are worthy of love.
Scars exist to remind us of what we’ve survived.
DETACHED
Since Shelbi enrolled at Windward Academy as a senior and won’t be there very long, she hasn’t bothered making friends. What her classmates don’t know about her can’t be used to hurt her–you know, like it did at her last school.
WASTED
Andy Criddle is not okay. At all.
He’s had far too much to drink.
Again. Which is bad.
And things are about to get worse.
When Shelbi sees Andy at his lowest, she can relate. So she doesn’t resist reaching out. And there’s no doubt their connection has them both seeing stars . . . but the closer they get, the more the past threatens to pull their universes apart.
Jessica’s Review:
Nic Stone likes to take on tough issues and brings them to attention in a YA setting for the YA reader. She begins the novel with an author’s note to bring attention and reader discretion to some of the issues brought forth in Chaos Theory. This one would be for older teens who can handle these issues.
We have Shelbi and Andy and both have a far from perfect life. Both have been through a lot and are going through life the best that they can. Shelbi has been burned by friends before and changes schools for her senior year. She just wants to make it through school and move on in life after high school. Andy has multiple family issues with a politician mother. And he’s an alcoholic who hasn’t come to terms with the past. Both are at a low point and then meet. It’s a unique way they meet too. They become friends, but with the challenges they both face will their friendship last? Or will they become more than friends?
We see both Shelbi and Andy’s home life and we get both sides. I adore Shelbi’s parents and Andy’s are just..Well… They have many issues.
There are many sensitive and triggering issues bravely and candidly discussed in this novel including mental health, alcoholism, teen pregnancy, abortion, parental abuse, suicidal tendencies, and self-harm. Stone writes her novels with a very realistic approach. She is also from the Metro Atlanta Georgia area, so I know about and have been to some of the places she writes about in her novels.
Stone is honest and frank about her own mental health issues in the past while informing us about the brain’s different functioning. Stone can seemingly write it all: Keep writing what needs to be written for those readers who need to be reached.
Nic Stone herself narrates as Shelbi and Dion Graham narrates as Andy. They both did a superb job with the narrations! Stone really brought out Shelbi and part of that is from her personal experiences. And I can’t help but think that Shelbi on the cover looks like a young version of Stone.
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Book Review: The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gemeinhart
The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise
Author: Dan Gemeinhart
Published: January 8, 2019
346 Pages
Reviewed By: Cristina
Book Description:
Five years. That’s how long Coyote and her dad, Rodeo, have lived on the road in an old school bus, crisscrossing the nation. It’s also how long ago Coyote lost her mom and two sisters in a car crash.
Coyote hasn’t been home in all that time, but when she learns the park in her old neighborhood is being demolished – the very same park where she, her mom, and her sisters buried a treasured memory box – she devises an elaborate plan to get her dad to drive 3,600 miles back to Washington state in four days…without him realizing it.
Along the way, they’ll pick up a strange crew of misfit travelers. Lester has a lady love to meet. Salvador and his mom are looking to start over. Val needs a safe place to be herself. And then there’s Gladys….
Over the course of thousands of miles, Coyote will learn that going home can sometimes be the hardest journey of all…but that with friends by her side, she just might be able to turn her “once upon a time” into a “happily ever after”.
Cristina’s Review:
How would you like to live in a refurbished school bus with your dad, traveling across the country wherever and whenever you feel like it? For Coyote, that’s been her life for the past five years. It’s got some good things about it–Coyote loves the time with her dad, and seeing new places, but she misses home, too. So when she finds out that a very special place in her hometown is due to be paved over for new construction, she hatches a plan to get her dad to take her the one place he’s sworn to never go: Home.
I am a fan of an epic road trip, so this book grabbed me pretty quickly. The relationship between Rodeo and Coyote is one where she is really watching out for and taking care of him. At twelve years of age, she has a maturity above most kids her age. Why is she the grown-up in this situation? Nope. That would be a spoiler, and I want you to read this book. I will say–I may have cried a little towards the end. But I also laughed quite a bit on the journey there. The introduction of Ivan the kitten to Rodeo is pretty great. And with writing like this: “Rodeo, crown prince of freaks, had never looked more freakish. That man is hopeless. He is wild and broken and reckless and beautiful and hanging on by a thread, but it’s a heckuva thread and he’s holding it tight with both hands and his heart.” Well, how could you not want to find out how their road trip ends? Get on the bus. You’ll love the ride!
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK