You can visit Rachel's blog here. You can buy her book on Amazon here.You can also check out Rachel answering some questions about Chasing Jupiter here. Pretty sweet, eh?
Back cover blurb:Scarlett Blaine’s life in 1960s Georgia isn’t always easy, especially
given her parents’ financial struggles and the fights surrounding her
sister Juli’s hippie lifestyle. Then there’s her brother, Cliff. While
Scarlett loves him more than anything, there’s no denying his unique
behavior leaves Cliff misunderstood and left out. So when he wishes for a
rocket to Jupiter, Scarlett agrees to make it happen, no matter how
crazy the idea might be. Raising the rocket money means baking pies, and
the farmer’s son, Frank, agrees to provide the peaches if Scarlett will
help him talk to Juli. The problem is, Scarlett really enjoys her time
with Frank, and finds herself wondering if, someday, they could be more
than friends. Just as she thinks everything might be going her way,
Cliff suffers an accident that not only affects the rocket plans, but
shakes Scarlett’s view of God. As the summer comes to an end, Scarlett
must find a way to regain what she’s lost, but also fulfill a promise to
launch her brother’s dream.
Thoughts: New favourite book! Each character added such a new depth to this sweet Southern tale. I love the whole thing with the peaches! And I'd tell you what the peaches mean, but ... well, you have to read the story. ;) And I fell hopelessly in love with Frank, the farmer's son.
The romance in here is sweet, nothing inappropriate. The only kiss is between the pastor and his wife, which poor Scarlett has to witness! The language goes no farther than "gosh" or "darn." The violence is limited to Cliff's accident.
My only problem with the story was that I felt like the ending just suddenly sort of happened. The epilogue took me by surprise, because it didn't feel like the end. Otherwise, this is a heart-warming story and I highly recommend it!
And the cover art is a.m.a.z.i.n.g. Just sayin'.
I reviewed this book for Team Novel Teen.
Team Novel Teen is a group of bloggers dedicated to spreading the word about clean teen fiction. Check out other posts about Chasing Jupiter by Rachel Coker by clicking on the links below, and click here for more information about Team Novel Teen.
Detention. They didn't expect anything out of it. The principle hoped they would clean up their act. No one expected detention to be the place they learned to use their voice ... and form a band.
Meet Stella. She's got green hair and an attitude.
And then there's Wen. Now that guy's got some problems. Why can't he just realize that he loves Olivia?!
Olivia. With her dad in prison and her mom gone, things just don't seem to be working out for her.
And we can't forget about Mo. She'll never be able to live up to be the perfect Indian daughter her parents want her to be.
Last but not least ... Charlie. He's desperately in love with Mo. And she just doesn't see it.
Join Stella, Wen, Olivia, Mo, and Charlie as they learn how to raise their voice.
My thoughts:
Worst book I ever read.
Before I go any further, though, I must tell you. The movie is my favourite. Here's the movie trailer. I could watch it for hours and hours. If you like, humor me, and comment and tell me that you agree how awesome it is.
But now we will talk about the book.
First of all, there was WAY too much swearing. I winced a lot.
EVERYONE IS FAT. Okay, so maybe I like the cliched novel where everyone is thin and beautiful. Shame on me. My deepest apologies.
I guess after I enjoyed the movie so much, I thought I would like the book. But ... what was cute and sweet in the movie was inappropriate in the book. It's not often you would catch me saying that a movie was better than a book.
Another example of this would be: How To Train Your Dragon Books = SECOND WORST BOOKS I EVER READ. How To Train Your Dragon Movie = CUTEST EVER
There are a lot of "oh my god"s used, which kind of ruined the story. Also, Wen looks at nude pictures of his father's girlfriend by mistake and develops a slight crush on her. Mo makes out with a guy and at one point she wonders how far she'll let him go. Mo also kisses Charlie at the end.
Click HERE to read my review of the first installment in the series, Swipe.
In a future United States under the power of a charismatic
leader, everyone gets the Mark at age thirteen. The Mark lets citizen
shop, go to school, and even get medical care—but without it, you are on
your own. Few refuse to get the Mark. Those who do . . . disappear.
The Markless cannot buy food, medicine, or use a tablet. That was not how Logan wanted to live, always hiding from DOME, but he refused the Mark anyway.
When Logan backed out of receiving the Mark and went on the run, no one thought he could do it. They would have laughed if he'd said he wanted to make it to Breacher. So how would they have reacted if he said he wanted to go all the way to Acheron?
Acheron. A remote prison where Logan's sister was being held. DOME sees all. He's going to have his hands full if he wants to work around their ever watching eyes.
I passed this book on to my brother as we both absolutely loved the first one (Swipe), and once again, we thoroughly enjoyed it
Sneak took me some time to get into at the beginning--the scenes with Peck aren't as exciting as the ones with Erin and Logan, I find--and for a while I was confused on who was who. But about 100 pages in, I seriously could not put it down!
While in these times we don't have to be Marked, in some ways, we can still relate to the fact. The ones without Marks are automatically judged--just like, today, people who aren't thin, or even don't have as nice clothes, experience put-downs. And the Marked are like the thin, beautiful people. Everyone loves them.
Language: Things like "dork" and "dummy" are casually thrown around.
Romance/Sexual Content: Light crushes.
Violence: None.
Drug/Alcohol Content: None.
I reviewed this book for
Team Novel Teen.
Team Novel Teen is a group of bloggers dedicated to spreading the word about clean teen fiction. Check out other posts about Sneak by Evan Angler by clicking on the links below, and check out www.NovelTeen.com for more information about Team Novel Teen.
I think, is an important pillar of the creative mind. And as an author, it’s an equally important part of any book. It doesn’t matter what the writing is about, and it doesn’t matter what the story is; writing is music. Our words have rhythms and cadence, our sentences make melodic lines. There are fast sections, slow sections, loud paragraphs, quiet paragraphs. Good writing, for me, lights up my brain much like good music does.
This relationship, of course, goes both ways. If writing informs music, then it stands to reason that music must also inform writing. Certainly, I’ve found this in my own experience. With my first book, SWIPE, I wrote almost everything either in the dark, or on the run, in the motion of electrobuses and boxcars, with my hood up and my oversized headphones on. For some of that time, indeed, my focus demanded quiet. But for much of my writing and drafting and thinking, I was immersed in a blanket of music. Loud music. And I found that its genre dictated the writing’s tone. With SWIPE, my musical selections often gravitated toward electroclash, a genre I didn’t even know existed until I found myself craving it for the underscore of SWIPE’s scenes. Often, I’d play the music so loud that I needed to stuff my ears with tissue paper, because I liked the feel of the heavy beats hitting my brain, pushing me forward, relentless, unforgiving…. The gritty, electronic timbre of the music just seemed to belong with the tech-filled but flawed world of the American Union, and the energy conveyed by that music–both in the faster and in the more somber selections–captured for me the sense of foreboding, anxiety, excitement and, ultimately, determination that Logan feels over the course of his journey.
SNEAK, on the other hand, called for a very different sort of sound. In trying to capture the setting and mood of the Unmarked River, I often found myself gravitating toward pre-Unity bluegrass and folk music, another genre that had never captured my attention–until I the writing called for it. The acoustic guitars, the banjos, the fiddles, the harmonies…in many ways, SNEAK is about the loneliness and uncertainty of venturing out on one’s own, of a search for simplicity and truth. In a world of high-tech stakes, the Dust’s journey through much of SNEAK is practically of a different era. Horse rides, hiking, camp fires, radios…after the events of SWIPE, Logan is truly an outcast, and there’s just no place for him in the more modern world of the American Union. What better way to capture that then with the oldest traditions of music that American history has to offer? Bluegrass and folk, there’s nothing else like it.
The third book in the Swipe Series has yet another soundtrack altogether. I can’t wait for you to hear it, and to discover all that its soundscape implies. But that is a story for another day, and that is a playlist for another time….
So if you’ll excuse me, I have some headphones I need to find…
Who had been there? Who had snuck in through the window? Who had sipped the glass and knocked the picture askew? No one.
No one, Logan told himself. You're being insane. ... Right? And Logan's heart snapped in his chest--so hart that it hurt--when across the room, the door to the outside stairway clicked quietly shut.
Logan Langly dreads a gift--at least, some people might call it that.The beautiful new girl, Erin Arbitor, sure thinks it is. But after what he's seen and heard, he's starting to think of 'the gift' as a curse.
His thirteenth birthday is going to be the biggest day of his life. He will at last be marked. He will be able to get jobs, use public transportation ... buy his own concert tickets. He will become free--or so he is told.
But five years ago ... his sister lost freedom. She went to be marked ... and never came back.
My thoughts:
I had some trouble getting into the book, but once I did ... wow. I could NOT put it down. And my brother didn't think the beginning was slow at all, so maybe I'm a special case. :)
Okay ... I love the characters and I love the plot. Swipe is the beginning of a trilogy where Matched meets Left Behind.
I love Erin. I don't like Logan's best friend. I LOVE LOGAN.
I honestly don't have a lot to say. It's a page turner and very intense. The characters are good and I love the genre. Definitely recommend! :)
No objectionable content. The romance is kept to crushes and discussing crushes, the language is clean ...
I reviewed this book for
Team Novel Teen.
Team Novel Teen is a group of bloggers dedicated to spreading the word about clean teen fiction. Check out other posts about Swipe by Evan Angler by clicking on the links below, and check out www.NovelTeen.com for more information about Team Novel Teen.
Jane Purdy is fifteen and ready to grow up. She never dreamed growing up would begin at that bratty Sandra Norton's house.
But when Stan Crandall - the neighborhood's cute delivery boy - stops by the Nortons', Jane finds reason to anticipate babysitting - even if Sandra won't behave.
Jane struggles for a reasonable way to get Stan's phone number, but finds out the chivalrous boy is not going to make her wait.
The night of their first meeting, he looks Jane up
But Jane has never dated before, and everything is new to her. She can't let on that she doesn't know how to eat with chopsticks, nor the fact that she'd rather have ice cream over sophisticated coffee. Suddenly her life is very difficult.
When her old friendly nemesis Buzz and her best friend Julie double date with her and Stan, Jane Purdy is surprised to hear Buzz tell her she has turned into a real "Purdy" girl and, in an attempt, to be like ultra-popular Marcy, she consents to him paying fifty cents to give her a kiss.
Stan's mad, Jane can tell. But he can't be that angry with her, can he? He hasn't asked her to the school dance or phoned her, but surely there's a reasonable explanation ... right?
My thoughts:
I once told a friend if she had never read Beverly Cleary she had no childhood ... and it turns out she's never read Beverly Cleary. So I immediately sent her off to the library to check out some of Cleary's books.
Beverly Cleary writes clean, cute reads that will have you laughing and worrying along with the characters. The writing style is unique and very realistic to what probably goes on inside a teen's brain.
Fifteen dates back to the 1950s, so it's been around a while. Definitely a classic.
Scarlett O'Hara is beautiful and a practiced flirt. Being knee-deep in beaus is nothing new to her. And it's all for one thing--to get Ashley Wilkes' attention. "Ashley, tell me you love me!"
But two brothers vying for her attentions reveal to Scarlett the party she is invited to has this purpose--to announce the engagement of the man she secretly loves ... to another woman!
You want to dislike Melanie, Ashley's fiance, fragile and gentle, but it is truly impossible to find fault. Rhett Butler, a hated womanizer, tells Scarlett that Melanie is one of the only people he has ever met who really is as good as she acts. Ashley, it would seem, agrees.
Scarlett's overdone flirting results in a marriage to Charles, a shy, pleasant-looking youth. And when he dies, no time is wasted in her marrying again--this time to the beau of her sister, Frank Kennedy. But Scarlett must lie her way into the marriage, which could result in some hurt hearts along the way.
In the dark of the night, Scarlett kills Frank by accident. She is free to marry again ... and Rhett seems to have his eye on her. But is it to ruin her or to marry her?
My thoughts:
This is the most pathetic, most tragic, best, and worst book I have ever read. I LOVED IT.
Scarlett is awesome to begin with. My mom, sister, and friend all disliked her immensely but I loved her. ♥ She's stuck-up, annoying, and pretty. Men like her and that makes her desirable. Women, on the other hand, dislike her.
Rhett Butler is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. He is the worst at the end of Gone With The Wind, but towards the middle of the book I think he's cool. He's clever and handsome and likes Scarlett--which is a big plus in my books. :) Of course, he also compromises women until he meets Scarlett, so he's also not so cool.
Rhett ruins the ending. I couldn't believe it. I've never cried over a book before. HOW COULD HE DO THAT??! Poor Scarlett.
While this is an excellent book, I would definitely not recommend it for people under fourteen. It can be a bit dry in some spots, but I say this mainly because there was no lack of swear words or romance. This book is a classic, however, and at some point in their life everyone must read it.
Objectional content:
Language: "hell" "damn"
Romance/Sexual content: Kissing (descriptive and non). Rhett compromises women and it is mentioned throughout the book. Scarlett is in love with a man (before he gets married) and they kiss even though he is married.
Rhett begins to see another woman when he gets frustrated with Scarlett even though they are married.
Scarlett marries three times.
Violence: Scarlett shoots her husband in the head and kills him by mistake. Otherwise, nothing detailed.
Drug/Alcohol content: Rhett is drunk once or twice.
Within hours of Allie's mom's funeral, she is moved from Tennessee to Maine to be adopted daughter to Miss Beatrice Lovell, a woman with a strong faith in God - the problem is that as much as Miss Beatrice wants another daughter, Allie doesn't want another mom.
They have a bad beginning and no mother-daughter relationship to start - Beatrice, however, cannot help but think that maybe over time ...
Life in Maine is never boring. An old acquaintance from Tennessee shows up who used to have a crush on Allie and it seems he could still ... but she doesn't return the sentiments, so getting stuck on a ride at the fair with him and going on a "double date" with him isn't her idea of fun.
World War II looms over everyone, Allie may lose her chance to love and to be loved if she chooses to hold on to the past.
This is the book trailer:
My thoughts:
I. LOVE. THIS. BOOK.
It is the best I've read in a long time. The writing was excellent, and the whole time I read it I was thinking "The author is only three or so years older than me." Seriously, this is the best writing I've read in forever.
I didn't like the cover art at first, but now I THINK IT IS AMAZING.
I LOVE ALLIE. I love it that she plays piano and I love it that she hits Sam Carroll with her shoe when she's trying to tell him she loves him and I love it that she writes poetry. And I love it that she loves Emily Dickinson. And I love her love for her mom.
This book would make a good movie.
The romance was kept to loving someone and proposals, no kissing. :) This I liked. I wouldn't use the word "gosh," but most people don't have a problem with that word, and that was the worst the language got. There was no violence and no drug/alcohol content.
I reviewed this book for
Team Novel Teen
Team Novel Teen is a group of bloggers dedicated to spreading the word about clean teen fiction. Check out other posts about Interrupted by Rachel Coker by clicking on the links above, and check out www.NovelTeen.com for more information about Team Novel Teen.
