Book Review: Noggin by John Corey Whaley

18049084Genre: 

Young Adult, treat Contemporary, visit this site Light Sci-Fi

Pages: 

356

Part of a Series?:

No

Release Date: 

April 8th, 2012

You Can Find the Book At:

GoodReads

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Book Depository

Author Website

GoodReads Summary:

Listen — Travis Coates was alive once and then he wasn’t.

Now he’s alive again.

Simple as that.

The in between part is still a little fuzzy, but he can tell you that, at some point or another, his head got chopped off and shoved into a freezer in Denver, Colorado. Five years later, it was reattached to some other guy’s body, and well, here he is. Despite all logic, he’s still 16 and everything and everyone around him has changed. That includes his bedroom, his parents, his best friend, and his girlfriend. Or maybe she’s not his girlfriend anymore? That’s a bit fuzzy too.

Looks like if the new Travis and the old Travis are ever going to find a way to exist together, then there are going to be a few more scars.

Oh well, you only live twice.

My Review:

Look, its hard for me to give a 5 out of a 5 on a book. I used to just hand it out like it was free candy or something. But once I became a blogger, and really started reading books, not just for pleasure, but to really see what books were good, I started handing them out less. You have to earn that five out of five. You have to show me you deserve it.

John Corey Whaley did just that. I had seen him at a panel at the Festival of Books with Andrew Smith (literary god), Rainbow Rowell (the FEEEELS), E. Lockhart (I gotta get my hands on her new book) and Aaron Hartzler (can he be my best friend?). He was funny, his book sounded amazing and I was like, I gotta do this. I developed a massive crush on him that day.

And okay, he’s awesomely gay and has a boyfriend and whatnot, but whatever, people. I can so have a crush on him. I have a best friend crush on him. Or something. Moving on.

I saw him again at Ontario Teen Book Fest, and since I was the resident blogger for that, I was able to spend a bit of time with him, and he was just awesome. He was SO funny, and he told me that Godzilla was his fictional crush, and that Grasshopper Jungle would be the book he wished he had as a teen and I was like, this man is beautiful and I need to read his books.

So when my sister brought home Noggin from the library, I grabbed it from her, and proceeded to read it. She was angry because she’s the one that got it, but I told her I’d finish it before she would even crack it open and I was right.

This book is BRILLIANT. The whole time that I was in Travis’ head, I was a mess of emotions. This kid has it totally rough and I was on his side the whole time. So many people were getting angry and mad at him, getting upset at the way he was acting but they didn’t understand. He was pushing best friend and his girlfriend for things that seemed strange and wrong to them but it felt right to him. Imagine going to sleep tonight, and waking up, and everyone you knew was five years older, and had moved on without you. That’s pretty much exactly what happens with Travis. He never expects to wake up, and if he does, its going to be long after the people he’s known has been gone. He never expects to feel like it was a nap. He still wants his best friend in his life, he still loves his girlfriend incredibly and to have them moved on without him is so hard and I was on Travis’ side the whole time.

When you first read the synopsis, you’re thinking its a sort of science fiction book but its definitely not. Travis’ head is frozen, and they figure out a way to reawaken it on another body just a mere five years after his “death”. That’s where the science fiction ends. The story is of Travis struggling to find his place in the world where he is a rare thing, and where the world has moved on without him. He literally has to tackle this, without the people he’s always relied on, and they’ve done it already, they know who they are, they’ve moved past and its incredible and real. Corey writes this book so well, and there are parts when I want to laugh, and there are parts where I want to cry and there’s more than one part where I’m like, I would hate to be him. I would both love that idea of a second chance at life but hate that everyone had moved on without me. How hard, how emotional for anyone.

John Corey Whaley is an incredible author, and I have his first novel in my TBR pile, waiting for me to come and dive in soon. I can’t wait to read more by him because he tells a great story, and he has a way of balancing humor and romance and basic human emotion in one gigantic beautiful story.

Rating:

5 out of 5 Stars

Book Review: Open Road Summer by Emery Lord

16081202Genre: 

Young Adult, ask  Romance

Pages: 

342

Part of a Series?:

No

Release Date: 

May 6th, what is ed 2014

You Can Find the Book At:

GoodReads

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Book Depository

Author Website

GoodReads Summary:

After breaking up with her bad-news boyfriend, page Reagan O’Neill is ready to leave her rebellious ways behind. . . and her best friend, country superstar Lilah Montgomery, is nursing a broken heart of her own. Fortunately, Lilah’s 24-city tour is about to kick off, offering a perfect opportunity for a girls-only summer of break-up ballads and healing hearts. But when Matt Finch joins the tour as its opening act, his boy-next-door charm proves difficult for Reagan to resist, despite her vow to live a drama-free existence. This summer, Reagan and Lilah will navigate the ups and downs of fame and friendship as they come to see that giving your heart to the right person is always a risk worth taking. A fresh new voice in contemporary romance, Emery Lord’s gorgeous writing hits all the right notes.

My Review:

The first time I had ever heard about this book was just about a month ago, while attending the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. Emery Lord was on panel with Stephanie Perkins and she was absolutely adorable. She made me laugh, talked about Sarah Dessen and had a really cute shirt on (don’t ask me how I remember that). She talked about her book and I immediately went home to add it to be “To Be Read” list. I kept seeing it at the bookstores, calling out my name and finally, I caved into the pressure and bought it.

And I am so incredibly glad that I did.

Emery Lord is absolutely fantastic at creating a super fun and addicting story. From the very first moment that I met Reagan, I knew that I’d want to be her best friend, even though she sounds like it would also be incredibly hard to be her best friend as well. She’s fun and full of life but also kind of wild and troublesome. Even though she’s kind of a messy character, I loved her from the very first moment that I met her and I was rooting for her the whole way, even though there were moments that I wanted to shake her so hard.

Plus, she’s best friends with a celebrity and this world of traveling in this epic tour bus and going to all these concerts where her best friend is headlining and listening to famous musicians make music…it sounds like worlds away from anything I’ve ever done and that’s another reason that I got hooked so fast. It was addicting and compelling and so easy to get through. I went through this book so fast, dreaming of living on a tour bus and watching someone I love rock out on stage every night and being the subject of a super cool song like “Open Road Summer.”

Oh, and thank you, Emery Lord, for introducing me to Matt Finch. Because, you know, I have a ridiculous weakness to musicians and what I really need in my life is yet another book boyfriend. Not. In all honesty though, Emery writes a beautiful boy character reminiscent of Dexter, Owen, Wes and all the other great boys of the Dessen novels. Any boy that can remind me of those boys is perfect in my book. Doesn’t every girl want a boy to write a song about her? Or two? Or three? ;)

All in all, I was so glad that I discovered Emery at the Festival of Books and that I convinced myself to buy the book. Its a great summer read. I can see myself reading this, curled up on a great summer day, reading about two best friends on an epic road trip, finding love and breaking hearts. Its fun and has a great love story, something that I’ve really been looking for lately. I recommend it highly and I honestly can’t wait to see what else Emery comes up with in the future!

Rating:

4.5 out of 5 Stars