Sunday, August 27, 2017

If Birds Fly Back By Carlie Sorosiak - Reshelved Books

Hello Everyone! 

I recently just finished Carlie Sorosiak's ya novel If Birds Fly Back.  For those of you who love books like Eleanor & Park & Our Chemical Hearts, I think you just might find yourself loving this one as well. 



Do my sea shells look like birds? 

This novel is told from the perspectives of two different characters. Linny, who's sister Grace has runaway, and who dreams of becoming a filmmaker - a dream which is shot down by her doctor parents, and Sebastian, a boy who never knew his father but learns that his father is a famous author, still alive, but very old (in his eighties!)  When Sebastian leaves home to track down and meet his father, Linny and Sebastian's worlds collide, and thus this novel is formed.  

Not only is Sebastian's father in his 80's, which is shocking to find out, especially when Sebastian is only around 17.  (His father REALLY should be his grandfather.)  But, Linny & Sebastian meet his father while volunteering at his nursing home.  Yes, you read that correct, his father is patient in a nursing home.  

While tackling subjects such as paternal abandonment, sibling abandonment / teenage runaways, and coming of age, this novel also becomes a story of falling in and learning to recognize first love. 

One thing worth mentioning, is while I absolutely adored this novel (trust me, you will NOT be able to put this one down!) I wasn't a fan of Linny's screen play tidbits.  Sections of this novel break away from prose, and are written in a screen-play format.  This is fitting because Linny's passion is film making, and also because these sections are Linny's way of working through her sister leaving, and for tying together the title of the novel with imagery of "finding one's wings."  However, I think I would have liked the novel even more if these snapshots of Linny's screen play were eliminated and if Sorosiak found another way to tie together the birds and Grace's disappearance... I'm not sure how she could do this.  It might have even been better if these screen play fragments were fleshed out more.  Basically, I found myself skipping over these parts and not really paying much attention to them at all.  

Overall, I'm going to give this novel 4 and 3/4 Coffee Beans.  I really want to give this novel 5 Beans, and I did on my GoodReads page.  However, because of my screen play critique, and for the purposes of this review, I just don't think I can.

Until the next read!

~Jessica 

Friday, August 25, 2017

My First Bookclub

Hello everyone.  

I don't have a review to give you today. I've been busy!!  But I did want to stop by and let you all know how my first bookclub went.  This past Monday I held my Fiction Addiction Bookclub at the library, and to say that I was nervous was an understatement. You know when you take notes, have questions ready, but get too nervous to read them (or see them) so you just decide to wing it?... Well that was me! 

Surprisingly, it went quite well.    


We discussed The Charm Bracelet by Viola Shipman and 14 people came! Including Grandma & my boyfriend.  (See review here).  13 copies of The Kitchen House went out (next month's Fiction Addiction selection) and 6 copies of Words in Deep Blue (which will be my first meeting for Adults Who Read YA.)

Everyone seemed thrilled to be there, and they didn't mind when I switched two of the characters up.  But I guess it didn't hurt that I gave them ice cream either. 

One thing I have noticed through this process of hosting a book club and making selections is that I forget what I read.  Maybe I read too fast, or maybe I read too much.  Last night I was looking over my GoodReads for books I may want to choose in the upcoming months, and I realized I couldn't remember what ANY of Diane Chamberlin's books were about...just that I love them and have given them all 5 stars. Does anyone else have this book amnesia problem? I think next month, rather than pick a new book, I might just re-read one that I have read but only vaguely remember the details of.  

Anyway, until next time!

~Jessica       

Saturday, August 12, 2017

Follow Me Back by A.V. Geiger - Reshelved Books

Hello Dewey Fans! 

I just finished a new novel called Follow Me Back by A.V. Geiger.  It's a ya suspense novel that tackles twitter, anxiety, and fangirl culture.  

This photo was really hard to take.
I had to hold my computer backwards & upside down. 


A Brief Summary 
The novel centers around a love for a pop star named Eric Thorn.  There are Twitter pages devoted to those who love Eric, where the accounts post photos of him, essentially stalk him, and believe that they are "friends in the head" with him.  One of these Eric Thorn fans is Tessa Heart, who's Twitter handle is @TessaHeartsEric.  Tessa is agoraphobic so this Twitter interaction is just about all the communication that Tessa has with the outside world.  However, Tessa wasn't always phobic of being outside or with people.  How she became agoraphobic is one of the mysteries this novel uncovers. 

Eric Thorn also has his own private Twitter...Can you guess what it's called?.... @EricThornSucks. A hate account about himself? Yes.  Because Eric hates the Eric that the fangirls love and that his PR team has made him become.  The famous Eric is not the real Eric, and the famous Eric sort of sucks.  The fangirl nature of this book is explored when @EricThornSucks begins DMing @TessaHeartsEric.  

What I Thought  
At first I thought I might choose this book as a book club choice for my Adults Who Read YA group, but then I thought "eh...maybe not."  If it weren't for the suspense / thriller aspects of this book it could have easily fallen flat while being seen as "too childish" due to the fangirl obsession.  However, I really could not put this book down and finished it rather quickly.  The more I thought about this book, the more I liked it.  However, I don't think I'll be doing it for the next book group... at least not yet. 

So Dewey Readers, I leave you with a rating of 4.5 out of 5 Coffee Beans.  

Until the next read! 

~Jessica  

Sunday, August 6, 2017

One of Us is Lying by Karen McManus- Reshelved Books

Who is ready for a new review on a new book?! 
I hope you all are eagerly waving your arms up in the air! haha.

I don't know how old the majority of our readers are but if you fall into the mid to late twenties and up, you should know about all of those classic John Hughes films from the 80s! 
Sixteen Candles! Pretty in Pink! St. Elmo's Fire! The Breakfast Club!

And this 90s baby does love Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club   :)

Let me know what you're favorite John Hughes movie is!  You can post down below OR find us on Facebook! FortheLoveofDewey is now a group and we'd love it if you joined!

But onward to the good stuff...   


One of Us is Lying is Karen McManus' debut novel.   As a YA fiction story, One of Us is Lying is a story about five teenagers, one who mysteriously ends up dead in detention.  The "who done it" and the why are what you as the reader are trying to figure out.  

This book is a mash up between the game of Clue and The Breakfast Club.

From what I could find out there on the great internet, it seems like McManus was influenced by the writings of Agatha Christie for her debut novel.  According to Book Club Babble, McManus used The Breakfast Club as her primary inspiration. 


Which is something I can totally see... Take for example Brian and Simon.  For anyone who has seen this movie, do you think that McManus loosely based Simon on Brian?? Brian had the intentions of suicide but was never success.  Simon actually *dies*...
Tabitha Lord of Book Club Babble did an *amazing* review with Karen McManus. I strongly recommend to everyone to go and check out her review!  Another good review on the book was done by The Big Thrill- you can check out that review here.

Lord brings up great questions that included awesome points.  I love how she brings up how nowadays, teenagers don't have a sense of privacy (which is true, when I was in high school, TEXT MESSAGES were just becoming a thing! and I am by no means old!).  How social media has taken over and made things that were once private, public.  (Not only that, but suicide is something that's increasing in teenagers :(  )

I very much liked the delivery of the story!  I liked how as the reader got deeper into the novel, the plot became more twisted.  The police were pitting Bronwyn, Nate, Cooper and Addie against each other- something that should have pulled them apart, made them stronger together in the end.  You slowly learn about Simon's life and 

As, I said before (because for anyone who knows me, I love to repeat myself) I liked how the book was a spin on The Breakfast Club: you had the athlete, the criminal, the brains, the outcast and the pretty girl.  While the five of them were able to walk out together at the end, One of Us is Lying loses the outcast. 

There was a twist at the end of the story that I was not expecting.  I could see how the "killer" was who they were, but I would never have imagined who was helping them.

I give this book 5 out of 5 coffee beans.  It held the right amount of suspense and it answered all of the questions that it laid out.  I didn't get tired of the characters and I didn't find them to be annoying.  The book progressed in a way that didn't leave you feeling ripped off. 

~ Jillian



Thursday, August 3, 2017

Words In Deep Blue by Cath Crowley - Reshelved Books

Why hello there, For the Love of Dewey readers!

Today I offer you a review for a well promoted  (by publishers on the IG) and highly esteemed ya novel, Words in Deep Blue by Cath Crowley.  

This book takes place in an Australian used bookstore.  Could the setting be any more perfect?  In this bookstore there is a shelf where patrons underline words in books, leave notes and thoughts within the margins, and write letters in the hopes of someone specific finding them...while others do so in the hopes that these notes are never found at all.  In this novel there are two main characters, Henry, who's parents own the bookstore and who is suffering from his first "I don't love you anymore," and Rachel, Henry's at one time best friend, who is forever changed since she tragically lost her brother Cal to a drowning accident, and who is and always has been, secretly in love with Henry.  




In addition to love and loss, this novel also touches upon the idea of jobs that pay to live and jobs that become a meaningful part of life.  Can money buy happiness?  Sometimes, I think that it could, and I sort of wish I chose a career where a master's degree would bring in the big bucks $$$.  After all, if you're not comfortable can you ever be truly happy, or would you forever be strapped with worry?   Then again, if your passion lies within a job that doesn't pay much, would doing something else for the rest of your life lead to resentment?  Maybe resentment exists with both options. This is what I was thinking about when Henry's family proposes selling the bookstore in the hopes of giving Henry and his sister George a better life.  The bookstore itself almost seems like a fairytale place.  It is an oasis amongst the stacks.  It is something that I know I would LOVE to call home... but is it feasible for the long run? 

Overall I adored this novel.  It's cute yet thought provoking, despite Rachel's grief, isn't overly sad or depressing.  So Dear Dewey Readers, I leave you with a rating of 4.5 out of 5 Coffee Beans

P.S. This is book is my second library book club book, and is also the 1st book to be discussed in my new group for Adults Who Love to Read YA in September!!!  For those of you in the New Jersey area who love to read ya, message or comment below to find out how you can join!

~Jessica