“…We have a saying in Farsi. It translates ‘your place was empty.’ We say it when we miss somebody.“ I sniffed. "Your place was empty before. But this is your family. You belong here.”
Prim and proper Jackie Howard has her whole world turned upside down. Will she learn to cut loose, have fun and be a part of a family again.
Rating: 3,9
Author: Ali Novak
Age: 12+
Genre: YA, contemporary romance
DISCLAIMER!*
If I didn’t like a book as much as you did please don’t be affended! We all have our own opinions and thoughts!
Plot (spoiler free)
Jackie is one of those people who thinks chaos is the worst thing ever, but when 4 surprises hits her in the face like a truck, she feels like her life will never restore itself.
Surprise 1: Jackie’s family diesin a tragic freak car accident
Surprise 2: Jackie must moveacross the country to live on a ranch with the Walters, her new guardians
Surprise 3: The Walters have 12 Children
Surprise 4: All 12 kids are boys (well 11, but Parker acts like a boy anyway)
Now Jackie Must trade her friends, home and New York City penthouse for a Colorado Ranch, and wild, loud, smelly, dirty, annoying boys with no personal space (even though some are flat-out gorgeous, but still flat-out annoying) All the name-calling and pranks better be worth keeping her families memories alive, and their dreams of who she could be. But could there be a chance for love?
My Opinion
This book was phenomenal and striking. To me this is the definition of aPage-Turner. With every page I turned the more attached I became to the book and its characters.Ali Novak is an outstanding Author (probably one of my favorites), but this is my favorite out of all her books. Ali Novak vividly describes every chapter; she makes you attached to characters and transported me to the world of Colorado. There were many moments when I couldn’t put this book down. I believe this book needs more hype than it already gets. This book was certainly unforgettableand make me feel happy, sad, angry, and excited at the same time. I wish there was a follow up off this book, Because the ending was a bit of a disappointment and I wish that there was more to the story!
You will like it if…
You will certainly enjoy this book if you love a cute, fluffy, contemporary romance with a bit of drama you must 100% try it out.
*Sorry about the disclaimer, but I don’t want to get people’s feelings hurt
“but just remember, when you’re walking in the nighttime, make sure the nighttime ain’t walking into you.”
Year Read:2022
Rating:4/5
About: The night after his brother, Shawn, is murdered, Will steps onto an elevator with a gun tucked into his waistband. Shawn taught him the rules, and they are: no crying, no snitching, get revenge. But when the elevator stops on the sixth floor and a dead man gets on, Will realizes there is more to his brother and their family than he ever knew. On each floor, a ghost connected to Will and Shawn gets on, offering another side to the story, and when they reach the ground, he’ll have to make a decision. Trigger warnings: death, child/sibling/parent death, gun violence, grief.
Thoughts:I’ve had the sneaking suspicion that novels in verse are not really my thing, and this feels like definitive proof. I appreciate them and recognize their value, but I almost never have an emotional connection to them, and the same is true here. I read this in one sitting, even though I knew I should be slowing down to absorb the message, but I’m not sure it would matter. These are heavy concepts that take time and contemplation that such a quick read doesn’t really allow. In a novel, I probably would have been bawling from beginning to end, but as is, I felt held at a distance by the format. But there are all kinds of readers out there, and I’m sure that for some of them, this is exactly the right story told in exactly the right way.
I don’t think there’s a lot of room for character here either, and Will and the ghosts feel more like vehicles for this message than anything–which is fine. It’s a powerful message told in a haunting way, and it’s easy to empathize with their circumstances. It’s utterly odd to have a plot that takes place, mostly, in a matter of minutes, and while I understand the ambiguity of the ending, I prefer more closure. It’s stronger on a thematic level, and there’s so much to unpack there about cycles of violence and what we pass down to younger generations. Probably great for a classroom, especially for readers who struggle to get through longer novels. All personal preferences aside, it’s well worth reading for all the reasons people say it is.
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