In my podcast interview with Kat from Bookthingo, Kat mentioned how much she loves Melina Marchetta. In fact, pretty much all the people I know who have read Marchetta recommend her books eagerly. At $1.99, Jellicoe Road is a great deal.
“What do you want from me?” he asks. What I want from every person in my life, I want to tell him. More.
Abandoned by her mother on Jellicoe Road when she was eleven, Taylor Markham, now seventeen, is finally being confronted with her past. But as the reluctant leader of her boarding school dorm, there isn't a lot of time for introspection. And while Hannah, the closest adult Taylor has to family, has disappeared, Jonah Griggs is back in town, moody stares and all.
In this absorbing story by Melina Marchetta, nothing is as it seems and every clue leads to more questions as Taylor tries to work out the connection between her mother dumping her, Hannah finding her then and her sudden departure now, a mysterious stranger who once whispered something in her ear, a boy in her dreams, five kids who lived on Jellicoe Road eighteen years ago, and the maddening and magnetic Jonah Griggs, who knows her better than she thinks he does. If Taylor can put together the pieces of her past, she might just be able to change her future.
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RECOMMENDED: I love Elizabeth Scott's books. I reviewed Stealing Heaven and gave it a B-. It's not straight up romance, but her writing is very powerful. This book is on sale for $1.99 at Amazon, and $5.99 at other vendors.
My name is Danielle. I'm eighteen. I've been stealing things for as long as I can remember. Dani has been trained as a thief by the best—her mother. Together, they move from town to town, targeting wealthy homes and making a living by stealing antique silver. They never stay in one place long enough to make real connections, real friends—a real life. In the beach town of Heaven, though, everything changes.
For the first time, Dani starts to feel at home. She's making friends and has even met a guy. But these people can never know the real Dani—because of who she is. When it turns out that her new friend lives in the house they've targeted for their next job and the cute guy is a cop, Dani must question where her loyalties lie: with the life she's always known—or the one she's always wanted.
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Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes is on sale for $1.99. The reviews for this book indicate that it is a dark, emotionally wrenching story.
Sarah Byrnes and Eric have been friends for years. When they were children, his fat and her terrible scars made them both outcasts. Later, although swimming slimmed Eric, she stayed his closest friend.
Now Sarah Byrnes — the smartest, toughest person Eric has ever known — sits silent in a hospital. Eric must uncover the terrible secret she's hiding, before its dark currents pull them both under.
I’m not a big reader of YA and I hate 1st person present POV with eye-stabby intensity. JELLICOE ROAD should have been a complete strike-out for me. I picked it up from the library after reading about it here. Sat down and read the thing straight through. Could. Not. Put. It. Down. I mean, like take-it-to-the-potty to keep reading not put it down.
This book is now on my top all-time favorite books. It’s mystical. It’s devastating. It’s lyrical. It’s gut-wrenching. Thanks for alerting me to the sale a few days ago. I bought it after finishing the library edition.
Huge thumbs up for Chris Crutcher’s work, including Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes. A wonderul story of friendship, more than a little heart-breaking, but Crutcher writes so well, it’s always worth it. I like that the answers are neither fast nor easy.
The YA novel that I love is Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell. Pity that’s not on there…
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Love Elizabeth Scott. I’d buy Stealing Heaven except I already own it.
Melina Marchetta’s first book ‘Looking for Alibrandi’ (published in the early 90s) is great too—read it in one night back when I was in high school. It’s one of my favourite YA novels.