Mundie Moms

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Blog Tour/ Book Review- Love Ya Like A Sister


Published by Wise Moon Books
Released on November 1st, 2010

If you want something done right, then do it yourself. At least, that's what people say. But does that include having three girlfriends at the same time--and stealing a car?

Life is simple for Randy: 1) he loves his girlfriend and 2) he likes his motorcycle. And even if he really likes his motorcycle and only thinks he's pretty sure he loves his girlfriend, it's still the same difference. Easy to know, easy to think about.

Then Randy's life gets complicated. In one week he makes friends with a senior girl and her five-year-old sister, his girlfriend dumps him, and his ex's older sister helps him with his math--although, it turns out, she's better at biology.

While trying to uncomplicate their lives, Randy and his friends learn what to do when your parents are too busy, too divorced, too drunk, or too dead to help (quoted from Goodreads).

Love Ya Like A Sister is a very raw, honest story about teenagers making the best of the situations they're in. It wasn't hard to understand why Randy, Susie, Gwen, Hope and the other characters all made the decisions they do throughout the story. I mean, we all make mistakes as that's part of life and growing up, but some of these characters deal with some really tough, and all to often heart breaking situations, leaving them to fend for themselves.

I'll be honest, this wasn't my cup of tea. I had a very hard time really getting into the story and I'm not sure why. I don't know if it's because I didn't really connect with the characters, or if it's because I didn't care for some of the language or sexual references or maybe I needed to be in a different mood when I read this. I mean, Tom does portray what some teens deal pretty bluntly and it's heartbreaking knowing this really goes on.

What I liked about the story was the dynamics between some of the characters and I really came to admire Gwen, who's mother ran off with a trucker and left her to care for her 4 yr old sister, Hope. Then there's Randy who's mother died when he was young and his father is for the most part always gone on business trips. The bond that Randy and Gwen form, the innocence that Hope adds to the story are what I liked most. A few elements stood out to me, and that's how these friends became more like a family, and helped each other when no one else would. There are two great adult characters I liked who "adopt" these kids in a sense, and that's 95 yr old Jonas, who's a hoot. His non-sugar coated, blunt responses made him a lovable character, and Randy's motherly neighbor Mrs Bachman. While I couldn't get into it as much as I wanted to, I see why this book would be appealing to teens.

If you'd like to download a digital version of the book, Tom has generiously given us a coupon to use through April 15th. This makes the ebook price $4.99, which you can purchase here using the code is JF47Y.

1 comment:

  1. The story sound interesting and very realistic. Thank you for your balanced review and explaining what you did like.

    ReplyDelete

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