Things I Can't Forget

  Have you ever had an epiphany where you realized that not everyone around you shares your same beliefs? That absolutes aren't applicable in real life? Welcome to Kate's conundrum. She finally has a chance to have a real relationship and real friends, but in order to have all that, she must figure out what she believes. This review is based on the advanced readers copy provided by Sourcebooks via Netgalley.

Description: Kate has always been the good girl. Too good, according to some people at school—although they have no idea the guilty secret she carries. But this summer, everything is different…

This summer she’s a counselor at Cumberland Creek summer camp, and she wants to put the past behind her. This summer Matt is back as a counselor too. He’s the first guy she ever kissed, and he’s gone from a geeky songwriter who loved The Hardy Boys to a buff lifeguard who loves to flirt--with her.

Kate used to think the world was black and white, right and wrong. Turns out, life isn’t that easy…

Review: Miranda Kenneally's latest novel in the Hundred Oaks series, Things I Can't Forget, explores one teen's struggle for self-identity and faith. Kate is spending her summer working as a counselor at a church-run camp. She's still reeling from her decision to help her best friend Emily in a desperate situation that went against her beliefs and ruined their friendship. Kate hopes that in the mountains of Tennessee, she will get a sign that God forgives her. Summer camp brings new experiences and challenges for Kate. She is constantly, unfairly singled out by the camp director for doing something wrong and she doesn't fit in with the other counselors who, according to Kate's opinion, don't act very Christian.
  Kate is a very hard person to approach and like at first. She comes across as very judgmental. She only believes in absolutes, those dictated by her church, the same church that ostracized Parker in Stealing Parker.  Kate's sheltered world view is well-drawn and believable. As a reader you realize that her provincial outlook at life is constructed by only what she has been taught and blindly followed. The crux of the book is Kate's hesitant first steps on her spiritual journey to find out what she believes in and her relationship with her faith. Though religion plays a large part in this book, it is never heavy handed. There is a wide range of people who differ in their beliefs and their relationship with God, no true way is emphasized. The  more Kate begins to understand that faith is personal to each person, the more she comes out of her shell and becomes a real person. You get to witness her developing friendships with other counselors, particularly Parker who helps her sort out her confusion on what to make of her blossoming and incredibly sweet relationship with Matt, the boy who gave Kate her first kiss years ago at camp. Kate's character growth is a testament to Kenneally's skill as a writer. I loved watching Kate grow as a person, a girl who is more self confident in herself and willing to vocalize her needs.
  In addition to Kate, Matt is a very interesting love interest. He is incredibly charming, sweet and clearly crazy about Kate, but he's also a contradiction in Kate's eyes. He attends church but has no problem drinking beer with his frat brothers. The way Matt makes Kate feel contradicts everything she's learned in church where sex is concerned. The best thing in my opinion about Matt and really all of the love interests that Kenneally has created is that they accept their girlfriends for who they are. Matt accepts and acknowledges the boundaries that Kate sets, even though he may not understand and agree. He gives her space and time to sort things out.
  Though there are other important issues only touched upon in the book such as parental abuse and gay relationships, which I would have liked to see explored more, the book never loses its focus. Kenneally has given us an honest and realistic story about a teen's exploration of her own sexuality and faith. I applaud her in taking a big step in writing about sensitive topics in a sensitive and introspective manner. As always, I thoroughly enjoy her work and I can't wait to read her next book.

Rating: 4 stars

Words of Caution: There is some language, underage drinking, and strong sexual content. Recommended for Grades 9 and up.

If you like this book try: Blind Faith by Ellen Wittlinger, Once Was Lost by Sara Zarr, The Patron Saint of Butterflies by Cecilia Galante

Blog Tour: Things I Can't Forget by Miranda Kenneally

   I'm absolutely delighted to participate in a blog tour for Miranda Kenneally's latest release, Things I Can't Forget. Many thanks to Sourcebooks for allowing me to part of this blog tour and to read an advanced reader's copy of the book via Netgalley. Be sure to stop by tomorrow for my review of the book! Below is a guest post by Miranda on what inspired her to write Things I Can't Forget. 

“Why Different Beliefs and Values Fascinate Me”

When I was sixteen, one of my closest friends got pregnant. At the time, I certainly hadn’t agreed with her decision to have sex, especially with a guy who wasn’t her boyfriend, but she was still my friend, so I wanted to stick by her. A lot of kids at my school ridiculed her and made fun of her, especially guys. I remember being shocked that one boy was particularly hurtful to her, and I couldn’t understand it because I knew he was trying to convince another friend of mine to have sex. The whole situation was crazy, especially when other kids started teasing me for being friends with a girl who was pregnant.

Still, I knew I had to stand by her, so I spoke to a woman at my church and we found a special home my friend could go away to so she could have the baby, put it up for adoption, and stay in school. My friend ended up never coming back to my high school.

I was proud of the decision I had made, to help my friend and stay by her. A couple years later, when I was 18 and still in high school, the same friend got pregnant again. This time by a different guy. And this time, she wanted to have an abortion. Her parents refused to help her, so my friend turned to me again. She didn’t need money, but she needed someone to drive her to the abortion clinic and bring her home after.

I was so pissed at her. I knew her parents wouldn’t let her go on birth control (!!!), but I’d told her to buy condoms. Still, this was a friend who had stuck by me through high school and had been my friend even when she was much more popular and prettier than me, but ultimately I decided I couldn’t help her. It wasn’t that I was against abortion – honestly, I’d never much thought about it, but I worried what other people would say if they found out I helped her get an abortion. My parents would be pissed. Kids at school would tease me again, just like when my friend got pregnant the first time. My church would be totally upset.

I had no thoughts of my own.

My friend found someone else to help her. She paid some random man to drive her there and back, which was totally unsafe. Our friendship kind of dissolved after that, but I often still think about what happened.

What if I had helped my friend? To this day, I don’t know if I made the right decision or not. At the time, it was a decision made based mostly on other people’s beliefs, not my own. Today, I probably would do whatever a friend asked of me, regardless of what I believe. It’s not my decision to make.

Things I Can't Forget, my third book, is about a girl named Kate, a devout Christian, who makes a decision to help her friend get an abortion, and afterwards she has to deal with the guilt and the resulting fall-out of their friendship. This book isn’t autobiographical at all – I was never as devout as Kate, but I feel this book gave me the opportunity to explore the guilt and to show that “your truth isn’t necessarily everyone else’s truth.”

I know that a lot of readers were shocked when I decided to include religion in my books Stealing Parker  and Things I Can't Forget (this will be my final book that explores religion), but religion is a big part of people’s lives here in America. The last census said that 78% of Americans claim they are Protestant. I wouldn’t call myself a Christian – I haven’t been to church in 12 years, but I still often think about what I believe, and I want teenagers and readers of all ages to know they can believe whatever they want to believe, regardless of what their parents and friends say. You need to make your own decisions.

Things I Can't Forget also aims to show that you can be friends with people who don’t necessarily believe what you believe, whether it’s about your idea of heaven, or Coke vs. Pepsi, or Mets vs. Yankees. This book is all about a willingness to be open.

If I could go back in time to my 18-year-old self, I wouldn’t tell myself whether or not I should help my friend get an abortion. I’d tell myself to do what I know in my heart to be right.

 Thank you for sharing, Miranda! Things I Can't Forget is such a thought provoking journey of self discovery. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I really hope you all check it out! Things I Can't Forget will be published on April 1st, 2013 by Sourcebooks. 

 

Kate has always been the good girl. Too good, according to some people at school—although they have no idea the guilty secret she carries. But this summer, everything is different…

This summer she’s a counselor at Cumberland Creek summer camp, and she wants to put the past behind her. This summer Matt is back as a counselor too. He’s the first guy she ever kissed, and he’s gone from a geeky songwriter who loved The Hardy Boys to a buff lifeguard who loves to flirt--with her.

Kate used to think the world was black and white, right and wrong. Turns out, life isn’t that easy… 

Stealing Parker (Hundred Oaks #2)

  I have been in a book rut for quite some time. I've started and dropped at least five books, all of which failed to grab my attention. When I came across Stealing Parker, I read it from front to back in a matter of a couple of days. Readers who enjoy YA contemporary romance or a well written, realistic romance should definitely pick up the book. Many thanks to Sourcebooks and Netgalley for an advanced reader's copy.

Description (from Goodreads): Parker Shelton pretty much has the perfect life. She’s on her way to becoming valedictorian at Hundred Oaks High, she’s made the all-star softball team, and she has plenty of friends. Then her mother’s scandal rocks their small town and suddenly no one will talk to her.
  Now Parker wants a new life. So she quits softball. Drops twenty pounds. And she figures why kiss one guy when she can kiss three? Or four. Why limit herself to high school boys when the majorly cute new baseball coach seems especially flirty? But how far is too far before she loses herself completely?

Review: Stealing Parker is a companion novel to Catching Jordan, a book I thoroughly enjoyed in 2011. There are many similarities between both books. They are both set in a small town of Hundred Oaks, Tennessee and feature characters who love sports. Realistic and witty dialogue coupled with endearing characters, and a tightly packed plot makes these books highly enjoyable and readable.
  Parker is our heroine and narrator. She is the high-school valedictorian and a star softball player. Her life is thrown into chaos when her mother suddenly leaves the family to move in with her girlfriend. Ostracized and bullied by many of her friends and her church members, Parker is constantly trying to prove that she is not like her mother. She quits her favorite sport, loses weight due to the "butch" label rumors. She is even taken to making out with random guys in a heartbreaking effort to prove to her point. I liked how Parker remained on the cusp of adolescence and adulthood, which is highlighted by the countdown of her 18th birthday on each chapter. Though she runs the house like an adult, she is still painfully self-aware of how others see her. For example, once she consciously knows how the hurts the boys she has playfully made-out with she stops this behavior.
  Parker's family drama cages her and prevents her from opening up to anyone, afraid that they may use her vulnerabilities as arsenal against her, which was viciously made clear by her best friend. Alone, abandoned, and hurt, Parker seeks solace from her best friend Drew and yearns for someone to understand her.  She thinks she has found the answer when she meets Brian, a hot 23-year-old assistant coach at her school. Brian seems to be a kindred spirit and is wounded by pains of his own. Though forbidden, things progress between Parker and Brian at a steady pass soon become physical. Brian seems more interested in trying to convince her to have sex than in talking. Mixed in with all this confusion is a budding and sweet romance with a longtime acquaintance, but her best friend Drew finally comes out to her and drunkenly confesses a secret crush on him. All of this drama forces Parker to identify what is most important to her and how to unload the burden of being someone else besides herself. The self-evaluation process realistically plays out. Parker begins the journey and we are left with the strong belief that her growth will continue. She doesn't have all the answers, but we can rest assure that she knows how to make the right decisions.
  Kenneally addresses important and hard hitting issues such as sexuality, religion, self-discovery, and self-love, but it never felt heavy handed to me. Like the themes themselves, the characters aren't one dimensional and leave food for thought once you finished reading the book. I really liked Parker's confessions or letters she wrote to God, revealing her most inner thoughts and emotions. It drew me closer to her as a reader. While I would have liked Parker spend more time with her mother and work out their issues, I do like how there is a starting place to mend their broken bond.

Rating: 4 stars

Words of Caution: Some language, crude humor, and strong sexual content (i.e. bases 1-3 are covered). Recommended for Grades 9 and up.

If you like this book try: The Dairy Queen series by Catherine Murdock, Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally