Review: Some Kind of Normal by Juliana Stone
Some Kind of Normal
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Pages: 304 pages
Genre: Teen/YA, YA Contemporary, YA Romance
Format: E-Arc
Source: NetGalley
Heat Level: Sweet & Mild
Release Date: 5/5/2015
What is Normal?
For Trevor, normal was fast guitar licks, catching game-winning passes and partying all night. Until a car accident leaves Trevor with no band, no teammates and no chance of graduating. It’s kinda hard to ace your finals when you’ve been in a coma. The last thing he needs is stuck-up Everly Jenkins as his new tutor–those beautiful blue eyes catching every last flaw.
For Everly, normal was a perfect family around the dinner table, playing piano at Sunday service and sunning by the pool. Until she discovers her whole life is a lie. Now the perfect pastor’s daughter is hiding a life-changing secret, one that is slowly tearing her family apart. And spending the summer with notorious flirt Trevor Lewis means her darkest secret could be exposed.
*ARC provided by publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review *
I really enjoyed this book. It’s in first person, switching off between Everly and Trevor, and though it took me a little bit to get into the writing style (since I’m normally a third person POV kind of girl), I eventually found myself really digging both characters. A lot. Everly and Trevor are both going through some major true-to-life stuff, both physically and emotionally, but for very different reasons.
After his car accident, Trevor Lewis is struggling to come to terms with who he is now, with the traumatic brain injury and it’s complications, and what kind of life he can have if he can’t have the one he wanted or anticipated. Everly Jenkins is slowly watching her family unravel and it’s killing her inside, though she does her best to hide it from the outside world, from Trevor and the rest of their friends. Yet, somehow these two unlikely people find themselves working together and turning to each other for support when the world becomes too much for them, and it works because of who they are as individuals and how they’ve suffered in silence for so long.
If you like contemporary young adult romance, give this one a try. I found it to be engaging, well-written, easy to relate to the characters and their story, and heartfelt. This one comes from an honest place and tackles issues a lot of teens and young adults face before adulthood: the consequences of making bad choices, the struggle for self-identity, the destruction of a family unit, the surprise of a new and unexpected romance, and the various pitfalls that come with growing up and finding out that life doesn’t always go the way one expects for it to go.
This is my first time reading this particular author, but after reading this book, I know it will not be the last. This was a good read, and if you’re even a little bit interested in checking it, I recommend doing it. There is a lot to be learned from this book, and it’s never a bad thing to realize just how much pressure our choices place on both us and the people around us, the people who care about and love us the most.
Boys Like You
IF
If I hadn’t fallen asleep.
If I hadn’t gotten behind the wheel.
If I hadn’t made a mistake.
One mistake. And everything changes.
For Monroe Blackwell, one small mistake has torn her family apart –leaving her empty and broken. There’s a hole in her heart that nothing can fill –that no one can fill. And a summer in Louisiana with her Grandma isn’t going to change that…
Nathan Everets knows heartache first-hand when a car accident leaves his best friend in a coma. And it’s his fault. He should be the one lying in the hospital. The one who will never play guitar again. He doesn’t deserve forgiveness, and a court-appointed job at the Blackwell B&B isn’t going to change that…
Juliana Stone fell in love with her first book boyfriend when she was twelve. She decided that when she grew up she would like to write her own book boyfriends and, luckily, she gets to do this. She writes dark paranormal romance as well as contemporary romance and now is excited to write young adult as well. She lives with her husband, kids, a dog and a cat somewhere in the wilds of Canada.
This sounds like it would be a great read and one that I would really enjoy as well!
I really enjoyed it. Trevor and Everly deal with so much and yet, they are stronger than they know. Such a great read!