Favorite Summer Reads

This summer I had to read all of the books for the Battle of the Books (BoB) 2019 - 2020 AND all of the books on the Trailblazer (TB) list.  More on both of those in another post soon to follow this one... Anywho - it was a lot of reading to do, so when I finished them, I thought to myself, "Self, you deserve to read what you want for the rest of the summer."  So, I took my happy self down to the public library and checked out all the books from the "NEW" shelf.  Enjoy my quick reviews of some pretty good books (I only mention the ones I liked, because, for real, who wants to spend time writing about books they didn't like?  Not me!)

 Probably one of the sweetest books I've read in a long time.  Coyote (not her real name) lost her mom five years ago when a drunk driver took her and both of Coyote's sisters in a car crash.  Her dad, not being able to handle his deep sadness and grief, changed his name and went on the road in an old school bus with Coyote. 

But Coyote just wants to get back home and dig up a special memory box that she and her sisters and her mom buried the day before they died.  And time is running out because a new development is about to go in right on top of the park where the memory box is buried.

There are so many great things about this book, but I'll just leave you with Coyote's heartfelt description of her father and why she loves him:

"That man is hopeless. He is wild and broken and restless and beautiful and hanging on by a thread, but it’s a heckuva thread and he’s holding tight with both hands and his heart. That man is my hero. Most of the time."  - p. 107

Pretty decent little Sci Fi/Dystopian book by the guy who brought us Unwind.  In this not-so-crazy-to-imagine future, there's a drought in California that reached epic proportions.  The taps literally run dry and people begin to panic.  Basically, Alyssa's quiet suburban neighborhood and city turn into a war zone within a week as people start trying to figure out where their next drink of water will come from.  It gets bad pretty fast, and the action sequences in the last half of the book are crazy!

This is a BoB book for the 2019 - 2020 school year.

And how's this for a first line?  Talk about foreshadowing!
"The kitchen faucet makes the most bizarre sounds."

 

Evangaline has to move to Georgia because her small town on the coast has been decimated by Hurricane Katrina.  She desperately misses her home and doesn't even know what happened to her best friend in the aftermath.

Why did I love the book so much?  The answer is simple:  words.  Sometimes an author can string together words in such a way that makes me want to reread them and savor them.  I loved all the figurative language and how most of it related to water and drowning and waves and being on her little boat.

Here's a great example of that:  "The word home has broken me.  In a split second, all the weight of the word washes over me like a massive wave and crushes me."  p. 79

But it's also the story of an immigrant and how it must feel to leave everything behind and escape with your life to a culture you just don't understand - even though you're still in your own country.

 

(frm the

Bad horror movies.  Like, really bad.
Best friends dressed up like gothy horror movie characters.
Dads who abandoned their families.
Parents who expect more of you than you think you can deliver.
The Idiot Twins.
Public access TV.
And a dog named Buford.

Yep.  That and a whole lot of funny characters who are the perfect blend of snarky and sweet and funny and sad.  I just wanted these characters to be my personal friends so I could laugh through every conversation.

 

Have you ever read The Illuminae Files?  Well, this one is written by the same author duo and that amazing series.  And it certainly didn't disappoint!

A team has been assembled to be a part of the defense force for the galaxy, but it's pretty much the bottom of the barrel.  They get caught up with a girl who has woken up from cryo sleep after 200 years and seems to have certain powers that she has no idea how she got.  Turns out, they have to save the universe!!

So many adventurous scenes that had me turning pages quickly so I could see what happened.  Cliff-hanger chapter endings and relatable characters kept me going on this one.  Reminded me of the original Star Wars (from the 80's) and how they had to go to different planets to figure out the mystery of the hologram message R2D2 was carrying around.

Plus, I was giggling through so many pages because the characters really made me laugh! Here's a small sample:

“What’s that supposed to be?” Finian asks.
“It’s a dragon,” I reply. “Present from my mom. He’s for luck.”
“It’s a stuffed toy, how it is supp-“
“Shut UP, Finian.”
“. . . Ok, are you hitting on me? It feels like you might be hitting on me.”
P77

Oh!  And the series has already been optioned as a TV series!  Yay!  Here's a link to @jessethereader on Epic Reads to hear more about it.