E.M. Kokie

Heartbreaking and deeply emotional, Personal Effects tugged at my heart-strings and left me in a pool of tears and mush by tackling a sensitive issue and narrating the story in Matt's voice.

Awkward Matt who is still grieving his brother by using his fists. Frightened Matt who could barely stand his ground with his abusive father and pass Junior year. And finally, Gritty Brave Matt who could finally take in the secrets his brother kept from him all these years and unclutch the tight grip his dad had on him and be a Man. And as bonus, even get the girl of his dreams.

A coming-of-age novel I'm not ready to forget yet.… (más)

This one was off to a slow start, and it was pretty much slow throughout. What compelled me to finish this book to the end was wondering whether this Clearview group was legit or if there was something more to them.

You also follow through Bex and her life at home, which doesn’t seem very pleasant to start with. Her mom tries to change her despite her orientation, there’s financial issues at the home, and her brother is, quite frankly, an ahole. You quickly figure out Bex is into guns, and survival training. There’s extensive description on how she takes care of the guns, how she loads them, fires them, and we can go on. It gets tedious and lets the plot slow to a crawl. If you want intrigue and surprises, this isn’t going to happen until much later. Much much later.

There’s also focus on Bex and Lucy. They both seem to compliment each other and there is slight chemistry between the two of them but it’s not a romantic type of love story that you get if that’s what you’re looking for. They’re polar opposites and compliment one another but you also get that feeling it’s nice while it lasts.

There isn’t much to the plot until the last third of the novel, which is disappointing. However it’s jarring to see how much of the concept of survivalism is drilled into Bex and pushes her to the edge to the point of becoming paranoid over every minute detail. It’s sad to see what her parents attempt to make her do, when it comes to the subject of her brother. It’s also disappointing to see hardly any mention of Clearview except for smidgens here and there and although it plays a part in the plot, it’s not what you think and you wish there was more to it. It would have made the book much more interesting.

It wasn’t the best, but not the worst either. I’d suggest to take this out from the library instead of a purchase.… (más)

Radical is a book about a young woman coming of age in the midwest. She is struggling with many different issues such as sexual orientation, economic struggles and believes she must be prepared for the end times. Bex spends much of her time "prepping" for the end times and this soon gets her in trouble. The story takes a turn when she is arrested because of the group her brother and herself have joined. I found the book to be a little cliche in that does she really have to be an angry lesbian against the world? But I did like that she found hope in the end and that involved taking another route.… (más)