Audiobook Review: The Party by Robyn Harding

The Party by Robyn Harding
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Published: 2017

Being a teenager is hard. You believe that all the events that are taking place now are going to be the end all of your life, but it's just the beginning of life. For Hannah, she wants to be a part of the cool kids so bad, she decides to invite a couple to her modest 16th birthday party. Nothing extravagant, just a few teenage girls in the basement for pizza and sleepover, what could go wrong? But when an unfortunate accident leaves one girl badly injured, the whole school will be turned upside down.

Hannah and Ronnie had been friends when they were little. As they grew older, they grew apart. Now Ronnie is part of the popular crew at school and Hannah is dating a popular boy, but still has her more down to earth friends as well. When her two worlds come together at her birthday party, chaos ensues. Given the house rules, everyone at the birthday party breaks them. They drink, take drugs, invite boys over and Ronnie gets seriously injured. After the incident, Hannah is torn between wanting to retain her popularity and keeping her friendship with Ronnie.

What would you do if a child was seriously injured while in your care? What if their parents wanted to ruin you financially, no matter how the child felt about it?

For me, I wasn't sure whose side I was on in this book. I knew I was on the side of the kids. I was a young dumb kid at one point in my life, doing all the things these kids did at this sleepover. The kids understood that what they did was wrong and dumb and that they had to deal with the consequences of their actions. I don't think that I met any people who have turned on their friends the way the kids in this book do. If something happened to my child at a party, I don't know if I would try and get money out of the other family. I don't think I could do that. But I've never been in that situation.



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Review: Finding Our Forever by Brenda Novak

Finding Our Forever by Brenda Novak
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Cora has just moved to the town of Silver Springs California, hoping to start a new life with a new job teaching art. She's teaching a a school for troubled boys called, New Horizons and Cora is really drawn to its founder Aiyana. Besides the teaching job, Cora has other reasons to be in Silver Springs. Will she be able to find the answers she is looking for, or will the decisions she makes along the way hinder her ability to discover the truth about herself?

While I have many Brenda Novak books on my Kindle, this is the first of her titles that I have actually read. I was drawn to this book initially because of its setting of Silver Springs, the town I live in is called Silver Spring. I was even more drawn to the book by the characters because I have members of my immediate family with similar names to the characters in the book.

Cora Kelly was adopted 28 years ago. Since that time she has been on a quest to find her mother and find out why. She loves her adoptive parents wholeheartedly, but still has a desire to know where she comes from. Her birth mother was at a reasonable age to keep a child, 21, so what were the circumstances that made her decide that adoption was the best idea, especially since in her investigation she finds out that her birth mother has adopted several children over the years.

This was a very compelling story. It drew me in immediately and I couldn't put it down. I read it in just a few hours over a couple of days. I can't imagine what it would be like to not know your birth parents. And then searching your whole life to find them, with a closed adoption. In Cora's quest to find all this information, she falls in love and faces conflict with her adoptive parents. It's a great story for everyone who likes a little romance in their lives.

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Review - Labor Day by Joyce Maynard

Labor Day by Joyce Maynard
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's Labor Day weekend and Henry needs new clothes for school.  His mother, Adele, rarely leaves the house anymore, since the divorce from Henry's father. They go to the local store and pick out a few things.  There they meet Frank, a recently escaped convict.  Frank has them take him to their home and stays with them through the long weekend until he can move on.

Henry and Adele aren't really sure what to do, but they do their best not to be too afraid so they can make it through.  When Frank turns out to be more than they bargained for, they are in for a lot of surprises.  This is a story about love.  Love lost, love shared and new love.  What happens when love is lost or gone forever.

Joyce Maynard has put together quite a great book.  Filled with different kinds of love without being a romance novel.  This book teaches you that you can never judge a book by its cover and that the world is full of surprises.

Henry is your typical teenage boy going through all of the strange changes that happens to a boy at 13.  His mother has been so shut off from the world since losing her father and a baby, that Henry often has to play the role of husband as well as son.  When Frank enters their lives, it's an interesting change for them both.  Adele seems to have come out of her depression and Henry has a relationship with a man, that he has been unable to get with his own father.

Together these three bake, dance, and try not to get caught during the long holiday weekend. This is a must read for anyone who is in love with love.


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