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Hazel (1853 KP) rated Hyacinth Girls in Books

Dec 7, 2018  
HG
Hyacinth Girls
Lauren Frankel | 2015
8
6.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
<i>This eBook was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Hyacinth Girls</i> is the beautifully written debut novel by Lauren Frankel. Rebecca is the guardian of thirteen-year-old Callie who, despite phone calls from school, believes Callie can do no wrong. When Callie is accused of bullying another student, Rebecca easily turns the story around to make Callie the victim.

The story begins with a prologue in which a billboard is being erected featuring Callie’s face and the words “Do you know your children?” This implies that something tragic happens to Callie, but as we read, we question exactly what this is. Was Callie involved with the bullying at school, or was she the one being bullied? Callie has not exactly had an easy life with both her parents dying when she was five, and therefore Rebecca often glosses over the true meanings of Callie’s behaviour, insisting that Callie is acting out of grief.

As well as the question of what happens to Callie, the readers are plagued with many other questions as the story goes on. For example: How did Callie’s mother, Joyce, die? How did her father die? Who is her father? Who is sending Rebecca letters from prison? These queries get answered toward the end of the book thus encouraging readers to continue in order to sate their curiosity.

It is interesting to see how an adult interprets children’s behaviour based upon their own lives and experiences as well as jumping to conclusion about the way the child is feeling. <i>Hyacinth Girls</i> provides both the adult and the child the opportunity to express their point of view. Rebecca begins by trying to understand what Callie is going through, and getting it wrong, as well as introducing the reader to the past and present situation. Callie, on the other hand, reveals the truth.

Although not essentially a young adult novel, Callie’s narrative makes it suitable for teenagers as well as adults. The theme of bullying is something many young people may be familiar with from either being a victim, the cause or a bystander. Parents, on the other hand, will easily relate to Rebecca as she tries to understand her best friends daughter.

Overall <i>Hyacinth Girls</i> is a great book with a very intense theme. It is so realistic that it creates a sense of shock as we realize that there are school children around the world experiencing all the things mentioned within the story. Hopefully this novel will open readers’ eyes and make them more aware of the things they do and how they affect other people.
  
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Sassy Brit (97 KP) rated Maybe For You in Books

Jun 5, 2019  
Maybe For You
Maybe For You
Nicole McLaughlin | 2019
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Maybe For You by Nicole McLaughlin is a very emotional storyline. The theme allows readers to understand how to cope with loss and handle grief. It is also a friends to lover’s story.

Many say that a guy and gal cannot be friends. This story seems to prove that point. The different dynamic relationships play a part in how people react to each other. Friends usually are able to be direct and let their guards down without having to build walls. Usually these relationships are based on honesty where each person can show their true selves. Some of the best intimate relationships start off as friends. The heroine, Alexis, and the hero, Jake began their friendship as pen pals while she was deployed in Italy. They did not literally converse with a writing object, but used the modern way, a phone text. McLaughlin wanted “it to be a safer way to share feelings without being face to face or voice to voice. These two are able to share only when they feel like sharing.”

 

Alexis is not used to displaying her emotions, keeping everything close to the chest. Her parents died in an auto accident, she was raised by her older brother Dean, and now has lost her fiancé in a military helicopter accident. Anyone who has lost a loved one, especially when it is unexpected, can relate to this powerful quote, “Several times she had to talk herself out of just crawling back into bed… Moving on, healing, required putting one foot in front of the other. Even when it felt impossible.”

 

The story poignantly shows how those grieving can move on, that time heals. Yet, there are also instances when something can spur someone’s memory about a loved one, and that feeling of being hit in the gut returns. “I wanted to write about this because I experience it. I put in the book how sometimes the weight of the pain feels brand new. I lost my father when I was ten. I watched my mother and how she dealt with losing a partner. I think I put my own feelings in these scenes. My dad has been dead almost twenty-five years and every once in awhile a thought pops up in my head and I cry instantly. I think the grieving process is a long journey.”

But it is also a story of hope. After a year serving overseas Alexis returns to her home town in Kansas. Her brother offers her a job at the Stag Distillery he owns with two friends. But it also ended up becoming one of the most successful wedding and event venues in the Kansas City metro area. To promote their business one of the partners, Jake, travels on the road to find new clients. Realizing that Alex would be a good addition for making sells, it is decided that she will travel with him. Ready for a new challenge, Alexis agrees to accompany her new co-worker, Jake. Soon the casual relationship becomes intense where both realize they have strong feelings for each other.

“I wrote how their relationship was grounded in respect and friendship. Both needed someone that they cared for. They were able to tease and joke with each other, feeling very comfortable, because they started out as friends. They appear as opposites since Alexis is a survivor, strong, broken, vulnerable, determined, desperate for a family, and is very guarded. Jake is a player, a playboy, who always feels second best. As Alexis opens up to him about her feelings he listens, doesn’t pry or lecture about what she should be feeling. Slowly he transitions from a playboy to a partner.”

This is a very emotional story that will tug at the heart. There are many touching scenes with very likeable characters.