[ARC Review] Blues for Zoey

Tuesday, February 04, 2014


Title: Blues for Zoey
Author: Robert Paul Weston
Release Date: January 28, 2014
Format: Paperback, 288 pages
Genre: Contemporary YA
Publisher: Razorbill Canada
Source:  ARC received from Publisher in exchange for an honest review

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Kaz Barrett isn’t saving for college. Every penny he earns working at the sketchy Sit’N’Spin Laundromat is for his mother. He plans to send her to a top-notch (and very expensive) sleep clinic in New York. His mother suffers from an extremely rare neurological disorder that causes her to fall asleep for days at a time. Both he and his kid sister, Nomi, worry that one day, maybe tomorrow, their mother will fall asleep and never wake up.

At the start of summer, everything seems on track. Come September, Kaz will have earned all he needs and more. However, when anarchic, pink-haired Zoey walks past the laundromat’s window, Kaz’s ordered life begins spinning out of control. Smart, mysterious, and full of music, Zoey is unlike anyone Kaz has met, but there’s another side to her that he can’t quite figure out.

When he goes looking for answers, he finds a whirlwind of lies, half-truths, and violence. And in the eye of the storm, he’ll discover that you really can’t con an honest man...



I love reading Canadian YA books because there is something about them that always hits home for me. The characters, the story and the issues are always so well done that I wish more readers would gravitate towards them.

Blues for Zoey is a very short yet tragic story. It is told from the POV of Kaz a young boy who is saving up all of his money to save his mother and get her inter treatment for a very rare disease. What I loved most about Kaz was his devotion to his mother and his family. That is not something that you read very often, a young boy dedicating something to help his mother and I thought that it was very refreshing to read. What I thought was even more surprising was his secrecy. He wanted to surprise her with it because he knew that she would never approve. Everything about Kaz's character made me love him from the beginning and so when it came time for his character to get tested I felt for him deeply.

It is only when Kaz meets Zoey that everything around him starts to fall apart. He begins to fall in love with this girl he has never met, yet he had no idea what this girl will do to him in the end. She is a mystery to him. and it is that mystery that makes him want to see her more. Their relationship is filled with secrets on both their parts.

I do not think that I can say anymore about this book or I will ruin the ending and I would hate to deprive someone of that because it was my favourite part. I loved the way the mystery unfolded itself and everything from the entire story made sense. And I love that there was not a happily every after, at least not one that we are used to reading YA. The ending was real and made sense for the story. And I loved that.

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1 comments

  1. I've been hearing really great things about this book so I caved and picked it up over the weekend. It sounds so good. Canadian books rock!

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