[BLOG TOUR] Some Kind of Normal by Juliana Stone- Review, Excerpt & Giveaway!
Tuesday, May 05, 2015
Title: Some Kind of Normal
Author: Juliana Stone
Series: Companion to Boys Like You
Genre: YA Contemporary
Format:Hardcover, 304 pages
Release Date: May 5, 2015
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Source: eARC received from Publisher in exchange for an honest review
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What is Normal?
For Trevor normal was fast guitar licks, catching game-winning passes and partying all night. Until a car accident leaves Trevor with no band, no teammates and no chance of graduating. It's kinda hard to ace your finals when you've been in a coma. The last thing he needs is stuck-up Everly Jenkins as his new tutor—those beautiful blue eyes catching every last flaw.
For Everly normal was a perfect family around the dinner table, playing piano at Sunday service and sunning by the pool. Until she discovers her whole life is a lie. Now the perfect pastor's daughter is hiding a life-changing secret, one that is slowly tearing her family apart. And spending the summer with notorious flirt Trevor Lewis means her darkest secret could be exposed.
Some Kind of Normal is a book that I knew I had to read because of who the author is. She is one of the authors that is on my auto read list because when I read Boys Like You last year it changed me. I loved that book more than I thought I would and to this day I still think about the characters and the events of that book. But Some Kind of Normal is a different kind of amazing for me. I loved this book because it was one of those books that tells you that there is a secret that needs to be discovered but won't tell you what it is. You have to find out with the rest of the characters, and I loved that because it keeps you engrossed in the book and its characters.
Characters. They are seriously important in any contemporary novel, and so when I started reading this book I knew these characters were perfect. Everly is the one with the secret, and it has changed her life and the way she sees the world and especially her family. I loved Everly because she was so strong and yet so frightened of ruining the facade that she has crested around her family. Then there is Trevor, a young man who got into a horrible car accident that changed his life forever. He is in and out of hospitals and he can't do the one thing he loves the most, make music. These characters have nothing in common, and yet have everything in common. Both of their lives are turned upside down and they ultimately feel alone. Until they meet.
Everly is Trevor's tutor and it is this chance encounter that changes their lives forever. There is an attraction there right away but both characters have their own demons to get through and they just have to realize that they have to face them together. And once they do, it is amazing.
Juliana Stone is an amazing writer, her stories drip with realism and make you feel things for her characters. You want to hug them, make then feel better in any way you can and they ultimately stay with you long after you finish the book. Please pick up Some Kind of Normal. It is an amazing piece of YA Fiction, these characters deserve to be heard and this story deserves to be read. Amazing book.
About the Author
Excerpt
“You got any?” he asked.
“Any what?”
“Tattoos?”
“Me?” I had to laugh at that. Wow. Before last year that would have been grounds for major punishment. Heck, up until my senior year, I hadn’t been allowed to wear lip gloss. Now I wasn’t so sure that my mom would even notice, and since I avoided my dad whenever I could…
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “My skin is untouched.”
His eyes widened a bit, and I felt heat creep up my neck. Great. Now I was blushing again.
“Untouched,” he said with that lopsided smile that made my stomach dip. “I like that.”
“You do?”
“Yep. A clean slate. There’s something almost poetic about that, you know? Tragic too. How many people get a do--over?”
Trevor reached for my hand, and though my first instinct was to snatch it back, his long fingers enveloped mine before I had the chance. He turned my hand over so that my palm faced up and then traced the little blue lines that ran down my wrist.
I can’t lie. It felt weird and good, and my heart took off once more, so fast that I was surprised he couldn’t hear it.
“This is…kind of…like ink,” he said, his words a little slow as if he was thinking hard. “But it’s alive.”
He glanced up again, and all I could do was nod before my eyes dropped to his hand. Mine was still there, small and pale next to his large palm and tanned skin. I saw the thin blue veins that ran down my wrist, the ones that carried blood from my heart, electrifying my cells and feeding my body.
His thumb rested just beneath my pulse, and I swallowed thickly. Crap, he was going to feel how fast it was, and that would be embarrassing.
“Your fingers are rough.” I blushed harder and thought that there was no way I could sound any more like an idiot. Not even if I was trying.
“Yeah,” he answered. “It’s from playing guitar. I practice a lot so my calluses are nice and strong.”
“I used to play piano.”
Wow. Good comeback. I guess it was better than a clarinet or trombone, but really. Dork much?
…Had he always looked this intense?
“What?” he asked. He smiled again and I thought that on a scale of one to ten, his smile was a total eleven. “You’re into the classics. That’s cool. Didn’t picture that.”
“Really. What exactly did you picture?” Shoot. Did I really want to hear this?
“I don’t know. PBS and that Jane Austen?”
Okay. First off, I was impressed that he knew who Jane Austen was, and secondly…he knew who Jane Austen was!
I dropped my eyes, because I was pretty sure that my cheeks were as red as the roses planted just outside the library. Trevor Lewis wasn’t anything like what I thought he’d be. He wasn’t stupid and he wasn’t arrogant. He wasn’t slow or weird.
He seemed pretty normal to me.
You know, for a guy with tattoos and blue hair.
GIVEAWAY!
Also by Juliana
NEW IN PAPERBACK!
Boys Like You
Sourcebooks Fire
Book Info:
Two Broken souls…one hot summer
Nate Everet’s life was all about acoustic guitar, girls in short shorts, and hot Southern nights.Until the accident.
Monroe Blackwell’s life was full of soccer goals, flirty skirts, and bright city lights. Until the accident.
Now Nate has a best friend who might never wake up, a summer of community service, and enough guilt to drown him. Monroe has a family that’s falling apart, a summer of banishment to her grandma’s, and a choking grief that makes it hard to breathe.
Nate and Monroe are two lost souls struggling with grief and guilt. But together, they have a chance at acceptance and finally finding the forgiveness they crave.
2 comments
Woah, I'm so glad you enjoyed it this much! :D
ReplyDeleteI ADORED Boys Like You too, sadly I wasn't approved for Something Like Normal, but I'm looking forward to getting my hands on a copy! R x
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