Book Review: "Kissing Kate"

Kissing Kate is a book about self-discovery during a critical period in a young girl's life. Essentially, the gist is that two best friends go to a party; one of them gets drunk, and things go a little too far with a kiss. And then neither of them know how to deal with it, or interpret their own feelings about what had just happened. Much as in real life, there's a lot of turmoil surrounding the situation, and none of it is cliche. It's heart-wrenchingly real.

Sexuality is a hard thing to figure out, especially when you're still a teenager. Everybody feels mixed up and confused at some point or another, whether they want to admit it or not - gay, straight, or bi. A lot of soul searching has to go on to figure one's self out. And oftentimes, guilt sneaks into the equation. Books like this most definitely help teens feel much more normal and self-assured in that whatever they are, it's okay to be that. The world will keep on turning, one way or another. As for myself, it particularly hit home, because it was when I was about 15 that I started questioning what I myself might be.

I give a big hats off to Lauren Myracle to not only writing this, but that it was her first novel. I'm going to give it a big 5 star review.

Book Review: "The Girl With A Baby"

The Girl With A Baby by Sylvia Olsen was somewhat of an impulse choice at the library that I grabbed just by the title alone. Teen pregnancy is something that hits very close to home with me; two of my siblings ended up becoming teen parents (and I fear for the third sibling), and I very, very nearly almost did as well - depending on just how you define it, you might say I count anyway. Anyhow, I digress. It's a topic that holds a lot of interest and sentimentality for me, so I picked it up and decided to read it.

This book gives a good view into just how hard it is to raise a baby as a teen parent - more specifically, as a SINGLE teen mother, as the father skipped out on them. It might open some girls' eyes that a baby is not something to take lightly, or to tote around like an accessory. It will make your life difficult and be a huge responsibility, and people will never look at you quite the same way again once you've become a teenage mother.

On the other hand, it also enlightens that being a teen mom also isn't the end of the world, and life goes on. Granted, this book give one of those 'best scenario' type of looks at it - I can't think of too many girls who could actually successfully pull off being the lead role in a school musical with a brand new baby at home - but I like it nonetheless. It also throws in the reality that old friends will pull away, but new friendships will be made; boys treat you differently, but there's still some boys out there who are able to treat you with some decency. It deals with the reality of how hard being a teen mother doesn't just impact the baby and mother themselves; it affects the entire family, as it generally does become a family affair and involve help from everyone to pull the weight around.

I love that this book gives a fairly realistic view of teen parenting. It sure as hell doesn't glamourize it, nor does it go and use scare tactics to try and force the oldschool notions of abstinence only. It just opens your eyes to what is out there and what will happen, without using horror stories. I appreciate that for what it is. I would actually like to see more books like this one around.

I'm rating it a 4 out of 5 stars.

Book Review: "Peace, Love, & Baby Ducks"

After having read the quirky Internet Girls series by Lauren Myracle and finding out that she's written a whole entire myriad of other books as well, I decided I was curious and wanted to see just what else she could write, apart from the IM-style books. With a title like this one beckoning to my inner hippie-girl, I had to grab this book from the library shelf. And I'll tell you what, I wasn't at all disappointed.

This book, I swear, practically sums up what my teenage existence was like. Here's this teenage girl named Carly who lives in a private, upper class, privileged neighborhood; attends a very proper, very religious, very private Catholic school; but shuns the norms of society. She embraces being different and all that comes with it. She doesn't want to be a Barbie doll; she's a free-spirit and wants to be understood for being her own unique person. She embraces all things 1960's, from the slang to the styles to, especially, the music. People thinks she's weird, and sometimes she gets laughed at for being so different, but underneath it all, she has a good heart and is a sweet person.

She stands out like a sore thumb even in her own family. Her parents are all pomp and circumstance, while her little sister Anna thinks she's a freak for essentially wanting to be a hippie. She herself embodies all things girly and stereotypically teenage girl.

Over the course of one summer, while Carly had been away volunteering her time, Anna seemingly grew up overnight. No, more specifically, her boobs grew up overnight, and suddenly she was the hot girl that everyone either wanted to be or be with. Carly has to adjust to becoming known as "Anna's sister" instead of her own person. While Anna's trying to grasp growing up and not being a little kid anymore, Carly feels the strain that this inevitably puts on their what had always been close relationship. Such is often the case with siblings.

The book is about relationships of all sorts, growing up, and staying true to yourself. It's a VERY cute story (and even brought tears to my eyes a couple of times towards the end) and I'd HIGHLY recommend it. This book gets a full 5 out of 5 star rating from me!