This book was dripping in sadness and grief. It didn’t make me weepy or a sobbing mess but I did read it with a constant pain in my chest almost the entire time. First it was for Rocky and then it was for Lloyd and later it was for the both of them! I wasn’t quite expecting to have this reaction but dog books can do that to me.

Things start out on a sad note when the author throws you headfirst into the life and grief of Rocky who has recently lost her husband to a heart attack far too early. It’s sad and her recollections of her beloved Bob are often quite funny which makes the grief hit you all that much harder. Unable to stick around in the house where she and Bob shared a life, she decides to leave her career and her life completely behind and hops a ferry in Portland, Maine and heads to Peaks Island to mourn. She reinvents herself on the island and impulsively becomes the new Animal Control Warden. 

I’ve been to Peaks and it is a little slice of yesterday and I enjoyed reading about life on the island and the descriptions almost make you feel like you are there. The rest of the book follows Rocky through her grieving process as she meets new people and becomes invested in the life of an injured stray dog with sad eyes she names Lloyd. You can guess what happens between Rocky and Lloyd, right? But all doesn’t go smoothly nor does it go sweetly. Lloyd has a history that Rocky is soon sorry she’s delved into. There’s a little mystery and a lot of quirky character building. It’s a little slow here and there and took me longer to finish than it should have but I’m not sorry I read it. If you’re a dog lover you might want to put this on your list.

“He is dog. His life is ocean, stick, ball, sand, grass, ride in the truck, sleep by the bed, look deep into the eyes of humans, lure them outdoors, greet them with a burst of joy when they come home, love them. Fill this brief life with more. “

"This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of AudiobookBoom dot com."

I'm sure they're regretting it now.

I had to DNF this little audio two hours in because my poor, abused and confused ears could not take another second of this narrator’s voice. This has to be, hands down, one of the most painful narrations I have ever had the displeasure of listening to. All of the characters, even the menfolk, sound like perky twelve year old girls. The narrator doesn’t make even the slightest attempt at altering the voices so the reader knows who is speaking. The cadence is also all wrong. She puts emphasis on the wrong words and stops and starts in the strangest of places. But that's not all. I might’ve been able to continue if the story weren’t all . . .

Maybe it’s just me. Feel free to judge for yourownself. Here's the plot so far as I know it. The heroine is Charlie and she is 26 years old. She has her own home, has overcome a battle with anorexia and now has a very dependable job as an urgent care nurse and fill-in ER nurse. I mean, you need to have your wits about you to keep that kind of job, right? I know for certain I couldn’t do it. Anyway, she has an older brother, by 10 years or so, who oversees every aspect of her life. This includes disciplining her for any perceived misbehavior. With his hand. On her bum. This is not incestuous or for titillation on his end but purely disciplinary (honestly I’m not 100% certain about that because it's just plain weird to me) and though she fears it, she allows it. Did you miss the bit where I mentioned she is 26, has a job and her own home, fears the spanking and yet she allows it?! What the hey?

So, now she’s met a police officer who she has the hots for and he’s a not-in-a-sexual-way bum smacker too. Now what are the odds of having that kind of luck, eh? If I were her, I’d be playing the lottery. She’s also a “lovely” little liar and she isn’t very good at it, thus resulting in the constant need for spankings on her “swells”. She’s also the type of gal who “wants a prince to take care of her”. Ugh, I tried people but I just can't with this one. 

Me and my swells are so done.

I don’t know where I got this one or where I even heard about it but it is highly likely that I was suckered in by the blurb. Stick “haunting” in your cover copy and this sucker is likely to buy it.

A girl's letters to her best friend reveal two lives derailed by anorexia in this haunting debut.

Zoe knows she doesn’t belong in a hospital—so why is she in one?

Maybe I’ve read too many books or maybe I’ve developed a super smart brain in my old age (hey, it could happen) but I think I know how the major plot twist is going to turn out. I hope I’m wrong. I’d rather be wrong than to predict the twisty-twist before I even get to page 50. Here’s the quickie synopsis. Zoe finds herself being driven to some sort of recovery center by her mom. She has no idea why. She doesn’t have any problems requiring recovery, so says she (if only to herself). But does Zoe ask why any of this happening? No sirree. She sits there passively, letting whatever will happen just happen. She has no fight in her. What kind of teenager is this and why couldn’t I have given birth to two of them?! Just kidding kids, if you’re reading this ;)

So mom leaves with nary a word and Zoe is left with three staff members (the owner, a chef and the counselor) and five painfully thin and mostly unfriendly girls. The staff takes her phone and cuts off her access to the outside world. Still, continuing in Zoe fashion, she asks no questions of the staff or the other girls and instead steals a brochure of the facility to find out more. Because, why do things the simple way, right? The brochure, of course, is vague so Zoe just goes with the flow, wondering why she’s there and why she’s being forced to eat mounds of food. She knows she has some food quirks but she’s clearly not as troubled as the other girls. She spends her free time wracked with anxiety and writing journal entries and letters to her best friend Elise.

The story is told through these letters and journal entries and Zoe, I’m very sad to say, does not have a very compelling voice. She’s clearly depressed, extremely passive and an unreliable narrator and though the story was well written, her voice didn’t always feel authentically teen to me. She uses words I had to look up (not that that’s saying much!). Instead of being properly nosy and asking all of the questions that were bugging me, Zoe spends a lot of time musing on the preparation of food, the eating of the food and even going so far as writing down entire recipes. I really wasn’t looking for an earthy crunchy cookbook with a big helping of sadness when I picked up this story but that’s pretty much what I got. Though the story was readable, I just didn’t find it all that haunting in any sort of emotional way and that was a problem. Perhaps my heart is all dried up, I won’t argue with you there, but I didn’t feel much while reading. Everyone was just sort of meandering about, doing their jobs and doing what they were told to do to get better but I never felt emotional for any of them. I only kept going to see if I was right about that twisty-twist ending. Excuse me a moment while I gear myself up for telling you about that . . . 

So, as you’ve probably guessed, I didn’t peek at the end but I should’ve. I would’ve saved myself many hours of precious and hard to come by reading time. Much to my dismay. . . 

.

Seventeen-year-old Stevie is trapped. In her life. In her body. And now in an eating-disorder treatment center on the dusty outskirts of the New Mexico desert. Life in the center is regimented and intrusive, a nightmare come true. Nurses and therapists watch Stevie at meal time, accompany her to the bathroom, and challenge her to eat the foods she's worked so hard to avoid. Her dad has signed her up for sixty days of treatment. But what no one knows is that Stevie doesn't plan to stay that long. There are only twenty-seven days until the anniversary of her brother Josh's death—the death she caused. And if Stevie gets her way, there are only twenty-seven days until she, too, will end her life.

Paperweight follows Stevie's journey as she struggles not only with this life-threatening eating disorder, but with the question of whether she can ever find absolution for the mistakes of her past…and whether she truly deserves to.

This book had a very beautiful arc and plot line with a lot of depth and some very well formed characters; however, I couldn't manage to connect to Stevie.

Seeing Stevie's perception of anorexia and her thoughts on the labels various eating disorders created was also very powerful and though I have no personal experience with the matter myself, I found it felt very real and poignant. There were no veils thrown over major issues and I admire this story for tackling these things in a way that feels very normal.

Stevie's plan didn't seem very feasible or quite real, and this I think was very telling.

Many characters in this story seemed to play small roles but served as really strong foils and managed to make an impact in the small space they had. Anna/Shrink was very humane and had an interesting backstory that led up to her job at the center. I loved Stevie's relationship with her roommate and how much of a contrast this relationship she provided, especially after how dismissive Stevie had been.

Stevie's parents were both well developed and had their own interesting characteristics that really added a lot to the story. Since ultimately a lot of Stevie's struggles had stemmed from this and had only been escalated by her connection to Josh, this was very telling and poignant.

But I really didn't connect to Stevie very much, and I found her backstory with Josh and Eden to be confusing. There was a lot more content that could have been fleshed out and I felt like Haston had a lot of backstory in her head that didn't make it onto the paper. If I had really felt for her, this book would have been much stronger.

Overall, this book deserves a lot of credit for creating such a real and poignant story with such a variety of characters and I look forward to reading more by Haston.

Rita Arens’ debut novel, The Obvious Game, is a well-written poignant coming of age tale. I was so moved after this book I couldn’t read anything else that day.

Arens crafted a memorable story about one teen’s overwhelming struggle. Diana should have been the average high school sophomore dealing with popularity issues, getting good grades and having crushes. Instead, she was challenged with a mom battling cancer, a boy magnet best friend and a few extra pounds on her body.

The Obvious Game masterfully addressed the issue of body image. It is common knowledge that many people struggle with real weight issues daily. And, unfortunately, teens suffer the most. They are busy trying to figure out who they are in the world and then someone makes the comment that they look “pudgy” or a particular guy likes girls with a certain body type. Poor Diana got caught on this horrible roller coaster.

Arens did a fantastic job with character development. I got a vivid picture and understanding of each person in The Obvious Game. I felt their pain, their struggles and their sorrow. It’s been a long time since I read a book that just had me wrung out. Diana’s story stayed with me for a couple of days. It was so real that it hurt.

Fortunately, there was a happily ever after for Diana. I cheered her progress. Arens’ The Obvious Game should be a must read for any one in high school. And, if you just want a good, heart felt story, add it to your to read list. You won’t be disappointed.