Blankets by Craig Thompson

I was surprised to see that this book came out in 2003.  The way Thomson talks about his teenage years, which I placed vaguely in the early 1990's, made it feel more distant at the time of writing.  You know, I am one of those people who forgets that I graduated 16 years ago so I guess that's not really surprising.

This book, well, it was a bit of an emotional rollercoaster for me.

Thompson tells the story of his coming of age.  I can't think of any better way to describe it.  He tells stories throughout that are memories of his childhood, when he shared a bed with his little brother.  Craig says that he was not a very good older brother, that he was sometimes mean to his brother and that he didn't protect him.  He touches on the inappropriate conduct of a babysitter, a trap that he let his brother fall into and that sent him headlong into religion and the striving for heaven.

Craig takes religion seriously, seriously enough that his pastor asks if he has considered going into the ministry.  Craig hasn't really considered anything about his future.  Then he meets Raina at winter church camp and he is instantly smitten.  When he goes to stay with Raina and her family in Michigan for two weeks in the winter, he begins to see that he may have missed out on some of life.

This book touched on a lot of sensitive and emotional subjects: religion, abuse, first lover, doubt.  However, I felt like all of these things were handled very well.  I can promise that I was invested in this story after my initial doubt that it was for me.  Craig's experience of first love and his realization that he may not have been invested enough in the real world felt like legitimate experiences to me.  They felt real.

This was a touching tale but one which I can see not fitting for everyone. -RYQ

Because I am Furniture by Thalia Chaltas

From the outside, they look like a perfectly normal family.  From the inside, they are anything but.

Anke's father is abusive to her siblings but he never even seems to notice her.  She is just the footstool in the corner, watching the horrific events unfold.  Usually she is grateful for her invisibility because it is the thing that keeps her from her father's violence, but even more horrifying are the times when she is jealous of her brother and sister.  After all, if her father doesn't notice her, it must mean that he doesn't love her.  Anke relates mostly to her mother who turns a blind eye to the abuse, who remembers when he was a different person.

When Anke decides to go out for volleyball, she begins to change.  She has to yell for the ball and it helps her find her voice.  Plus, she becomes a part of the team and she makes friends with a girl names Rona whose own family is troubled.  The more she plays, the less comfortable Anke is with the things around her.  She begins to notice more of the abuse and how her father interacts with other people and she also grows sick of not being seen and not being important.  Is it enough to make her raise her voice against him?  Will doing so destroy her family or save it?

I enjoyed this book in verse and it really made me think.  It took a while to warm up to it but before long I could feel that raw punch of emotion.  I couldn't help but cheer Anke on in her games and in life.  There is some difficult subject matter here but it is handled very well in the text.

The Problem with Forever by Jennifer L. Armentrout

I've taken this book in chapter by chapter, one here and one there, over the past three weeks and the experience was surprisingly not ruined by that. It says something if a story manages to hold my interest when I spread it out over a long period of time. Usually, I like them fast and close together. This book could have easily been a quick read and when I left it behind for a few days I found myself thinking about it.

Also, I found myself in the strange situation of digesting two romances at the same time this month and the experience pretty much turned me into a giggling puddle of girl. Ick.

This is the story of Mallory, a girl who spent the first twelve years of her life in foster care. The family she lived with was abusive and alcoholic. However, she always had a protector in Rider, another foster child who lived with the same family. Rider took many beatings for her and kept her as safe as he could, teaching her to hide in the closet and stay silent until the danger was over.

Now, Mallory is returning to public school for the first time in four years. After she was seriously injured, she was adopted by a pair of doctors who have provided her a safe and stable home. She is still recovering, though, and finds speaking to be particularly difficult after being conditioned to be silent. She's not quite sure if she is ready for public school but Mallory knows that if she wants to go to college she's going to have to get used to people and classes and, well, talking. What she doesn't expect is to run into Rider on the first day of school.

Rider has grown up and he is ridiculously hot. Mallory and him are drawn together by their past and their obvious affection for one another. It's complicated though. Mallory's parents don't approve of Rider for a number of reasons. Rider has a girlfriend and is still in the system. As Mallory realizes the truth about Rider and his life, she must figure out how to be the hero this time around or possibly lose him forever.

I liked this one. Like I said, it made me feel like a puddle of goo at times and it made me tear up a few times too. I probably could have done without the Epilogue as it tied things up too neatly for me but other readers will enjoy the glimpse into "forever."  -RYQ