Jessica Lee Anderson

Animal fans will enjoy this read as they accompany a friendly girl and her desire to help any animal she can, especially snakes.

Naomi is excited when her mother brings home an exotic snake to heal after a surgery at the rescue. As she helps to care for Beauty, she has an idea—there are snakes in the neighborhood, who might need help too. So, she forms a snake rescue club with the support of her parents, best friend and b
rother. All's going great except for the neighbor girl, who not only hates snakes but seems to have a difficult attitude in general. Still, Naomi is determined to do the best she can.

This is a book in a series, which centers around various animals and a girl's love for each and every one. The author does a terrific job at creating a familiar setting with a character to like and wish was a reader's friend. Readers will have no trouble identifying with her, and not only her love for animals but the relationships with her family and friends. She's simply a normal girl, and it's this which will have readers wanting to help the animals around them as well.

The text is great for those readers, who are very sure of their words but not quite ready to dive into a longer, middle grade novel. There are bright and colorful illustrations strewn in and the font is slightly larger for easier reading. There are snake facts peppered in, which allow readers to learn more about the reptiles. At the end of the book, there are several activities such as snake facts, questions, writing suggestions, and more.

Rescuing animals is kept down at a very realistic level, making sure readers are aware of the dangers, problems, and benefits Naomi faces when heading on this venture. Not only does this rotate around the animals, but also hits on the fears and reactions people have, and what influence this has on the situations. To round it off, there's the side-plot concerning rockier relationships and forming friendships. So, there is quite a bit of goodness in these pages, and I'm excited to see what Naomi will be up to in the future. I received a complimentary copy and found this to be an interesting and well done read.… (mer)

The Good: Okay first off, I loved that the parents in the novel were lesbians. There are not many novels where the parents are gay and it's always saddened me that there isn't more of a presence for them in novels. I thought that the author did a great job navigating both the positive and negative aspects of gay parents. I also thought Anderson's treatment of the two foster children were pretty believable. I like that she had one character that was kind of the stereotypical foster kid that is always angry and then a character that was the type of foster child that wants to be with a new family and appreciates being loved and taken care of. The other thing I really enjoyed about the novel was the format in which it was written in. Kind of like a series of scenes almost. The titles almost foreshadow what the chapter is about.

The Bad: This book was written about a 15 year old...but it also seems like it was written BY a 15 year old. The sentence structure, grammar and dialogue sounds so cliche and cheesy to me that it completely took the "realness" out of the characters for me. There were so many lines in the book where I wanted to pull my hair out and ask the author why she thought that sentence sounded REAL. Even the internal struggle wasn't that interesting because it just didn't seem real to me. Everything felt very synthetic, as if the author were trying too hard to create the perfect 15 year old or the perfect high school and teenage atmosphere.

While I appreciate the author's attempt at creating a YA novel with some real issues, I just don't think she executed it all that well. I would give this book a D+

**I received this book free from the publisher through www.netgalley.com. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.… (mer)

Fifteen-year-old Calli’s world seems to be falling apart. She just saw her foster sister, Cherish, kissing her boyfriend, Dub, in the hallway at school, and Dub didn’t even try to push her away. Things haven’t been going well since Calli’s two moms brought Cherish into their home, and to make matters worse, they are looking at bringing in yet another foster child. As tension between Cherish and Calli rises, so does the tension between Calli’s two moms as they struggle to keep peace in the house, and keep Calli’s biological mother’s Lupus in check. When Calli decides to teach Cherish a lesson, the fights between the girls become violent leaving Calli forever changed.

I really enjoyed this book. Calli is a character many young women will identify with. She’s a very average girl (a size thirteen), and she’s okay with it. Her worries, hopes and dreams are all realistic. Ms. Anderson’s writing is fluid and the story breezed by for me. I read this book in just a few hours. I especially enjoyed the fact that Calli had two moms and it wasn’t an issue to her. It was just the way it was. Sure, she has to deal with narrow-minded people because of it (people think since her mom’s are gay, she must be gay, too), but she shrugs it off as part of life. This is a refreshing YA book, free of love triangles and over-dramatic circumstances that I thoroughly enjoyed.

(Review based on an Advanced Review Copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley)… (mer)