Elvira lives in an upsidedown family. He dad is an Elvis impersonator, her mom is pregnant again and her 8 year old sister is just simply, annoying. And when her dad takes off to follow his dream and enters yet another Elvis impersonation competition, everything seems to be falling apart. Elvira basically is the mother (she has to cook clean, and take care of her sister), while her mom sits infornt of the television and sobbs all day long. All of a sudden a family memeber, whom they havent spoken to in years calls because she urgently needs their help, so they pack up and head on the road for a long drive. "Love Me Tender" by Audrey Couloumbis is an amazing and touching book that will bring you to remember and connect to your own childhood memories. This novel pushes us to remember the importance of family, communication and most all forgiving.

Could it be that commucating really is key? What we have no family or friends to rely on?And forgiving, If we never move on and forgive people for their mistakes, then the world would be a very uninviting place to live. These were some of the ideas that were discussed.

When Elvira, her mom and her sister reach her grandma's home, nothing serious had happened, but that just shows that they do care about eachother, why else would they drive so far. And from then on their relationship began to bulid with their grandma and their aunt through communication, but mostly forgiveness. Both sides of the family put aside the past as much as it had caused pain and disappointment. If they didn't forgive and forget, thier relationship wouldn't have been anywhere, not even to this day.

This book has a very homely feel to it. Couloumbis' descriptive language gives you a vivid picture of what is happening and it takes your mind anywhere it pleases. While reading this book, I was reminded of my own grandmother's home and when I went to visit her. I remember and can still feel the breeze flowing in from the back door, where it lead to her garden which was laiden with papaya trees and all sorts of plants and flowers. How it makes me wish I was there right now.

I loved this book because of how well I connected to it. Although the end was happy and sweet, I wished the book had continued and talked more about what would happen next. The ending just didn't have enough reality for me, but the book was definately satisfying.

I would recomend this book to anyone who has gone through some tough and awkard times with their family or if they just can't get enought of their family members.

Excellent! ( )

(#13 in the 2009 Book Challenge)

This YA novel was not bad, but suffered from having great unmet potential. 12 year old Elvira, her mother, and her little sister take an impromptu trip to Memphis to visit a grandmother she has never met after her father, a former Elvis impersonator, has a mid-life crisis and takes off for Vegas. On the plus side, the characters are great and believable (and you believe they are a family, and the author as a good ear for dialogue. On the negative, the ending felt tacked on and yet managed to touch upon some very interesting themes that hadn't been addressed at all in the rest of the book. If the events of the plot had been leading up to the resolutions laid out at the end, this would have been a fantastic book. I felt like there were some neat ideas here, but that the author had trouble weaving them together.

Grade: B-
Recommended: Meh, it's fine. I think the 10, 11, and 12 year old set would enjoy this while reading, and then quickly forget about it. ( )