The Best Kept Secret - Blog Tour

Synopsis:
In high school, everyone has secrets. Even well-brought-up Emma Fraser.

Emma’s sophomore year started out all wrong. First, her best friend Andy confessed to losing his virginity leaving Emma all alone in the V-Club. Then the rest of her friends got weird and suddenly Emma finds herself feeling like the people she knows best have become total strangers. And total strangers are becoming friends.

When Deegan Burke, a rich, gorgeous senior, asks Emma to be his date for the prom, Emma thinks her luck has begun to change. But rather than being able to bask in this newfound glory, her whole world starts to unravel. And when secrets that once seemed so innocent start to take a very dangerous turn, Emma discovers that true friends are friends no matter what…and some secrets aren’t worth keeping.

Review:
Powerful. Daring. Courageous. Wendi Nunnery brings blurry high school issues into focus with her novel, The Best Kept Secret. This fictitious tale exemplifies true teenage situations, giving readers an in-depth look at bullying, sexuality, and relationships in a high school setting.

Emma is the main character in this tangled web of secrets. She's the innocent fifteen year old girl who knows what going through high school can entail. Readers will be able to see themselves in Emma, relating to the school years that taught them the most. Emma is very cautious and uncertain of what to do when her friends become sexually active and boys start showing interest in her. It's a chaotic and confusing time for a teenage girl. And we've all been there. Readers will empathize with Emma's situation and her uncertainty. They'll understand what she's going through and connect with her quickly. The foundation for a reader/character connection is swiftly set and built upon with each chapter.

The plot is surprising and a bit on the controversial side of topics. Emma faces the idea of losing her virginity after her friends admit to losing theirs. Then there's prom. Usually sophomores don't get to go, but two seniors are showing interest in asking her. This is only the beginning of the chaos and drama of Emma's sophomore year. The Best Kept Secret tackles underage drinking, bullying, virginity, and crime. It leaps over the boundaries and will shock readers with the truth. I was completely stunned by the ending. I did not see it coming at all. Well, except the letter.

The truth is that high school can be heart breaking, soul stomping, and completely unfair. This is that kind of story. The kind that ends with tears and tissues.

Rating: 4/5 Cups

Meet the Author:

Wendi Nunnery is the author of The Mayfield Family Story. She is also a regular contributor to The Huffington Post and The Simply Beloved, a lifestyle website for women of faith. She is a proud alumna of Georgia Southern University and, at any given time, you can find her w

ith a cup of coffee and a book. She lives, loves, and mothers in Atlanta, Georgia. The Best Kept Secret is her first novel.

Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest / Blog

To All the Boys I've Loved Before

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is the story of Lara Jean, who has never openly admitted her crushes, but instead wrote each boy a letter about how she felt, sealed it, and hid it in a box under her bed. But one day Lara Jean discovers that somehow her secret box of letters has been mailed, causing all her crushes from her past to confront her about the letters: her first kiss, the boy from summer camp, even her sister's ex-boyfriend, Josh. As she learns to deal with her past loves face to face, Lara Jean discovers that something good may come out of these letters after all.

*May Contain Spoilers*

It has been a while, a long while, since I read a book in one sitting. A novel needs a certain collection of attributes to affect readers in that way. To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han definitely has them. 

[x]Deep connection to the character -- check.

[x]Intriguing plot line that is unpredictable -- check. 

[x]Unique writing style that captivates -- check. 

Lara Jean is one of the Song sisters. One of three to be specific. She has two sisters, Margot and Kitty. Margot is older and leaving for college while Kitty is younger. Lara Jean is the middle sister, about to embark on her Junior year of high school. Lara Jean is a wonderful alignment of attributes. She's quirky, honest, uncertain, caring, naive, nervous, and even slightly sarcastic. Lara Jean is the girl in high school that goes unnoticed without good reason. Readers will connect with her through her experiences, words, and doubt as she tries to deal with her secrets being revealed. 

The plot is both lovely and highly entertaining. Right after Margot leaves for college, Lara Jean decides to write her sister's ex-boyfriend one more letter because she thinks she still has feelings for him. She presses between the pages of a book planning to finish it later on. The next day, Peter K walks up to her and asks her about the letter she sent him. The one about the STD's he doesn't have and how he always steals the last piece of pizza like a barbarian. Knowing that something very, very wrong happened, Lara Jean panics. The following events of the story are hilarious, embarassing, and completely understandable. Readers will laugh out loud and shake their heads with wisdom as they see that Lara Jean's solution is slowly spinning out of control. 

Rating: 4.5/5 Cups

Polarity in Motion: Blog Tour

Fifteen-year-old Polarity Weeks just wants to live a normal life, but with a mother diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, that’s rarely easy. Her life gets exponentially more disastrous when her sixth-period history classmates start ogling a nude picture of her on the Internet. Polarity would never have struck such a shameless pose, but the photo is definitely of her, and she’s at a complete loss to explain its existence.


Child Protective Services yanks her from her home, suspecting her parents. The kids at school mock her, assuming she took it herself. And Ethan, the boy she was really starting to like, backpedals and joins the taunting chorus. Surrounded by disbelief and derision on all sides, Polarity desperately seeks the truth among her friends. Only then does she learn that everyone has dark secrets, and no one’s life is anywhere near normal.

Review:
Brenda Vicars explores the hardships of mental illness, adolescence, and bullying in her novel, Polarity in Motion. Covering an array of genres, this book will reach out to multiple audiences. Coupled with the mysterious nature of the plot, the relationships between characters are intriguing and unsteady which add to the believable and realistic narrative.

Polarity Weeks is a girl on the cusp of adolescence as a ninth-grade student, but she's aged with experience. Her mother has been diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder and is subject to jarring mood swings. Though Polarity understands her mother's condition to the best of her ability, her interactions with her mother often resemble strolling through a mine field. The understanding nature of readers will allow them to immediately connect with Polarity, especially if they have a similar experience with mental illness.

Polarity, though young, is a brave and trustworthy soul. When the nude photograph is displayed in a computer class, readers will have various reactions. My first thought was that Polarity had some sort of mental illness of her own that had yet to be discovered. Other readers may believe that it was a production of Photoshop. Regardless, the openness and goodhearted nature of Polarity will at least have readers leaning toward an innocent ruling. As the book continues, readers will want the mystery solved almost as much as Polarity does herself.

Vicars portrays bullying in an accurate fashion and readers will side with Polarity upon witnessing the mean and hurtful actions that her peers commit. This only strengthens the connection between Polarity and the readers, whether they have been in a similar situation or not. The supporting characters in the novel are divided between those who support Polarity and those who do not, with her mother straddling the fence. The only way to further connect with Polarity would have been for readers to witness the photograph being taken without having knowledge of the fact. Knowing at the beginning that her innocence was not in question could have allowed me to connect with Polarity on a deeper level. I would have felt like fighting with her against the onslaught of disbelief instead of holding back and internally questioning whether I truly thought she was guilty or innocent.

Polarity in Motion begins with the mass sharing of the nude photo of Polarity and follows the investigation of her parents, classmates, and friends. At times the plot moves slowly, as does the investigation to find out the truth. Through the whole ordeal, readers come to know Polarity, her future goals, her family, and her feelings. They also witness her grow from a young girl to a young woman who has strength and confidence in herself and her abilities. Stemming from a negative situation is a real coming of age story that many readers will relate to and learn from. Polarity in Motion tackles some big issues and Vicars takes a chance with the plot's controversial situations, but a story like this can open eyes.

Rating: 4/5 Cups

Amazon / Red Adept / Barnes&Noble

Meet the Author:
Brenda Vicars has worked in Texas public education for many years. Her jobs have included teaching, serving as a principal, and directing student support programs. For three years, she also taught college English to prison inmates, and outside of her job, she mentors children of incarcerated parents.

She entered education because she felt called to teach, but her students taught her the biggest lesson: the playing field is not even for all kids. Through her work, she became increasingly compelled to bring their unheard voices to the page. The heartbeat of her fiction emanates from the courage and resiliency of her students.

Brenda’s hobbies include reading, woodworking, gardening, and Zumba.

Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Marching Band and the Expanding Universe

Joey Kimbel is a shy, red headed musician just starting high school. When he joins the marching band as the new snare drum player, he finds himself battling bullies and jocks and falling for the one girl he’s not supposed to love - color guard girl, Alhena Almasi. Now, with a band of misfits and skater punks, Joey struggles to survive high school, find his own path and be with the only girl that matters in his universe.

Marching Band and the Expanding Universe is a story of love and pain and learning to be true to yourself. It is for anyone who can't live without music. This book is for anybody who's been picked on and isn't afraid to fight back.

*May Contains Spoilers*

High school can be heartbreaking. It can also be soul-crushing and hope-shattering. Markus Almond shares the high school story of Joey in his novel, Marching Band and the Expanding Universe. Readers bear witness as Joey struggles with becoming a high school student and all that it implies. 

Joey is a realistic character with both good and bad qualities. He's a talented musician who strives to be better. Joey is a loving character but sometimes expresses it in an inappropriate manner. He stands up for what he believes in and even goes at far as protecting others he cares about. Of course he is a high school boy. He's quick to judge, form relationships, and fall in love. Joey also begins to lie to his parents and sneak around. In his later high school years, he drinks underage and smokes. Joey is a likeable character, with flaws, but some readers may not connect with him as much as others. Though I did like Joey, the love interest, Alhena, was not my favorite character. She seemed off in some way, like I couldn't trust anything she said. 

The plot of the novel follows Joey from the first day of high school to after graduation. Readers experience the struggle of self definition and discovery in alignment with Joey as he battles bullies and fights for his first love. Overall the book is an enjoyable read. The bullying scenes broke my heart, while reading all the swear words a young teenage boy can come up with irked me. The few spelling errors sprinkled throughout the book were also a little distracting. Though, the realistic representation of high school was impressive.

Rating: 2.5/5 Cups