Wishlist Thursday[175]: The Boy Who Killed Grant Parker by Kat Spears

The Boy Who Killed Grant Parker by Kat Spears

Genre: YA Contemporary

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Release Date: September 13, 2016

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository.

Goodreads Synopsis:

 Luke Grayson's life might as well be over when he's forced to go live in rural Tennessee with his Baptist pastor father. His reputation as a troublemaker has followed him there, and as an outsider, Luke is automatically under suspicion by everyone from the principal at his new school to the local police chief. His social life is no better. The new kid in town is an easy target for Grant Parker, the local golden boy with a violent streak who has the entire community of Ashland under his thumb.

But things go topsy-turvy when a freak accident removes Grant from the top of the social pyramid, replacing him with Luke. This fish out of water has suddenly gone from social outcast to hero in a matter of twenty-four hours. For the students who have lived in fear of Grant all their lives, this is a welcome change. But Luke’s new found fame comes with a price. Nobody knows the truth about what really happened to Grant Parker except for Luke, and the longer he keeps living the lie, the more like Grant Parker he becomes.

Why?:

After her second and previous book, I’m a little hesitant, but I did really love her first one. This sounds interesting, and might be another fun one. I’m going to stay hopeful, I think.

Special Mentions:

Spoof on Titan 1 by Hounori and Hajime Isayama out on September 13—This sounds like a lot of fun. It might be more fun for me than Junior High was, as well. There’s also the Coloring Book coming out on September 20.

What’s on your list?

Novel Review: Breakaway by Kat Spears

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5

Genre: YA Realistic

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Release Date: September 15, 2015

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Teaser Tuesday.

Goodreads Synopsis:

From Kat Spears, author of Sway, comes a new novel that asks the question: when a group of four best friends begin to drift apart, what will it take to bring them back together?

When Jason Marshall's younger sister dies, he knows he can count on his three best friends and soccer teammates — Mario, Jordie, and Chick — to be there for him. With a grief-crippled mother and a father who's not in the picture, he needs them more than ever. But when Mario starts hanging out with a rough group of friends and Jordie finally lands the girl of his dreams, Jason is left to fend for himself while maintaining a strained relationship with troubled and quiet Chick. Then Jason meets Raine, a girl he thinks is out of his league but who sees him for everything he wants to be, and he finds himself pulled between building a healthy and stable relationship with a girl he might be falling in love with, grieving for his sister, and trying to hold onto the friendships he has always relied on.

A witty and emotionally moving tale of friendship, first love, and loss, Breakaway is Kat Spears at her finest.

The Cover:

I like this cover, and I like that it goes with the cover on Sway. While I think that it works for the romance aspect of the book, but I don't think that it really shows the most important aspect of the book.

Review:

I really enjoyed Spears’ previous book, a lot, and I expected this book to be a little dark. I didn’t really expect it to be this bad, though.

Jason’s sister dies, and in the year following, he starts falling out with his friends. Jordie gets a girlfriend and starts hanging out with his rich friends. Mario starts hanging out with his druggie friends. And when Jason gets a girlfriend, he starts ignoring Chick.

I liked Raine, and I liked her relationship with Jason. They were nice together, and I liked being in Jason’s head to see his feelings about her. It was a slow romance, but one that Jason thought about a lot, and it was in a good spot by the end.

Another relationship I enjoyed was Jason and Chris’s. I won’t spoil it, although I’d figured it out way before it was officially revealed, but I liked the way Chris was there for Jason, and where they were by the end of the book.

And given how much attention the romance got, even with the hints, I didn’t expect the plot point that happened at the end. I’m not going to spoil it, and maybe I should have seen it coming more than I did, but it made sense, in a sad way. And the ending just left me depressed, honestly.

That whole plot made me depressed at the end, and I wasn’t particularly happy about that. And it reminded me of one of those tragic, depressing school-boy stories you read early in high school. With similarities between the beginning and the end, all this meandering and slow, everyday life chapters, filled with thoughts.

This book left me depressed more than anything, and I’ll be more wary reading her next book.

A review copy was provided by the publisher, St. Martin’s Press. Thank you!

Teaser Tuesday[167]: Breakaway by Kat Spears

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

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Breakaway by Kat Spears

Genre: YA Contemporary

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Release Date: September 15, 2015

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Goodreads Synopsis:

 From Kat Spears, author of Sway, comes a new novel that asks the question: when a group of four best friends begin to drift apart, what will it take to bring them back together?

When Jason Marshall's younger sister dies, he knows he can count on his three best friends and soccer teammates — Mario, Jordie, and Chick — to be there for him. With a grief-crippled mother and a father who's not in the picture, he needs them more than ever. But when Mario starts hanging out with a rough group of friends and Jordie finally lands the girl of his dreams, Jason is left to fend for himself while maintaining a strained relationship with troubled and quiet Chick. Then Jason meets Raine, a girl he thinks is out of his league but who sees him for everything he wants to be, and he finds himself pulled between building a healthy and stable relationship with a girl he might be falling in love with, grieving for his sister, and trying to hold onto the friendships he has always relied on.

A witty and emotionally moving tale of friendship, first love, and loss, Breakaway is Kat Spears at her finest.

Excerpt:

“‘Cheryl and I are going to go to the movies on Saturday night,’ Jordie said.

‘Good for you.’

‘I need you to go with me.’” (Hardback, pg. 53)

What are you reading right now?