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4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
2.5 stars, rounded down.
I love Deb Caletti and I love her writing, but this one was overlong to me. I liked the story and appreciated the subject matter, I thought it was so important and written with grace, but didn't love this as much as I've loved her previous novels.
I love Deb Caletti and I love her writing, but this one was overlong to me. I liked the story and appreciated the subject matter, I thought it was so important and written with grace, but didn't love this as much as I've loved her previous novels.
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This is a difficult book to rate. Not because it's not good - it's excellent! - but because the subject matter is so difficult, and knowing that this is real life for so many people right now makes it even harder. I'm fortunate that this situation will never affect me, but it's still pretty hard to read someone going through it.
Parts of this I thought were slow, but the story as a whole is amazing, full of new experiences and details and little moments that really shone. I love Ivy's younger brother and Lorenzo, but the rest of the cast is brilliant as well. I was never bored reading, I always wanted to find out more about what was going on.
We need to flood the shelves with books like this so that people will start discussing and arguing and maybe, just maybe, things will start to get better. I'm looking forward to trying to get this to as many people as possible.
Parts of this I thought were slow, but the story as a whole is amazing, full of new experiences and details and little moments that really shone. I love Ivy's younger brother and Lorenzo, but the rest of the cast is brilliant as well. I was never bored reading, I always wanted to find out more about what was going on.
We need to flood the shelves with books like this so that people will start discussing and arguing and maybe, just maybe, things will start to get better. I'm looking forward to trying to get this to as many people as possible.
THIS. BOOK!! My first by this bestselling author, it is definitely going down as one of the most important and powerful YA reads of 2023!!
Set in small town Texas, this is not your usual YA summer road trip romance. The characters themselves dub it their "abortion road trip love story" and it IS that but also SO MUCH MORE!!! Ivy is a fifteen year old girl who finds herself pregnant after getting forced into a nonconsensual sexual encounter (not technically rape, but still a situation no one should find themselves in).
Left reeling, least of all because she is already over the six week deadline to get a legal abortion in Texas. Thankfully Ivy's mother is super supportive and allows her to go on a road trip to Oregon, where her grandmother lives and where abortions are legal.
Traveling with her friend and not yet boyfriend, Lorenzo, (not the father of the baby), Ivy finds herself slowly falling more and more in love with the steadfast, solid boy beside her while also hearing about a number of other women's own pregnancy and abortion stories.
She learns that 1 in 4 women have abortions and its a more common thing that's happened from the time men and women were having sex. Learning that "you don't know you're in a secret network until you're in it" is one of the lessons her aunt imparts and it's so true!
This book will make you RAGE and CRY along with Ivy as she learns just how lucky she is to have the support and means to obtain a legal abortion when SO many others in America don't. Books like this one are more important than ever and I'm so glad the author wrote this one and teens like Ivy will be able to learn they aren't alone.
FANTASTIC on audio narrated by Jorjeana Marie, this book read almost like a spoken word poem. While I did find the narrator a bit slow-speaking (I listened in an app that didn't go past 2x), overall her performance was captivating and so well done! Many thanks to @prhaudio for the complimentary ALC in exchange for my honest review!!!
CW: abortion, sexual abuse, parent with cancer, slut-shaming, homophobia
Set in small town Texas, this is not your usual YA summer road trip romance. The characters themselves dub it their "abortion road trip love story" and it IS that but also SO MUCH MORE!!! Ivy is a fifteen year old girl who finds herself pregnant after getting forced into a nonconsensual sexual encounter (not technically rape, but still a situation no one should find themselves in).
Left reeling, least of all because she is already over the six week deadline to get a legal abortion in Texas. Thankfully Ivy's mother is super supportive and allows her to go on a road trip to Oregon, where her grandmother lives and where abortions are legal.
Traveling with her friend and not yet boyfriend, Lorenzo, (not the father of the baby), Ivy finds herself slowly falling more and more in love with the steadfast, solid boy beside her while also hearing about a number of other women's own pregnancy and abortion stories.
She learns that 1 in 4 women have abortions and its a more common thing that's happened from the time men and women were having sex. Learning that "you don't know you're in a secret network until you're in it" is one of the lessons her aunt imparts and it's so true!
This book will make you RAGE and CRY along with Ivy as she learns just how lucky she is to have the support and means to obtain a legal abortion when SO many others in America don't. Books like this one are more important than ever and I'm so glad the author wrote this one and teens like Ivy will be able to learn they aren't alone.
FANTASTIC on audio narrated by Jorjeana Marie, this book read almost like a spoken word poem. While I did find the narrator a bit slow-speaking (I listened in an app that didn't go past 2x), overall her performance was captivating and so well done! Many thanks to @prhaudio for the complimentary ALC in exchange for my honest review!!!
CW: abortion, sexual abuse, parent with cancer, slut-shaming, homophobia
There were so many sweet and lovely moments in this book, with such tender writing, but periodically there were long paragraphs that felt really shoehorned in and were a bit heavy handed, giving an ABC Afterschool Special vibe. Still, a highly recommended read!
3.5
This is a perfect, perfect, PERFECT book for its intended audience. So, as a 26 year old, take my rating with a grain of salt. I think so many teenagers would benefit from reading this and I am so glad it exists. I just found it to be verrrry YA. This just didn’t pack as much ‘universal punch’ as A Heart in a Body in the World (one of my all time favorite books) did. I do love me some resilient teenage girls though!
Highly, highly recommend for young adult readers.
This is a perfect, perfect, PERFECT book for its intended audience. So, as a 26 year old, take my rating with a grain of salt. I think so many teenagers would benefit from reading this and I am so glad it exists. I just found it to be verrrry YA. This just didn’t pack as much ‘universal punch’ as A Heart in a Body in the World (one of my all time favorite books) did. I do love me some resilient teenage girls though!
Highly, highly recommend for young adult readers.
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Abortion
Minor: Pregnancy
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
It's a great read and very poignant for this time. Caletti does a great job on expressing on how abortion is entrenched in women's history and how many women carry stories about abortion, pregnancy, and sex that aren't ever really shared. The central theme of this novel is choice and how sometimes choice is taken away or threatened. I do have mixed feelings about the SA that leads to Ivy's pregnancy .
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault, Abortion
Minor: Sexual content
#NetGalleyARC A super important story to tell, especially in the world we live in today. I thought this was really well written, the difficult topic was handled expertly, and the characters were relatable. A definite purchase for my HS library..