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A review by lumos_libros
High Dive by Tammar Stein
4.0
I'm kind of biased because I could really relate to Arden. Not so much her personality but her situation. I've had a parent deploy to Iraq and I understood a lot of what she had to go through, but I didn't take it the same way she did. Arden is already away at college when her mom is deployed and she has already lost her father, so she dealing with a lot of feelings that seem to be suffocating her (though she doesn't know it). With all that moving around military brats do it's hard to keep many friends, so she feels more alone than most people would. One thing is for sure that Stein got right was the feel for the military community. It was so comical and deja vu like to see her mention things like the cheesy AFN commercials, Fort Riley, Heidelburg, the DEFAC, and so many other refrences I can't even recall.
The beginning of the book seemed too rush. Like she was hurrying things along to get to the middle of the story. This bothered me to no end. I kind of felt like it was being unfair to the character in a way. Like we really couldn't see who she was because things were moving along too fast. Another thing that bothered me was how she mentioned how nobody really understood, which is true but you don't have to be mean about it. I get it because if I didn't have a parent in the military I can't say for certain I would care that much about the war. It's sad but it's the truth. I did think the author handled the whole political aspect of the war well. She didn't take sides but rather concentrated on the people who are affected by the war.
In some parts of the trip I could really feel for her. Some people assume traveling is so much fun but the truth is it can really suck sometimes. Once we get into the meat of the story that's where things start getting good. Even though we don't get that much romantic action in this book there is of course the love interest. I really enjoyed the way they had a little history before they met up again. That does happen from time to time when you move around, so that was nice touch. Don't worry things workout for the both of them. I don't want to give anything away, but suffice to say that Arden learns that she needs to open up and like the title of the book refers not to be afraid to get off the high dive.
It feels like 4 stars. It's the first book I've seen out there that touches this subject so it should get props for that:)
The beginning of the book seemed too rush. Like she was hurrying things along to get to the middle of the story. This bothered me to no end. I kind of felt like it was being unfair to the character in a way. Like we really couldn't see who she was because things were moving along too fast. Another thing that bothered me was how she mentioned how nobody really understood, which is true but you don't have to be mean about it. I get it because if I didn't have a parent in the military I can't say for certain I would care that much about the war. It's sad but it's the truth. I did think the author handled the whole political aspect of the war well. She didn't take sides but rather concentrated on the people who are affected by the war.
In some parts of the trip I could really feel for her. Some people assume traveling is so much fun but the truth is it can really suck sometimes. Once we get into the meat of the story that's where things start getting good. Even though we don't get that much romantic action in this book there is of course the love interest. I really enjoyed the way they had a little history before they met up again. That does happen from time to time when you move around, so that was nice touch. Don't worry things workout for the both of them. I don't want to give anything away, but suffice to say that Arden learns that she needs to open up and like the title of the book refers not to be afraid to get off the high dive.
It feels like 4 stars. It's the first book I've seen out there that touches this subject so it should get props for that:)