Rain's Reviews: Wide Open by Shelly crane

Wide Open by Shelly Crane

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Milo is trouble.

He lives it, breathes it. He embraces anything that numbs and takes his mind somewhere else, a world where his mother is herself and not just a shell, and his brother didn't almost kill her, severing any relationship they had. But more importantly, Milo drowns out the guilt for leaving his mother and not being able to forgive his brother. He drowns his pride and moves on to another girl and another party, pretending that life isn't moving on around him and he's stuck in the same place. He's stuck in the past and doesn't know how to let go.

Maya is trouble.

She's done the party scene and has had her fair share of close calls and handcuffs. Not the kinky kind. She's so over it all and fought like hell for that life to let go so she could move on. She now works as a teen counselor. Her life is better, but her life is empty. She has no one but her brother in the whole world left and he's sick with a disease that no medicine can cure.

When they meet, a romance that scares them both emerges, but the love you fight for is the love that can mend bridges, heal scars, and open closed hearts. They'll need each other, they'll want each other, they'll have each other.

But will it all come too late?~Goodreads

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Review

Wide Open was surprisingly good, and I only say surprisingly because of it New Adult rating. I have always tried to avoid New Adult because of the inappropriateness of the romance but when this came out I did some research and decided to put it on probation. And when I started reading it, I didn’t stop.

Milo is a self loathing and hopeful guy. He has put himself through Hades and now that he has finally pulled himself back out he’s convinced that no one can love him, forgive him, or look at him without hating him and what he’s done. But despite this negative streak it doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to be forgiven or loved. And in those moments and actions when he is being the best guy he can be, when he’s not thinking of all his screw ups. and how horrible he thinks he is you love him so much it breaks your heart to see him ridicule himself. He is the sweetest most caring guy towards Maya that you can’t wait to see him fit all his pieces back together.

Maya has a past she isn’t proud of and secrets she doesn’t want anyone to know no matter how close she is to them. She is so strong and so broken your heart breaks all over again. ( All I’m saying is Shelly crane must get pleasure from making her readers depressed.) She has been sober for four years but her life isn’t getting easier and her future is looking impossible. She is defeated-or so she thinks. But when Milo walks in- well- you’ll have to swoon for yourself.

Milo and Maya are possibly the most tragic story and heart-felt story Mrs. Crane has ever written and I am so, so pleased I didn’t pass it up.

The New adult rating is mainly for issues with drugs and alcohol. The romance did not go al the way but did get fairly steamy.

~Rain

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Quotes

"There is something seeing and something being seen."

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Links

Goodreads

Amazon
Barnes&Noble

Along for the Ride

Along for the Ride- by Sarah Dessen

It’s been so long since Auden slept at night. Ever since her parents’ divorce—or since the fighting started. Now she has the chance to spend a carefree summer with her dad and his new family in the charming beach town where they live.

A job in a clothes boutique introduces Auden to the world of girls: their talk, their friendship, their crushes. She missed out on all that, too busy being the perfect daughter to her demanding mother. Then she meets Eli, an intriguing loner and a fellow insomniac who becomes her guide to the nocturnal world of the town. Together they embark on parallel quests: for Auden, to experience the carefree teenage life she’s been denied; for Eli, to come to terms with the guilt he feels for the death of a friend

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This book was very well written. From the blooming romance (that stayed completely PG), to the really funny moments and all the fights and sleepless nights in between. All the characters were really consistent and the story line and plot were flawless.  
Now after saying all of that I have to admit Sarah Dessen isn't my absolute favorite author. The story seemed slow moving and I found myself skipping to the next paragraph to see if anything interesting was going to happen. But I blame most of that on my impatience,so. If you like stories about self discovery and getting through family drama with a little spritz of romance then I would say this book is a must read for you;).
Favorite moments:
"Okay, let's just slow down." She held up her hands, palms facing me. "First things first. What do you mean, you don't have a date?" 
"Just that," I said, sitting down at the desk. "Jason bailed on me."
"Again?"
I nodded.
"When?"
"About twenty minutes ago."
"Oh, my God." She put her hand over her mouth: her expression was so horrified, like someone had died. "That's the worst thing ever."
"No," I said, swallowing. "It's actually not."
"No?"
I shook my head. "The worst thing is that right afterward, I marched right into the bike shop and asked Eli to go with me, and he said no."
She threw up her other hand, clapping it over the one already covering her mouth. "Holy crap," she said, her voice muffled. "Where does the bike come in?"
"I don't know," I said, waving my hand. "That part's kind of a blur.” 

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“She's a baby," Maggie told me. "Babies wear pastels."
"Says who?" I asked. ... "Society. The same society, I might add, that dictates that little girls should always be sugar and spice and everything nice, which encourages them to not be assertive. And that, in turn, then leads to low self-esteem, which can lead to eating disorders and increased tolerance and acceptance of domestic, sexual, and substance abuse.”