Tag: summer

Better Than the Best Plan

~ rachelbenzine ~ Leave a comment

Review:

Mitzy’s mom has always been a little untraditional… which is why they’ve moved from place to place as she tries out yoga or enlightenment or commune-living. But this time, things are different, and Mitzy is on her own. She comes home from school one day to find a note informing her that her mom is in Mexico for her latest venture, and Mitzy doesn’t know when she’ll be coming back. Seventeen-year-old Mitzy is a few months away from legally being an adult, so she figures she’ll be fine on her own. But when someone reports her to Child Protective Services, a social worker turns up to bring her to a foster home. And in a weird twist of fate, Mitzy finds out not only that she was in foster care as an infant, but that she is being brought back to the woman who was her foster mom for eighteen months.

Better Than the Best Plan follows the summer before Mitzy’s senior year of high school. Mitzy is trying to get settled into the gorgeous, fancy new house she’s staying in – but trying not to get to comfortable, since she is pretty sure her mom will come back to get her soon. Her new life is a far cry from her old life, and she is not sure what to think of the country club nearby, people who have private pools and tennis courts, or the cute boy who lives next door. Pick up Better than the Best Plan for a quick summer read that pulls you in from the first chapter.

Favorite Passage:

“I tell you all that because here’s the thing. I wanted to keep you. I so desperately wanted to keep you. I tried, in fact, probably harder than I should have. But your mother, she wasn’t going to walk away from you. She did everything the court required. She attended every DCF meeting. She jumped through every hoop, followed every rule. And it wasn’t easy. They really don’t make it easy, especially with kids as young as you. She really had to prove herself to them. But every challenge they laid, she met it, and so just after your second birthday, you went back to her. ‘Family reunification’, they call it. I wasn’t there to see it. I don’t think I had the strength to endure it. But you have to know that for nearly two years your mother fought for you. She never stopped being your mom, and she fought to make sure the court knew it. She didn’t leave you, Maritza. She went away, but she never left. Trust me on that.”
— Chapter Fifteen

What I Loved Most:

I feel like most of the books I’ve read featuring protagonists who are in the foster care system are heavy. Which is totally fair – these kids are going through super hard stuff. However, Better Than the Best Plan manages to be a light and fun read, while not shying away from hard questions like parental abandonment and messy family situations. This was a genuinely fun book to read. I also loved how the book stresses that even though Maritza’s biological mom left, it doesn’t mean that she stopped loving Ritzy. This book is very positive toward both the bio-parent and the foster parents. And it ends in a messy but happy way, which I think is a wonderful portrayal of how the foster care system can sometimes work to create a bigger family rather than splitting up families.

Read this book if you like:

Summer reading, identity searching, non-traditional families

Book Details:

The Way You Make Me Feel

~ rachelbenzine ~ Leave a comment

Review:

Clara Shin’s prank at junior prom goes horribly wrong, culminating in a fight with her mortal enemy (Rose) while covered in fake blood and a small fire in the auditorium. As punishment, Clara and Rose are sentenced to pay off the cost of repairing the school by working together in Clara’s dad’s food truck. Two people who hate each other working in a tiny environment in LA heat all summer? Definitely no flaw in that plan.

But as Clara and Rose get to know each other, Clara realizes that Rose might not be so bad. And the hot guy working at the coffee cart nearby isn’t terrible either. But if Clara really starts caring about things, she’s opening herself up to vulnerabilities that she’d rather avoid.

I discovered Maurene Goo by reading her newest book, Somewhere Only We Know, which came out in May. I loved that book, and I love this one. The Way You Make Me Feel is a sweet summer romance, and a great quick read. A solid 5 stars!

Favorite Passage:

“Although we were sitting there eating a Transformers cake off of paper plates with colorful ponies on them, there was a conspicuous lack of irony in this moment. It was something I had noticed ever time I hung out with these guys because I had become so used to a certain behavior with Patrick and Felix. Where everything was a joke, a mockery, a way to separate ourselves from feeling stuff for real. It was easier to not feel the real stuff — and Patrick the slacker was all about easy. Felix, he was so preoccupied with being cool all the time. And rRose and Hamlet? I watched them set up the Connect 4 we had purchased at the dollar store and immediately throw themselves into it, competitive and serious within seconds.
They were the opposite of that. They were all in.”
– Chapter 21

What I Loved Most:

At the beginning of the book, Clara is too cool for school. She and her friend group are the ones who make fun of everything and everyone. But after she meets people who are just genuine and enthusiastic and honestly in love with life, she realizes that it’s not cool to elevate yourself above everyone by mocking people and things. I love when people are just okay being who they are and appreciating the little things.

Read this book if you like:

Food trucks, Los Angeles, diverse books, cute romance, summer stories, the movie Stick It (no gymnastics in this one, but Clara reminds me so much of the protagonist in that movie)

Book Details: