Tag Archives: Dutton books for Young Readers

When I Am Through With You

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“This isn’t meant to be a confession. Not in any spiritual sense of the word. Yes, I’m in jail at the moment. I imagine I’ll be here for a long time, considering. But I’m not writing this down for absolution and I’m not seeking forgiveness, not even from myself. Because I’m not sorry for what I did to Rose. I’m just not. Not for any of it.”

Title: When I Am Through With You

Author: Stephanie Kuehn

Series: Standalone

Publication: August 1st 2017 by Dutton Books for Young Readers

Pages: 304

Source: Publisher in exchange for a honest review

Summary from Goodreads:

Ben Gibson is many things, but he’s not sorry and he’s not a liar. He will tell you exactly about what happened on what started as a simple school camping trip in the mountains. About who lived and who died. About who killed and who had the best of intentions. But he’s going to tell you in his own time. Because after what happened on that mountain, time is the one thing he has plenty of.

A List of Thoughts:

  • I totally forgot how good Stephanie Kuehn is at being creepy.
  • Book starts off with a high school senior waiting to go on trial for murder… cue the doom music
  • The writing is infuriatingly addictive – You want to know what’s happening and why and Ben, the narrator, dangles it all just out of reach until he’s ready to tell you.
  • The characters are fantastically deep and multi-dimensional. Each individual has their own story, their own purpose, and their own key role in the narrative as it unfolds.
  • When I am Through With You pulls you in and makes you want to know why. You know what happened, but you want the why and the how and the when and ARGGGGH. So wonderful and frustrating.
  • This book keeps you on the edge of your seat even though you know the end game… or do you? IT’S SO GREAT, GUYS! I love it when books make me need to know what is going on. That’s evidence of a good story right then and there.

Basically, guys, read the book and strap yourselves in for one wild ride.

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Exit, Pursued by a Bear

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“You’re okay with asking a nice girl who was wearing a pretty dress and had nice hair, who went to the dance with her cabin mates, who drank from the same punch bowl as everyone else – you’re okay with asking that girl what mistake she made, and you wouldn’t think to ask a boy how he would avoid raping someone?”

Title: Exit, Pursued by a Bear

Author: E.K Johnston

Series: Standalone

Publication:  March 15th 2016 by Dutton Books for Young Readers

Pages: 248

Source: Library

Summary from Goodreads:

Hermione Winters is captain of her cheerleading team, and in tiny Palermo Heights, this doesn’t mean what you think it means. At PHHS, the cheerleaders don’t cheer for the sports teams; they are the sports team—the pride and joy of a tiny town. The team’s summer training camp is Hermione’s last and marks the beginning of the end of…she’s not sure what. She does know this season could make her a legend. But during a camp party, someone slips something in her drink. And it all goes black.

In every class, there’s a star cheerleader and a pariah pregnant girl. They’re never supposed to be the same person. Hermione struggles to regain the control she’s always had and faces a wrenching decision about how to move on. The assault wasn’t the beginning of Hermione Winter’s story and she’s not going to let it be the end. She won’t be anyone’s cautionary tale.

My Thoughts:

I have a lot of feelings about this book. Not only was Exit, Pursued by a Bear more than I was expecting, it was also everything I hoped it would be. It was powerful, poignant, and it brought a viewpoint on sexual assault that I’ve never seen in a book before. Exit, Pursued by a Bear is a hard book to read, and I had to get up on multiple occasions and walk away simply because I felt too much. This is a book I will never forget.

“Of course, if I were dead, they could just bury me, and move on. Broken is harder to deal with.”

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Spontaneous

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And as long as the world spins on, we can still dance. No matter who we are, we can always dance.

Title: Spontaneous

Author: Aaron Starmer

Series: Standalone

Publication: August 23rd 2016 by Dutton Books for Young Readers

Pages: 368

Source: Publisher in exchange for a honest review

Summary from Goodreads:

Mara Carlyle’s senior year is going as normally as could be expected, until—wa-bam!—fellow senior Katelyn Ogden explodes during third period pre-calc.

Katelyn is the first, but she won’t be the last teenager to blow up without warning or explanation. As the seniors continue to pop like balloons and the national eye turns to Mara’s suburban New Jersey hometown, the FBI rolls in and the search for a reason is on.

Whip-smart and blunt, Mara narrates the end of their world as she knows it while trying to make it to graduation in one piece. It’s an explosive year punctuated by romance, quarantine, lifelong friendship, hallucinogenic mushrooms, bloggers, ice cream trucks, “Snooze Button™,” Bon Jovi, and the filthiest language you’ve ever heard from the President of the United States.

Aaron Starmer rewrites the rulebook with Spontaneous. But beneath the outrageous is a ridiculously funny, super honest, and truly moving exemplar of the absurd and raw truths of being a teenager in the 21st century . . . and the heartache of saying goodbye.

Thoughts and Things:

Basically, and it was fantastic. Spontaneous was a surprise for me, I wasn’t expecting to like it as much as I did. Generally, when things are promoted as being outrageously funny, they tend to disappoint in some way. Spontaneous, thankfully, was not one of those cases. It was wholly original, perfectly ridiculous, and the perfect emotional kickstart after midterms.

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Coming Soon: October 2016

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The best part about October is Halloween. Not really (yes really, but still). No, the best part about October is the insane amount of long awaited books now available for the unlimited consumption of book nerds and the like. Get ready to make the first page of that Christmas wishlist!

Everyone We’ve Been by Sarah Everett

Summary from Goodreads:

For fans of Jandy Nelson and Jenny Han comes a new novel that asks, can you possibly know the person you’re becoming if you don’t know the person you’ve been?

Addison Sullivan has been in an accident. In its aftermath, she has memory lapses and starts talking to a boy that no one else can see. It gets so bad that she’s worried she’s going crazy.

Addie takes drastic measures to fill in the blanks and visits a shadowy medical facility that promises to “help with your memory.” But at the clinic, Addie unwittingly discovers it is not her first visit. And when she presses, she finds out that she had certain memories erased. She had a boy erased.

But why? Who was that boy, and what happened that was too devastating to live with? And even if she gets the answers she’s looking for, will she ever be able to feel like a whole person again?

October 4th 2016 by Knopf Books for Young Readers

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