Book review: "Things I Can't Forget" by Miranda Kenneally

Title: Things I Can't Forget
Author: Miranda Kenneally
Publisher: Sourcebooks, 2013

In this third novel by Miranda Kenneally, she continues to write about teens in the Tennessee community of Hundred Oaks High, though this time it's summer and Cumberland Creek camp is the setting. Kate Kelly is a good girl who has always followed what she was told God wants for her life, until her best friend gets pregnant and needs her help with getting an abortion. Consumed with guilt, she heads off to her Christian camp where she is a counselor for the summer, hoping to find some sort of peace but not counting on it. What she does find is an unexpected friendship with classmate Parker and a very unexpected romance with an old friend. But she'll need to learn to forgive herself and let go of the past if she's going to be able to move forward.

Known for her teen romances that fuse sports with faith and personal struggles, Kenneally moves away from the sports aspect in this book and focuses on the rest. Kate used to play soccer, but her athleticism was almost completely taken away from her after tearing her ACL before the beginning of this book. She has to figure out what to do with herself and redefine herself without soccer, and without her best friend in her life.

There are a lot of great things about this book. I think it fills a niche in the YA market—a book examining belief while at the same time dealing with real issues. I feel like usually when I read books that talk about Christianity or religion, they are either super Christian with a clear message, only slightly touch on faith, or end up with the main character really not sure what they believe anymore. This is a refreshing take, for me, because it does deal with faith and religion, but also with issues like sex that confuse many young people if it clashes with what they've been taught. What I loved was how Kate looks at what she personally believes despite what others try to tell her, whether the "others" are the people at her church or her friends. In the end, she begins her journey toward figuring out her religious and moral beliefs. I could directly identify with her struggles, as I remember going through that myself, and I don't think you need to be a Christian in order to understand or relate.

There are a lot of subplots sprinkled throughout the novel, but they all tie in to what Kate is going through. Everything that happens to her contributes to her evolving worldview and makes her into a stronger person. I was also glad to see how much her father supports her in pretty much everything; at first it seems like he might be a bit controlling, but it becomes clear that Kate is wrong about what her dad wants for her. He just wants her to be happy, and I love that.

Though this isn't the best-written novel out there, it definitely has a place in today's culture. I would highly recommend this to teens who are dealing with this confusion, or anyone who enjoys teen romance with some depth. I'm looking forward to Kenneally's next book, Racing Savannah, out in December.

Disclosure: I got this e-book via NetGalley.

Book review: "Guitar Notes" by Mary Amato

Title: Guitar Notes
Author: Mary Amato
Publisher: Egmont, 2012

Tripp Broody and Lyla Marks have both been assigned to Practice Room B during lunch. Tripp has the odd days, Lyla the even. Their friendship begins when Lyla writes a note asking the "Odd Day Musician" to please throw away his trash he left on the music stand. What follows is a note exchange that turns into a friendship with a guitar at the center of it.

Lyla is under enormous pressure as a classical cello player, taking after her mother, a professional player who died in a plane crash when Lyla was little. She doesn't really enjoy playing anymore, but puts on a smile and does what she's expected to do.

Tripp has had his guitar confiscated by his mother, who worries he's isolating himself and that his guitar has become his obsession. Tripp hasn't made any friends since his father died a few years ago and his best friend moved to Schenectady, and his grades have been suffering. In an effort to get back to the one thing that keeps him sane, he signs up for a practice room, provided the school can loan him a guitar, which they do but under the stipulation that it must stay in the practice room.

Both Lyla and Tripp have to deal with the loss of a parent, though they don't necessarily connect with this similarity. Lyla was very young when her mother died, so she doesn't grieve like Tripp or her father does. Instead, she is living in her mother's shadow and trying to fill her shoes, an enormous task that is almost oppressive. Because her father is so invested in Lyla's success as a cello player, she never has any room to be who she wants to be. Tripp, on the other hand, only lost his father a few years earlier after he suffers a brain aneurism. His father was the more involved of the two parents, and every year they went camping on a plot of land they owned. In fact, it was the last camping trip that led Tripp to start playing guitar, making the guitar one of the last connections he has with his father. I love that each character is affected very differently by their losses, and that they don't come together because of their loss, but instead because of their love for music.

Lyla and Tripp don't have a blossoming romance, or a fated connection. They just both need a friend who understands them and is willing to actually listen and share music. It is quite a blessing for both of them, since Tripp really doesn't have any friends and Lyla's only friend, Annie, is constantly in competition with her (she's a violinist) and never really seems to understand she needs time away from her. The duo begin to write songs together and separately, challenging themselves to become better musicians and better writers, and in the process become better friends.

The book itself is full of the notes, song lyric brainstorms, and text messages. I loved this addition. For someone who has never written a song or a poem, it's nice to see the thought process behind it. And I do love this new way to show dialogue in literature (yes, I know texting isn't that new, but it's not often that you see a whole conversation in a novel). Oh, and bonus: If you play guitar, there's an appendix that has all the songs, both the music and the lyrics.

This is a book about friendship, music, and the pressures of living up to the standards parents place on their children whether they realize it or not. It's a fast read, and a refreshing gem in teen lit.

Disclosure: I got this book from the library.