Published by Penguin, 28 August 2014, 512 pages, £7.99
Quick description: Mystery and romance novel, set in two different time periods, will leave you HOOKED.
Steam?: Some intense moments.
Plot: It’s 1965 and eighteen year-old Rosie Churchill has run away to the beautiful but run-down Castaway House in the seaside town of Helmstone. But when she uncovers a scandal locked away in the walls of the old house, she soon comes to realise that neither her own troubled past nor that of the house will stay buried for long. . .
In 1924 fresh-faced Robert Carver comes to Castaway House to spend a languid summer in the company of his much wealthier cousin, Alec Bray. But the Brays are a damaged family, with damaging secrets. And little does Robert know that his world is about to change for ever.
As Rosie begins to learn more about Robert, the further she is drawn into the mysterious history of the house, and their stories, old and new, entwine.
Like with my previous review of Coco’s Secret by Niamh Greene, I have been revisiting the old book shelf and seeing what has been left behind. Many books that I have currently lined up for me won’t be published till June so I need to do some filling in the meantime. But Castaway provides pretty good filling.
This novel is BRILLIANT and it got me so HOOKED. I don’t want to say too much about the plot in case of spoilers, because the mystery pretty much kicks in on page one. If you want a well-written mystery that deepens with every page and some romance splashed in, trust me blindly and get it. I would recommend an eBook version, because its quite a thick book and I hated leaving it behind during my commute.
The chapters alternates between the two protagonists; Rosie in the 60s, Robert in the 20s, and one place, Castaway House. Rosie is a young women who is trying to piece together her life after a terrible incident which has left her confused and frightened. Robert is also young and naive, with little knowledge of love and desire. As he immerses himself into the Bray’s troubling issues, Rosie starts piecing together the end of his story and discovering the start of her own.
I loved how the author entwined the time zones together in a fluid motion. The mystery is teased out gradually, but not in an aggravating pace. The reader gets enough to be curious and craving more till the end. I also loved how well the author captures the youth of the Rosie and Robert; the vulnerability, the awkwardness, the energy and the daring strength. There were certainly some passionate moments to get snared in. Great detail had also gone into the secondary characters, and they are more significant than at first glance. (wink)
The revelations are surprising, and the issues are resolved in unexpected ways. Rest assured, you will not have typical ending. You will, hopefully as I have, face more mysteries in terms of the enigma and ever underestimated power of love.
I am absolutely thrilled to be taking part in the cover reveal for Mila Gray’s (aka Sarah Alderson) latest book, This Is One Moment. As you well know I fell in love with Come Back to Meand am super pumped for a follow-up. The cover is in the same style as its predecessor- bold, intense,but also young and fun. Its out by Macmillan 10/09/15, £7.99, £5.99 (eBook).
Gorgeous
The steamy, romantic follow-up to Come Back to Me
A forbidden romance. A wounded Marine who thinks he’s beyond saving. A girl who’s determined to prove him wrong.Didi Monroe’s waited her whole life for the type of romance you see in the movies, so when Hollywood heartthrob Zac Ridgemont sweeps her off her feet, Didi believes she might finally have met the one.While Zac’s away filming for the summer, Didi begins her internship at a military hospital in California. There, she meets wounded Marine Noel Walker. Frustrated on the outside and broken on the inside, Walker’s a pain-in-the-ass patient who refuses all help.
Yet Didi can’t help but be drawn to him, and though he’s strictly out of bounds it soon becomes impossible to ignore the sparks flying between them.
As the attraction simmers into dangerous territory, Didi finds herself falling hard for a man she knows is going to break her heart. Because Walker doesn’t believe in love or happy ever afters. So what possible future can there be?
Then tragedy hits, shattering both their worlds, and Didi is forced to choose between fighting for love or merely falling for the illusion of it.
From Mila Gray, author of the bestselling romance Come Back To Me, comes a devastatingly beautiful, compelling and sexy story about the meaning of love and the heartbreak of loss.
“A captivating, heartfelt and sexy romance about the power of a love that won’t let go” – Liz Bankes, author of Irresistible
“A perfect, heartwrenching love story” – Weaving Pages
“The sexiest, most romantic book I’ve ever read . . . I couldn’t put it down” – Becky Wicks, author of Before He Was Famous
Mila Gray is the pseudonym for author Sarah Alderson. Having spent most of her life in London, Sarah quit her job in the non profit sector in 2009 and took off on a round the world trip with her husband and tutu-wearing daughter on a mission to find a new place to call home. She now lives in Bali.
She is the author of YA novels Hunting Lila and Losing Lila, as well as a further four novels and several short stories. www.milagray.comFor further information please call 020 7014 6000
Published by Macmillan Children’s, 21 May 2015, 192 pages, £3.79 (Kindle)
Plot: Olivia Grace is completely average. Or so she thinks . . . until Her Royal Highness, Princess Mia Thermopolis turns up at her school one day and whisks Olivia away to New York City! In a limo, no less! Where you can eat all the cookies you want and the ceiling lights up pink and purple – like a disco! But discovering that your father is actually the Prince of Genovia is quite a shock. Especially since it means you’re a descendent of the Kingdom of Genovia, and a princess. Olivia’s got a lot to learn about her long-lost family – and everyone’s got a lot to learn about her! Olivia chronicles her transformation from ordinary girl to princess in her notebook, with illustrations from Meg Cabot, who studied Fine Arts as an undergraduate.
This book is the first of the two new Princess Diaries published this year- WOOP. Thank you so much Macmillan and Net Galley for approving my request! See my hype on Meg Cabot, romance, YA extraordinaire and one of my all-time favorite authors. If you have been following Princess Mia for half your life, then this is a lovely quench to a 6 year starve.
This book is seriously CUTE. Such a lovely story about a young girl finding self- confidence in her abilities. Olivia triumphs over bullies, embraces who she really is and has a fairy-tale ending. The illustrations add a nice touch- I love the one of Grandmere.
As this book is aimed for a younger audience and is quite short (I finished it in an hour, probably less if I wasn’t fawning over the pictures), I would recommend it only to Princess Diaries fans if you are over teen years. Otherwise, this book is perfect for young girls of a fluent reading ability.
I CANNOT wait for Princess Diaries 11, coming in June………………….
I am proud to present this illustration for my own romance series ‘The Next Stop’ a mysterious time-travel story. Savannah and Raife are brought to life beautifully, and I am happy to promote the artist- Sarah Rebtine, a graphic design student from Austria. Tweet her to see her latest work and information on commissions: @Sarah_Rebtine
Romance novels dominate as the biggest selling genre in the UK and US. There is no question that they are hugely popular. I love reading romances. They leave me feeling deeply satisfied and happy. Hillary Clinton also confesses that she enjoys reading them ‘‘for pleasure’’ (KTR 2010). According to RWA (Romance Writers of America), a professional organization made up of 10,000 writers, the annual total sales value was $1.08 billion in 2013. This means the fiction genre taking up the largest chunk of the US consumer market at 13%.
However, these books are surrounded by a culture of shame. They are dismissed and mocked as trashy, smutty, and women’s porn. Hannah Burnett, from the University of Georgia, acknowledges this ‘shame of the heroine as being an object of desire and [her own] real shame of reading a book about desire’ (2013, 141). We writers and also readers put ourselves down. That’s why one of my favourite authors, Meg Cabot, started off with a penname, and why I have opted for one too. I remember my optician telling me that her daughter was an author. Excited on her behalf, I asked her what kind of novels her daughter writes. She replied, ‘‘Oh, justthose romance, chick-lit type of books’’, as if this fact was a low-point. But why exactly do we feel, or are made to feel, ashamed when taking pleasure in romance?
I believe, and so does Professor Linda J. Lee, of the University of Philadelphia, that the reason is ‘simply because it is women’s fiction’ (2008, 52). If this is the case, then the problem goes quite deep. Romances are written by women, for women. RWA confirms that 84% of women are romance book buyers in the US in 2014. (Nielsen Romance Buyer Survey). Yet, romances are excluded from serious literary publications like The London/ New York Review of Books. There has also been very little academic research on this genre. Trust me I know, after having scanned my university database before my library card expired.
Noah Berlatsky writes a compelling article in Salon.com about the disturbing connection between genre and gender: ‘Romance is seen as unserious and frivolous because women are seen as unserious and frivolous’ (Feb 2014). He argues that this particular attitude is linked to the attitude that prevents certain high-brow venues publishing and reviewing more women writers.
So are we ashamed to be openly feminine?
All romances share a formulaic plot parallel to fairy-tales: two characters meet, there is tension, they ultimately embrace sometimes in the form of a love-scene, and there is conflict which resolves itself with a happy ending involving marriage and children. There are many subgenres, such as regency (my favourite), historical, paranormal, western and contemporary, but all centre on the notion of love. Reading about fairy-tale endings might imply that women are naïve, unintelligent and weak to want things like marriage. But I know that reality and books are separate entities. I read romance because it is a great stress-reliever and the predictable endings offer a feeling of stability.
The term ‘romance’ usually conjures up a traditional ‘bodice-ripping’ book covers with a muscular hunk and a swooning woman whose clothes are falling apart. Many readers are put off and embarrassed by these images because they suggest shallow, dominant-submissive relationships and even rape fantasies. These concepts came to represent the entire genre and also justified the scornful attitude towards them. I remember my friend referring to romances as ‘‘those gross ones that fill half the library and are taken out by old women’’.
Best-selling regency
Professor Rita Hubbarb claims that many of the older romance novels from the 1950s did lean this way. Using the example of Sweet Waters by Rosalind Brett, published by Harlequin in 1955, she sums up the heroine as constantly virginal with low-esteem, while the hero as always successful and domineering (2009, 117). Thankfully, attitudes are changing. From the 1980s, female characters are liberated and depicted equal to men. I read about women who are smart, strong-minded and respected by their suitors, for example in Educating Caroline by Patricia Cabot and Come Back to Me by Mila Gray.
However, this post-Fifty Shades era is a mixed one. Its phenomenal success has brought the attention of ‘paper-back’ fiction to non-romance publishers and encouraged a flood of female writers, like Sylvia Day and her Crossfire Series, published by prestigious Penguin. But it has also cemented stereotypes and shoe-horned the category of romance as erotica. Now many people think that all romances include bondage.
What also nags is why novels like Pride and Prejudice, which follow the romance plot, are considered ‘greats’ and not Three Weeks with Lady X by Eloisa James? Is it the sex? There is plenty of sex in many critically acclaimed novels, for example The Possibility of an Island by Michel Houellebecq, one of the books on my MA course list. Or is it more the sexual satisfaction from the heroine’s point of view that receives some sniggers? When women admit to reading romance, they are also implying that they are in touch with their sexuality.
Is it also the low calibre of writing? Many romances are written in simple and clumsy styles, usually the eBooks going for less than a £/$1 on Kindle. But you get both the good and bad mash-up in all genres. I recently read a book nominated for the Man Booker prize which I thought was awful.
Is it also the fact that classics have been around too long to be questioned? This precisely is the mind-set that people have about literature and gender that is both stubborn and damaging. Women readers do not want to be seen as silly, indulging in overtly sexual and submissive fantasies that make them look frustrated, lonely, or a ‘spinster’. But do you see the irony? If you enjoy romances and hide it then you are repressing a part of yourself and that is being submissive in itself.
References:
Berlatsky, Noah. (2014) ‘‘Highbrow media’s sexist blind spot: Romance novels’’, Feb 25. Accessed April 17, 2015. www.salon.com
Burnett, Hannah. E. (2013) ‘‘Shame game: Romance novels and feminist shame, a mad lib for collective feeling’’, in Women & Performance: a journal of feminist theory, 23:1, pp. 140-144.
Hubbarb, Rita. C. (2009) ‘‘Relationship styles in popular romance novels, 1950 to 1983’’ in, Communication Quarterly, 33:2, pp. 113-125.
Published by Penguin Books, Aug 2013, 356 pages, £3.49 (Kindle)
Quick Description: Heartwarming tale of a woman’s search for meaning.
Perfect for: lazy weekends
Steam?: minimal
Plot: With a name like Coco, she thinks people expect her to be as exotic and glamorous as the famous designer, not an ordinary-looking small-town antiques dealer who could win an award for living cautiously. But when a vintage Chanel handbag turns up in a box of worthless bric-a-brac, Coco’s quiet world is turned upside down. Where did it come from? And is it just coincidence that it’s the same bag Coco’s late mother always wanted for her? When Coco discovers a mysterious, decades-old letter hidden in the bag’s lining, she sets off on a quest to piece together the story behind it, stumbling across secrets that span three generations as she goes.
Could the beautiful Chanel bag be about to teach Coco more than she wants to learn? Or will it show her just where her heart can take her if she lets it lead the way?
This book was lingering on my book shelf for a while. Its cover gave off signals of a light chick-lit read. So when I picked it up a few days ago, feeling ill and wanting a nice read, I carried on engrossed for many hours. I finished it within a day.
The beginning packs a punch and the sense of sadness remains in the background of the novel. But this isn’t a sob fest. The characters find the courage to move on and embrace the present. There is plenty of mystery that keeps the reader interested, not just involving the bag but also Coco and her family. The two emotional and intense stories start to intertwine, resulting in painful revelations. If you are someone who believes in fate and signs then you would completely understand this novel.
Coco is someone who many can relate to. She is kind, smart, hard-working, but is she too comfortable? She reaches a point in her life when she starts getting reality check-outs from her friends and family. Is she living life the fullest? Is she in denial about some things?
Whilst there is romance, the novel is more about Coco’s love for herself, her family and of life. The quest of the bag leads her to some unresolved issues of her past, making comical turns and reaching heart-warming moments- proof that a Chanel bag has powers (when can I get my hands on one??).
Published by Harlequin Teen/ Mira Ink, 384 pages, April 13th 2015, £6.99 (Amazon).
Quick description: Quirky and witty story of contemporary high school shenanigans.
Steam?: none-graphic, some heat and tender moments.
Plot: Best friends Dave and Julia were determined to never be clichés so they even wrote their own Never List of everything they vowed they’d never, ever do in high school.
Some of the rules have been easy to follow; But Dave has a secret: he’s broken rule #8, never pine silently after someone for the entirety of high school. It’s either that or break rule #10, never date your best friend. Dave has loved Julia for as long as he can remember. So when she suggests they do every Never on the list, Dave is happy to play along. He even dyes his hair an unfortunate shade of green.
It starts as a joke, but then a funny thing happens: Dave and Julia discover they’ve actually been missing out on high school. And maybe even on love.
So, many people are comparing this to works by John Green. As someone who has not yet read The Fault in Our Stars etc, I can safely say that I enjoyed this in its own right. It is pretty brilliant writing. The dialogue is very witty and sharp as a razor. All the characters, not just the protagonists, are hilarious. There were certainly laugh out loud moments that turned a few heads during my reading.
That is not to say that the novel is light-hearted. There area few seriously intense moments. Dave and Julia are so determined to be ‘original’ during high-school that they completely ostracize themselves for 4 whole years. I mean I totally get that. It brought back my own memories. At that age you are so desperate to be unique and different. You don’t feel connected to the ‘in-crowd’, so you are OK brushing them away as unintelligent and ‘cliche’. Ignore them before they can ignore you. As Dave and Julia find out, this mentality doesn’t really last and happiness is only temporary.
What the protagonists do not realize, is that they are an ultimate cliche. A boy and girl who are childhood best friends, with the boy harboring a life-long crush? Where have we encountered this before?- Er I don’t know, everywhere! What is up with American high schools and boy-girl best friends… And the bucket-list activity fits perfectly as a Disney TV movie.
As the friends start ticking down their list, they embark on a roller coaster of interesting emotions, unearthing complicated issues that have been kept at bay for 4 years. Their different reasons for being social out casts become clear, but this realization leaves themselves to re-think their life choices. This amounts to an unexpected and totally un-cliched ending, which I honestly found a little abrupt and confusing.
The novel did actually remind me of Indy teen movies: Juno, The Perks of Being a Wallflower. I can see Dave being played by Dylan O’Brien and Julia by Chloe Grace Moretz. I know, cliche much?
Published by Harlequin Teen/ Mira Ink, 28 Oct 2014 & 28 April 2015, £6.99-7.99
Description: YOUNG AND COOL DRAGONS. Action-packed, mystery, fantasy YA with romance.
Steam?: squeaky clean but some sizzling moments, not just from the dragons.
Plot: Talon-Long ago, dragons were hunted to near extinction by the Order of St. George, a legendary society of dragon slayers. Hiding in human form and growing their numbers in secret, the dragons of Talon have become strong and cunning, and they’re positioned to take over the world with humans none the wiser. Ember and Dante Hill are the only sister and brother known to dragonkind. Trained to infiltrate society, Ember wants to live the teen experience and enjoy a summer of freedom before taking her destined place in Talon. But destiny is a matter of perspective, and a rogue dragon will soon challenge everything Ember has been taught.
As Ember struggles to accept her future, she and her brother are hunted by the Order of St. George. Soldier Garret Xavier Sebastian has a mission to seek and destroy all dragons, and Talon’s newest recruits in particular. But he cannot kill unless he is certain he has found his prey — and nothing is certain about Ember Hill. Faced with Ember’s bravery, confidence and all-too-human desires, Garret begins to question everything that the Order has ingrained in him – and what he might be willing to give up to find the truth about dragons.
A dragon who is torn between true nature and her human form- what can be more bizarre and exciting?! Ember is a vivacious character with a kind heart. She is bursting with energy and reminds me of my mid-teens; always feeling caged and wanting to break free from a myriad of things. Any reader would love her and support her when she continually challenges the Talon regime. Go Ember!
Her love of both things dragon and human undermines the ancient war of Talon and St. George. Both institutions are completely fixed in their hatred of each other and nobody knows who started it. There is something Cold War-like there. Another mystery is that nobody has met the highest order of the two sides. Ember and Dante are expected to follow Talon word as utmost law, but they barely have any information. ‘This is the way it’s always been and should be’: well we all know how this motto works out.
Ember’s confusion brings us to the typical YA love triangle: good-looking Garret, a secret St. George soldier and a rogue dragon called Riley/Cobalt, who happens to transform into a hot biker dude. So many things happen at once. Ember starts falling in love. Garret is questioning basically his whole life and Riley decides to risk exposure by recruiting Ember. The alternative-POV chapters really help the reader get an insight into this complexity and experience the intensity of emotions.
Overall this is a great start to a fantastic series. For those who want a little more gut and action than the Twilight series I would recommend this.
Do NOT read on **Spoilers**!
Rogue- Ember Hill left the dragon organization Talon to take her chances with rebel dragon Cobalt and his crew of rogues. But Ember can’t forget the sacrifice made for her by the human boy who could have killed her—Garret, the boy who saved her from a Talon assassin, knowing that by doing so, he’d signed his own death warrant.
Determined to save Garret from execution, Ember must convince Cobalt to help her break into the Order’s headquarters. With assassins after them and Ember’s own brother helping Talon with the hunt, the rogues find an unexpected ally in Garret and a new perspective on the underground battle between Talon and St. George.
Yay! Ember is back and ready to kick ass with Riley. She is finally free of Talon and her creepy trainer. Garret has also turned his back from his organisation, so all three are exiles and nomads. You couldn’t have a weirder and more intense runaway gang. So be prepared for more suspense, action and heart-wrenching moments.
Now Dante is in charge of her capture, we get a sneak peek into Talon head-quarters. But this only deepens the mystery. Why is everyone so obsessed with Ember? Why have they asked Dante to be her hit-man of all dragons? What do they know about the two that is so important? And where is this elusive Elder Wyrm??
I get so frustrated with Dante, why can’t he see that Talon is nuts? Both brother and sister think that the other is brain-washed. This paranoia and mistrust feeds into the reader. We start to feel that there are other issues at stake. St. George is as determined as Talon to retrieve its traitor. Both organizations clash and its confusing to know which one is which. Is there possibly a conspiracy going on?
Published by Harper Collins UK, Children’s, June 7 2012, £2.40 (Ebook).
Description: YA dystopia-modern fairytale-reality TV-romance
Steam?: none graphic but plenty of swoon.
Plot: It’s the chance of a lifetime and 17-year-old America Singer should feel lucky. She has been chosen for The Selection, a reality TV lottery in which the special few compete for gorgeous Prince Maxon’s love. Swept up in a world of elaborate gowns, glittering jewels and decadent feasts, America is living a new and glamorous life. And the prince takes a special interest in her, much to the outrage of the others.
Rivalry within The Selection is fierce and not all of the girls are prepared to play by the rules. But what they don’t know is that America has a secret – one which could throw the whole competition… and change her life forever.
Ok, Wow. Seriously, I am kicking myself. Where has this been in the past three years of my life? While we were all getting hyped from the Hunger Games Movies, this was being published. If you even had a vague interest in the HG then you would still love this. GET IT.
I got my copy of this via Netgalley in time to review the fourth book The Heir, out on 5 May. So I have a lot to catch up on; not that it would take me long as I finished the first book in a few hours.
The heroine, America, is very loveable. She is high-spirited, sensitive, smart and kind. Being named ‘America’ is a little disturbing. It confirms the ghosts of a lost world, but her admirable qualities are obviously patriotic. She is not afraid to speak her mind, be herself and finds beauty in her gift of music. And of course, whilst fighting for her family, she finds herself in a very irresistible love triangle: Aspen, the gorgeous boy she left behind and Maxon, the polite and adorable Prince.
This novel has a very interesting concept. It got me thinking about society, culture, people and myself. I know, deep. But that’s the mark of a good book; implanting thoughts that linger for hours. The author combines issues that we can relate to in contemporary society.
The idea of being selected by a Prince and rising from rags to riches has been done. Cinderella. I just watched the Disney live-action last week. So the story is popular and cherished. There are also successful (well non-serious) reality TV selections: The Bachelor and the ghastly I Want to Marry Harry. The programs exist because many find it entertaining and they bring together communities, as many reality shows do. So, an official version does not seem completely bizarre.
The novel also explores strict social hierarchies, abstinence and poverty as a result of the lack of birth control. These issues echo Regency England as well as modern day problems in third world countries. The regeneration and instability of a post-war era is revisited. This is not the post-apocalyptic grave-yard of HG, but a subtle and familiar landscape. Like the aftermath of WW2, countries have been re-formed and re-named. Like the characters, we don’t have complete access to our history and heritage. So the novel feels like reality and alternative reality at the same time. If we swap some things around and we may be living in a dystopia… Or are we already?
Overall, the novel is well-written with great pacing from both action-scenes and tender moments. There are a host of interesting characters with their own backgrounds and secrets. The good deal of mystery keeps the reader going- who keeps attacking the palace? And who will America chose? Aspen, Maxon, her family or herself?
Plot: Before Carolyn Lessing arrived, nothing much had ever happened in Adamsville, Alabama. Each week, at dinner tables and in the high school assembly, everyone would pray for the football team to win. Each year, the Adams High hotlist would be updated, and girls would rise and fall within its ranks. Each day, everyone lived by the unwritten rules that cheerleaders did not hang out with the swim team, seniors did not date freshmen and the blistering heat was something that should never be remarked upon. But then the new girl came.
All Carolyn’s social media could reveal was that she had moved from New Jersey, she had 1075 friends – and she didn’t have a relationship status. In beach photos with boys who looked like Abercrombie models she seemed beautiful, but in real life she was so much more. She was perfect.
This was all before the camera crews arrived, before it became impossible to see where rumour ended and truth began, and before the Annual Adamsville Balloon Festival, when someone swore they saw the captain of the football team with his arm around Carolyn, and cracks began to appear in the dry earth.
I came across this book whist volunteering at the charity shop. It was a proof copy which we’re not allowed to sell. It was weird because we normally get donated super old and dusty books. So I wondered if there was a fellow book blogger that just had too much. Anyway, I took it home because I’ve been meaning to read it and the cover is just so striking. And this is what the book is about: image, that and passivity. I thought it was brilliant debut and even though it’s not a romance, it deserves a review.
The use of first person plural is definitely creepy but extremely understandable. For anyone who has been in an adolescent friendship group, especially a girl one, you will know that you were a clone. You stick together in public, travel, eat and shop in a pack. You are referred to by others as ‘them lot’ or ‘so and so’s gang’. It is almost as if you, like the narrator, are faceless. The novel cleverly addresses the universality of these cliques and how they are always watching, always talking but never getting too close.
I can understand the narrator becoming obsessed with the beautiful new girl. Everybody is attracted to beautiful images. In the digital age everything is easier, quicker and traceable. But for bullying, the brutality is harder, faster, and inescapable. Tweets and Instagrams multiply and circle continuously. Its not so easy to just deactivate all your social accounts. Being in my twenties I’d like to think that I am detached from the digital generation, but I still find myself Facebook stalking.
The novel has good pacing and the colloquial language is very believable. Nothing is worse than an author misusing slang…The novel also alternates between narration and documents, which makes readers feel even more like they are gossips and peeping-toms. It addresses the irony of bullies being bullied and turns back on the reader. Would I, ultimately, have done anything different? Would my 16 year old self have reached out to Carolyn?- The truth hurts.
Celia Moontown 