Yesterday, 19 teens came in to learn how to make pop-up cards. Our presenter, Chris Vivas, showed everyone different techniques to make their cards special. The cards will be donated to locate residents in need of a smile. Great job everyone!
Month: November 2021
Teen Reviewer Gwenyth I.
Author: Colleen Hoover
Total Pages: 324
Personal Rating: 5/5
Review:
I’m going to preface this book review by giving a spoiler alert because I will be discussing major topics that relate to the ending of this book (please search up trigger warnings before reading this book because there are quite a few). Wow… this novel pushes the boundaries of thriller romance and the captivity of the plot got me to finish Verity in one day. Throughout the book, the reader follows Lowen Ashleigh, a struggling author trying to make ends meet after the financial toll following her mother’s death. She eventually gets an offer from a company that proposes for her to finish a book series written by a well-known author, Verity Crawford, as Verity has recently suffered an incident that has left her physically and mentally impaired. After Lowen takes the book deal, she retreats to the Crawford home in hopes of understanding Verity’s artistic standpoint by sorting through her outlines and manuscripts. While searching through Verity’s scripts, she finds an intriguing unfinished manuscript, one that is autobiographical. She reads page after page of bone-chilling admissions, including Verity’s recollection of what really happened the day her daughter died. Lowen decides to keep the manuscript hidden from Verity’s husband, Jeremey, knowing its contents would devastate the already grieving father. But as Lowen’s feelings for Jeremy begin to intensify, she recognizes all the ways she could benefit if he were to read his wife’s words.
I’m going to cut straight to the chase here and begin with the ending of the book (ironic huh?). As I am writing this, I’m still mentally processing how the ending flipped the entire plot upside down. For starters, I was so shocked when I found out that Layla’s autobiography was all antagonistic journaling to clear her writer’s block. Everything that she described from child abuse to her failed suicide attempt was all false. During the final scene of the book, Lowne finds a letter Verity wrote before she died explaining everything: she never killed her daughter and when Jeremy tried to kill her (the car accident) and she survived, she was terrified. Everything that the audience learned about Verity was falsified, which just amazes me as throughout the whole book, I characterized her as a psychopath. But if we take a deeper look into Verity’s name, in French, verity is very similar to vérité, which means the truth. From just this quick analysis, I was able to determine that Verity was never the villain this whole time and her name even proves it. Instead, who I thought was the protagonist this whole time was so unexpectedly the villain. James is painted to be the perfect father figure, but in reality, he can’t see or hear anyone’s truth besides his own.
This book was so excellent and beyond what I can describe just by writing a review. The writing and plotline were so well written, keeping me at the edge of my seat throughout the book. I would definitely recommend this book to teenagers 16+, but make sure not to read it before sleeping because it is definitely a thriller!
Thanks again!
Thanksgiving Turkey Pretzel Pops
Last week we started to get in the Thanksgiving mood by making turkey pretzel pops! These fun and tasty treats are so easy to make. The Baking Coach showed us all their tricks to make these adorable turkeys. Some teens even used their extra chocolate to cover cookies! Yummy!
Hope you all have a great Thanksgiving!!
Teen reviewer Gwenyth I.
Author: Angie Hockman
Total Pages: 321
Personal Rating: 4/5
Review:
In her debut novel, Shipped, Angie Hockman describes her book as “The Honeymooners meets The Hating Game” which perfectly depicts the premise of this book. In Shipped, Henley Evans and her nemesis, Graeme Crawford-Collins are sent to the Galapagos via their company’s request to compete for a digital director position. Due to their impractical first impression, Henley has always held a hatred for Graeme, believing he is the bane of her existence. But when she meets Graeme for the first time (he works virtually from home), Henley realizes he is nothing like the stuck-up man she depicts him to be via their email battles. With a promotion on the line, Henley must deny their mutual attraction until the trip is over, or will she?
This book is really cute and definitely bears similarities to The Honeymooners, in which the reader sees the “enemies to lovers” trope. But unlike the typical books of this genre, Shipped focuses on a female protagonist and what it feels like to exist in a male-dominated workspace. There really isn’t much comedy or romance, but I really enjoyed reading the realities of adulting, which could possibly help me in my future. For example, the reader finds out that Henley’s boss has plagiarized not only her work but other ex-employees as well. Relating this to the real world, this is totally realistic as we often see executives abuse their status power. Not only that, but Angie Hockman wrote the book so you could personally see what goes through Henley’s mind as she goes through her days. Reading about Henley’s personality made me realize how similar I am to her, as we both are control freaks / extremely adamant about doing the best.
Overall, Shipped was such a pleasure to read and I loved everything the lengths these individuals would go to for a job promotion. But most of all, the underlying message about how women always have to work harder than men for the same benefits truly sets this novel apart from others.
Another great review from Gwenyth!!
Teen reviewer Gwenyth I.
Author: Colleen Hoover
Total Pages: 304
Personal Rating: 5/5
Review:
In her most recent novel, Layla, Colleen Hoover ventures outside of her typical genre and explores the realm of thriller and paranormal fiction. The novel follows Leeds, a musician who is convinced he will spend the rest of his life with Layla, a confident and extroverted woman who grasps his attention at a wedding. Their relationship is picture perfect until Layla is put in a life-threatening position which ultimately traumatizes her, both mentally and physically. Since the accident, Leeds has found himself falling out of love with the girl who he thought was his soulmate. It is not until Willow, an unexplainable paranormal figure, shows up and provides him an odd sense of comfort with his relationship issues.
I really didn’t think Colleen Hoover would be able to pull off a novel besides young adult romance, but wow was I wrong. This book is outstanding, from the writing to the plot, everything about Layla puts the reader at the edge of his/her seat. It just goes to prove that Hoover can write human emotions so aptly, no matter the situation. I will admit that when I was reading the exposition, I felt as if the book was a little naive or childish, but the novel completely proved me wrong. The relationship between Layla and Leeds is so atypical compared to what we normally get from a contemporary romance novel that it pushes the plotline to another level.
Colleen Hoover always creates the best plot twists and Layla gave me just the right amount of emotion and the ending, though I wish it gave me a bit more, felt oddly complete. Although I wouldn’t label this novel as romance, it has a strong romantic element that keeps the story moving. If you’re a fan of paranormal stories on the ghostly side that are intriguing and compelling, this is the book for you. I definitely didn’t see Layla going in the direction it did, but I loved the twists and turns it took.
Thanks so much!