Title: My Life After Now
Author: Jessica Verdi
Category: Fiction, Young Adult, Contemporary
Publication Date: April 2, 2013
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Lucy just had the worst week ever. Seriously, mega bad. And suddenly, it's all too much—she wants out. Out of her house, out of her head, out of her life. She wants to be a whole new Lucy. So she does something the old Lucy would never dream of.

And now her life will never be the same. Now, how will she be able to have a boyfriend? What will she tell her friends? How will she face her family?

Now her life is completely different...every moment is a gift. Because now she might not have many moments left.

Have you ever made a mistake? Of course you have. We all have. Often, our mistakes may have little to no consequences, or at the worst, may result with us eating a bit of crow or humble pie. It is not often that our mistakes drastically alter the course of our lives. That's what happens to Lucy when, after enduring an emotional roller-coaster week, she does something out of character that eventually comes to affect not only her, but everyone around her, too.

In MY LIFE AFTER NOW, Jessica Verdi expertly tackles tough subjects that thousands upon millions of teens across the globe deal with on a daily basis: underage drinking, drug abuse, unprotected sex, and finally, the very real, very serious consequences of all these things. Over the last couple of decades, awareness of HIV and AIDS has grown exponentially; however, there are still misconceptions about the disease, such as the idea that it can be transmitted by non-sexual contact. My heart ached for Lucy as she struggled with feelings of denial, self-loathing, and fear. Her emotions were palpable and I often wished I could reach into the pages of the book and hug her. 

Though she often felt incredibly alone and was initially hesitant to tell even her family and most trusted friends, she had an amazing support system. Her best friends, Max and Courtney, jumped off the pages with their quirks and personalities, her dad's (yes, that's right, plural!) were fiercely loving and loyal, and her counselor, Roxie, was an awe-inspiring firecracker. This is not to say that Lucy didn't encounter the debilitating side-effect of prejudice and misinformation when those around her learned about her disease. Imagine touching someone's arm and their first reaction is to jerk away, horrified and disgusted. Imagine that this someone is a boy (or girl) you really like. Yeah... sick or not, that type of reaction is deeply hurtful and will leave a permanent mark on your soul. 

Despite the tough subject and despite the dark emotions this story can dredge up, MY LIFE AFTER NOW is not without its bright points. Overall, this was a touching, eye-opening, unique story, and one that I want to put in the hands of every teenager I know. This book has the hard-to-find combination of relatable and well-rounded characters, a well-paced plot, perfectly balanced action and reflection, and a hard-hitting message. It is no longer enough to talk about abstinence and safe sex and pass out condoms and leave teenagers to their own devices. We need to start educating them on the very real consequences of unprotected sex. 

One of my favorite inspirational quotes reads, "Nobody can do everything, but everyone can do something."  Librarians, teachers, parents, counselors, family, friends... Read this book. Then pass it on. 

*An advance copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

As part of the MY LIFE AFTER NOW Blog Tour, Jessica Verdi has been kind enough to provide a Guest Post where she talks about how her close ties with the world of HIV/AIDS has affected her and her friend’s lives personally. I asked Jessica how she thinks MY LIFE AFTER NOW will contribute to ongoing HIV awareness initiatives, and this was her answer:

Thank you so much for the opportunity to write a guest post for your blog! I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to talk a little bit about My Life After Now.

Though I don’t have HIV personally, I feel like it’s always been around me. When I was little, I had a family member who died from AIDS. I didn’t know much about what that meant at the time, but I knew how sad it made my family.

Then, for a while, HIV/AIDS was everywhere in pop culture. It seemed everywhere you looked during my teen years the entertainment industry was referencing the AIDS crisis. Salt-n-Pepa’s “Let’s Talk About Sex,” Janeane Garofalo’s character waiting for her test results in Reality Bites, the musical Rent (which I was obsessed with—okay, still am), Pedro on The Real World: San Francisco, Jenny in Forrest Gump, Stone and Robin on General Hospital… But then that all kind of dropped off.

In the early 2000s, it seemed people kind of stopped talking about it. At least, they weren’t talking about it as much or with the same vehemence as they had in the ’80s and ’90s. That’s probably because, thanks to advancements in medication, people aren’t dying from AIDS at the rate they used to. So the whole issue is a little “out of sight, out of mind.”

A few years ago, someone close to me found out they were HIV-positive, and suddenly the issue was brought back into the spotlight for me. When’s the right time to go on medication? What do you tell someone you’re dating? Should you tell your co-workers or not? Will you ever be able to have children of your own? People with HIV/AIDS have to think about all these questions, and so many more, every single day.

I decided to write My Life After Now because I wanted to do something to help get the HIV/AIDS conversation going again, especially with teenagers. It’s a subject that’s gone largely ignored in YA literature up until now, yet it’s a huge part of our world. Hopefully this book will be a step toward filling that gap.

Very well-said, Jessica! I hope that teenagers and adults alike take away something special from this novel and that this book serves as a catalyst of change in our global community.  

Title: The Next Time You See Me
Author: Holly Goddard Jones
Category: Fiction, Adult, Contemporary
Publication Date: February 12, 2013
Publisher: Touchstone

 Thirteen-year-old Emily Houchens doesn’t have many friends. She finds more comfort playing make-believe in the woods near her house in Roma, Kentucky, than with her classmates, who find her strange and awkward. When she happens upon a dead body hidden in the woods one day, she decides not to tell anyone about her discovery—a choice that begins to haunt her.

Susanna Mitchell has always been a good girl, the dutiful daughter and wife. While her older sister Ronnie trolled bars for men and often drove home at sunrise, Susanna kept a neat house, a respectable job, a young daughter. But when Ronnie goes missing, and Susanna realizes that she’s the only person in Roma who truly cares about her sister’s fate, she starts to question her quiet life and its value.

 "Meh." That was my final thought upon reading -well, skimming- the last sentence of this book. I was expecting a suspenseful, entertaining read (a'la Mary Higgins Clark or Catherine Coulter) and in the end was extremely underwhelmed.

The characters were fairly well-written but did not particularly stand out. The character I connected most with was Emily Houchens, an odd little girl who is bullied endlessly in school, and whose behavior eventually went on to thoroughly creep me out. The other characters seemed, to me, to have so much more potential and I feel there was a bit of a disservice done to them. I can see how many women would easily connect with Susanna, especially in regards to her unhappiness with her marriage. There were a few interesting "aha!" revelations that broke though her otherwise monotonous thoughts.

The plot was meandering and, while it showed hints of promise, rather boring. The "mystery" of who happened to Ronnie was predictable, but I continued to read to find out why, which was probably the most interesting part of the book.

My least favorite part of this book was the last chapter. It is written in a completely different point-of-view from the rest of the book and is a bit too stream-of-consciousness for me. I am not sure what Holly Goddard Jones was trying to achieve by writing it in this manner, but it resulted in me being frustrated and rather annoyed at the end. 

My book reviews are usually pretty in-depth, but in this case, the book was so one-note for me, that I really do not feel I have much to comment on. I see that many people have rated this book highly, so perhaps I was just in a different state of mind while reading this book; perhaps I just don't appreciate the point Holly Goddard Jones was trying to make.

As always, I recommend that you read this book for yourself if the subject interests you. It wasn't for me, but many other readers enjoyed it, and so you might, too!

*A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.