Showing posts with label JoLyn Brown. Show all posts
Showing posts with label JoLyn Brown. Show all posts

Friday, September 22, 2017

Break by JoLyn Brown

Break

Author: JoLyn Brown

Publisher: Walnut Springs

Published: August 10th, 2017

ISBN13: 9781599921785

Paperback/ebook: 266 pages

FTC FYI: I received a PDF copy from the publisher, all views and opinions expressed are my own.

Goodreads Summary

Preston Bensen struggles with the same social anxiety that led his father to walk away years ago. With a younger brother who has Down syndrome, Preston has made it his job to hold together what remains of their family.

A few weeks after he loses a friend in an accident, Preston’s mother announces her decision to remarry. Now Preston must deal with a prying stepdad and three emotional stepsisters. After growing up with six neighbor boys, Preston doesn’t know what to do with glitter, pet mice, drama, and nonstop chatter.

The only thing untouched by change seems to be Preston’s relationship with Morgan, a girl he met during the summer. But he fears that sharing more of his past will scare her away. Juggling everything at once, he reaches his breaking point. Is Preston going to end up like his father after all?


My Review

Break is another great book by JoLyn Brown. I feel this author really understands teenage struggles and did an exceptional job with this book. Anxiety is a hard issue and a struggle for so many, and I feel JoLyn really new her stuff.  As much as he struggled, Preston is a great character.  I enjoyed seeing Morgan again and Sammy is always a sweetheart.  I loved Alex and his overall presence in the book.  He (whether Preston admitted it or not) was wonderful for Preston.  His daughters were darling and even though they had their own struggles from a sad past, I enjoyed the way they all were working to become a family.  Preston had a lot to work out in dealing with the death of a friend and I was glad he was trying to face what happened.  The ending was great too.  His problems were not magically solved, but Preston made some great realizations about life and himself.

5 out of 5 stars.  This is the second book with these characters, but this book is about Preston and the first book was about Morgan. They can be read as a stand-alone, but there is something pretty significant that happens in Run that would be understood more if it was read. The author does do a great job of catching the reader up with the event, though. 

Author Links

Website / Twitter / Goodreads

Purchase Links

Amazon ebook / Amazon paperback / Seagull Book
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Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Run by JoLyn Brown


Run

Author: JoLyn Brown

Publisher: Walnut Springs

Published: November 15th, 2014

Paperback: 300 pages

ISBN13: 978159159224

FTC FYI: Received a PDF from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Goodreads Summary

When Supermom joins Dad on his latest project, sixteen-year-old Morgan is left at her aunts. Instead of dating the cute boy from the track team, she will now have to spend the summer keeping a sane distance between herself and her aunts six boys.

Morgan plans on the summer being awful. Encountering an army of spiders and getting lost while running should not surprise her. What she never expects is to stumble across an abandoned house her parents own an abandoned house her uncle committed suicide in. Someone ought to have mentioned that before now.

The past haunts Morgans dreams. The more she remembers and learns, the more she realizes even her cousins are not what she thought they were. Worse, she has somehow become a reflection of her uncle and everything her parents are running from. Morgan wants to hold on to the things she loves running, her cousins, the bits of her family still intact but as the summer passes, she starts to wonder if she s going to lose everything instead.

My Review

JoLyn does a great job of capturing teen-age issues in this book.  But, poor Morgan had quite a few.  Her parents are shipping her off to the small town where her aunt, uncle and crazy cousins live.  Morgan lived there too, when she was younger, but doesn't remember the sad events that took place before her parents left.  At first Morgan's attitude about her circumstances make it worse for her, but as time goes on, she realizes how much she needs to be where she's at.  I really, really liked this book and I found that I didn't want it to end.  I appreciated where the author went with the story and I loved the relationships that develop.  A tragedy occurred when Morgan was young that she has blocked out, and I loved the journey she takes to help herself and her parents heal.  The characters are strong and the story reads quick and is very well written.  I look forward to more from this author.

4 out of 5 stars.

Author Links


Purchase Links