 |
| Reading Level: | Young Adult |
| Format: | EBook |
| Publisher: | Bloomsbury Kids 7/17/12 |
| Parasols: | 4 |
 |
|
Jeannine Garsee captures the essence of mental breakdowns and ghostly encounters with grace. Rinn Jacobs is a 16 year old girl who is bi-polar. And because of this, she is to blame for the death of grandmother who died in a fire under mysterious circumstances. So mom and Rinn leave California and move across the country to her mom's hometown in podunk Ohio.
Once she arrives in Ohio strange things begin to happen. She meets up with some friends who are really mean girls in disguise. But she does meet the kindly-hearted Nate who takes an instant liking to the feisty Corinne. However, once Rinn finds out about Annaliese, she becomes obsessed with finding out more about her and the circumstances of her death twenty years earlier.
When strange things begin to happen to Rinn's friends, she believes that Annaliese is haunting them, but some people think that Rinn is imagining everything because she's not exactly the most mentally stable person in the world. Even Nate begins to question Rinn and her illness.
I absolutely enjoyed this story and I read several versions of this, but the finished product was perfect. I read an advanced copy so not a completely clean copy, but the message and the hysteria of the novel was dead on. You never knew if Rinn was just going crazy or if she was really seeing things that Annaliese wanted her to see. Rinn is not a very reliable nor credible main character, you're constantly second guessing yourself especially with the way that Garsee writes. Being a nurse for a busy psychiatric ward in Downtown Cleveland probably gives you more than enough credibility to write with such aplomb. The ending of the book is by far once of the more scariest and unbelievable turn of events that I've ever read and it will remind you of that final secret in THE SIXTH SENSE. I remember finishing the book and just sitting there with mouth wide open wondering what the hell. Damn you, Jeannine!
If you like a ghost story, a human interest story and one that has a slight love angle, then you'll really love this book. It's creepy, scary and downright bizarre in a good way. The twists and turns keep the reader on edge and you will find no cheese between those pages. You get pulled into the story and feel like you are Rinn and all her craziness.
I highly recommend this one and with the Halloween season coming upon us, it'll be a great time to dive into THE UNQUIET. It just might scare the bejeezus out of you.
I am so proud to reveal my favorite person in the world her cover for her new book that will be out next year. We don't have a release date, but as soon as she does, I will totally let you know. So look no further, here is:
The Unquiet, Jeannine Garsee
Sixteen-year-old Rinn Jacobs has secrets: One, she’s bipolar. Two, she killed her grandmother.
After a suicide attempt, and now her parents' separation, Rinn and her mom move from California to the rural Ohio town where her mother grew up. Back on her medications (again!) and hoping to stay well, Rinn settles into her new home and school. She refuses to be daunted by the fact that the previous owner hanged herself in Rinn's bedroom, or that her classmates believe the school pool is haunted by Annaliese, a girl who drowned there. But when a reckless séance goes awry, and terrible things start happening to her new friends—yet not to her—Rinn is determined to find out why she can’t be "touched" by Annaliese...or if Annaliese even exists.
With the help of Nate Brenner, the hunky “farmer boy” she’s rapidly falling for, Rinn devises a dangerous plan to uncover the truth. Soon reality and fantasy meld into one, till Rinn finds it nearly impossible to tell the difference. When a malevolent force threatens the lives of everyone she cares about--not to mention her own--she can't help wondering: who should she really be afraid of?
Annaliese? Or herself?
I've read this in various drafts and it is so good. Isn't this cover just eerie???
Shawna has never really gotten over her mother, Penny, abandoning her to live with her lesbian partner Fran in New York ten years earlier. Now seventeen, Shawna has been raised by her domineering father who expects her to be perfect and follow his footsteps into the medical field. Everything changes for Shawna when she receives a call from Fran that her mother has had a stroke and is dying.
photo by pfaff
OMG!! Have you heard?
It's not green day, it's purple day!!
WORD flying through the grapevine is that Jeannine Garsee, known around Live Journal Land as ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
onegrapeshy , has a brand new young adult novel out today -- Say the Word (Bloomsbury, 2009)!
SAY THE WORD by Jeannine Garsee,
(Bloomsbury, 2009), Young Adult Fiction, 368 pp.
Woo Hoo!! On the heels of her very popular and successful, Before, After, and Somebody In Between (Bloomsbury, 2007), Say the Word has been generating positive buzz among loyal fans. They are anxious to read this compelling coming-of-age story about 17-year-old Shawna Gallagher, who must cope with an overwhelming array of problems during her senior year.
The world expects perfection from her, and for the most part, that's what they get. She dates the right boys, gets good grades, and follows her father’s every rule. But when her lesbian mother (who deserted her years ago) dies, it’s more than perfect Shawna can take. Suddenly, anger from being abandoned ten years ago is resurfacing along with Shawna’s embarrassment over her mother’s other family. As she confronts family secrets and questions from the past, Shawna realizes there’s a difference between doing the perfect thing and doing the right thing.
Say the Word has already garnered some glowing reviews. Kirkus notes, "Garsee manages to give every character depth and dimension without falling into the trap of making the children too perfect and angelic and the adults imperfect to the point where the reader loses sympathy for them," and Publisher's Weekly says, "Garsee's second novel hits the ground running and never lets up." Sounds like a lot of interesting storylines and plot twists to keep readers glued to the page!
photo by Fields of Cake.
I hope you're in a grapenutty mood today, because in honor of Jeannine, we've concocted a special soup that's sure to make your friends purple with envy. Please join in and stomp your feet in celebration if you like. Whether you're shy one grape or two, let's throw a big bunch of congratulations out to Jeannine for a job well done!
Today's Special: Grape Gumbo (guaranteed to make you nuts).
Say the Word can be ordered through IndieBound or your fave online bookseller. Oh, and help yourself to a cupcake to eat while you're reading:
photo by cupcakeenvy.
For more about Jeannine, visit her official website and Live Journal blog.
.jpg?picon=910)
Thank you soooo much for "revealing" this wonderful cover, and also for your friendship, Laura! (((HUIGS))))
What a cool cover! It seems like it fits with the story quite nicely.
I love this cover!!!