Review: Dear Cassie

Happy Belated Book Birthday to 

DEAR CASSIE!!

Title: Dear Cassie

Series: Companion to novel to Pretty Amy and The Next Forever

Author: Lisa Burstein 

Genre: Contemporary YA 

Source: Complimentary e-book from publisher in exchange for honest review

More about Dear Cassie can be found at Goodreads.

Dear Cassie was the first book I've read by author Lisa Burstein, even though this would be her third book out. This is a companion novel and it involves the same characters and world as Pretty Amy and The Next Forever but per the author you can read them in any order. I liked Cassie's story because, it seemed fairly reasonable like something that could happen in real life. What I enjoyed the most was watching Cassie's self discovery and development as I read.

I found it interesting, how the story is written from a journalistic point of view from the main character. I think that really helped me as a reader understand Cassie more. I think the information the author chose to hold back to the end worked well with the style of the story. Even though Cassie hinted and I guessed what her secret was long before Cassie actually revealed it herself, I felt like withholding it until Cassie was ready to talk about it was pretty brilliant.

I like how vulnerable Cassie is, even she tries to make everyone think she is such a hard@$$. She knows she's not that tough and pretty much everyone else can see through her facade as well. 

Cassie's story weighed on my emotions, especially sympathy, for many reasons. The lack of a close parental relationship is really sort of heartbreaking. I think that is one of the most detrimental things to Cassie. I hate for her, the mistakes she made and that she very nearly had to face them alone. Her brother gets mad props for being the type of family member she needed.

If you have read my blog for anytime at all you know I easily fall victim to book crushes. Dear Cassie was no exception. I LOVED Ben! He's mysterious, cute, musician, confidant, persistent and also caring, sweet. If I had to be locked away in some wilderness boot camp, I would hope there was a Ben around!

I appreciate rich descriptions and the value such descriptions can add to a novel. And Dear Cassie is chocked full of detailed descriptions. My only pet peeve with the writing of Dear Cassie was the abundant usage of similes. I enjoy like/as statements but there were so many of these types of descriptions it was almost distracting to me. In that, after a while, every time I'd come across one in the text it would almost pull me out of the story. Clearly the author put a lot of thought into the story to come up with such visual descriptions, it's just this reader got a little bogged down in the sea of similes. Though not enough to stop me from reading and Dear Cassie was still a quick, easy, and good read for me.

Warning: I saw a while back on Lisa's Facebook page that she was able to keep something like a 100 plus f-bombs in Dear Cassie. Well, I don't think she was exaggerating. But for some reason the way the word was used didn't bother me as much as it could have. Just be aware if you are sensitive to language, this book may not be a prime choice for you. BUT if you are looking for a story where an older teen makes some mistakes and is able to learn and grow from said mistakes then this maybe a book you'd should pick up.

I think this book is suitable for older teens due to the aforementioned language and adult themes. Although depending on the kid, I think a younger teen maybe able to glean some valuable life knowledge from Cassie's experience.

Again, I really enjoyed the story and the concept of Dear Cassie, I give it 4 out of 5 stars. It kept me coming back and wanting to know what all was going on in Cassie's World. I don't think this is the book for everyone but I found it to be an enjoyable read. I will be going back and reading Lisa Burstein's first book Pretty Amy soon!

Teaser Tuesday (Jan 29)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of 

Should Be Reading.

Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

This week I have a couple of books I'm working on. Last week I just got busy and reading and blogging had to take a backseat to life for a bit. But Alli's back and I have a fresh new teaser for you from Dear Cassie by Lisa Burstein. I was lucky enough to get an eARC and I'm enjoying Cassie's snarkiness. 

  

"I heaved myself up and into the dark cabin. Luckily, there was enough space for me to get in without hitting either of the beds against the wall. I turned and looked at my boots on the ground outside. Hopefully a bear wouldn’t come and eat them."

Dear Cassie Cover Reveal

(Which I kinda love, right? The cover is really awesome!)

DEAR CASSIE official Blurb:

What if the last place you should fall in love is the first place that you do?

You’d think getting sent to Turning Pines Wilderness Camp for a month-long rehabilitation “retreat” and being forced to re-live it in this journal would be the worst thing that’s ever happened to me.

You’d be wrong.

There’s the reason I was sent to Turning Pines in the first place: I got arrested. On prom night. With my two best friends, who I haven’t talked to since and probably never will again. And then there’s the real reason I was sent here. The thing I can’t talk about with the guy I can’t even think about.

What if the moment you’ve closed yourself off is the moment you start to break open?

                                                                                                                    

But there’s this guy here. Ben. And the more I swear he won’t—he can’t—the deeper under my skin he’s getting. After the thing that happened, I promised I’d never fall for another boy’s lies.

And yet I can’t help but wonder…what if?

DEAR CASSIE excerpt:

We kept walking on the lake trail, the bullfrogs croaking. There was also a humming in my ears from the nicotine.

 It could only be from the nicotine. It had nothing to do with being outside, at night, alone with Ben. It had nothing to do with Ben coming to the cabin and taking me instead of Nez and it definitely had nothing to do with the stars above us shining like they were the sky’s tiara. 

I stopped on the trail and looked up, taking them in, when all of a sudden bright colored lights exploded in the sky—fireworks, one after another, on top of each other, huge kaleidoscopes of light, like sparkling rainbow spiders.

“How did you know?” I asked, my voice going softer, like if I talked too loudly they would stop. It was so beautiful, after weeks of so much ugly. 

Ben turned to look at me, the colored lights in the sky turning his skin pink, blue, green. “I’m magic.” He shrugged.

I geared up to tell him to fuck off, because that was some corny-ass shit, but then I realized that he really kind of was. In that moment he was able to actually make me forget being me.

 “I would try to kiss you,” he said, “but I’m afraid you’d kick me in the balls.”

“I probably would.” I laughed, the sky filling with noisy color like paint launching from a giant popcorn popper. “But like I said, it wouldn’t be about you.”

“I guess I’ll have to figure out how to make it about me,” he said, taking off his boots and socks and standing. “Come on.”

“There is no way I am getting near that water again,” I said.

“I’ll make sure nothing happens to you,” he said, holding his hand out to help me up.

            I looked at his palm, open, waiting, just wanting to hold mine. For once, I didn’t think about anything except that there was a cute, sweet, smart-ass boy standing in front of me with his hand out.

I pulled off my boots and socks and took it.  

We stood at the lakeshore, our hands still clasped, the water licking our feet, fireworks decorating the sky.

I turned to him. He was looking up, his mouth open in wonder like he was trying to swallow the moment.

It was definitely one worth keeping.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Lisa Burstein is a tea seller by day and a writer by night. She received her MFA in Fiction from the Inland Northwest Center for Writers at Eastern Washington University. She lives in Portland, OR, with her very patient husband, a neurotic dog and two cats. Dear Cassie is her second novel.

DEAR CASSIE pre-buy links:

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13628374-dear-cassie

The Book Depository: http://www.bookdepository.com/Dear-Cassie-Lisa-Burstein/9781620612545

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Dear-Cassie-Lisa-Burstein/dp/1620612542/

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dear-cassie-lisa-burstein/1113610316

PRETTY AMY Links:

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13375237-pretty-amy

Powells: http://www.powells.com/biblio/62-9781620611197-0

The Book Depository: http://www.bookdepository.com/Pretty-Amy-Lisa-Burstein/9781620611197

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Pretty-Amy-Lisa-Burstein/dp/1620611198/

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/pretty-amy-lisa-burstein/1108930786

Additional links to Lisa’s pages:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#%21/LisaBurstein

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LisaBursteinAuthor

Website: http://www.lisaburstein.com

Trailer Thursday: Pretty Amy

Brand new, just out today! The book trailer for Pretty Amy by Lisa Burstein. Now, I haven't had the chance to read this book yet but it is totally on my to-read list! I follow the author on Twitter and she seems to be really cool. And this book trailer is making me wish I could run out and get this book, like right now! For your enjoyment: