My Beautiful Hippie by Janet Nichols Lynch

Title: My Beautiful Hippie
Author: Janet Nichols Lynch
Series: N/A
Source: Publisher for review
Publisher: Holiday House
Publication Date: January 15, 2013
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Inspired by Lynch's students' fascination with the sixties, in which they wear sixties styles and T-shirts with sixties rock stars, and listen to sixties music; set in the Haight-Ashbury District of San Francisco, with a 15-year old female protagonist who's an aspiring pianist that falls in love with a hippie; representing themes that echo today with traditional values vs the counterculture, the morality of wars in general and the Vietnam War in particular and the effects of the women’s movement on American society.

I have to admit-- this wasn't exactly what I expected. I had myself psyched out about this book, because I thought that there was no way it could end on a good note. Thankfully, I was wrong, and it ended on a fairly good note. But for some reason, I had it in my head that when Joni met Martin-- well, I figured Martin wasn't as hippie as we'd like to think. Turns out that he was, though. Which was nice, because I was afraid that this was going to be a novel of abuse.

And it wasn't, so that was great.

I thought that it was realistic. What must it have been like in the summer of love? LSD is everywhere-- and who would want to do that? (Seriously, if LSD makes you retreat into your mind, I won't be having none. My mind is a scary place without that, thank you very much.) Pot is everywhere too-- and it's talked about in this book. Drug references/use, check.

I think that my only problem with My Beautiful Hippie  was that Martin holds all the cards on Joni. He's a straight-up hippie, meaning he's traveling, etc. And all she wants is for him to stay, ultimately winding up with her being hurt by him.

And Joni was pretty cool, so that just sucked.

Joni was actually one of the high-points of this book-- she had a rocking personality. She's rebellious, she tie-dyes her own clothes, and well, she was just a cool main character for a book like this. She made a good flower child-- and I liked most of the secondary characters too. Most notable, Pete rocked. He's such a nice guy. Unfortunately, there's just not much for me to say about My Beautiful Hippie.

All in all, I enjoyed this "blast from the past", but it wasn't particularly for me, you know?

"I've found it's just the same after a few times. I'm not going to learn anything else by doing more. Sure it's beautiful-- a good trip is. The mind expands to show you a million possibilities. You feel 'one' with everybody. But then you come down. Every time, you come down and you're the same, with your same problems." ~ Pg. 45, ARC

Brianna on the Brink by Nicole McInnes

Title: Brianna on the Brink
Author: Nicole McInnes
Series: N/A
Source: Publisher for Review
Publisher: Holiday House
Publication Date: January 7, 2013

Popularity didn't come easily for sixteen-year-old Brianna Taylor. She didn't wear the right clothes or come from the right family. In fact, she didn't come from any family at all, unless you counted Jolene, who just wasn't that much into being a mom. So when Brianna joins the cheerleading squad, she finds herself suddenly popular. But then a one-night stand has life altering consequences, and Brianna must accept help from the one person closest to her mistake.
No longer in control, Brianna must reevaluate all that she thought was important and learn the true meaning of family.

I don't really know what to say about this one--I did like it, and it was amazing sometimes, but other times I just found myself thinking that it was a bit cliched...slightly traveling along with the sludge pile, and being everything that people say a good young adult novel should be. I'm not saying that it sucked or anything, I'm just saying that I would have loved more complexities.

I'm not saying that simple stories don't rock, I'm just a fan of complexities. I did almost die of laughter on the very first page, though. Speaking of which, the author clearly has a sense of humor, and I enjoyed that.

Brianna herself was a pretty good character, but I just...I didn't understand a lot of her decisions. I feel like she could've handled them differently, and that it would've been better if she had. I understand that she's supposed to be a troubled teenager and all, but yeah. Sometimes she seemed a bit too troubled, then other times she bounced back to a normal, albeit pregnant, teenage girl.

Another complaint that I have is that Brianna was the only character that had great character development. Jane was pretty good, but all of the others seemed a bit flat, and I could use a bit more background on all of them. I did totally love the ending, though! It ended so peacefully, with all the loose ends tied up nicely. I just...I needed  more complex characters, with more complex stories.

All in all, I would recommend Brianna on the Brink as a light read, for people who love simple books.

"Now I realize it has nothing to do with me not being lovable, that maybe both their hearts were broken a long time ago and didn't heal quite right. That maybe they just don't know how to love very well themselves." ~ Pg. 164, ARC