Rachel Coker

This book... Oh my gosh... I'm half convinced that Rachel Coker wrote Chasing Jupiter on psychic paper. I relate to this book so much in so many areas. My feelings about this book can be summed up as follows:

I can't believe that when I got this book I started reading and thought it was awful! WHY, Younger Self?! WHY?! This book is now in my top five favorite books. It made me FEEL, okay?! Very few books can do that! The only two other books that have done that (I think) are The Giver by Lois Lowry and Heartless by Marissa Meyer. But anyway...

This book was beautifully written, the main characters were well-developed, the MC (Scarlett)'s struggles and feelings were super relatable (her relationship with her best guy friend, okay? I relate so much!), and Cliff was just the most adorable kiddo ever! He and Cor would get along so well. ^-^

So I guess I'll start with Scarlett's overall life. Her brother is considered odd by everyone around, as is her grandfather, her parents aren't the wealthiest people in the world, and she has a hippie older sister who's quite independent. She has a lot on her shoulders, and she doesn't understand why things are so hard and won't get better. (ME, PEOPLE! I totally relate to that hopelessness!) She also has no friends, because her brother is weird and she sticks up for him.

She becomes friends early on with a boy, Frank, who sees past hers and her brothers' peculiarities, and Frank is seriously the sweetest guy ever. ^-^ Her relationship with him is so relatable, though... Seriously, this relationship is the part of the book that makes me feel like Coker was writing about me. She and Frank ask each other random questions all the time, they joke around... There are some exact quotes that I'll mention, because I was just like "O-O MEEEEEE."

...A smile broke out on his face, slowly at first but then blossoming into a full-out grin. He had a wonderfully handsome face when he smiled, like the difference between a small flame and a blazing fire.

*******

Maybe that's what our friendship was. It was the feeling that we didn't have to think or explain. We could just sit in the darkness and watch the tadpoles just as easily as we could lie out in the heat and breathe in the smell of peaches and gravel, all without saying a word.

There was another one, but now I can't find it. Oh well.

The emotions were beautifully written all around. Anger, love, frustration... Her relationship with Cliff (her brother) was amazing. I wish I were that gracious with my siblings. She gets frustrated with him, too, but for the most part she's gracious with him and is able to effortlessly show him that she loves him.

The book does have its flaws. The biggest one was that I felt like Scarlett's sister, Juli, didn't really have much of a purpose in the book and was really underdeveloped.

The foreshadowing in the book was also really good. She follows the Checkov's Gun rule quite well, and the Checkov's Gun rule is that if there's a gun on the table in act one it needs to go off in act two. Obviously it doesn't only apply to guns, but that's the basic theory. Rachel Coker did that very well.

Overall I thought this was an excellent book, it made me feel a lot, I read it all in one sitting (it's only 221 pages), and it's a new favorite. Definitely giving it five stars.… (more)

I am waffling back and forth between "THIS IS THE WORST BOOK EVER", and throwing the book across the room, AND "THIS WAS SO BEAUTIFUL" and hugging the book.

Oh well.

Soooo . . . This book was really good, but fell just short of the hype I had been hearing on it.

The characters were so good. I feel like Scarlet, the MC, fell a bit shy in the emotional climax and resolution area. She was really really good, don't get me wrong, but I was expecting this uber-emotional, super wonderful climax in her inner struggle, and that . . . just didn't happen. Otherwise, she was great! Cliff was without a doubt the best part of this book. My goodness! He was just so sweet and adorable, and . . . and . . . I can't even! Just loved him! Fantastic character! Frank was also a good character, but his crush on Juli drove me crazy . . . Crushed in general tend to drive me nuts. The ending was so sweet though! *melts* Juli was rather an "ehh - don't get it" kind of character. I don't feel like her storyline was wrapped up very well, also.

The storyline was incredible, and I love Coker's poignant writing style! Just beautiful! And I give the author big kudos for publishing a book through a publishing house at such a young age. And a homeschooler, too! Woot woot! We homeschoolers gotta stick together. ;)

I also feel like the Christian aspect could have been incorporated and been a bigger part of the story. It was there, but it wasn't there, if you know what I mean. I was really hoping that would shine through and resolve the characters' emotional struggles, but it didn't really do that.

All in all, this was a very good book. I would recommend if for ages 14ish for the crushromance side of things, and I think that's the youngest age that would understand and appreciate the story.

CONTENT NOTE: A little boy is severely injured, although nothing is graphically described. Deals with crushes, grief, and slight romance, all pretty minimal.… (more)

She's Got Books on Her Mind

It's the Summer of 1969 and Scarlett Blaine's life is changing right before eyes. Scarlett has always been the responsible one even making meals because her mother stopped cooking. She has to take care of her Grandpop Barley who's obsessed with peanut butter and her brother who's very different too. All the while her parents' arguing becomes more intense which her sister isn't helping by dating a boy named Ziggy and being out at all hours of the night. There is one silver lining. The serious but sweet Frank who saves animals whenever he cans and suddenly takes a liking to what her and her brother are about to do - build a rocket to Jupiter.

It all starts with a list. Scarlett is a 16 year old who loves her little brother Cliff who's a bit odd which makes her more protective towards him. I'm pretty sure he has autism based on how sometimes he doesn't liked to be touched and how he knows all of the dates of the Spanish Civil War. He also likes speaking Spanish too but only knows the twelve words his sister learned. It was kind of funny him saying some Spanish words here and there but a little annoying that sometimes he would just say uno, dos, tres. I mean I'm a Hispanic that doesn't speak the language but it's not hard to learn up to ten. That's just me. I thought Cliff was the brightest spot in the whole story. He's genuine and acts mostly like any other kid just with better interests. All those other kids are boring compared to him. In this story is another situation of parents or others thinking something's wrong with Cliff and wanting to fix it. I think even if their parents knew he was autistic (did anybody even know autism existed in 1969?) they would treat him the same. "Why can't we fix him?" You know why? Because he isn't broken. People...

The list. The list is a birthday list that Cliff modifies two times. One of the modifications includes a rocket so that Cliff can be the first person on Jupiter. I don't know why people would find that odd at all. Have you ever met a child with imagination? Apparently not. Anyways Scarlett makes a promise that she will make him a rocket. She will do it by selling peach pies (always made me hungry thinking of them) and using that money to get supplies to make her rocket. One thing she did not expect on this adventure was the help of Frank who she has a crush on and he in turn has a crush on her older sister Juli. Juli the one who has changed dramatically and has become this sort of hippie rebel. I seriously think that Juli shouldn't have been represented as the bad guy. Just because she goes to a different beat then her parents why does that mean that she has to do things that are wrong? She was obviously misunderstood but was portrayed in a bad light which I thought was a mistake to do. She's oblivious to Frank too which Scarlett points out in her head all the time but doesn't have it in her to tell Frank how she feels about him.

I thought Scarlett was a little bit immature. She was very protected in the world she lived in. I think because of that she reminded me a little bit of me so I was able to relate to her some. I did see her as a teenager who needed to find her way too so don't think that she was all immature in my mind. She took care of a lot of things that she was unappreciated for. I mean she's sixteen cooking for her family all the time. What's up with that? She doesn't need to be doing that. It's nice if she would help out sometimes with the cooking but all of the meals? Seriously? It never got cleared up why her mother stopped cooking either. I thought it was this big thing but maybe I missed it in the story. I also thought that her parents weren't cleared up too. They fought a lot about bills and a political party that the father wanted to donate money to. I know the author probably wanted to keep that story in the sideline because it's not what she wanted the story to focus on but I think that part of the book could have helped enhance the story.

Scarlett went to Mrs. Greene for advice. I thought Mrs. Greene, Pastor's wife, was a really warm and caring woman sometimes. There was this one moment where she overreacted with something that I thought was ridiculous for an adult to get all upset about. It did emphasize how Scarlett felt that adults fought too much and they didn't need to which is so true. Use your words! There was this one advice that Mrs. Greene gave her that was weird. She started talking about love and marriage. I was like what is this? The book towards the end went that way too. Why do you have to be thinking about marriage all of a sudden? Scarlett supposedly loves Frank but really you've spent one summer and you are contemplating marriage? That's weird. She did stand up for herself and her feelings if that makes any sense. It was nice to see her strong in that moment.

I really liked most of this story but I think it was the end that changed things for me some. There was things happening that I thought was unnecessary. The "what's happening?" feeling caught me a lot. I didn't like how it changed all of a sudden. I wanted more of the summer in the beginning. Hanging out in the hot sun selling some gooey peach pie (yum!). I know things need to change for Scarlett but it went a little too far. This is also a Christian fiction book which I expected because the publisher publishes Christian books. As long as there is just a sparse amount of religious things happening I'm good which was the case most of the story which I appreciated. But then that end. She unrealistically turned to God when she didn't even talk to God in the beginning. She was accepting him and whatnot. I didn't mind so much if the book had more religious moments but my problem was it felt unrealistic. I had mixed feelings with this one. I really liked most of the cast of characters and the story line was fantastic. Most of the story was well done for me but it was just the very end that gave me mixed feelings. Overall this being by a 17 year old I am really impressed. I could see Coker doing very well when she gets even more experience.… (more)

I received this book from Netgalley to review, upon request. I wanted to read it because it had a Christian twist, and I'm into that sort of books.

In the beginning, it started out slow, and it kind of felt like the story won't ever get to develop. But, that was done with a purpose: getting to know Allie (Alcyone)'s background. Where she came from, what made her act the way she did after the tragedy in her life. We saw where she came from, we saw why it was hard for her to trust others and herself.

And even though she absolutely infuriated me because of her stubbornness, her cold heart and bitchiness, I knew why she did and said everything. I knew why she couldn't accept being adopted, or loved, or trusted. I could understand her train of thought,I cried and laughed along with Allie and to me, that's important in a book.

It was easy for me to live through her pain and to understand her sorrow. And I loved it when she finally got to grow up and see her mistakes and ask for forgiveness. That moment of grace was really captivating, and struck me real hard.

The characters:

*Alcyone - she was a frustrated child, who had to take care of her sick mother until the poor woman died. I have no idea how I would've coped with all the hardships if I were in her place, but for a 14-year old, she did quite well. Yeah, she was always grumpy, and held back her hurt and distrust, but what's there to expect? I was surprised that she actually got to grow up as a character. She got to understand her mistakes and to finally give into love.

*Sam Carroll - he was a sweet boy. Too sweet really. I have no idea how he managed to ignore all the insults coming from Allie's mouth. She never appreciated him, never showed him any real care. She only shoved him away, and still her persisted. I loved that guy. He was honest and open hearted and he won me over from the moment he brought Allie the eggs.

*Beatrice - That woman was so caring, so devoted and so unconditionally loving, I couldn't help but feel for her every time she got rejected by Allie.

I would totally recommend this book to anyone who's going through a hardship and needs some strength from above.… (more)