Books, Movies, and Chinese Food

Summary from BN.com: Jasmine Evans knows one thing for sure... people make mistakes. After all, she is one. Jaz is the result of a onenight stand between a black football player and a blonde princess. Having a young mother who didn't raise her, a father who wants nothing to do with her and living in a small-minded town where she's never fit in hasn't been easy. But she's been surviving. Until she sees her mom's new boyfriend making out with her own best friend. When do you forgive people for being human or give up on them forever? I can now declare that Janet Gurtler is one of my top five favorite YA contemporary writers of all time. Seriously, after reading her two books, I am totally in love with her writing. She pushes issues that teens deal with and need to be brought out in the open. Since I read a lot of Christian fiction, one thing that I have major problems with that market is that it tends to be very few POC (person of color) main characters in the stor...

Summary from BN .com: Tess is the exact opposite of her beautiful, athletic sister. And that's okay. Kristina is the sporty one, Tess is the smart one, and they each have their place. Until Kristina is diagnosed with cancer. Suddenly Tess is the center of the popular crowd, everyone eager for updates. There are senior boys flirting with her. But, the smiles of her picture perfect family are cracking and her sister could be dying. Now Tess has to fill a new role: the strong one. Because if she doesn't hold it together, who will? As a lover of contemporary YA, I get very excited when I hear a new one has been released. I had been hearing good things about Janet Gurtler and her books so I was very eager to read this one. Let me start off by just saying, I loved how the inside of the cover of the book is a light shade of green. You rarely see color INSIDE the book! It was just a very nice touch. And it set the setting for a lovely read. Tess's beautiful and popular older ...