C. K. Kelly MartinReviews

I love young adult books, even though I am way older than most of the characters I read about; I still feel as though I can relate to most of the characters in books.
I have never read anything by C.K. Kelly Martin and I Know It's Over was an amazing book to start off with.
I loved that it was told entirely from 16 year old Nicholas' point of view. Not to often do you find a book about teen pregnancy told from the "fathers" point of view.
I couldn't relate to Nick personally, but I knew how it felt to be a teen and pregnant so I could relate to that aspect of his life.
I don't like the way things were handled between Nick and Sasha. Her parents were a little stricter than I remember any of my friends' parents being, their rules for Sasha dating Nick made sense to an extent, but I feel that when there are a ton of rules placed on teens that the parents are just asking for trouble.
The ups and downs that Nick goes through while waiting for word as to what Sasha is going to do about the " thing" inside her, are really heart breaking. I love that he acted like I believe a normal teen boy would in a situation like that. He didn't shun her or make it all her fault like some teen boys are known to do.
Even though I was not please with what happened in the book, I did enjoy reading it. Nick is a very lovable character.

Really great realistic story with a Male POV for a change. I thought the Nick character was very realistic. I've read other books with a male POV and most of them come across as having very similiar thought processes as girls, which I don't think is true. This book you could tell it's the way a guy thinks.
It deals with a lot of heavy issues like sex, abortion, safe-sex, homo-sexuality, divorce, it's got it all...
The only thing I didn't like was the Sasha character. I found her to be very cold and undeserving of Nick's affections. It seemed as though Nick was agonizing over the decision more than she was... WTF?
I liked that the love story wasn't over the top, but Sasha just seemed really methodical and cold, not loving or worthy of love. But in a way I guess we rarely date the right type of person for us when we're in H.S., so it made sense that Nick fell for her. I was just hoping at some point he would tell her that if she was going to keep shutting him out for no reason she could go to hell, but that's just me. :)

Full Review on my blog!

I started this book and wasn’t sure what to make of it at first. I found it slow and took a while to get into the story, at one point I did stop reading, and kinda didn't want to continue reading it.. but I’m glad I did finish it.

Just Like You Said It Would Be, tells the story of Amira that lives in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, but is sent to Dublin to spend the summer with family while her parents are on vacation trying to mend their marriage. Amira is soon introduced to Darragh, one of her cousin Zoey’s band mates, and I love/hate relationship quickly ensues. Regardless of the tension between them and attempts at only being friends, they soon find themselves confiding in one another, spending a lot of time together, and eventually they fall in love. They fall in love right at the end of summer, when Amira has to fly back home. But they reconnect, many months later when they both attend a wedding.

The story is beautifully written, and just so amazing. The chemistry between Amira and Darragh is sooo goood :3

I highly recommend reading it!

*a copy was provided by the Author, through Xpresso Book Tours*

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Dystopian, time travel, NetGalley, secrets, romance

Freya Kallas: 16 years old, father is dead, moved to Canada, feels like she’s in a fog.
Garren Lowe: 18 years old who doesn’t remember Freya even though she insists he should.

I’m not sure if this book is wanted to be a time travel, dystopian, or flashback book. I keep waiting for Freya to figure out she’s in a really alternate reality program rather than really back in the 80’s. There is a lot of information dump as one reviewer said. The ending is not a cliff hanger but there is more to come. (Sequel: Tomorrow according to her website.) The ending did seem kind of – wow what?

This is Ms. Martin’s first book I’ve read, but I have two of her contemporary books in my library. I’m not planning on buying this one – quite a few of my dystopian readers have graduated, and I would only buy it for them if I needed even more of this type of book.

This is the type of book that I wish was around when I was a teen. Perhaps there was one out there, but I wasn't lucky enough to find it. It is the type of story that draws you in, even though it deals with some tough issues. Pregnancy, divorce, abortion, it all makes for a gritty and realistic read. Martin writing is deep, and its brutal honesty shines from the page. I would compare this to Sarah Dessen, but more real and less sugar coated.

The story is told in first person, from Nick's point of view. It is hard for me to explain just how refreshing it was to see a topic like teen pregnancy looked at from a male point of view. Generally books that deal with these types of subjects are from the female point of view, and we see how a teenage girl deals with this life changing turn of events. To see this from Nick's side was so different. I was really surprised at the range of emotions that he felt throughout the book. I suppose what I'm saying is that C.K. Kelly Martin shows us that not all boys in his position are "unfeeling bastards" as the norm would tell us. Nope, Nick is quite an enigma.

From Sasha's side, we see the way that an issue like this affects a family. Sasha is the type of girl who strives to live up to a certain expectation. Her family wants her to do well and so she does her best to make them happy. That being said, when the pregnancy comes to light Sasha is torn. The story shows the reader how a family like Sasha's will take control as well. I won't spoil this book for anyone who is interested, but Sasha doesn't have much of a say in what happens to her and the life living inside her. This too, is so true to life.

As an older reader, this book was really impressive to me mostly because of how true to life the characters and their emotions were. The sheer weight of what was happening weighed down on both of them, but they chose to handle it differently. C.K. Kelly Martin doesn't berate her characters for choosing their path, but she does show the true consequences that come along with it. She subtly conveys the simple message that we are ultimately responsible for the consequences of our actions. Unfortunately, sometimes this means being responsible for someone else as well.

Overall I really enjoyed this read. There were times when I was so drawn in that I literally wanted to jump into the book to hug, or possibly punch, a character. The honesty that I Know It's Over is written with is refreshing! I would recommend this book to any teen that is able to deal with sexual encounters. This might be one that a parent reads first, or even with their teen.

I love young adult books, even though I am way older than most of the characters I read about; I still feel as though I can relate to most of the characters in books.
I have never read anything by C.K. Kelly Martin and I Know It's Over was an amazing book to start off with.
I loved that it was told entirely from 16 year old Nicholas' point of view. Not to often do you find a book about teen pregnancy told from the "fathers" point of view.
I couldn't relate to Nick personally, but I knew how it felt to be a teen and pregnant so I could relate to that aspect of his life.
I don't like the way things were handled between Nick and Sasha. Her parents were a little stricter than I remember any of my friends' parents being, their rules for Sasha dating Nick made sense to an extent, but I feel that when there are a ton of rules placed on teens that the parents are just asking for trouble.
The ups and downs that Nick goes through while waiting for word as to what Sasha is going to do about the " thing" inside her, are really heart breaking. I love that he acted like I believe a normal teen boy would in a situation like that. He didn't shun her or make it all her fault like some teen boys are known to do.
Even though I was not please with what happened in the book, I did enjoy reading it. Nick is a very lovable character.

I liked this one - SLASH - feel sort of weird about it. The younger girl/older guy thing gets an interesting twist where the guy isn't THAT much older, but the fact that he has a kid pushes it into more uncomfortable territory. Like, I get that there are probably lots of relationships between people on either side of the Great Dividing Line Of Adulthood, but this doesn't really delve too much into the downside/stigma attached and sort of glamourizes it.

That said, well drawn, sympathetic characters in an unusual-yet-believable situation.

Good story telling what happens when your life comes to a standstill.
The pace is slow, but that is OK: when you do not want your life to change, everything goes too fast.
I love the main character, her struggles, her doubts. It is good to see how she comes to realize, ever so slowly, that lieve goes on and that in the end you'd better try to enjoy it.

=

This book was amazing for many reasons. The story kept building and building until an interesting twist at the end. I loved how the book went from a futuristic world to a very memorable past. Being able to read a book and actually know about the things in it, because it is a true place or time in history that people know of first hand or know enough about because its so recent, is exciting. Definitely a page turner.

For more reviews, Cover Snark and more, visit A Reader of Fictions.

These days, I don’t read too many indie books. Actually, I never really have. Pretty close to the only exception I make is for authors I already know to be of good quality. This was my sixth C.K. Kelly Martin book, so I was pretty sure it was a fairly safe bet. Martin is an author whose books I love to read because she pushes boundaries and manages to make me interested in topics that really don’t work for me usually. Her fiction is hard-edged and doesn’t shy away from the darker side of teenage life. The Sweetest Thing You Can Sing fits that mold well, but is also on the lighter side of Martin’s fiction.

Serena has a whole host of issues to work through in The Sweetest Thing You Can Sing. First, there’s the boyfriend. Or, more aptly, the ex. Serena dumps Jacob, he of the sexy basketball player arms, after he tries to force her to make out with another girl at a party. That was the straw that broke the relationship’s back. He’d been pressuring her for sex and to do things she wasn’t ready for or didn’t want to do. The fact that he tried to make her hook up with some other girl for the entertainment of his friends was one step too far. This scene is how we meet Serena, and I think it’s a good one. We see that beneath her insecurities, there is a very strong girl who will not let this guy force her into anything.

Then there are her friends, Izzy and Marguerite, who Serena still likes, but who do not understand what she’s going through. The whole Jacob fiasco has really messed with Serena’s head and they don’t really get how she’s feeling. As a result, they drift apart a bit and Serena ends up making friends with some other girls who have been wronged by boys at their high school. Genevieve, Nicole, and, later, Aya become Serena’s support system, as they all resolve they’d be best off not dating. I really like Martin’s take on friendship. I like that her early friendships sort of drift away but that Serena later makes a conscious effort to restore them. I like that Serena gains an understanding for the girl in the opening scene, the one who was going to make out with her. There are fights between friends, but they work through them. It’s very healthy and realistic. I love the way they support each other and do what they can to help others attacked by gossip as well. The Sweetest Thing You Can Sing has a lot of great things to say about slut- and virgin-shaming, and I love it all.

Then there’s Serena’s body. Until partway through freshman year, she was always chubby. Due to stress, she stopped having an appetite and dropped 29 pounds. Suddenly, she had male attention (Jacob). Before that, the only cute boys who would make out with her later pretended it hadn’t happened. Throughout The Sweetest Thing You Can Sing Serena struggles with her body image. She’s constantly worrying about what she’s eaten and weighing herself to see if she’s put on weight. The resolution isn’t addressed directly, but I do think that she stops thinking about this quite so much when she’s actually getting happier. It’s a classic effort to control something in her life.

The biggest issue in Serena’s life is her family. Her brother Devin left them months ago, after problems with drugs, and they don’t even know if he’s still alive. Serena’s mom doesn’t do anything but bid for crystal on eBay and her dad pretends everything is fine. Her family’s got all the emotion of a bunch of zombies. Devin was the family member she was closest to and he said horrible things to her before he left, including insults about her weight. It’s no wonder that she’s a mess after being treated this way by the person she was closest to in the world. The family stuff doesn’t tie up all neatly, but I think it’s wonderful how Serena gets closer to her other brother, Morgan, and learns to see things from his perspective.

While all of this is going on, Serena meets Gage, a customer at the store where she works. He asks her out and, despite the boy ban, she agrees to go. This romance is not one that I would ordinarily be able to get behind because 1) he’s 19 to her 15 and 2) he has a four year old child. However, though they don’t handle everything perfectly, Gage genuinely is a nice guy and he’s really good for her right now. The relationship is managed in a really non-creepy way, even for me, which is impressive. Also, it’s nice that being in the relationship with Gage doesn’t magically solve Serena’s problems. She still has to work through her family and friend stuff alone. Having a boyfriend doesn’t disappear insecurities either.

C.K. Kelly Martin’s latest contemporary YA novel is one I would recommend to readers of Courtney Summers, in its unflinching honesty and the way that I end up caring about things that I usually don’t. I’m always so impressed when a book can get me to put aside my judgmental nature for a bit.

After being impressed with the intensity of C.K. Kelly Martin’s young adult novels, I was really curious to try her new adult Come See About Me. As expected, Come See About Me has all the grit and sexiness of the typical new adult novel, but also takes on everything in a very true to life, sincere, and healthy way. Though a romance in its way, Come See About Me is primarily the story of a young woman seeking to find herself again after the loss of a loved one. Powerful and sexy, Come See About Me features all of the elements I’ve always loved about Martin’s writing.

Read the full review at A Reader of Fictions.

Originally Reviewed At: Mother/Gamer/Writer
Rating: 5 Controllers
Review Source: Blog Tour
Reviewer: AimeeKay


Tomorrow is the sequel to Yesterday, and I enjoyed it very much. I read this sentence and realize that it sounds off but at the same time is completely correct, kind of like the novel itself.

Tomorrow follows Freya and Garren as they struggle to acclimate and stay alive in 1980’s Canada. As well as stay one step ahead of the U.N.A., a future government determined to recapture them and erase their memories. Freya and Garren’s story starts in the novel Yesterday, which I have to admit I haven’t had a chance to read yet. But true to the Amazon summery Tomorrow is quite capable of being a standalone novel, so I didn’t feel that I was missing out on huge chunks of the story. This is definitely a credit to the author, since the story pretty much depends on the first book to make any sense at all. Between the prologue and the flashbacks that Garren has though, the author fills in enough of the back story.

The author also pulls off a unique trick with the writing of the story. The present, which is in the 1980’s is told in first person present tense, while the future, 2063, is told in first person past tense. Switching back and forth between the two tenses was not as bad or as confusing as it sounds. Also I personally dislike first person POV, especially present tense, but the author wove such an interesting tale that it didn’t bother me like it normally does.

I enjoyed the characters. It was interesting to see how they reacted to our antique technology and world. I also got attached to both Garren and Freya, even though I only saw them both through Garren’s eyes.

The story itself is more plot driven then character. While I did enjoy the characters, I was really pulled in by the story. Even though it jumps back and forth between Garren’s present and his memories in the future, the transition between the two is smooth and doesn’t interfere with the fast pace of the book.

I would definitely give this one 5 out of 5 controllers. The writing is solid, the story is enthralling and, even if you haven’t read the first book, you can still enjoy the story without getting lost.

NOTE: I received this title from Netgalley.

Ummmmm... sadly, reading this book was a torture. And I truly hate saying this, but it's the truth. I don't even know why I stuck to the end, perhaps because there were moments of "Oh, I hope this turns out good after all". But it didn't. It was a complete waste of time.

So here how it goes:

The first chapter got me hooked. I loved the mystery of it and how it developed. I liked Freya's character, and her fighting spirit. But then, everything changed. It was confusing, to say the least. It was slow and boring and for the first 30-40% of the book nothing really happened. A bunch of inconsequential characters were introduced, and honestly I don't think they had any place in the story. Perhaps the author wanted to make a point (though I can't tell what it might be), but it just didn't work.

Then, Freya stumbled upon Garren, and I thought "Finally! Something's gonna happen!" But. No. More boring chapters follow, and I don't even remember what happened in them.

It wasn't until we neared the 50% mark that things kind of got moving. But we never get any glimpse in this absolutely confusing world until Freya goes to the hypnotherapist. Then guess what happens? More. Boring. Chapters. Why, in the name of a white cuddly bunny, did the author dedicate so many (like 20) pages to just droll on and on and on in a newspaper monotone voice about the world where Freya and Garren are really from? I mean, all those hundreds of facts are suddenly poured down on the reader, and it's just incredibly irritating and not to mention, confusing! I was lost in the first page, and had to just skip around till I found the place where they were talking about characters. Honestly, it didn't take me more than 2 lines to catch up to the stuff I'd skipped over. So, umm.. yeah..

And, keeping to my honesty policy, I'm also going to share that I didn't like the characters. Not one of them. They were distant to me. The way they spoke bothered me. Their behavior displeased me. And even their supposed outer beauty nauseated me.

Which all leads to just one conclusion: I would not be reading the sequel. It's unfortunate, I know, especially since putting together a book is a lot of hard work. But at least, when you're going to work on it so much, make it interesting. That's all I'm saying.

Oddly enough, I consider myself a bit C.K. Kelly Martin fan, even if I’ve never actually rated any of her books in the 4.5/5 range, though I’ve still got some to read yet (since I’ve purchased all of her backlist), so maybe one of them will get me there. That may be weird. With ratings in the 3-4 range, you might not think that she’s an author I love. However, what I expect from Martin and what she always delivers is something unique. C.K. Kelly Martin books aren’t like every other book, in subject matter or in tone, and this is what keeps me coming back.

Tomorrow is a sequel and/or companion novel to Yesterday, which came out last year from Random House. Martin’s self-publishing Tomorrow, something I actually didn’t realize until the book arrived, because the cover matches pretty well. With self-publishing come questions of editing, so let me address those first. Tomorrow has definitely been edited. I only noted a couple of grammatical errors within Tomorrow‘s pages, and, considering that I read an ARC version, the final should be quite clean.

Read the A Reader of Fictions.

Yesterday by CK Kelly Martin is a YA science fiction that's part dystopia and part time travel. Freya wakes up in 1985 after escaping from something awful in the "not to distant future" (with apologies to MST3K). Except, 1985 Freya has no memory of what she has escaped from, believing instead that she and her mother and sister have recently moved to Canada after her father's accidental death.

What begins, thus, as a high action, in media res, dystopian science fiction, settles into being a rather drab YA angst fest set in 1985 — I suppose for the adult women who are feeling nostalgic and like to read YA fiction. Sure, I fit that bill and yes, I can assert that the details are convincing for it being 1985 but I'm not sure how all this attention to detail is going to play with the intended readership. I'm not saying that today's teens can't or won't get something from reading books published in previous decades but this book reads like nostalgia — and not a period piece. And it's nostalgia for a decade that was over for years before today's teen readers were even born.

Eventually, though, Freya begins to get her memory back. She sees a boy she thinks she recognizes — Garren. After stalking him until he's forced to give in to her craziness, they realize that something is, in fact, amiss with the stories they've both been told. This realization finally heralds the return of the long missing action.

But wait, there's more! Two thirds of the way through the book, when things should be moving towards either a resolution or the set up for a cliffhanger, Yesterday goes into info-dump mode. Rather than being filtered through Freya's point of view (as the rest of the plot before and since), the narration moves into third person omniscient and we are given pages and pages and pages and pages and pages (yawn) of the history between 1985 and the future year that Freya and Garren are from. After that were told why people are sent back in time and Freya and Garren have to decide wether or not they want to play along with their newly assigned roles.

Up until this point, I really expected 1985 to be some sort of Matrix-style simulation. There are parts where Freya and Garren are too easily found and their piece of Canada seems much too small and much to simplistic to be the real thing. Time travel, though, for me, doesn't fit.

For better versions of the same story I recommend:

"Phineas and Ferb's Quantum Boogaloo" from season 2 of Phineas and Ferb
Back to the Future II
Meanwhile by Jason Shiga (a CYBILs winner)

A refreshing change from most YA and dystopian fiction where the protagonist seemed more grounded in her world, which is an odd thing to say about a book where the characters increasing sense of unreality leads her to discover the truth about who she is, and less angsty about friends, crushes, etc. I think her obsessive pursuit for the truth is what gives me this feeling.

One of my favorite bloggers, even though she doesn't blog much anymore, is Presenting Lenore. She's helping to host a twitter book club, the aim of which is to read books that are amazing but do not have nearly enough buzz. This is the first selection. Well, it definitely isn't well known enough, since I totally thought Yesterday was going to be Martin's debut. Apparently, she's written four books before that one.

The opening of My Beating Teenage Heart is quit alarming. You're thrown into some weird dream-state type thing with the heroine whose name you don't yet know. It's odd and mystical and it's hard to tell whether anything is real or a dream or what. Actually, the book continues to be this way. Ashlyn learns a bit about herself, but what she figures out results in more questions than answers. Breckon (we also get some chapters from his perspective) is mired in depression.

For me, this is one of those books where how much I likes it depended entirely on the explanation of what's going on. The writing is decent, but didn't especially resonate with me. The characters are both so whacked out on grief or confusion that I had trouble connecting to them. The plot is so strange, requiring some serious suspension of disbelief, but, if she pulled it off with the ending, it could definitely make the book epic.

Without a doubt, I can honestly say that My Beating Teenage Heart is unlike any YA book I've read before. It picks up steam very slowly, but, by the end, I was definitely engaged. For the first hundred or so pages, the melodrama of the narration irritated me, especially given the fogginess of Ashlyn's memory. Plus, she made so many assumptions that seemed strange to me.

Anyway, having now finished the book, I'm still not sure how I feel about it. On some levels, it was definitely really cool and thought provoking, and I'm certainly glad to have read it, but there were also aspects with which I did not reconcile. My main issue with the book I can't express to clearly without risking spoilers, but, basically, I do not get why Ashlyn's memory would ever work that way. However, on the plus side again, Martin can write the heck out of a steamy scene.

Looking at those labels at the bottom of the post, you might notice that they're not super happy times themes. Nor is the book at all light and fluffy. At all. Recommended to fans of Ilsa J. Bick and Laurie Halse Anderson. Although I didn't love this, I am now definitely looking forward to reading Yesterday more than I was before.½

Originally reviewed on A Reader of Fictions.

My second C. K. Kelly Martin book has me convinced that I need to write every single thing she writes. Martin has a very distinct style. Her writing is wonderful and her concepts, at least for the two books I've already read, are entirely original. Yesterday didn't remind me of any other dystopia, a very rare experience.

Yesterday is one of those stories where you'll spend most of the book confused, unsure what the heck is going on. However, rest easy with the knowledge that you WILL be given answers; Martin will explain everything. Her vision of the future is dark and complex, taking into account various ways that humans could destroy the world. Not only that, but, of course, the meddlesome government will take charge in a harsh way to try to control everything.

I really cannot say much of anything else about the world building aspect of Yesterday, because spoilers would be unavoidable. The only other things I need to point out in this regard are the reasons I rated it down a little bit. First, there was the clunky info dump when Freya realized what was going on. I'm not sure if there was a better way to do that, but that chapter read like a history text. I also felt like her memories came back too quickly and easily. Second, the time travel aspects were questionable, but, then again, I almost always have big suspension of disbelief issues with time travel.

Yesterday made a really nice change from most of my other reads, because of the unique setting. For one thing, the book is set in Canada, taking place largely in Toronto. Very few books I've read have had a Canadian setting, though I'm a bit surprised by that. Even more uncommon, Yesterday is set primarily in the 1980s. I loved all the mentions of music, like The Smiths, and other bits of pop culture from that time period. Also, picturing everyone in the horrific clothes greatly amused me.

Freya won my affections early on. She's gorgeous, in a way that could have made her completely obnoxious; literally, everyone stares at her. However, she is completely uncomfortable with that. She doesn't try to be popular; instead she befriends the goths, and even does a makeover on herself so people will pay less attention to her. I loved that, despite her beauty, she doesn't take advantage of it nor does she deny it.

Freya has premonitions, visions of the near future. These really could have felt out of place, and I am curious about them, but Martin made them work. They did not come off as an unnecessary paranormal addition to the plot, thank goodness. I love Freya for her intelligence, her forthrightness, her courage and her anger. She feels so real. It also entertained me that in this case, it wasn't a heroine falling for a vaguely creepy, gorgeous guy who stalked her; she does the stalking, although she does have her reasons.

Garren definitely was less dear to me, but I liked him because Freya did. I still question him a bit, because he had a girlfriend at the beginning. The switch of his feelings from Janette to Freya seemed rushed and unnatural. However, I can accept it, since, though they get close to one another VERY quickly, they don't instalove all over the place. In such a stressful situation, emotions developing is not a surprise, but I would have punched everything if they were declaring eternal love for one another. Thankfully, they did not. As an added bonus, Martin is a genius at writing steamy scenes, as evidenced here and in My Beating Teenage Heart.

Reading Yesterday was a pleasure from beginning to end, a refreshingly original addition to dystopian fiction. Now I need to go add her other books to my wishlist...

After reading two of C. K. Kelly Martin's novels, I added all of the others to my wishlist on Amazon, and bought three of them, her first three novels, when they went on sale. One Lonely Degree differs quite a bit from my prior experiences. Although the style clearly belongs to Martin still, and the books have a similar tone that I associate with her, I can really tell how much she grew as an author from this book to My Beating Teenage Heart. I did enjoy reading One Lonely Degree, but the subject matter is a bit overdone and it's also a subject I really just don't care for much personally.

Of course, Martin does not write contemporaries full of rainbows and sunshine and happiness. The first half of the novel reminded me quite a bit of Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, though their plot and situations differ. Finn, short for Fionnuala, aches and lives in fear, cringing at the memory of some incident months before. The reader does not learn precisely what transpired until quite a long ways in, allowing time for guesses. This both builds suspense and lets the reader see just how much Finn refuses to deal with what happened. She avoids talking about it to anyone, and even thinking about it to herself.

As always, I respect Martin so much for not shying away from how terrible teens can be. They have sex, they drink, they do drugs, and they generally hurt one another constantly. Finn is so incredibly selfish throughout One Lonely Degree, and, honestly, I'm finding that I really love the main characters that admit their own selfishness and indulge anyway, because that is being a teenager, or, really, a human.

On top of her personal difficulties, Finn's parents have been going through something, and she fears that divorce is on the way. Already so unstable, she throws bratty temper tantrums and ignores her obviously upset parents, hoping that, if she fights back hard enough, the current of change will retreat back whence it came. With her friend Audrey, too, Finn always focuses on herself first, her personal dramas counting much more, largely because of The Event.

At this point, I'm going to have to venture into spoiler territory, because I just don't see any other way to talk about what happens and why I didn't like this book more than I did. As happens in about 75 percent of YA novels set in a school, a new guy comes into Finn's class. In this case, her turns out to be a childhood friend, Jersy. Though at first annoyed by him, she quickly starts to crush on him, but tamps those emotions down when Audrey expresses interest, because broken as Finn is, she doesn't think she could handle a relationship anyway.

Jersy's presence destroys the friendship between Finn and Audrey in so many ways, none of which were his fault, but I still never cared for him as a character largely because I feared where the novel was going (and I was right about that). I did think it was awesome that he is shorter than Finn, though, because that pretty much never happens in fiction. Anyway, his presence in their lives breaks down their friendship, first because Finn pretends never to have wanted him, second because he and Audrey end up having to sneak around while dating because of her father's disapproval, and third because, when caught sneaking around, Audrey gets sent away from the summer, leaving Jersy and Finn free to bond and hook up.

Damn it, I suspected the whole time that One Lonely Degree was taking the slow train to infidelity town, but I kept hoping, because, as I said, SLOW train. I know nobody likes cheating, but I seriously hate it, because I've always had a very black and white sense of justice, and, to me, such things seem stupid and so easily avoidable. In this modern age of communication, send your girlfriend an email and end things, so that you can launch on your new relationship as something other than a cheating douchebag. Similarly, talk your feelings out with your best friend before you ever lay a finger on her boyfriend in a sexual manner, and, ideally, don't tell her he's fair game when you've already got feelings for him. Audrey would have backed off immediately had Finn mentioned her burgeoning attraction, because of all of Audrey's lingering guilt about her part in what happened.

Sadly, I would have liked Finn and Jersy well enough as a couple had they not been betraying someone else. Maybe you can't help who you fall for, but you can at least try to be less of a jerk about it than they did. While my heart ached for what Finn went through, that does not excuse her behavior here. Plus, once the characters are in that place, there aren't really any endings that will satisfy me. Pretty much as soon as the cheating occurs, I cannot like those characters as much as I did before, and I can't root for them to have a happy ending, at least not for a long while. Forgiveness and empathy are not emotions that I'm especially good at.

In no way would I say that One Lonely Degree is a bad book, but if you have huge issues with infidelity as a theme like I do, you may not love it either. I feel, too, that I might have appreciated this more had I not read several novels with similar themes that spoke to me more than this one happened to.

A page-turner I was happy to curl up and live inside for a few days. Full of vibrant, diverse (yay!) characters, it felt like high school. Martin captures a teenage boy's voice perfectly--I know boys like Mason and totally fell for him. It was also a book which sparked a lot of questions. Even though it's all about relationships and sex, it would be ideal to discuss with a kid, or, even better, for kids to discuss with each other. It's frank and brave enough that it might empower teenagers to share their honest thoughts.

I have to tell you, this was a little hard to follow at times. I am not a huge fan of sci-fi books, so I had to work hard to stay with it in places. Overall though, I enjoyed this book.


I found it ironic that the "then" this book took place in was 1985. Of course, the future was far beyond 2012, so I guess it made sense to think of 1985 as a distant past. But still, it made me chuckle. The author did a great job weaving in the subtle 80s references from the characters' point of view. Reading about the popular jock having "Flock of Seagull hair" was highly entertaining. I think the highlight though, had to be the music references. So yes, all my 80s music lovers out there... Yesterday does have 80s musical references. In fact, when I read the first mentioning of Duran Duran, I had to post it on Facebook for my co-workers (Duran Duran fans). We had a good laugh over it.


Ok, so funny 80s references aside, this book did have a pretty suspenseful plot. The characters are transported back to 1985 with no memory of their former lives. Except one of them does remember--sort of. The whole plot of the book centers on putting the pieces of this great mystery together. Where are they from? Why are they here? Why can't they go "home"?


That final question really grabbed my attention as I read. As I think about the world we live in, I can't help but think how close to the truth the author really was. The bio-terror that erupted in the future world was horrific. Zombies have nothing on what was created in this book!


Sci-fi fans will find plenty to enjoy in this futuristic dystopian. There was one pretty hot and heavy scene that would make this better suited for older YA readers.

Review posted on October 9, 2011 at http://canlitforlittlecanadians.blogspot.ca/2011/10/my-beating-teenage-heart.htm...

I was scouting for a new YA novel when I stumbled on Yesterday by C.K. Kelly Martin. I had heard good things about her novels and the book cover was amazing. When I read the publisher’s blurb about Yesterday’s concept, it sounded so original that I knew I had to get a copy. If you like sci-fi or dystopian, futuristic novels, check out my review. And for you romance fans, there’s even a romantic thread. As with a lot of this genre, it may be a YA novel but it’s going to appeal to a wide range of ages. Read the rest of my review at http://popcornreads.com/?p=4675.

I have to say, I’m really torn on this one. In fact, I had to sit on it for a few days before actually writing the review. I thought maybe if I stepped back and thought about it for a while, it might be easier to write it up, but it’s not. Bear with me…

We start out in 1985 in Ontario, Canada where we meet Freya. Something about her life feels off. She knows her family yet she doesn’t really feel close to them. She remembers things from her past, but the memories don’t really bring up any real emotions. What’s really freaking her out is that she can sense things before they happen. When she sees a guy who looks very familiar, she is drawn to him. Garren (the guy) has no idea who she is, but the more they talk, the more they realize they have in common. The deeper they dig into their similarities, the more dangerous things get for them and before they know it they’re on the run from some people who are determined to keep them from finding out too much. See, Freya and Garren are from the future where technology controls pretty much everything, and the evil “men in black” will do anything to keep them quiet.

Let me start with what I liked about the book. First of all — 1985. I’m an 80′s kid, so the 80′s references were awesome and I felt the author did a great job placing me there. Since this is a book for teens, many of the references will probably be lost on them, but I really liked it. At first I thought it odd that she would set the “past” part of the novel in the 80′s, but then again it makes sense. We didn’t have a whole lot of technology back then outside of TV’s. We didn’t even have email or websites (the horror!) Since one of the main plot points was to show what a difference technology makes (and in the case of this book how it can control us to the point of being a weapon) it worked. Secondly, I liked the idea of the story — technology controls EVERYTHING in this future (even sex — I don’t mean gender either, but the bow chicka wow-wow kind). It was actually believable. I mean look how dependent on our smartphones a lot of people are. Anyway…

I also liked the characters for the most part. I didn’t feel like either Freya or Garren were particularly unique from a lot of other characters I’ve read in other dystopian novels, and they’re probably not my favorite, but I did like them and I did feel for them. I did like how their relationship wasn’t an immediate “I’ll die without you if you ever leave me.” It felt more realistic.

My biggest problem with the book was the execution. The story was moving along at a descent pace (in my opinion it could have had a little more action, but that’s just me) and then when the future is revealed it hits with a huge boat-load of information that I never felt I was able to fully process. This left me feeling a little overwhelmed and a little confused. From that point on I just felt really jumbled and I had to do a lot of flipping back and forth, which, in turn, made me start to lose interest.

The writing is good, and the story unique, but Yesterday felt a little too jumbled for me. Is it worth checking out? Sure, but it’s not one I would put at the top of my list of recommendations.