Jennifer Brown - Perfect Escape
• Pub Date: July 10, 2012
• Publisher: Little, Brown Books
• Format: Hardcover, 352 pages
• Age Range: Young Adult
Kendra has always felt overshadowed by her older brother, Grayson, whose OCD forces him to live a life of carefully coordinated routines. The only way Kendra can stand out next to Grayson is to be perfect, and she has perfection down to an art -- until a cheating scandal threatens her flawless reputation.Behind the wheel of her car, with Grayson asleep beside her, Kendra decides to drive away from it all -- with enough distance, maybe she'll be able to figure everything out. But eventually, Kendra must stop running and come to terms with herself, her brother, and her past.With undeniable grace and humor, acclaimed author Jennifer Brown explores OCD, the pressure for perfection, and the emotional highs and lows of a complex sibling relationship.
I received this ARC at ALA2012. Here's my honest review:
I enjoyed this and read most of it in one sitting, but I didn't feel it 100%. Something about this didn't connect all the way with me. I did like that it was really different from most YA novels I've read lately. There was no real love story, let alone a triangle. It's a road trip story, but it's also kind of a runaway story. And there were layers to this one. It isn't just what's on the surface. The book isn't super deep, but it deals with illness and OCD among other stuff. Good topics to tackle. So it's deeper than some YA novels out there now.
Kendra has some issues, but so does her brother. They get a chance to deal with them together on this impromptu road trip. It takes a long time for them to get to the bottom of things, and lots of other events occur (like meeting new people along the way), but they persevere to accomplish what Kendra set out to do. I wasn't sure if they'd ever get there with so many obstacles and discoveries, but it all turns out to be beneficial, good and bad. Check this out if you like road trip YA novels or YA books without the romance all over the place.
Bottom line: Try this one out! It's different in a good way.
Rating:
3.5 / 5 book sharks
I DO like road trip novels, surprisingly...more than I ever thought I would. I'll have to go make sure this one is on my TBR. That's too bad you couldn't connect all the way - I hate it when that happens!
ReplyDeletePersonally, I'm not a huge fan of Road Trip novels, because ever since I've read John Green's road trip novels, I haven't been able to shake the lingering fact that I will compare everything to An Abundance of Kathrines. However, I think I might have to try this one out because of its different-ness.
ReplyDeletetnx 4 the honest review
ReplyDeletebummr it was not a 5/5 read