Afbeelding auteur

Jay Clark

Auteur van Finding Mr. Brightside

6+ Werken 198 Leden 11 Besprekingen

Werken van Jay Clark

Finding Mr. Brightside (2015) 87 exemplaren
Cowboys (1954) 4 exemplaren
Wildflowers of Pigeon Mountain (2005) 1 exemplaar
Algebra Flipper 2 (1993) 1 exemplaar

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I See Reality: Twelve Short Stories About Real Life (2016) — Medewerker — 40 exemplaren

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Finding Mr. Brightside is an unconventional romance featuring two teenagers who bond over a shared tragedy. Abram and Juliette have known each other forever -- but they never really knew each other until they accidentally met at a CVS one night. What starts out as an awkward encounter featuring some prescription drugs slowly turns into an easy friendship, until Juliette and Abram realize that it's becoming something more. Their developing relationship is complicated by the fact that Juliette's mom and Abram's dad were having an affair -- which ended in a deadly car crash.

The story is sweet and heartfelt, and the writing feels very realistic. The perspective frequently changes between Abram and Juliette -- something I generally dislike -- but their voices are so distinct that there's no confusion. Many YA books have conspicuously absent parents, but Juliette's dad and Abram's mom are present throughout the book, dealing with issues of their own.

Although the story takes place over a fairly short stretch of time -- it can't be more than a couple months -- the progression of Juliette and Abram's relationship feels natural. The characters are perfect for each other: Juliette helps Abram regain control of his life, and Abram helps to break down the walls Juliette has built around herself.

I was pleasantly surprised with Finding Mr. Brightside, and I look forward to more from the author.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the free copy.
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Sara.Newhouse | 4 andere besprekingen | Feb 11, 2016 |
Review Link: http://onecurvyblogger.com/2015/10/08/finding-mr-brightside-by-jay-clark/

Did you ever want to read a heartwarming young adult romance with very little plot, a small cast, and a lot of character development? If so, Finding Mr. Brightside is the book for you.

I purchased this book in the spring when it first came out. It was my first book by Jay Clark, but I mostly purchased it because it has a really cute cover. Yeah, it was one of those spontaneous buys where I didn’t really buy it for the content, but for the artwork. I love cutesy covers like this and I just can’t seem to stop myself from picking them up!

I didn’t *love* Finding Mr. Brightside. I’m not saying it’s a terrible book, but it’s not exactly memorable. There wasn’t much of a plot line and there was a serious lack of complete sentences, but it was cute. It’s one of those fluffy young adult romances I would pick up after finishing a really intense story. I expected this book to produce a tear or two, but nary was a Kleenex used.

Finding Mr. Brightside is told in dual-first person narrative told in the present tense from both Juliette (the girl whose mom had the affair) and Abram’s (the boy whose father killed her mom and himself) perspective. I’m not the biggest fan of present tense narratives, especially when they are paired with dual POV. It always makes things seem…busier…than they should be. I have no idea why it does, it just does. Am I the only one weird about present tense? I hope not.

The book is light on world building, but as it is a character driven book, I didn’t have much of a problem with it. I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed the book nearly as much as I did if both Juliette and Abram didn’t undergo massive amounts of character development, even if it seemed a bit rushed.

There he is, in the candy section: Abram. Deep breath. I’ll do my best to make the next scene more take-charge than outtake, but no promises, being that his father killed my mother a year ago.

Neither Juliette nor Abram were in a healthy place before that fated night at the drugstore – when they were both picking up prescriptions for drugs they both clearly didn’t need. Juliette coped with her mother’s affair and sudden death by abusing prescription stimulants and running away from her problems (literally, she ran all night). Abram copes by abusing antidepressants and ignoring stacks of mail from colleges. Together they start to change one another as they both shed the guilt of loving flawed parents. They make an awkwardly cute couple, and I enjoyed their dynamic, even if it was one of the least romantic romances I have ever read. 😛

“You help homeless dogs and people?” I can’t resist bringing this up as I’m merging onto the highway slowly, but not too slowly, trying not to scare her as she tenses and tightens her seat belt.

Finding Mr. Brightside wasn’t perfect. It had almost zero world building and very little plot that I could pinpoint, but I liked it! It was a cute romance that maybe wasn’t very memorable, but it was a fun romance with a satisfying ending. I would definitely read more from Jay Clark, but I’m in no rush to do so. I recommend this book to anyone searching for a light, contemporary romance to add to their shelves.
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½
 
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One_Curvy_Blogger | 4 andere besprekingen | Oct 8, 2015 |
I’m always a fan of supporting local authors, and I really thought that this story sounded interesting. Boy meets girl… after boy’s father and girl’s mother, who were having an affair, die in a car crash (boy’s father was driving). Now, a year later, the pair run into one another at a drug store when the girl (Juliette) is filling her Adderall prescription and the boy (Abram) is going to pick up his Paxil prescription. Well, I have to say that that isn’t something I read every day, so I gave it a whirl.

First, this book is short. It’s technically 214 pages, but the print is fairly large, so it’s a super quick read and feels more like a novella than an actual book – which is a good thing, because I don’t think that I could have dealt with a full book of these two characters, to be honest. I actually made a list of points that I wanted to address in my review, which I almost never do for fiction. Annnnnd go!

Juliette is beyond annoying as a character. She’s hooked on Adderall thanks to her mother, who introduced her to the drug, with which she seems to be relatively okay, but she can’t handle that Abram is on Paxil. Granted, Abram tells her that he doesn’t think that he really needs the Paxil, but Juliette immediately devises a plan for him to get off the drug. Listen, drugs are serious, mmkay? If you’re going to go off of something like Paxil, it should be under a doctor’s supervision, and not some plan someone found on an internet message board. And it’s not like she even asks him if he wants to go off of Paxil – she just announces that this is what he is going to do now, and when he briefly brings up her Adderall addiction, Juliette just brushes it aside.

Juliette comes across as extremely controlling manipulative and controlling to me, and it’s not just about the Paxil. Everything has to be done on her conditions, in her time, according to her rules – and if something was too much for her to handle, she just ran away. Abram, who seems to be suffering from a severe case of white knight syndrome, goes along with all of this, including having to chase after her repeatedly. I really hate when a passive character gets steamrolled, and Abram gets steamrolled by Juliette right and left.

And I have a major problem with Juliette’s hang-ups on words like “slutty” and “whore.” Ick. I hate those words, hate those words being used in YA fiction (or any fiction, or really anywhere, to be honest), and HATE that no one called her out on that and said “hey, you know what? Not cool.” It’s especially bad when Juliette and Abram have some of the least sexy foreplay ever, and Abram tells her that he doesn’t have a condom. Juliette tells him that’s okay, because she’s on the pill, but it’s for regulating her hormones and not because she’s a whore. What the fuck. So everyone woman who is on the pill for birth control is a whore? Intense rage-inducing dislike!

And then there is the “dwarf” thing. At a party that Juliette attends, thrown by her best friend Heidi, a “dwarf” starts hitting on Heidi. Juliette thinks it is gross. Heidi doesn’t (and goes creepy in her own way by hitting up fetishland). And, of course, the character in question (who doesn’t even have a name) is super creepy and gross. How about no. They are not “dwarves” and they are not fetishes. And why does he have to be the creepy one? The whole situation felt wrong, wrong, wrong.

So, to escape from their lives, the pair of them decide to go to the beach for a mini vacation. And neither of their parents seemed to mind a great deal about that. Where are actual parents in YA fiction? I understand that there wouldn’t be nearly as much “action” if there were actual parental figures present, but come on. I can’t imagine being seventeen, going away for nearly a week with someone I barely knew, and my mom being okay with that in the slightest. In fact, just telling her (instead of asking her) of my plans would have been a one-way trip to ground town. But, hey, have fun kiddos!

And the place that they go on vacation is even worse – Abram’s mom’s beach house. The beach house where Abram’s father and Juliette’s mother spent time hooking up more than once. What a splendid idea! At least Juliette seems a little bothered by this at points, but not enough to actually do anything about it. Sorry, that was just awkward and a little creepy.

Know what else is creepy? The fact that they go to a local restaurant where the two “adults” that Abram knows in the area buy them alcohol. The waiter doesn’t bat an eye, even though it’s obvious that four drinks were ordered for the two legal people at the table. And when a second round is ordered, when it should have been crystal clear that the two teenagers were also drinking, no questions were asked again! Awesome customer service! So glad that that waiter was willing to risk losing the restaurant’s liquor license!

But Juliette is apparently used to creepy, because her mother told some woman who worked at a coffee shop in the area that she thought her daughter [Juliette] and the man she’s having an affair with’s son [Abram] would be perfect together. That is just disgusting. How would you even go about introducing them? “Honey, meet the man with whom I’m cheating – and here’s his son, Abram! What a catch, right? Maybe we can double date! Just don’t tell your father!” How about no.

And yet, in spite of spending nearly a week in the beach house, Juliette and Abram never address the elephant in the room – their parents’ affair. I mean, it’s not like I’m expecting a huge drama about it, but the affair is never really addressed, only skirted around a few times throughout the book. Come on, it had to at least cross their minds once or twice that maybe they should have a conversation. But they never really seem to have a conversation about anything at all. Most of the book is just Juliette being standoffish and Abram being the bland, perfect Prince Charming.

Well, except for the fact that he apparently doesn’t own one pair of pants that fits properly and his underwear is always hanging out. Because that’s super sexy. Ick. I didn’t even know that moping was still a thing (please tell me it isn’t).

And yet, even after Abram put up with all of this, Juliette is still freaking out about putting a picture of them together up on her Facebook. And then she freaks out because no one “likes” the picture in the first few seconds it was posted. How immature can she possibly be? She talks about how she avoids liking pictures on her 700+ friends’ Facebooks, but she expects them to instantly validate her whenever she posts something. How much more self-absorbed can she possibly be?

And that, basically, sums up this entire book. Juliette is incredibly self-absorbed and needs “rescued.” Abram has virtually no personality and does all of the “rescuing.” Dislike. Do not want. This book could have been, should have been, so much better. And yet it was not.
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½
 
Gemarkeerd
schatzi | 4 andere besprekingen | Jun 24, 2015 |
I wanted to read this one because it sounded like the kind of love story that gets me every time... the one formed by tragedy.

The prologue didn't do much for me but I liked once we got into Abram and Juliette's heads and lives. We see right off, with them meeting at CVS that both were taking care of parents who aren't fully present, but also that Juliette is taking ADHD meds and abusing them even though she has a prescription and that Abram is on an anti-depressant. I think both are pressing issues for teens, knowing when meds are okay, helpful and what the line is with abuse.

As a side effect of the ADHD meds, Juliette feels a confidence that she normally doesn't have and she agrees to go get some food with him, and so their love story began. Their parents are against them being together but especially her dad. Abram's mom seems more resigned, and has always wanted Abram to keep an eye on her, but never this closely. Juliette is more of a free spirit, and just drops in pretty much when she wants, uses his computer, and steals his heart.

I enjoyed Juliette's growth, but wish that some was more self motivated rather than because Abram asked her to stop the meds. But I was still proud of him when he followed her suggestions of how to wean off of his. The ending was sweet and perfect for the journey of these two characters. The only reason that I marked it down is because while it is a story line that I enjoyed, and a good romance, it ultimately didn't stand out. Their meds, their parents (the dead ones also got attention and they were working through the cheating and the position they're in because of their relationship) I feel like it could have been more emotional.

Regardless of what I said about their reasons for recovery, I do like that they challenge the other. Juliette steps out of her comfort zone-- talking to others, trying new things, being open to stop the meds eventually. Abram was open to trying tennis again, something he was very good at, but something that was very associated with his dad.

I also didn't like the slut shaming. I get that Juliette didn't have the best self-esteem, but she def focused on someone Abram was friends with and in her mind and sometimes out loud, tearing down this other girl. I guess that her views of sex can be skewed as well because of her mom's affair, but associated just being on the pill with being a whore, or letting herself feel lust and passion in the same light.

I did enjoy the remaining parents' dysfunction and development. It took a lot to get Juliette's dad to face reality instead of depending so much on her, and being a legit writer hermit. On the other hand, Abram's mom was involved but not pushy. She would voice concern but respect his decisions. She didn't let her husband's affair with Juliette's mom effect her view of Juliette as a separate person.

The ending was sweet and perfect for the journey of these two characters.

Bottom Line: Fast read, good characters with decent growth and a sweet romance, but not without issues.
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brandileigh2003 | 4 andere besprekingen | Feb 26, 2015 |

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Werken
6
Ook door
1
Leden
198
Populariteit
#110,929
Waardering
2.8
Besprekingen
11
ISBNs
15

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