What Can't Wait by Ashley Hope Perez

Date Started: January 22, 2011
Date Finished: January 30, 2011

Summary: Marisa Moreno is in a tough position. Instead of going to school or doing the things she needs to do, she is stuck watching her little niece, Anita. Marisa is also trying to apply for colleges, University of Houston as her safety school and University of Austin and their engineering programs. However, things are getting intense, she's got a new boyfriend, she's trying to maintain her grades, while attempting to help out her family by working at the local supermarket and teaching Anita to read. Will Marisa be able to pass her tests or will her family's drama bring her down?

Likes: I like the theme of this novel. There are so many teens that are in this position and there are very few books that are out there for people in that stage. I liked that Marisa's issues were real things that most all teens go through regardless of their ethnicity or cultural heritage. I mean, how many of us can say that our goals and dreams were different than our parents ideals for us. I felt that Marisa's situation wasn't uncommon and it was interesting to read about a teen who wants to rise above and do more than people expect her to do. Marisa's parents don't value education the way she does and it's interesting to see them clash. Especially her mother who does two things that are unfathomable, yet in the end is willing to put her own needs aside and do what is right for her daughter.

Dislikes: There were a lot of  "issues" in the book that seem that they were all piled on just for the sake of showing what happens in high school. There are a lot of subplots that aren't fully fleshed out in the end, but it doesn't detract from the overall story and it seems like it's balanced out since it is Marisa's story after all. It did run the risk of overtaking her story, but there are some pivotal points that bring it back to Marisa's story.

Overall: I highly enjoyed this book. It made me think of my days in high school applying for college. November, the month of UC deadlines, was a stressful month and I remember checking out of the social loop for a while until acceptance letters came in. Another thing that I found interesting was reading the first hand account of what it is like to be a part of a traditional Mexican family. Not that it was how all families were, but I hear stories from the teenagers I used to work with and their teachers who explain how things can be some times.

Recommended by: I saw information about the story floating around the internet and it's on my debut author list. When I saw it available on Netgalley, I had to snatch it up!

Acquired: ARC from Netgalley

Publication Date: March 2011

The Duff by Kody Keplinger

Audiobook read by: Ellen Grafton
Date Started: January 2011
Date Finished: January 19, 2011

Summary: Bianca Piper is the average cynical teen hanging out with her beautiful friends at school. She is approached by the school playboy, Wesley Rush who calls her "The Duff" the designated ugly fat friend and on top of that he wants her to put in a good word to her hot friends about him. She promptly splashes her soda in his face. A few weeks later, she's making out with him and eventually leads to something more. And it turns out, he's not that bad of a guy and that maybe there's something more than just sex. But of course, Wesley would never like Bianca. For one thing, he's a manwhore and he would never tie himself down with a girl. And most importantly, Bianca's the Duff and nobody ever goes for the Duff.

Likes: The characters and the voice made up for most of the qualms I had about this book. Bianca was funny, her friends (though annoying to me) were exactly the friends Bianca needed and they were surprisingly well-fleshed out. (And the voice actor did a good job differentiating them). There were a lot of things going on in this novel, divorce, self-esteem issues, sex, relationships, and they tied together pretty well. I also really liked the theme of facing reality. The actions you do have consequences, they don't exist inside a bubble. Bianca may have thought that her relationship with Wesley was just between them, but it was affected the relationship with her friends and family.

And for the most part, I didn't have an issues about how sex was handled in this book. (except for the Vicki). As ideal as it would be for people to just wait until they were ready, the fact of the matter is that not everybody does this. And not everybody has sex because they are in love. Bianca does it for distraction and for her it seems plausible. The relationships (for the most part) are portrayed realistically

Dislikes: As a whole, while the story is pretty good, I'm having a little trouble with the believability factor. I can't place my finger on it, but it seems like something is off about the whole build up to the relationship. I guess I just wanted to see some conflict. It was a little bit too easy to get together. I wanted more tension between the friends and keeping face at school.

I wasn't a big fan of the whole minor Vicki subplot towards the end of the novel. It drew me out of the story and it was incredibly preachy to me. I'm not sure what to think of her character, however minor she was, she almost doesn't seem necessary except to serve as a cautionary tale, as if Bianca's crisis wasn't already enough.

Overall: The story was okay. Even though I'm pretty sarcastic and cynical, I couldn't really relate to Bianca's character. I guess the reason why was that she had such a low opinion of herself, which is realistic, but being as headstrong and forceful as she was, you'd think she would have told Wesley sooner about how the word Duff and the nickname Duffy hurt her. Some of the pacing was a little off to me and things that I wanted to know more about were glossed over.

Listening to it was a strange format opposed to reading it and I think I might have liked it better had I actually read the words. I found myself getting distracted, trying to find something mindless to do with my hands and eyes without zoning out. It happened a few times, but I think I found something to do while listening without missing things. It's definitely a new experience to get used to, but my whole body needs to be engaged to fully commit to an audiobook.

Recommended by: It's been getting good reviews all around the internet and I was curious to read it.

Acquired: Audible.com, I had a credit that I could use to purchase the book, so I figured that I might as well use it on a book I wasn't sure I wanted to buy outright.

Thesis Thursday #1

Thesis Thursdays!

Info: This is just a little feature about writing my Senior Thesis for Creative Writing. Hopefully it'll be helpful to you in some way.


So January 12, I met with my thesis advisor to talk to about the project. She asked what types of stories I liked to read and it'll probably help if you had a general idea of what you wanted to write.

I actually didn't do much that week, but it might help to know why you chose your thesis advisor. I chose mine because I liked the types of books she wrote. I liked her historical fiction and her multicultural perspective. However, I never had her as a teacher before, so she wasn't sure of my writing style. The biggest issue is that I don't really know her personally and she has never read my writing before. At any rate, she is a wise teacher and I am looking forward to sending my work to her.