Book Reviews: Life on the Refrigerator door & Cracked Up to Be

I caught up on homework and read this weekend. It was too cold to do anything outside, so I made a quick stop at my library and grabbed some quick reads ;) I read both of these in a day (I'm a quick reader).

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Life on the Refridgerator Door by Alice Kuipers wasn't what I expected. The daughter, Claire, is a teenager just like every other 15 year old girl you know. Dating a guy she is confused about, her parents are divorced and she does homework. Her mom works too much as a Labor & Delivery doctor at a local hospital. I must not have read the cover closely because I thought this was going to be a light read, which it was not!

It read quick, some pages only had a line or 2. Most pages had a paragraph to read. It really was just likes notes left on the fridge. I didn't care for the story and not really the ending. The notes didn't let you develop a great sense of the characters. Overall it was mediocore for me. 

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(YA) Cracked Up to Be by Courtney Summers

I enjoyed this book, it really addressed issues teen struggle with. Parker was very identifiable and I could imagine her as popular, but she was more interesting as the loner. I didn't like how the book skipped around so much. It kept going back to "the night it happened", but there were times I felt really confused and just wanted to know what happened. I know why the author chooses to wait until near the end, but I'd have liked to have a better understanding ahead of time instead of going back and forth. I did have a hard time understanding the relationship between Parker and her ex, Chris. I never had any boyfriends that I stayed close with after a breakup, but I think he was still in love with her through most of the book. The author did leave it open for a follow up book, but I think it ended well and she should leave it.

I would recommend this book to any teenage girl (or boy, I guess) and I enjoyed reading it myself. I wish it had addressed more of the drinking issues, instead of just stating that she drank a bottle of Jack. I was more interested in that, then her meetings with a counselor at school.