Welcome to my stop on the official blog tour for Say What You Will by Cammie McGovern! Today I have lots of fun stuff for you - my review of the book, a guest post by Cammie, and an awesome tour-wide giveaway!! To follow the rest of the tour, click on the banner above.
Say What You Will
Author: Cammie McGovern
Genre: YA Contemporary
Release Date: June 3, 2014
Publisher: HarperTeen
Description:
John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars meets Rainbow Rowell’s Eleanor & Park in this beautifully written, incredibly honest, and emotionally poignant novel. Cammie McGovern’s insightful young adult debut is a heartfelt and heartbreaking story about how we can all feel lost until we find someone who loves us because of our faults, not in spite of them.
Born with cerebral palsy, Amy can’t walk without a walker, talk without a voice box, or even fully control her facial expressions. Plagued by obsessive-compulsive disorder, Matthew is consumed with repeated thoughts, neurotic rituals, and crippling fear. Both in desperate need of someone to help them reach out to the world, Amy and Matthew are more alike than either ever realized.
When Amy decides to hire student aides to help her in her senior year at Coral Hills High School, these two teens are thrust into each other’s lives. As they begin to spend time with each other, what started as a blossoming friendship eventually grows into something neither expected.
What’s Inside My… by Cammie McGovern
My purse is too messy to take a picture or talk about and my desk isn’t too much better. (I mostly write upstairs in my bedroom, anyway, so my desk is repository of “papers we’re trying not to lose, misplace, bills, etc.” Which means everything is a little bit lost there.) So no need to go into that one either.
But I will tell you what’s on my phone! Books for summer listening! We’re in the car a lot in the summer, usually driving to our cabin on a lake in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont where there’s no internet, no electricity and no plumbing (yes—this means going outside to get to the outhouse!) The only entertainment we have on a rainy days is board games and books on tapes. I love it! Our favorites have been the whole Hunger Games series, Divergent, and then some lesser known ones: The True Meaning of Smekday is a fantastic audio book. So is The Name of this Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch. Not every book is a perfect winner, but it’s such magic when all five of us (I have a husband and three boys) are gathered around a battery operated player all leaning forward, listening carefully. I imagine that’s what radio used to be like…
On the phone for this summer: Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver, The Fault in Our Stars (my kids haven’t read it) and Legend.
Thanks for stopping by the blog and sharing what's on your phone with us Cammie!
Say What You Will is a heartbreakingly honest look at the life of two teens who are disabled in their own ways - and how they come to realize how much they needed one another without knowing it. The two main characters in the story - Amy, who has cerebral palsy - and Matthew, who has OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) are both incredibly realistic in all their aspects - both good and bad. We get to see these two teens for who they are - their personalities, likes and dislikes, fears, frustrations, and how they live with their respective illnesses. I loved the honesty that the author wrote with - with both the characters, the illnesses and how it effects those with the disease and those around them, and basically teenage life in general. She shows us that just because these two are diagnosed with illnesses, they aren't very different at all from the regular teenager.
The writing was beautifully done - especially the characters and their growing relationship with each other. I loved how we got to know both Amy and Matthew for their true selves and then we got to watch how their lives become entwined. This book is a definite emotional roller coaster - there were points that were funny, some that were sobering, and some that had me crying hysterically. I found it easy to slip into the world the author created within the first few paragraphs, and I didn't stop reading until I was finished - and then even after that, because it kept me thinking and feeling for quite some time afterwords. I thought the plot was original, if not completely unique, and written with a natural flow and easy pace. It seems that more and more YA contemporary books are revolving around characters who are sick in some way, but the the depth of the characters and the interesting story line made this one original and fresh. I don't do spoilers in my reviews, so I'll just say that you should prepare yourself before reading this one. As I mentioned, it took me on a ride - from laughing to crying and everything in between. Definitely recommended for fans of the genre as well as those looking for an honest and emotional young adult novel.
Cammie
McGovern was a Stegner Fellow at Stanford and received the Nelson Algren
Award in short fiction. Her work has been published in Redbook,
Seventeen, Glimmer Train, TriQuarterly, and other publications.
GOODREADS | AMAZON | B&N | INDIEBOUND
(2) Winners will each get a copy of SAY WHAT YOU WILL
Ships in US only | Must be 13+ to enter
To enter the giveaway, click HERE.
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