A Dream Within A Dream: Dear Cassie Blog Tour: Review & Giveaway

Dear Cassie
Author: Lisa Burstein
Genre: YA/New Adult Contemporary

Release Date: March 5, 2013
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Pages: 352

Buy Links:
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Description:

What if the last place you should fall in love is the first place that you do?

You’d think getting sent to Turning Pines Wilderness Camp for a month-long rehabilitation “retreat” and being forced to re-live it in this journal would be the worst thing that’s ever happened to me.

You’d be wrong.

There’s the reason I was sent to Turning Pines in the first place: I got arrested. On prom night. With my two best friends, who I haven’t talked to since and probably never will again. And then there’s the real reason I was sent here. The thing I can’t talk about with the guy I can’t even think about.

What if the moment you’ve closed yourself off is the moment you start to break open?

But there’s this guy here. Ben. And the more I swear he won’t—he can’t—the deeper under my skin he’s getting. After the thing that happened, I promised I’d never fall for another boy’s lies.

And yet I can’t help but wonder…what if?

Dear Cassie is a raw and emotional novel about Cassie Wick, whose life has basically sucked for as long as she can remember - and only gets worse after prom. She's arrested for crimes she and her two best friends committed the night of prom. Only the one behind everything that happened that night has taken off and the other friend ratted Cassie out in order to avoid punishment. Now Cassie's left taking all the blame and she's being shipped across the country to rehab. But this rehab isn't what Cassie's expecting - this is a rundown summer camp reformed into rough rehab for messed up kids like her. The real reason Cassie believes she's been sent to this hell on Earth isn't because of what they did on prom night - it's what happened afterwards - what a cute guy made her believe and the horrible things that happened because of it. Now Cassie's tough outer shell is threatening to break wide open and all her secrets and pent up feelings are going to come gushing out. To make matters worse - there's a sweet guy at Turning Pines who is hell bent on getting to her, even though she swore she would never let it happen again.

This was a deeply emotional and very real novel about a teenage girl's life and the consequences one must make in life - along with the heavy toll they will take. Cassie was a great main character - she was obviously very flawed and damaged, but she doesn't try to hide it. She knows that she has big issues and she's trying her best to fight her feelings by keeping everyone - including herself - from getting close to her heart. We get to see Cassie undergo major character growth and maturation throughout the novel, which is deeply personal and emotional for both the character and the reader. I had an inkling of Cassie's secret early on in the novel, although it takes a good while for her to admit to it in the book. Her journal entries, which make up the book, show her struggling with the truth and not being able to accept or forgive herself. It was an interesting choice to use journal entries as the way of telling the story, but it works really well because the reader gets to see the occurrances throughout the novel along with getting to experience Cassie's thoughts and feelings. The entire novel was gritty and realistic with lots of emotion and even some romance thrown in. It felt like reading a real journal of someone going through these terrible events, which I liked because it felt authentic. The novel deals with some deep topics like love, forgiveness, self realization, guilt, family, and friendship. It deals a lot with personal issues like forgiving yourself, accepting your flaws and shortcomings, learning to move on from devastating choices and events, and taking control of your own life. Highly recommended for fans of contemporary fiction.

Lisa Burstein is a tea seller by day and a writer by night. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from the Inland Northwest Center for Writers at Eastern Washington University and is glad to finally have it be worth more than the paper it was printed on. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her very patient husband, a neurotic dog and two cats.

She wrote her first story when she was in second grade. It was a Thanksgiving tale from the point of view of the turkey from freezer to oven to plate. It was scandalous.

PRETTY AMY May 2012 Entangled Publishing / THE NEXT FOREVER January 2013 Entangled Publishing / DEAR CASSIE March 2013 Entangled Publishing

Where you can find her:

Website/Blog/Twitter/Facebook/Goodreads