Canary Blog Tour: Review

Welcome to my stop on the Canary blog tour presented by AToMR Tours! Today I will be reviewing the book and don't forget to scroll to the bottom of the post to enter the tour wide giveaway! Follow along with the rest of the tour HERE.



Canary
Author: Rachele Alpine
Genre: YA Contemporary
Release Date: August 1, 2013
Publisher: Medallion Press

Buy Links: Amazon / Barnes and Noble / Indiebound / The Book Depository 

Description:

Staying quiet will destroy her, but speaking up will destroy everyone. 


Kate Franklin’s life changes for the better when her dad lands a job at Beacon Prep, an elite private school with one of the best basketball teams in the state. She begins to date a player on the team and quickly gets caught up in a world of idolatry and entitlement, learning that there are perks to being an athlete.

But those perks also come with a price. Another player takes his power too far and Kate is assaulted at a party. Although she knows she should speak out, her dad’s vehemently against it and so, like a canary sent into a mine to test toxicity levels and protect miners, Kate alone breathes the poisonous secrets to protect her dad and the team. The world that Kate was once welcomed into is now her worst enemy, and she must decide whether to stay silent or expose the corruption, destroying her father’s career and bringing down a town’s heroes. 

Canary is a contemporary YA novel that follows main character Kate as she begins her sophomore year at the prestigious Beacon Prep - the school where her Dad coaches the basketball team. At first, things are going great: Kate has a group of new girlfriends, the guys on the team all seem to like her, and she has a great boyfriend - Jack. Things at home aren't going as well as her brother Brett and her Dad begin to fight more often, until Brett announces he's enlisting in the Army. Things at home are a mess, but Kate believes that with her friends and Jack by her side, everything will turn out okay. Then one night at a party, Kate is assaulted by one of the basketball players. She tries to tell her Dad about what happened, along with her boyfriend and her friends. Her Dad tells her to basically keep her mouth shut because he's afraid of what will happen to the team and his career, and Kate's so-called friends are no better. Now Kate's left with the awful truth of what happened that night and the fact that she can either keep the dirty secret inside or tell everyone the truth behind Beacon Prep and their beloved basketball team.

This was a very emotional and well written novel that seemed to touch on major topics that are relevant in today's teens lives. Kate was a great main character - she's smart, tries to be a peacekeeper in her family, and just wants to make her Dad proud of her again. She thinks that Beacon Prep will be a fresh start for her - and for awhile it is. The plot was layered with multiple smaller story lines playing out throughout the novel, but they all seem to weave together to form a powerful end product. The book touches on several deep and important issues in life like friendship, family, love, betrayal, sexual assault, secrets, and doing the right thing - despite what the consequences might be, and in the end - hope. Although not all of Kate's story is a great one, it is definitely full of meaningful lessons that readers of all ages can relate to. The writing itself had a great pace and flowed smoothly along. This is certainly a book that might be hard for some readers to experience as it touches on hurtful topics, but I highly recommend it for fans of YA contemporary novels.

Rachele Alpine is a lover of sushi, fake mustaches, and Michael Jackson. One of her first jobs was at a library, but it didn’t last long, because all she did was hide in the third-floor stacks and read. Now she’s a little more careful about when and where she indulges her reading habit. By day she’s a high school English teacher, and by night she writes with the companionship of the world’s cutest dog, Radley, a big cup of coffee, and a full bag of gummy peaches. Rachele lives with her husband in Cleveland, Ohio, but dreams of moving back to Boston, the city she fell in love with while attending graduate school there.

Author Social Media Links:
www.rachelealpine.com
www.twitter.com/ralpine
www.facebook.com/ralpine
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12579262-canary

 Tour Wide Giveaway: (3) Print Copies of Canary (will be signed if winner lives within the Continental US) – International; (1) Swag Pack - International 



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