The Seven Torments of Amy and CraigAuthor: Don Zolidis
Genre: YA Contemporary
Release Date: October 2, 2018
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Description:
Janesville, Wisconsin (cold in the sense that there is no God)
1994
The worst thing that's ever happened to Craig is also the best: Amy. Amy and Craig never should've gotten together. Craig is an awkward, Dungeons & Dragons-playing geek, and Amy is the beautiful, fiercely intelligent student-body president of their high school.
Yet somehow they did. Until Amy dumped him.
Then got back together with him. Then dumped him again. Then got back together with him again. Over and over and over.
Unfolding during their senior year, Amy and Craig's exhilarating, tumultuous relationship is a kaleidoscope of joy, pain, and laughter as an uncertain future-and adult responsibility-loom on the horizon.
Craig fights for his dream of escaping Janesville and finding his place at a quirky college, while Amy's quest to uncover her true self sometimes involves being Craig's girlfriend - and sometimes doesn't.
Seven heartbreaks. Seven joys.Told nonsequentially, acclaimed playwright Don Zolidis's debut novel is a brutally funny, bittersweet taste of the utterly unique and utterly universal experience of first love.
The Seven Torments of Amy and Craig is an unique and wholly realistic YA contemporary novel that fans of the genre as well as most other readers are sure to love. This was a step outside my usual reading comfort zone, but I'm glad I decided to give it a chance. I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. I found it funny at times, sad at others, bittersweet mostly, and more than anything very realistic. The author tells the story of Amy and Craig in non-sequential order, so we don't get the events in linear order like pretty much every other book out there. It's divided up into journal-type entries that detail the many breakups between them, Craig explaining events and other important things to the reader to help us understand everything else in the book and put things in perspective, and even letter from Amy to Craig. It was an interesting and fun mix of storytelling that fit the book perfectly.
The book is told in the first person point of view, from Craig's perspective. I found it really easy to connect with him early on in the story. We get to hear his side of everything that happens (except for the letter from Amy that's included in the story) so the reader will tend to find him more accessible than the secondary characters. Which surprisingly include the Amy (in my opinion she's more of a secondary character and not a main character). I also identified with Amy because I was a bit like her in high school and that helped me see her side of things at times. Overall, there really weren't sides to take. The characters were all realistic, the happenings and emotions that occurred were all realistic. Obviously, the repeating major factor for me is the reality factor for me. It was a study in a typical high school relationships, the ups and downs of teenage life, and how we all seem to survive it although at times it feels like we won't. Definitely recommended for fans of YA contemporary and romance.
Originally from Wisconsin, Don Zolidis is a novelist and one of the most-produced playwrights in America.
His 102 published plays have received more than 12,000 productions and have appeared in every state and 64 countries.
His first novel, The Seven Torments of Amy and Craig, will be published by Disney-Hyperion in October 2018.
He currently splits time between Texas and New York and aspires to owning a dog.
(3) winners will win a finished copy of THE SEVEN TORMENTS OF AMY & CRAIG - US Only.
Tour Schedule:
Week One:
10/8/2018- YA Books Central- Excerpt
10/9/2018- Here's to Happy Endings- Review
10/10/2018- Abellafairytale- Review
10/11/2018- Jena Brown Writes- Review
10/12/2018- A Gingerly Review- Review
Week Two:
10/15/2018- Do You Dog-ear?- Review
10/16/2018- Patriotic Bookaholic- Review
10/17/2018- A Bookish Dream- Review
10/18/2018- The Pages In-Between- Review
10/19/2018- Bookish Wisps- Review
Week Three:
10/22/2018- The Clever Reader- Review
10/23/2018- Life of a Literary Nerd- Review
10/24/2018- A Dream Within A Dream- Review
10/25/2018- We Love and Breathe Books- Review
10/26/2018- Fangirl Fury- Review
Week Four:
10/29/2018- Riddle’s Reviews- Review
10/30/2018- Twirling Book Princess- Excerpt
10/31/2018- Sweet Southern Home- Excerpt
11/1/2018- The Desert Bibliophile- Review
11/2/2018- Cindy's Love of Books- Review
Week Five:
11/5/2018- Novel Novice- Review
11/6/2018- BookHounds YA- Review
11/7/2018- Owl Always Be Reading- Review
11/8/2018- Two points of interest- Review
11/9/2018- Book-Keeping- Review
Book sounds really good. Many teens go through this!
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