WORDS WE DON’T SAY
Author: K.J. Reilly
Release Date: October 2, 2018
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Formats: Hardcover, eBook
Pages: 288
Description:
Joel Higgins has 901 unsent text messages saved on his phone.
Ever since the thing that happened, there are certain people he hasn't been able to talk to in person. Sure, he shows up at school, does his mandatory volunteer hours at the soup kitchen, and spends pretty much every moment thinking about Eli, the most amazing girl in the world. But that doesn't mean he's keeping it together, or even that he has any friends.
So instead of hanging out with people in real life, he drafts text messages. But he never presses send.
As dismal as sophomore year was for Joel, he doesn't see how junior year will be any better. For starters, Eli doesn't know how he feels about her, his best friend Andy's gone, and he basically bombed the SATs. But as Joel spends more time at the soup kitchen with Eli and Benj, the new kid whose mouth seems to be unconnected to his brain, he forms bonds with the people they serve there-including a veteran they call Rooster-and begins to understand that the world is bigger than his own pain.
This time it was, “What if you’re driving down a steep hill toward an intersection with heavy traffic and you lose your brakes and there’s a tractor trailer sitting directly in front of you and the traffic isn’t moving because of a red light and you’re going to hit the truck broadside if you don’t do something fast to avoid it. Do you,
A. Lean on the horn and hope that the traffic will move enough to let you in and then make a wide, arced ninety-degree turn to absorb some of your speed and then make a second arced turn, this one on the banked entrance ramp into the Burger King parking lot and then crash the car into the snowbank that the plows piled up in the back to absorb any remaining speed,
Or,
B. As you are careening down the hill, but before you hit the truck broadside, slam the car into reverse to jam the transmission then pull on the parking break and then turn the wheel a sharp one hundred and eighty degrees so you crash into the trees because the timing on option A is impossible?”
Alex B. Renner said, “Holy shit that’s a lot of detail. Who says there’s a Burger King with a snowbank or—”
“Jesus,” I said, interrupting him. “Who says there’s anything? He just made the whole thing up, so go with it.”
“Then if Kutchner can make stuff up so can I. And I would either launch the parachute out the back of the Batmobile I was driving to bring it to a stop or accelerate then engage the Batmobile wings that I had Alfred install and then I’d fly my brakeless car right over the tractor trailer and land at Teterboro Airport, which is where I park the Batplane.”
I said, “Dude, you can’t even drive a Ford Fiesta, so I don’t think you could handle the Batmobile or the Batplane.”
Then Benj said, “That’s it. Alex B. Renner can’t play.”
“Okay, Benj,” I said, “How’s this? I’d pull the emergency brake, slip the car into neutral then turn off the ignition to slow it down, ‘cause putting it into reverse won’t actually do anything, and then I’d exit the vehicle before impact.”
“You mean jump out?”
“More of a roll. Put my head down and shoulder into it.”
“That’s cool, Joel. I didn’t think of that. That you could jump out maybe before the crash. Thanks.”
“No problem, man. Can I have your socks?”
“What?”
“Your socks. Can I have them?”
“Okay.”
Benj sat down to take his socks off.
Then Alex B. Renner said, “What the hell is going on between you two?”
But neither one of us answered.
I am the author of the (contemporary social issue) Young Adult book, Words We Don't Say (Disney Hyperion Oct 2, 2018).
(3) winners will win a finished copy of WORDS WE DON’T SAY - US Only!
Tour Schedule:
Week One:
10/8/2018- BookHounds YA- Excerpt
10/9/2018- Utopia State of Mind- Review
10/10/2018- Here's to Happy Endings- Review
10/11/2018- Abellafairytale- Review
10/12/2018- Do You Dog-ear?- Review
Week Two:
10/15/2018- YA Books Central- Excerpt
10/16/2018- The Pages In-Between- Review
10/17/2018- A Dream Within A Dream- Excerpt
10/18/2018- Book-Keeping- Review
10/19/2018- Beware Of The Reader- Review
Week Three:
10/22/2018- Rainy Day Reviews- Excerpt
10/23/2018- Moonlight Rendezvous- Review
10/24/2018- The Cover Contessa- Review
10/25/2018- Jena Brown Writes- Review
10/26/2018- A Fictional Bookworm- Review
Week Four:
10/29/2018- PopTheButterfly Reads- Review
10/30/2018- Cindy's Love of Books- Review
10/31/2018- The Desert Bibliophile- Review
11/1/2018- Trendy Simple Life- Review
11/2/2018- Patriotic Bookaholic- Review
Week Five:
11/5/2018- Coffee, Books and Cakes- Review
11/6/2018- Savings in Seconds- Review
11/7/2018- Novel Novice- Excerpt
11/8/2018- For the Love of KidLit- Spotlight
Sounds like a heavy book that deals with mental health - I'm definitely interested.
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