Title: Life on the Refrigerator Door

Author: Alice Kuipers

Genre: Contemporary, Chick Lit

Published: August 28, 2007

Claire and her mother wrote notes to each other and left them on the refrigerator door as a reliable means to keep in touch with each other.

There were moments where I was frustrated with both characters. At the beginning I didn't really like the mother because she didn't make more of an effort to connect with her daughter. One example was Claire's boyfriend, she really had no idea what was going on with her daughter's relationship and when she wanted to know something she put a note on the fridge. Then I was frustrated because neither character really would talk to each other about what was happening until the end.
I did like it didn't take me very long to read and I will admit it did make me cry. I am impressed that such a short read was able to affect me as emotionally as this book did.

Overall I gave this book 4 stars out of 5.

Review: Since You've Been Gone

Title: Since You've Been Gone

Author: Mary Jennifer Payne

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary

Published: February 17, 2015

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Eddie and her mother move to England from Canada to escape from Eddie's abusive father. A few days later Eddie's mother goes missing and Eddie tried to cope.

In the beginning I found myself disliking the protagonist. I found it difficult to enjoy the the story when I disliked the girl. By the end I had grown to think she was okay, but by then I was not emotionally attached to her and didn't feel any strong emotions for the experiences Eddie was going through.

My main problem with this book was in animosity exhibited by a good portion of the characters. It has been my experience in a new situation most people I meet are going to either be friendly or indifferent. I don't think that is abnormal in general. In the first hundred pages or so almost everyone Eddie encounters was either hostile or else she was mean to them. There is one character who tried to be incredibly friendly to Eddie from the beginning, but Eddie thought she looked weird and wouldn't have anything to do with her.

Overall I gave this book 2 stars out of 5.

Title: Eleanor & Park

Author: Rainbow Rowell

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary

Published: February 26, 2013

This book is set over the course of a year and chronicles the relationship from the first meeting between a girl named Eleanor and a boy named Park.

It wasn't actually discussed, but within the story, but while reading this book I kept thinking about Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Eleanor was stuck on the bottom of the pyramid. She was worried about her home life, she was worried about shelter, food, and her safety. She was also worried about her little brother's and sister's safety. Park had those things. Eleanor was safe when she was with him and in his home, but she was still not able to relax completely. Emotionally and psychologically they weren't in the same place. I think that was one of the biggest problems in their relationship. Their romance felt one sided. She just wasn't able to give as much as he was. I don't mean just tactile possessions. I mean she wasn't able to reciprocate when he would talk about his feelings or wants.

I am glad we saw things from both their view points. I am pretty sure I would have liked Eleanor a lot less if I didn't know what was in her head. As it is I am not entirely sure what Park saw in her.

Overall I gave this book 3 stars out of 5.

Title: Ameera Unveiled

Author: Kathleen Varn

Type of book: Contempary

This book was given to me by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Kat decided she wanted to do something new after retirement and decided to try belly dancing. By the description given of the book I expected a personal growth story. It almost felt as if it was one of that aims the author was going for, but she didn't quite get there.

The conflict of the story was Kat's stage fright. She talked about it to excess. At one point I was wondering if she was that stressed about dancing and preforming why she didn't just quit. Kat started belly dancing as a hobby. Something she wanted to do for herself. Then she became unhinged at the idea of preforming in front of people.

Kat's teacher was Sybil. Throughout the book she would finish teaching her class and then hurry off to some nameless place. It felt like her lines in a play were no longer on the page and she needed to get off the stage as quickly as possible. I wondered why and it was never answered.

The author kept hinting at back story, but then wouldn't complete it. For every five hints at background information she would give us one story. She kept describing things with vague words and it felt like she could see the things she was describing so well she would use vague words that left the picture incomplete. One example was the description of a stage. It was described as unusual, I don't know what made it unusual, was it made out of marble, or was it amoeba shaped, maybe there were spikes on the outer edge. I have no idea what made it unusual.

I wondered what Kat's family thought about her dancing. They were mentioned and said to be supportive, but she did not practice in front of them and they only went to one of her performances. For the most part we didn't actually talk to them about it and I wondered.

The other dancers were just names until near the end of the book. There was very little background information given. I had no feelings about them positive or negative. After awhile I stopped trying to keep them straight.

Halfway through there was a sudden location change. The characters went to a place where the people they encountered were behaving differently than what is considered the social norm, there were swingers, cross dressers, roll playing, etc. It felt like she was trying to be shocking and the more she went on about it the more her delivery fell short.

By the end of the story I did enjoy the friendships which had formed between Kat and the other characters.

Overall I gave this book 2 stars out of 5.