A Bookish Sarah

encouragement & bookish things

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Sarah
Welcome, friend! Relax & rest awhile, if you please. I am an ordinary gal, a follower of Christ, mama to Gabriel, Heidi, & Aidan; and wife to Evan. Here on this little blog, I share all manner of bookish things, including full content reviews, writerly snippets, encouragement for everyday life, and a whole collection of names & their meanings.

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Encouragement

Book Review | It Started With Goodbye

It Started With Goodbye
Christina June

Publisher:  Blink/Harper Collins
Genre:  Teen Fiction, Fairytale Retelling
Released:  May 9th, 2017

{GoodReads}
Sixteen-year-old Tatum Elsea is bracing for the worst summer of her life. After being falsely accused of a crime, she’s stuck under stepmother-imposed house arrest and her BFF’s gone ghost. Tatum fills her newfound free time with community service by day and working at her covert graphic design business at night (which includes trading emails with a cute cello-playing client). When Tatum discovers she’s not the only one in the house keeping secrets, she finds she has the chance to make amends with her family and friends. Equipped with a new perspective, and assisted by her feisty step-abuela-slash-fairy-godmother, Tatum is ready to start fresh and maybe even get her happy ending along the way.

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WARNING: Possible Spoilers

{The Basics}
This is probably one of the best modern-day Cinderella retellings that I've ever read. It's so. . . normal.  And that's a great thing!  It wasn't cliche with romance, or character personalities.  All in all, it was extremely refreshing and I loved it from start to finish.

Definitely has my recommendation! 

{Positives}
Under impossible pressure, Tatum does the right thing in giving the authorities information regarding her best friend and her friend's bad-boy-boyfriend.  She does her best to repair the burned bridges that result from this and exhibits absolute patience.

Can't say much without giving all away, but it has such a happy ending!!

{Negatives}
Tatum lies to her step-mother about many things (she takes full responsibility in the end, however - SPOILER!)

Her relationship with her step-sister (by no means an ugly one!) is rather non-existent to begin with.

Tatum sneaks away to see a band practice with a friend. . .

{Spiritual Content}
None, really.

{Violence}
None.  A very clean novel!

{Language, Alcohol & Drugs}
Maybe a glass of wine or something in there. . . (if any) I don't recall any really.

{Love-y Content}
Tatum and one young gent exchange emails, forming a long-distance relationship.  [SPOILER!] It's not until the end when she finally meets him. :] They go out on a date and kiss once (?), I think.  It's a very sweet relationship, in my opinion.

{Conclusion}
Again, this novel was more than I expected.  I was pleased to read it and would definitely recommend it to all who like good, clean stories.  It was relate-able, and very accurate to real-life situations, though I should hope one doesn't get accused of shop-lifting, punishable by community service for the whole summer, every other day. . . 

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Recommended ages: 15+

Wow.  I actually managed a rather short and vague review this time. . . Ha! This is probably due to the fact it's been in the drafts for a few weeks and I forgot to write down my notes. . . 

Thanks for reading, lovelies!

Fairfarren,
Sarah


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