Waiting on Wednesday: Me Since You by Laura Wiess

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

Me Since You
by Laura Wiess
Published by September 3, 2013
Publication Date: MTV Books











(from Goodreads)

Sixteen-year-old Rowan is still reeling from her father’s suicide four months ago, after he failed to stop a man from leaping off an overpass to his death. The only witness is Eli, a teenaged boy wrapped deep in mourning for his own father, killed in action in Afghanistan. When Rowan and Eli meet, they recognize kindred spirits, and begin to navigate grief and its aftermath together.

Rowan can’t understand how her father could choose to leave her, and acts out, pushing away friends and taking risks with her safety. Rowan’s mother, wracked with her own guilt and sorrow over failing to save her husband, stops going to work and collects stray cats for comfort. Grief, fractured and unpredictable, rules their lives now. Rowan is lost—and sinking. But Eli represents a lifeline for Rowan, and as they struggle to make sense of what’s gone and what is left behind, they begin to fall in love. Me Since You is Laura Wiess at her finest—a beautiful, gripping and painfully honest examination of adolescence.

 Goodreads *Amazon* IndieBound

I have been waiting for this book ever since I finished the last page of Ordinary Beauty published in 2011.  I know that this one,  like all of her others, will take me on an emotional rollercoaster. And I cannot wait!

In My Mailbox (63)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme run by Kristi at The Story Siren which showcases the books that have been delivered to our mailbox or doorstep or directly into our hot little hands.

Purchased:

Wanderlove by Kirsten Hubbard
The Rivals by Daisy Whitney
Ordinary Beauty by Laura Wiess (my review)
On The Fringe by Courtney King Walker e-book
 

For Review:

Never Enough by Denise Jaden

ARC tour hosted by the author

Borrowed:

Hallowed by Cynthia Hand
from Lisa at Lisa's Gadget 'n Book World

I must say this was another great week in books. I'm so happy to have a finished copy of Ordinary Beauty by Laura Wiess. I received an ARC last year, but I had to have a finished copy. I was also excited to receive my copy of Wanderlove which came out this week. I started reading the review copy from NetGalley, but I like the feel of holding an actual book so I decided just to wait until my copy came to read it. I think I will read it after I finish my current read (Perfect by Ellen Hopkins). 

I'm so happy that Lisa let me borrow Hallowed. I was anxious to find out what happened with Clara, Tucker, and Christian. I was definitely more interested in reading this story than Unearthly which was a previous book club pick. Maybe because I had too many unanswered questions. I hope that the rest of the ladies will read Hallowed too so we can dish on everything that happened. Until then, there I'll have some of my thoughts about the book posted on here tomorrow.

I've had two great weeks in books. So good that I think I need to hold off on purchasing any more this month. I have to save up for all of the ones I want that are released next month! And there are a few!

Ordinary Beauty by Laura Wiess

How can you make someone love you when they won’t?
And what if that person happens to be your mother?
Sayre Bellavia grew up knowing she was a mistake: unplanned and unwanted. At five months shy of eighteen, she’s become an expert in loneliness, heartache, and neglect. Her whole life she’s been cursed, used, and left behind. Swallowed a thousand tears and ignored a thousand deliberate cruelties. Sayre’s stuck by her mother through hell, tried to help her, be near her, be important to her even as her mother slipped away into a violent haze of addiction, destroying the only chance Sayre ever had for a real family.
Now her mother is lying in a hospital bed, near death, ravaged by her own destructive behavior. And as Sayre fights her way to her mother’s bedside, she is terrified but determined to get the answer to a question no one should ever have to ask: Did my mother ever really love me? And what will Sayre do if the answer is yes? (from Goodreads)

Ordinary Beauty has left me a wreck. Never have I been left so emotionally drained from reading a book. While this may sound negative to some, it is one of the best feelings I can great from reading. I know this book and Sayre's story will be with me for a long time.

Laura Wiess has written a heartbreaking and gut-wrenching story of a young girl who has lived a life of abuse, abandonment and neglect with very few moments of hope. The novel begins just as Sayre learns that her mother has been admitted to the hospital once again and is forced out of the house to walk miles in the ice and snow to visit her. In an attempt to avoid being hit on the snow-covered road, she actually causes an accident and must try to save the severely injured driver. It is during the hours of waiting for help to arrive that Sayre begins to lend her voice, bit by bit, to all of the horrors she has endured growing up with an addict for a mother and break away from a past that has had a stranglehold on her for her entire life.



This was a tough story to read but I was pulled in immediately and couldn't stop until I knew that Sayre was going to be okay. The emotional struggles that she went through while retelling her memories to her mother on her death-bed had me in knots time after time. Just when I thought I knew the worst of it, there was always something else even more devastating. And I think what got me the most was seeing, very vividly, this young child experience all of this pain. This is a testament to Wiess's no holds barred writing to reveal a truth that many people willingly ignore. 

Even though I am now a mess from reading this book, I recommend it to anyone who doesn't shy away from the harsh truths of the world of addiction and wants to read a story so real that it haunts you to your core. 


Ordinary Beauty is the fourth novel by Laura Wiess and is now available from MTV Books/Simon and Schuster. You can visit Laura's website at http://www.laurawiess.com/