Story Lover

by Wendelin Van Draanen

I really like her books. She also wrote Flipped, which was cute and entertaining. Her books remind me of Sarah Dessen’s books, characters who are intelligent and have substance, but are going through something tough or challenging. I have to say though that the hardcover cover (on the left) is pretty bad and I think too kiddy. I like the paperback version (on the right) much much more. Adds a little more tact to the whole thing. I think it’s bad enough to be caught reading a book called Confessions of a Serial Kisser, but then to get stuck holding onto something so horrid looking takes the cake.

I remember how I didn’t really deal with a lot of the conflicting thoughts and confusion I experienced after my mom died. I felt like I had to keep everything together, remain that somewhat ‘perfect’ daughter and just keep my shit in line. I spent a lot of energy and time acting like I was okay and for awhile I pulled it off. I think it wasn’t until I got to college that I realized, hey, I never really dealt with all that pain and in reality, the huge fear that I could lose another beloved family member, or even worse, I too one day might lose my partner in life. And I think I clung on a little too tightly to people and things that you can never really ever have forever anyway. Life is a cycle and some thing revolve with you, while other things you just have to let go and move on from. And maybe that’s something I just now have gotten around to learning.

What I liked the most about the book and the main character, Evangeline, is that she learned that she wasn’t perfect. That being on a high horse doesn’t make you immune to the muck on the ground. It still gets kicked up from time to time. And I liked how she learned to get to know herself and to get to know the people around her and that a crimson kiss is all in the build-up, not just in the rush of it all.