BLOG TOUR: Normalish by Margaret Lesh

Title: Normalish

Author: Margaret Lesh

Release Date:  Oct 5/2012

Adquired: Epub copy provided by author

Goodreads: ADD

Purchase: Amazon

Fifteen-year-old Stacy questions the strange world of high school, love, her role in a harsh universe, and life, in Normalish.

People tell you high school's so great and wonderful, but they're lying. It's mostly horrible and full of disappointment. It sucks. Your best friend abandons you. The jerk you're in love with pretends to be into you, and then the big dump. The boy you've really clicked with as a friend decides to go all crushy over you, so you break his heart just like yours was -- smashed into little pieces. Your sister goes mental, and you get involved with a guy who’s even crazier than she is (who you know is a very bad idea, but you do it anyway). Math only adds another stink of failure to the whole thing.

High school blows. Just ask freshman Stacy. She’d want you to know.

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I think I misjudged the impact this book would eventually have on me. It started out a little heavy, with mentions of death and it's circumstances, though it was done in a light, humourous way-I didn't know what to expect after that first chapter. We learn, right off the bat, that Stacy hasn't had the easiest life. It's strange, I'm not exactly sure what tone to place this book in. I felt like it wanted to be so many things, but had an overall underlying tone that was a bit dark-with overtones of the typical life of a 14 year-old girl starting high school.

I was on the fence about Stacy's character. She was naive about things that reflected her age, and lack of experience, but was then beyond her years in ways that impressed me, and drew me back to her when I started pulling away a little. I definitely enjoyed the side characters a lot more, especially her sister Becca, and her best friend Chad. I felt like their place in her life, and the events that occurred in theirs, pushed Stacy's story forward, more so than she was accomplishing herself.

There was definitely an abundance of insta-love in this book, but I checked my frustration as I read on, and realized that I was pretty much of the exact same mindset at 14-15 years old. Some of the scenes in Stacy's life when it came to "crushes" mirrored my own at that age so much, it kind of scared me. I found the link between us that made me want to start rooting for her, and comforting her, through her "series of unfortunate events" (ha).

This book dealt with some pretty strong issues, (death, suicide, mental disease) which I kind of wish were elaborated on more, but it added to the storyline just enough to make it feel well rounded, and completely unlike the fluffy book you THINK it would be, judging by the cover. I think Margaret Lesh did a good job of helping her characters achieve growth, and move forward. I recommend this one to anyone who wants to check out a good coming-of-age story.

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California girl Margaret Lesh lives with her husband Steve and son Andrew in a quiet suburb near Los Angeles. Co-creator of StoryRhyme.com, she writes middle grade, young adult, and women’s fiction. When she’s not writing, she’s thinking about baked goods, especially donuts, far too often. She believes tacos are magic.

Contact Links

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Thank you to Giselle from XpressoBookTours for hosting this tour and allowing me the opportunity participate!!