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2023 Build Your Library Reading Challenge







Tuesday, April 05, 2016
Has to Be Love A Compelling Novel About Change, Choices, and the Challenges of Growing Up
8:53 AM
(Image from Barnes & Noble)

Clara knows she's safe in Knick—and that she could stay that way forever. She never has to leave her Alaskan village, never has to expose her scars to the outside world. Not if she doesn't want to. The question is, does she? With high school ending, she's got a decision to make: stay home and build a future with her amazing boyfriend, Elias, or swallow her fear and act on the acceptance letter she's just received from Columbia University. She knows she can't do both. If she goes to New York, she'll lose kind, hard-working Elias. If she stays, she'll forfeit the chance to study at her dream school. It's a no-win situation.

Despite its fanciful cover, Has to Be Love by Jolene Perry is not some fluffy YA romance. It's got a bite to it. Clara is a good girl who's battling grief, fear, uncertainty, and raging hormones as she tries to make some very adult decisions. Her struggles with maintaining her religious standards—especially where it concerns her relationships with boys—will feel familiar to many teens. As will her oscillating feelings over doing the safe, expected thing vs. risking her own security to take on a bold and scary challenge. As authentic as Clara's problems seem, though, her constant obsession with her scars and the ways in which she's been victimized gets old fast. It often makes her appear self-absorbed rather than sympathetic, which annoyed me to no end. I have a few other complaints with Has to Be Love, but overall, I liked it. The novel, which tells a compelling story peppered with original elements, also preaches some good lessons without feeling like a sermon. Teens should find it both intriguing and relatable.
(Readalikes: Reminded me of Taken By Storm by Angela Morrison)
Grade:
If this were a movie, it would be rated:
for language (no F-bombs) and fairly graphic sensuality/sexual content that would be most appropriate for readers ages 16+
To the FTC, with love: Another library fine find
3 comments:
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I really enjoyed this one. I do agree over time she became less sympathetic about the scars. Still I thought it was a good story. Great review!
ReplyDeleteI think the theme of doing what you need to do despite what others think of you is a pretty good theme. I'm sorry to hear that her insecurities make her annoying rather than sympathetic, though. I hate that.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I just have a rock for a heart, but I don't like main characters who spend their entire stories wallowing in their victimhood. I prefer victims who pick themselves up, brush themselves off, and triumph over whatever has happened to them. I know that's not necessarily realistic, but I'm a lot less patient with fictional people than real people!
ReplyDelete