Blog Tour: Review #16 Things I Thoughts Were True by Janet Gurtler

#16 Things I Thought Were True
by: Janet Gurtler
Release Date: Mar. 4th/14
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Source: e-galley via Netgalley
16 Things I Thought Were True on Goodreads here.
Synospsis courtesy of Goodreads:
Heart attacks happen to other people #thingsIthoughtweretrue

When Morgan's mom gets sick, it's hard not to panic. Without her mother, she would have no one—until she finds out the dad who walked out on her as a baby isn't as far away as she thought...

Adam is a stuck-up, uptight jerk #thingsIthoughtweretrue

Now that they have a summer job together, Morgan's getting to know the real Adam, and he's actually pretty sweet...in a nerdy-hot kind of way. He even offers to go with her to find her dad. Road trip, anyone?

5000 Twitter followers are all the friends I need #thingsIthoughtweretrue

With Adam in the back seat, a hyper chatterbox named Amy behind the wheel, and plenty of Cheetos to fuel their trip, Morgan feels ready for anything. She's not expecting a flat tire, a missed ferry, a fake girlfriend...and that these two people she barely knew before the summer started will become the people she can't imagine living without.

My Thoughts:

Loved it! Another great contemporary ya from Janet Gurtler!

This was easily my favourite work from Gurtler to date, I was hooked from the first few pages, the pacing and storyline blend incredibly well together, this could easily be a one-sitting read for YA fans of contemporary.

There are some elements of drama and mystery intertwined in this plot, questions of what Morgan did that was posted on Youtube, why did her ex-bestfriend post them. 

Morgan is a great narrator and I found her quite relatable. I liked the blend of her personality- she's a nice person, but not overly sweet, she's guarded but not in an angst-ridden way, overall she's a good, rational person whom readers will root for. She's going through quite a bit, and is thrown a curve ball in the first few chapters, that cause her to question everything she "thought she knew" about her family. I personally don't know how I feel about her Mom and Dad, I'm still quite conflicted but I love her twin older brothers! I also really enjoyed and was able to relate to her random thoughts and inappropriate times (specifically hospital scenes with Adam) haha!

Speaking of Adam, what a sweetheart! I was a little apprehensive on our introduction to him, but he is so sweet and thoughtful, and I loved every scene between he and Morgan.

Amy was a fun character, incredibly quirky and bubbly, although I don't think I would ever want her to serve me popcorn (read the book for the inside joke :)) haha and I really enjoyed the progression of how these three co-workers became best-friends (maybe even more in some cases)

Overall, this was a great read that I'm sure to return to for a good day read by the pool in the summer. If you enjoy a fun YA contemporary read with heartfelt friendship, road trips and blossoming love, then you need to pick yourself up a copy of #16thingsIthoughtweretrue when it hits stores March 4th!

Happy Reading!!!

Family Road Trips According to Janet Gurtler

I’ve done a lot of road tripping in my life. Unfortunately most of those road trips happened in the back of a station wagon in the late 70’s and early 80’s. This was in the days before personal DVD players. Or laptops. Or DS’s.  In fact I remember several trips where my dad would plug embarrassing music into the 8 track tape deck. And play them really loud. My dad had a thing about loud music. Actually he still does. Unfortunately his music is bad. Like really bad. I do not kid.

Every summer holiday my mom and dad would load up the kids, pack up the trailer and take us out on the open road. My family also moved around a fair bit when I was young, from one end of Canada to the other and back.  And yes, we always travelled by car. 4 kids, 2 adults and a dog. Hours and hours and hours.

Thank God for  books. We read a lot of and played a lot of driving road games. And because we were kids, trapped in a small moving vehicle we’d fight. I guess that’s part of the reason my dad played his music so loud.

Two other distinctive things I remember about road trips in general was the smell of coffee. My mom would pack up a thermos of hot coffee and pour my dad cup after cup after cup. The scent of it would fill the car. I thought it was exotic and grown up and also kind of gross.  Now that I have my own coffee addiction, I think the smell is much more pleasant.

Fast forward my life and now I have a family of my own. A smaller one. Only one child. So he doesn’t get to fight with his siblings. You know, because he doesn’t have any. And he has an iPhone to watch movies and listen to his own music. And sometimes he pulls out a book. And that part warms my heart. Instead of a trailer, we have a cabin that we’ve been building for years. And years and years and years. It’s an eight hour drive from home. So son is pretty good at road trips.

One of the first things we do on these road trips is stop at the gas station on the way out of town for coffee.  My husband and I, my son now 13 settles for chocolate milk.  And we drive. When it’s my husband’s turn, I read.  Two things that symbolize road trips for me. Coffee and Books.  And if I had to pick a third. Snacks. Lots and lots of snacks.

Thanks so much to Janet and Sourcebooks Fire for allowing me to participate in this tour!