Evan Jacobs

This hi-lo novel about a teenaged boy who has been his chronically ill father's caregiver succinctly acknowledges the anger, resentment and relief Jeff feels as his father's condition worsens. It's clear Jeff cannot manage all of this on his own but from his young perspective he sees no other options--it's his father after all. And yet he yearns for release from the stress and resentment. Paralleling Jeff's struggle to manage his father's situation is his response to Andrea, the transgender show more nurse. Jeff moves from initial disgust to acceptance and friendship. A respectfully told story. show less

Still looking at Ashley, he took out the gun. The curve balls this book throws at you throughout the book makes you want to go back and read the chapter again just to experience it twice. I could feel the emotion the main character felt which had me trying to tell him what to do pulling me in even further.

When reading Self Destructed by Evan Jacobs I found myself yelling at the book as I saw the events unfold. This story is about a boy named michael, a highschooler plump full of emotion, show more who finally has the girl of his dreams talking to him and showing interest in him. That girl's name is Ashley, she is a very popular girl, while Micheal is far from popular. I appreciate the beginning of the book feeling like some sort of disney movie, boy was I wrong.

This book takes place in Wilmore high school which is a normal everyday highschool. This author did a very nice job of describing the setting enough for us to understand the school some but also leave enough open for us to fill in the blanks with personal memories and experiences. Wilmore has kids from two towns, some kids from Porterville and some from Wilmore. The popular kids called Porterville “Poorerville”, which says all you need to know about Porterville, while Wilmore was full rich kids and big houses. I really got images from “The Outsider” by S.E. Hinton while reading about the setting. Micheal and his friends are from Porterville while Ashley is from Wilmore. This part of the story being them being like the forbidden couple really helps lead us into the second part of the story.

The second part of the story starts to take a turn for the worst. We can see that all of a sudden Micheal starts to become obsessed with Ashley almost to the point that you are cringing just reading it. As soon as he stops being himself due to the great obsession Ashley starts to leave. Spoiler Alert, Ashley leaves him, This sends Micheal into a downward spiral as Micheals grades go from straight A’s to C average. As he is going through this he sees her with another guy. Micheal then is just fed up and takes his dad's gun and takes to school with the plan of killing Ashley. I imagine you will have the same reaction as me of asking yourself why would he do that if he loved her? I believe this is a good representation of why the author chose highschool as the setting, because in no other setting would someone get so worked up over a girl. This only works because of the hormone and emotional induced that is only possible because of the teenage body.

I know what you want to know if he shoots her. You’ll have to read to find out that bit of detail. I can say that the second half of the book is Micheal going to juvenile detention where he is still hung up on Ashley and just wants to be with her. He meets many new people and has new experiences while still being hung up and wanting to be with Ashley. In my opinion this was more drawn out than it needed to be. I found myself bored only reading to try and burn up pages to try and get to some sort of conflict. Once I got to the end of the book I was getting worried that the book was never gonna give me any closure on the problem of Ashley. Then, in the last chapter Micheal sees a new girl and he loses the feelings for Ashley after the whole book of him being hung up on that one girl.

When I read that Micheal had moved on I was very excited. This was when I realized how connected I had gotten to MIcheal, this was just another way I knew this book pulled me in. Besides that I have seen that no matter how much of a spiral life throws in or how low you get it will work out in the end. I really believe that this is a great theme, just ride out life when it gets hard because it will turn around.

I believe that Self Destructed is a great book for anyone to read. It has a great message behind it while being interesting. Teaching people to never give up when it feels like you should have already. If you like romance and action this is a great book for you as long as you are ready for the large chunks of the story with no action. If you like a book that will throw curve balls at you this is the book for you. On the other hand if you are looking for a Cinderella love story this is not the book for you as much as you want Michael and Ashley to end up together, they never will. I would definitely recommend this book as your next read. show less

Ryan and Tenley are cleaning up the basement of The Vintage Rose Antique Shop when a phone rings. After looking round a bit, they find an old phone with a rotary dial. Ryan answers it even though Tenley tells him not to. A surly man on the other end asks for Lorraine to come pick him up at the dock. Ryan and Tenley have no idea who Lorraine is and what is even stranger is that they realize the phone line connecting it to the wall has been chewed clean through.

Call Waiting is a fun mystery show more that is part of a series about The Vintage Rose Antique Shop. The dialogue is a bit stilted and the characters underdeveloped, but overall, Call Waiting is an enjoyable little mystery with a paranormal twist. show less

"Leo the Liar" is in big trouble now. He's promised the toughest kid in school a photo of a real zombie. And he has to deliver. Now Leo knows there are no such things as zombies. But he wants to prove a point. Plus, he doesn't like being called a liar. So he sneaks out late at night and finds more than he ever bargained for. Can he save himself and his family from a zombie swarm?