Kim Culbertson

When superstar Adam Jakes rolls into the small town of Little, California to film a Christmas movie in the middle of summer, native Carter Moon is unruffled. Happy in her small town, working in her parents' café, Little Eats, Carter's never gotten caught up in all the hoopla about Hollywood. Adam is an overgrown child star fresh out of rehab and also looking to rehab his image after a very scandalous public break-up with a Disney starlet. When Adam's manager stumbles over the only dark spot show more marring Carter's simple small town life, he sees an opportunity he can't pass up. Soon Carter is playing a role of her own, small town love to Adam Jakes.

I have to admit, I've got a real weak spot for a well done YA romance. My favorites are the ones that don't let the main character become a lifeless puppet of the love story, and Catch a Falling Star definitely doesn't. Carter comes off as a real, genuine person who is struggling to find her place in the world, but doesn't know it yet. Easily content with her life and its routines, happy to help those around her and watch the night sky with her friends, she doesn't ambitiously imagine a life for herself in some unknown elsewhere, but her parents want her to open her eyes to a world that's a little bigger than Little.

As Adam and Carter's scripted courtship deepens to something more than staged photo ops and publicity stunts, the pair start to open each other's eyes to different ways of life. Adam's worldly ambition plays nicely off Carter's small town contentment, and it's satisfying to watch both characters realize that maybe there's a sweet spot in between where they both could land. In addition to likeable, if flawed, characters, Culbertson's small town summer setting leaps off the page.

Catch a Falling Star is a great coming of age story for both characters taking on themes of what it means to grow up and carve out a place for themselves in the world. I loved this page turning read with a little extra substance! show less

3.5 stars. Calle (pronounced Callie) and her mom have bounced from town to town each time her mother's relationships fall apart. She's been the new girl many times, and she doesn't see why Andreas Bay will be any different. But it is different—right away the drama kids accept her into their group of friends, and she begins an unlikely friendship (and maybe more) with popular football player Sam. She begins to really enjoy life in this small town by the sea. Unfortunately, her mother's show more relationship with her new husband starts to go south, as usual, so Calle is not sure how long it will last. Once again she faces the prospect of leaving, until she uncovers something that might point out a new reason why she and her mother always seem to be running.

I stumbled across this book through the database Novelist when it suggested this as a read-alike for another series I loved. It was nothing like that other series, but nonetheless I found it to be a great read. If you are a music fan, it's worth picking this one up. Each chapter is titled after a song, followed by a snippet of Calle's memory connected to the song. Music is what gets Calle through her constant moves and constant loneliness. She was also easy to relate to, with a voice so genuine you'll think of your own high school experience.

The plot certainly kept me reading, as well as my investment in the characters. Because we're hearing the story from Calle's perspective, we don't know the long history of the people in Andreas Bay. It all gradually comes out, both things in which Calle is alone in her ignorance and family secrets that only she and those involved know about. The secrets really strengthen the bonds between her and those she shares them with, though it takes a while for the trust to build.

In the meantime, we get all the teenage emotions with none of the over-dramatics. Calle is quiet and dignified in her struggles at school and in her family. She wants to learn more about her father, who she was told left her and her mom when she was a baby, but her mother won't even let her bring him up. She has wondered for years about him, and when new things come to light she isn't sure what to do or whether or not she can trust her mother anymore. In addition to all this, she is navigating uncharted territory with Sam, who is sending such mixed signals that it's almost like he's two different people. It's all for a reason of course, though it doesn't condone his behavior, and ultimately the confusion and pain make Calle a stronger person.

All in all, this is a great read with a real, genuine narrator and a compelling story. Plus, music!

Review originally posted here: http://tahleenreads.blogspot.com/2012/07/review-songs-for-teenage-nomad-by-kim.h... show less

Warning: If you loved/liked this book or if you don’t like to read spoilers, please don’t continue with my review. I’ve got lots of spew and spoilers to share, and I feel I’ve earned the right to do so seeing as this craptastic story threw me into a book slump for close to two weeks! I actually hissed at my beloved Nook… HISSED!!... every time I picked it up trying to finish Instructions for a Broken Heart it was that bad IMO!

I usually reserve the One Star Honor Rating for books I show more simply can’t finish, but I’m breaking my book rating rule for this sucktastic book. The writing was contrived, the characters were annoying, and the plot was poorly executed. I’m surprised I even finished it considering how many times I fell asleep trying to read it or how often I almost threw my Nook against the wall because of my irritation over the characters and the writing.

So let me start off with the characters.

I could not come to like Jessa Gardner the MC… AT.ALL!! She had no qualities I found likeable. She’s such a whiny, constant crier that for the love of GAWD wasted a dream trip to Italy by angsting over her ex-boyfriend who was nothing but a cheater and a nasty jerk. This annoying girl really wasn’t a strong enough character to carry the story and how she made her break up with her boyfriend a public part of the school’s trip to Italy had me rolling my eyes so often that I might have suffered from permanent eye-ball damage. Boo!!! Seriously, she traveled Florence, Venice, Sorrento and Capri… some of the most beautiful places in the world and she wasted it over a BOY! I wanted to yell at her… “GROW UP!” Then during the trip, she attacked her teacher’s face and tried to choke him with her tongue. I think she was out to ruin the trip for absolutely everyone, not just herself. Poke my eyes out… PLEASE!

Next, Dylan THOMAS. First off, let me say, drop the THOMAS. Dylan is a nice, stand-alone name. Adding the THOMAS makes him sound pretentious, and it just reminds me of Justin ENOS. Not necessary. Okay, he was such a minor character in this entire story and … spoiler alert…. Jessa ends up with him!?! Really?!? I missed the catch there. I could not understand why he even hung around with Jessa, and he fell for her as she cried over her ex-boyfriend and angsted over how unfair life was that Sean cheated on her and Natalie had bigger b00bs than her. I would buy it if they had known eachother for a while, but Dylan THOMAS met Jessa during the school trip, and the only exposure he had with her was watching her throw orange soda on Sean’s face and dispairing over his cheating ways. Yeah, that came off a bit contrived.

Also, Tyler and Carrissa… yeah, I wouldn’t call them quality friend material. They both lied to Jessa about Carrissa making out with Sean. I don’t think I could easily forgive or forget that. Maybe with time, but she let that go too easily IMO. So what I’m trying to say is that even the secondary characters sucked arse.

Now on to the writing. I was choking on the similes, metaphors, and comparisons used throughout this book. It actually became a game to see how many I can spot. So pretty much, the only motivation I had continuing with this book was finding another distracting comparison. That’s how disconnected I was with the storyline. Some of the comparisons were so contrived I have to point them out:
“…her own voice sticky, thick, sounding like she’d swallowed cotton.”
“Last thing she needed was a reflection like that right now, like a Smurf with the stomach flu.”
“Jessa shook her head as if she could clear the image of Sean and Natalie like the Etch A Sketch app on her dad’s iPhone.”
“Being around Jade was always a bit like being glazed with fairy dust.”
“The red head had a laugh like a howler monkey.”
“The dawn spread across the Italian countryside like syrup.”
“…their relationskhip, not even fully formed, like a bubble emerging from a wand…”
“…his calloused hands, like a butterfly on my arm…”
“She ran her hands through her hair, the red like blood in the torchlight.”

Ugh! See what I mean?!?

Lastly, there were little mysteries that were thrown in here and there and when their big reveals occurred, they were so poorly executed and so contrived that I’d practically lose it!! For example, the mystery of Jessa’s scar on her arm. She’d keep making up stories about how she got the scar and at the end we find out she got it when she was five and cut her arm climbing under a fence. Okay, that was a waste! Then we find out that the only reason Giacomo joined the trip was not because he got kicked out of school… REBEL! BUT, because his mother kept the key to his lockbox and all he wanted to do was meet his boyfriend in San Franscico. Ugh! Another waste! Then, we find out Natalie didn’t really get a b00b job but it’s a “condition” that runs through her family, where the women grow big b00bs in a matter of months. GAG! Lastely, we find out Dylan THOMAS has a thing for Jessa, for what reason, I have no clue and she suddenly decides she’s over Sean and texts Dylan THOMAS to get a thing going. I’m done! This book sucked!

There was a part of me that wanted to add a Song Choice at the end of my review, but I’m not going to waste a song on this book. It just wasn’t for me and I’m really surpised I finished it. It should come with a serious Book Slump Candidate Warning. I can’t recommend this to... well... anyone. ^^ show less

Abby and Riya have been best friends since kindergarten. They are inseparable. Until as they approach their junior year of high school, Riya's parents decide to move to Berlin for a year, leaving Abby in their small Northern California town, for the first time, without her best friend. Soon after that, Abby's mother announces that she's leaving her father. Abby is forced to cope with the stress of a divorce without her one and only true friend. They call less and less as they drift apart.
But show more as this book opens, Riya's wealthy grandmother offers a two week tour of Europe to Abby and Riya (with Riya's intellectual 19 year old cousin, Neel, along as a chaperone). The Wonder of Us follows the trio across Europe as the two girls try to find the friendship they feel is almost lost. Along the way are a few boy crushes, and a bit of news from Riya that may jeopardize their friendship permanently.
Although the girls are 17... a bit older than most coming of age stories, this is definitely a coming of age tale. Both girls learn a lot about each other, themselves, life, and what it is like to get older and grow up. This is the strength of the book.
The biggest weakness: the chapters alternate between Abby and Riya telling the story. But the author writes both girls tales in the same exact voice. There were many times I got a little mixed up simply because I forgot which girl was telling the story in this chapter.
Though this may be more of a personal criticism... I found Abby far more likable than Riya. Probably because Abby, like myself, is an introvert, and appreciates nature, history, and a good story. Riya, quite unlike myself, is an extrovert, expects everything to be "fun," and loves shopping and partying. Although both girls were partially at fault for the rift in their friendship, and both are sometimes unfair to the other during the course of the European journey... Riya is the far more self centered and spoiled of the two. Sometimes I found it difficult to believe they ever would have been friends in the first place. show less