I became curious about this book after it was mistakenly nominated as a finalist for the National Book Awards, instead of another similar-sounding title. It also appealed to me because it is about teenagers growing up in the rural south, the problems kids normally deal with, and the bigotry, poverty, drug addiction, and provincialism that affects everyone.

17-year-old openly gay Patrick lies comatose in a hospital bed after a brutal beating that occurred at the convenience store where he works. T More...

3.5 stars

I only know Lauren Myracle's name in connection with her ttyl books. I haven't read that series, but it's pretty safe to say Shine is nothing like those stories about girls texting each other (or whatever they do).

Shine is most and foremost a story about small-town bigotry. Cat's childhood gay friend Patrick is brutally assaulted - hit with a baseball bat, tied to a gas pump with a fuel nozzle stuffed in his mouth, with words Suck this, faggot written on his bare chest in blood. Small More...

This review has been revised and can now be found at Expendable Mudge Muses Aloud.

I've never read any of Lauren Myracle's other books. I'm not much into the whole "txt-spk" thing, so those books have never sparked my interest. Not my cup of tea. Other than those, I couldn't have named another book Myracle had written before today. But this... this book called out to me. Not only because of the absolutely gorgeous cover, but because of the premise, and because it's set in the South. I love me some books set in the South. And because it has Issues. Issues with a capital 'I'.

And More...

3.5 stars

I'm always a little guilty and anxious when I give books a lower rating than all my friends. I'll be wondering, why didn't I like it, did I miss something there? With Shine, it was double the anxiety, since both Ceilidh and Tatiana loved it, and I respect their opinions quite a bit! But somehow, this book fell short for me, maybe because I expected too much of it.

Shine is about sixteen year old Cat, a girl from a small Southern town whose friend falls victim to a hate crime. When it be More...

The first time I heard about this book was when the author was pressured to withdraw its National Book Award nomination which had been given in error and intended for the book Chime. What rhymes with Shine? Chime apparently. Good grief. Really people, you can't be any more professional than that? The author talks about the emotional whirlwind that followed, but there was a silver lining to the crushing disappointment -- the controversy brought much needed awareness to this quiet, unassuming book More...

Love it just as much on the re-read, if not more.

Original review (from 2010):

I love Lauren Myracle's books. Like, LOVE them. In reading Bliss last year, I was struck by how Myracle had seemed to shift her focus to darker themes. She's always dealt with serious topics, often laced with heavy doses of lightening humor, but with Bliss, and now Shine, she's certainly moved over into the seedier side of human experience.

Cat lives in a small, rural North Carolina town, where everyone knows everyone, More...

Really: 3.5 rating.

I'm ALL ABOUT bringing gay rights and equal rights to the forefront and am glad this was the main aspect of the book along with dealing with regret and becoming a better person and that even teens and young people can recognize that in themselves.

Something that did urk me was that the lone Black character in the book sounded WAY too hick for me, especially since the narrator regularly states that she's a redneck from a redneck town. However the sole character of color was th More...

This poignant tale about a supposed hate crime in a small North Carolinian town is not for faint-hearted readers. 16-year old Cat must finally come out of her self-imposed exile from her community when her childhood best friend is put into a coma. Patrick was found outside the convenience store where he worked. He was hit in the head with a baseball bat, a gas nozzle was shoved down his throat, and scrawled across his chest in blood were the words: “Suck on this f-----.” The town is eager to bla More...

This is the first of Myracle’s books that I’ve read, since her popular Internet Girls series is well outside the realm of my interest. However, after reading Shine, I may have to take a look at those books after all. I managed to secure an advance reader’s copy after hearing some other librarians rave about this book, and while initially skeptical, I was surprised at how quickly this book grabbed me. While it has its oddities and weak spots, Shine is a powerful, well-written book that does an ex More...

Read my full review on this book here .

This is my first book I read by the author Lauren Myracle. If I am to be completely honest, I bought the book because of its cover, it was so incredibly beautiful that I could not resist. However, that the book would be so good was really shocking for me.

This is a fascinating book that you just can not put down, the second a problem has been solved yet another pops up. It's a bit like watching a TV series and it comes up new murder cases or problems in the s More...

I read this book after all of the controversy with the National Book Awards and Lauren Myracle being asked to remove herself from the finalist list after being accidentally put on the list. If you haven't heard anything about the controversy - here's a brief article.

I went into reading this book with high expectations since so many people said it was National Book Award finalist material. I enjoyed it though at times I found the middle dragged a bit (a common problem for me with a lot of books l More...

Age of Readership:

14 years and up

Genre:

mystery

Diversity:

LGBTQ, Southern culture, Small-town culture

Illustrations:

There were no actual illustrations, but the book was specifically designed. Each day is separated with a scene of a field and dilapidated shack. The beginning of each chapter had a design of branches, tying it to the cover.

Personal response:

There is a reason this genre is the last genre I read for this class. I do not like mysteries. This wasn't really any different. It had all the qu More...

I freaking love this book.

There is rarely a time when I don't close a book after I'm finished with it. Usually I close the book, think about it for a minute, and then move on to a different book. But this book--well, let's just say it was different. I left the book open and let all of its 350 pages blow back and forth in the wind coming from the open window to my room. This book is positively mind-blowing and I couldn't help but think that it was pure awesomeness when I reading it. I suggest you More...

Set in a small town in the South, this book is about bigotry, and friendship, and love. It's about seeing the best in people, and seeing the worst. It is a beautifully written story about a brutal hate crime.

Cat's best friend, Patrick, is the victim of a gay bashing--smashed in the head with a bat, tied to a gas pump with the nozzle shoved in his mouth, and the words Suck this faggot written on his chest in blood. He is in a coma, and they don't know if he's going to make it.

The small town cop More...

This review may also be found on A Thousand Little Pages.

An article recently came out in the Wall Street Journal that generated quite a buzz in the young adult book community. It basically slanders every YA novel out there that is “dark” by their standards and indirectly blames the books for familiarizing and possibly prompting trauma, violence, and profanity within the average teen. Shine received an honorary place in the article and was complained about quite a bit. So, dear Ms. Gurdon, author More...

The whole time I was reading Shine, I couldn't help but think what a gorgeous book this was. The prose was just brilliantly written, and the thing I think I loved most was the voice of Cat. It just felt extremely authentic and really created a wonderful sense of place while reading. Although the book covers a very sensitive subject matter, and I spent a good majority of the book angry, I still as a reader appreciated the beauty in the writing. Not to mention, this has to be the prettiest cover o More...

It's probably going to take me a little while to let this settle in. It was a very emotional book for me to read. I've never lived in any place so destitute, so small, so isolated. But it all felt as if I had.

***

Serendipitously, I followed up this reading with Pie. It was a good pairing, because the two address some of the same issues, but in age-appropriate ways. But it also gave me a foil and a different angle.

Cat is grieving because her best friend has been horribly attacked, beaten with a b More...

Reviewed by Jaglvr for TeensReadToo.com

Cat is a loner. Something happened a few years back that made her withdraw and ignore even her best friend, Patrick.

One horrible night, Patrick is attacked at the gas station he works at and left for dead. He's in a coma, and Cat is determined to figure out who is responsible. The police in their backwards town are doing little to solve the crime.

Cat embarks on her quest with many against her seeking the truth. When she is confronted by a college student at More...

_Shine_ was quite gripping both as a mystery and as a coming-of-age novel. Being from North Carolina, I appreciated the strong sense of place Myracle created.

However, there were bits of the plot that I found a bit contrived, such as Tommy's conversion (what motivation did he have?) and Cat's romance (questionable considering her emotional damage from her past experience). And, the South continues to be a convenient place to set anti-gay hate crime novels. It may be more useful to the larger con More...

Holy creamed corn, this is the best book I've read in a long time. I am embarrassed to say that the ARC sat on my bookshelf for much longer than it should have.

Cat is best friends with Patrick. They are inseparable. After some troubling incidents, she decides to stray from Patrick and their group of friends and becomes a loner. The book starts off with Patrick, beaten until he is unconscious, slumped in front of a gas station with a gas nozzle hanging from his mouth and a sign that reads "Suck More...

This story is about a girl named Cat. She's trying to figure out the person who attacked her best friend is. She stopped being best friends with him years ago. Yet she finds the need to figure out the mystery.

I must say, it took a very long time for the mystery part to actually start. Actually, I would say it barely existed. The whole story was just about Cat, Cat, Cat. And it didn't even reveal her whole past until the near end of the book.

There were also a few disconnects for me. For example, More...

This reminded me a lot of The Body of Christopher Creed, a favorite read-again teen mystery. None of the characters are perfect, but they're all worth knowing. The narrator has her own blind spots, which add to the suspense. The hero here is not the young man who is the hate crime victim but his neglectful long-time friend, a girl who has pulled into herself for so long it takes something this tragic to pull her back out into the world--but when it does, watch out! And it's nice to get a good ha More...

I can't remember the last time I was this angry at a book for so many different reasons. It was mediocre but okay for the first hundred pages or so. A few things didn't sit quite right with me, but I couldn't pin it down. I don't doubt Myracle's good intentions, but the whole thing did come off as very moralizing without much substance behind it.

The part that automatically made this a one star review was Cat's confrontation of the meth dealer. I was offended by the lack of intelligence shown in More...

What a powerful book. I didn't know anything about this book going in, and if I had, I might not have chosen it. Like someone said in a previous post-- the cover was most pleasantly misleading!

Spoilers: For all that it is a book packed with meth, rape, fear of homosexuality, hate crimes, and small town bigotry-- this book is eloquently written and covers the vast spectrum of subject matter with fluidity and a matter of fact approach to dealing with life's troubles and finding out how you can ov More...

Cat is shocked when she learns that her childhood friend, Patrick, was the victim of a brutal assault at the country quick stop and gas station he worked at that left him in a coma fighting for his life. A note left at the scene seemed to indicate that the incident was the result of anti-gay violence. Since Cat’s backward hometown of Black Creek, North Carolina isn’t particularly open to homosexuality, and the investigation appeared to be at a standstill, she takes it upon herself to investigate More...

Cat lives in a small backwoods town in North Carolina near the mountains. Her one-time best friend is gay bashed and she tries to solve the mystery of who did it. Along the way she uncovers many truths about herself, the town she grew up in, and the friends she once had.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. There are times that Cat's naivety can be really annoying, and a lot of the Christian overtones are kinda beaten to death, but under that lies a decent story and half decent mystery. The chara More...

I have been on a mission to read as many books similar to the Matthew Shepard hate crime (because of reading October Mourning by Leslea Newman) and Shine is such an important book for teens to read because it concerns a subject that is so upsetting but occurring all too often: hate crimes, and gay and lesbian intolerance. But even more, Shine is about a girl who has shut out her best friend, Patrick, for the last three years, as well as everyone else and now Cat must look within herself and ask More...

As an adult reading Shine I am torn. Don't get me wrong it is a great book and story, but I think it is more important for the young adults it is aimed at than myself or any other adult.

Cat's journey and the things that she learns about her family, friends and herself are wonderful it can really teach young people. Without giving away the end of the story, young people can learn the value of being yourself and more. It's a really beautiful story. I especially loved watching the relationship bet More...