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Lainey Pike can tell you everything you need to know about the people in her family just by letting you know how they died. Her reckless stepfather...
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Nov 30, 2010
Cara
rated it: 
I'm having a hard time thinking of the right words to put down to describe my experience in reading this book, but I'm going to try...
Lainey is named after a soap opera character and the weirdness doesn't stop there. Her mother decided to kill herself just after she graduates, and the death isn't the first she has had to deal with. At first Lainey doesn't deal with the death as most people would expect. She carries a strong resentment towards her mother. Since the news of her mother' More...
Lainey is named after a soap opera character and the weirdness doesn't stop there. Her mother decided to kill herself just after she graduates, and the death isn't the first she has had to deal with. At first Lainey doesn't deal with the death as most people would expect. She carries a strong resentment towards her mother. Since the news of her mother' More...
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May 09, 2011
Jodi
rated it: 
Well, about 2 pages into the Snowball Effect, I felt pretty depressed. It seemed as if the author was going to kill off everybody in the first chapter.
The main character, Lainey, had a pretty crappy thing going for her - and she wasn't afraid to let the world know it. That got pretty annoying. Her little brother and older sister were characters that I found super-annoying and thought of them as having little to no substance - just kind of thrown into the story to help it along. Ugh. More...
The main character, Lainey, had a pretty crappy thing going for her - and she wasn't afraid to let the world know it. That got pretty annoying. Her little brother and older sister were characters that I found super-annoying and thought of them as having little to no substance - just kind of thrown into the story to help it along. Ugh. More...
Oct 07, 2010
Jodi
rated it:
Well, about 2 pages into the Snowball Effect, I felt pretty depressed. It seemed as if the author was going to kill off everybody in the first chapter.
The main character, Lainey, had a pretty crappy thing going for her - and she wasn't afraid to let the world know it. That got pretty annoying. Her little brother and older sister were characters that I found super-annoying and thought of them as having little to no substance - just kind of thrown into the story to help it along. U More...
The main character, Lainey, had a pretty crappy thing going for her - and she wasn't afraid to let the world know it. That got pretty annoying. Her little brother and older sister were characters that I found super-annoying and thought of them as having little to no substance - just kind of thrown into the story to help it along. U More...
Aug 09, 2010
Precious
rated it: 
Read the complete review here.
Hoxter presented a different angle with which to view life. All the flavours of life are mixed together to come up with this perfect recipe. Sad and tragic, Lainey had the attention her sister desired and lost the love and caring that her little brother had. Her imperfection and her troubled state led her to pour all her anger on Riley, the perfect boyfriend. I guess, when you are perfect, your own imperfection is your own perfection. The inability to do More...
Hoxter presented a different angle with which to view life. All the flavours of life are mixed together to come up with this perfect recipe. Sad and tragic, Lainey had the attention her sister desired and lost the love and caring that her little brother had. Her imperfection and her troubled state led her to pour all her anger on Riley, the perfect boyfriend. I guess, when you are perfect, your own imperfection is your own perfection. The inability to do More...
Jul 29, 2010
Angela
rated it:
A complex novel about family and death.
Lainey's family is unconventional - she hardly knows her older sister, Vallery, as she spent most of her life living with her dad. Her younger brother, Collin, is adopted and has behavioral issues ranging from being on the autism spectrum to ADHD. The three are thrust together to make a new family after their mother kills herself in the basement laundry room.
Lainey is angry and confused - about lots of things. How to feel about her m More...
Lainey's family is unconventional - she hardly knows her older sister, Vallery, as she spent most of her life living with her dad. Her younger brother, Collin, is adopted and has behavioral issues ranging from being on the autism spectrum to ADHD. The three are thrust together to make a new family after their mother kills herself in the basement laundry room.
Lainey is angry and confused - about lots of things. How to feel about her m More...
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Apr 29, 2010
Arya
rated it:
The Snowball Effect by Holly Nicole Hoxter 2 of 5 stars.
Lainey Pike can tell you everything you need to know about the people in her family just by letting you know how they died. Her reckless stepfather drove his motorcycle off the highway and caused the biggest traffic jam in years. Her long-suffering grandmother lived through cancer and a heart attack before finally succumbing to a stroke. And Lainey's mother--well, Lainey's mother hanged herself in the basement just days after La More...
Lainey Pike can tell you everything you need to know about the people in her family just by letting you know how they died. Her reckless stepfather drove his motorcycle off the highway and caused the biggest traffic jam in years. Her long-suffering grandmother lived through cancer and a heart attack before finally succumbing to a stroke. And Lainey's mother--well, Lainey's mother hanged herself in the basement just days after La More...
Dec 07, 2010
Sarah
rated it: 
The Snowball Effect by Holly Nicole Hoxter is one of the few books I have read this year that fits the teens I serve almost to a T. I live in a socioeconomically poor area, a city with a high teenage pregnancy rate, and a fairly high rate of teens of drop out of high school or never go to college. They will find that this book fits their lives much better than many of the books I have enjoyed this year.
Synopsis: Lainey Pike can tell you everything you need to know about the peopl More...
Synopsis: Lainey Pike can tell you everything you need to know about the peopl More...
Jul 31, 2009
Sara
rated it:
Title: The Snowball Effect
Author: Holly Nicole Hoxter
Publisher: HarperCollins
Date Published: March 23, 2010
Genre: Young Adult
Main Themes: Death, Family, Love, Emotional Problems
Pages: 356
Plot (from back cover of ARC):
"Lainey Pike can tell you everything you need to now about the people in her lfamily just by letting you know how they died. Her reckless stepfather drove his motorcycle off the highway and caused the biggest traffic jam in years More...
Author: Holly Nicole Hoxter
Publisher: HarperCollins
Date Published: March 23, 2010
Genre: Young Adult
Main Themes: Death, Family, Love, Emotional Problems
Pages: 356
Plot (from back cover of ARC):
"Lainey Pike can tell you everything you need to now about the people in her lfamily just by letting you know how they died. Her reckless stepfather drove his motorcycle off the highway and caused the biggest traffic jam in years More...
May 30, 2010
Phoebe
rated it:
Lainey Pike is more adult than most YA protagonists I've met. On the cusp of eighteen, she works instead of going to school. She takes care of her behavior-issue-plagued adopted brother and doesn't expect a thing from her father. She helps friends (who are expecting a baby) dumpster-dive to find furniture for their new apartment. Her forever-boyfriend sleeps over and no one cares. When she finds out her mother hanged herself in the basement, the first thing she says is, "Well, this isn't ex
More...
Nov 16, 2009
Stephanie
rated it:
(I was lucky enough to win an ARC of this from Holly.)
This book reminded me of a darker version of a Sarah Dessen novel, and some parts of it were so painful to read that I had to take time away and read the novel in slow bites...but I am so glad I did.
Lainey Pike's family is truly broken. Her dad's out of the picture, her stepdad died recently, and her mother, who always suffered from depression, has just committed suicide in the family's basement, just after Lainey's h More...
This book reminded me of a darker version of a Sarah Dessen novel, and some parts of it were so painful to read that I had to take time away and read the novel in slow bites...but I am so glad I did.
Lainey Pike's family is truly broken. Her dad's out of the picture, her stepdad died recently, and her mother, who always suffered from depression, has just committed suicide in the family's basement, just after Lainey's h More...
May 07, 2010
Jenny
rated it:
From just reading the above summary, The Snowball Effect probably sounds like quite a depressing book about death, suicide and other such depressing parts of life. While it does touch on the deaths of Lainey's immediate family members, it's more about surviving what life throws at you, and appreciating what, and who, you have left.
Hoxter's writing is engaging and easy to become engrossed in, though it's her characters that are the true stars of the story. After Lainey's mum dies, old More...
Hoxter's writing is engaging and easy to become engrossed in, though it's her characters that are the true stars of the story. After Lainey's mum dies, old More...
Nov 12, 2011
Cristina
rated it:
If I could give it 3 1/2 stars I would. I wasn't quite sure how I felt about this book at first. It starts on a horribly depressing note and and then is accompanied by the slightly aggravating personality of Lainey, the protagonist. Don't get me wrong, she's been through a lot of shit in a very short period of time, so some of her actions are understandable but after awhile she was just being a "bitch."
Other than that, the story was actually enjoyable, with a few moments of More...
Other than that, the story was actually enjoyable, with a few moments of More...
Oct 12, 2011
Ashley
rated it:
Originally reviewed on my blog, Books from Bleh to Basically Amazing.
The Snowball Effect by Holly Nicole Hoxter had a lot of potential. There was a lot to the story that I liked. I actually really loved reading about where the title came from, kind of the idea that you can't dwell on the past, can't try to go back to what it was, because your perception of the past is always changing and because you are always changing, you aren't going to be effected in the same way again.
More...
The Snowball Effect by Holly Nicole Hoxter had a lot of potential. There was a lot to the story that I liked. I actually really loved reading about where the title came from, kind of the idea that you can't dwell on the past, can't try to go back to what it was, because your perception of the past is always changing and because you are always changing, you aren't going to be effected in the same way again.
More...
Mar 15, 2011
Nick
rated it:
The Snowball Effect by Holly Nicole Hoxter, was an interesting novel. I was gifted this book way back during my birthday and it took me a month to get to it, and a month of slow reading to finish it. It’s not that long a novel, just the last couple of months got extraordinarily busy for me.
The novel follows the life of Lainey St James, a 17 year girl who recently lost her Mother, who had committed suicide, yeah I know charming premises but hang in there. Up to now, and the mostly throu More...
The novel follows the life of Lainey St James, a 17 year girl who recently lost her Mother, who had committed suicide, yeah I know charming premises but hang in there. Up to now, and the mostly throu More...
Jan 13, 2011
Nina
rated it:
Have you ever read a book that made you so sad you just want to put the book away for a couple of days and read it later. This book does that to me. It’s all about loss, grieving and coping.
Lainey is a character that I started to like, even care for and then she treats her boyfriend like crap and that totally pissed me off. I understood her sadness, her angriness and her abandonment issues, but the way she treated Riley was a bit harsh. I liked the supporting character, the sister. S More...
Lainey is a character that I started to like, even care for and then she treats her boyfriend like crap and that totally pissed me off. I understood her sadness, her angriness and her abandonment issues, but the way she treated Riley was a bit harsh. I liked the supporting character, the sister. S More...
Aug 18, 2011
Erica
rated it:
4.5 stars
How I loved this book! It was a really great story and a quick read. The story was so believable, despite all the crazy things that happened to poor Lainey. Despite the serious tone of parts of the book, it had a light feel to it and parts were filled with humor.
The Snowball Effect was fairly predictable, but that was part of its charm. I loved the basis of the plot. As tragic as it is, it provides for a wonderfully written story and how one girl copes with it. T More...
How I loved this book! It was a really great story and a quick read. The story was so believable, despite all the crazy things that happened to poor Lainey. Despite the serious tone of parts of the book, it had a light feel to it and parts were filled with humor.
The Snowball Effect was fairly predictable, but that was part of its charm. I loved the basis of the plot. As tragic as it is, it provides for a wonderfully written story and how one girl copes with it. T More...
Apr 13, 2010
Princess Bookie
rated it:
My Thoughts: YES! YES! YES! Its been a little while that I read a book that I absolutely loved. I had seen a few buddies reading this a few months ago, and knew I had to give it a chance from their words on goodreads. I'm so happy I did. It was a great book. We meet Lainey who is 18 but has her whole life ahead of her. She gets thrown into a world of responsibility. Her mother takes her own life which leaves her 5 year old brother and a sister she never knew. We also meet her perfect boyfriend.
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Mar 04, 2010
Samantha
rated it:
Have you ever read a story where it felt like you were actually part of the characters lives? The Snowball Effect is one of those kinds of stories, and Lainey Pike is one of those kinds of characters.
Eighteen year old Lainey is your somewhat typical jaded teenage girl, except she has bigger issues to deal with. Her stepfather died in a motorcycle crash, her grandmother died shortly after that, and her mother fully lost it and hanged herself in their basement…two days after her high s More...
Eighteen year old Lainey is your somewhat typical jaded teenage girl, except she has bigger issues to deal with. Her stepfather died in a motorcycle crash, her grandmother died shortly after that, and her mother fully lost it and hanged herself in their basement…two days after her high s More...
Apr 12, 2010
Lenore
rated it:
18 year old Lainey Pike is reeling from three recent deaths in her family including her mother’s suicide. Unsure about what to do with her future, Lainey pushes away her long-term boyfriend and high school friends, immersing herself in the care of her troubled 5 year old brother with her estranged older sister and hanging out with "slurpee guy".
I think Lainey’s voice is done extraordinarily well. As someone who experienced a similar spate of deaths in the family when I was More...
I think Lainey’s voice is done extraordinarily well. As someone who experienced a similar spate of deaths in the family when I was More...
Feb 03, 2010
Jennifer
rated it:
Reviewed by Samantha Clanton aka "Harlequin Twilight" for TeensReadToo.com
Have you ever read a story where it felt like you were actually part of the characters lives? THE SNOWBALL EFFECT is one of those kinds of stories, and Lainey Pike is one of those kinds of characters.
Eighteen-year-old Lainey is your somewhat typical jaded teenage girl, except she has bigger issues to deal with. Her stepfather died in a motorcycle crash, her grandmother died shortly after t More...
Have you ever read a story where it felt like you were actually part of the characters lives? THE SNOWBALL EFFECT is one of those kinds of stories, and Lainey Pike is one of those kinds of characters.
Eighteen-year-old Lainey is your somewhat typical jaded teenage girl, except she has bigger issues to deal with. Her stepfather died in a motorcycle crash, her grandmother died shortly after t More...
Mar 16, 2010
Steph Su
rated it:
THE SNOWBALL EFFECT is an endearing debut novel that explores the different types of enduring—and finite—relationships that are necessary in life. Its wonderful characters are hindered by a plot that seems to move around in circles with no satisfying closure, but on the whole it is an enjoyable read with a unique moral.
Lainey is a relatable, though not always likable, protagonist. Her no-nonsense narration flows smoothly and never feels forced in the shadow of all the tragedy and har More...
Lainey is a relatable, though not always likable, protagonist. Her no-nonsense narration flows smoothly and never feels forced in the shadow of all the tragedy and har More...
Nov 01, 2009
Lauren
rated it:
I seriously just LOVED The Snowball Effect so much that I feel that there's not a good enough word out there to express just how much I enjoyed it.
I'm not exactly sure why I specifically liked it so much. Since, there was a few flaws to it such as how the story kind of jumped around a lot. Though, by the end all the flaws came together with the perfections and formed a fabulously told story.
One of my favorite parts of The Snowball Effect was how unique yet real it was. I More...
I'm not exactly sure why I specifically liked it so much. Since, there was a few flaws to it such as how the story kind of jumped around a lot. Though, by the end all the flaws came together with the perfections and formed a fabulously told story.
One of my favorite parts of The Snowball Effect was how unique yet real it was. I More...
Nov 28, 2010
Georgiann
rated it:
Lainey Pike is more adult than most soon to be eighteen year olds. She works and takes care of her adopted brother. Lainey can tell you all you want to know about her family just by letting you know how they died.This story touched me emotionally in parts it was painful to readso that i had to take time away and read it in slow pieces. But i am glad i did finish reading it. Her mother kills herself which leaves Lainey with a five year old brother and an older siter she never knew. We also meet
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Nov 24, 2011
Grant
rated it:
Although entertaining to begin with, I found this book ultimately boring and lacking great depth. I'm sure though that Holly Hoxter will improve if she choses to pursue a writing career. I was interested in the character Collin, his story would be a novel in itself.
Oct 25, 2010
Diana
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Oct 14, 2010
Holly
rated it:
I'll admit, half the reason this book caught my attention was because the author's name is the same as mine. That said, i still wanted to read it for its content. My life's never fallen apart, nor do I have a long-lost sister anywhere. But I like the fact that sometimes you have to change what you have in order to see if it's still what you want.
Lainey's mother committed suicide in their basement and that's only the beginning of the downfall of Lainey's life. Out of nowhere, her lo More...
Lainey's mother committed suicide in their basement and that's only the beginning of the downfall of Lainey's life. Out of nowhere, her lo More...
Nov 09, 2010
Andrea
rated it:
I'll admit I only picked this up because it was featured in my alumni magazine and I thought I'd support an alumnus. But I did enjoy the book, the characters were well developed and the storyline was relatable. Quick read.
Jul 26, 2010
Akire12
rated it:
i read it and i thought it was good and i like vallery even though at first she seemed bratty she sticks up for Lainey. Collins great and im glad reily s there. wow she-Lainey- really does have a sad life.
Jul 24, 2010
Theresa
rated it:
I remember liking this, but I finished it maybe six weeks ago, and now I don't remember what parts I liked, so we're going with a generic three stars.
Jul 04, 2011
Miko
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
