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Friends of Choice (Wings from Ashes #1)

by Linda Nelson (Goodreads Author)

2.81 of 5 stars 2.81 · rating details · 43 ratings · 19 reviews

Friends can help us through tough times. But what about the friends we sometimes choose who don't always look out for our best interests. This is a fiction story about a 16 year old teen, Karla, she had some wonderful friends. Her best friends. They were the ones who were always there for her. When she has to move away from her best friends and she makes new friends, shoul...more

Hardcover, 162 pages

Published July 28th 2010 by Lulu.com

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Feb 08, 2011 Sue Morris rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: my-library, young-adult

This YA novel is about the loss of friendship when life takes you to different parts of the world. Kayla's parents move her "a few towns away," though it feels more like just the other side of the mall. She leaves behind her three best friends and her school. Kayla, like any teen, is not happy with moving away from everything she knows, but Dad has a better job in this new town. Kayla can be a surly teen during this time and has problems in her relationship with mom, an alcoholic with a temper.

O...more This YA novel is about the loss of friendship when life takes you to different parts of the world. Kayla's parents move her "a few towns away," though it feels more like just the other side of the mall. She leaves behind her three best friends and her school. Kayla, like any teen, is not happy with moving away from everything she knows, but Dad has a better job in this new town. Kayla can be a surly teen during this time and has problems in her relationship with mom, an alcoholic with a temper.

Oddly, the moment the family pulls in the driveway of their new home Kayla has a change of heart, or did that happen when she realized the mall was now within walking distance? Or was it when she laid eyes on her bedroom for the first time or the in-ground pool in the backyard. Point is, Kayla's angst over moving, the loss of old friends and school disappear like they never mattered much. Kayla finds she likes her new school and is accepted quickly therel.

Kayla instantly becomes best friends with Carol, the leader of the cool group of students (made up of the usual type: football players, cheerleaders, and any student that can provide something they need). Except for the short time that Kayla's old friends visit, she spends most of her time with or around Carol. They eat lunch together, even though the other girls whisper (I think we are to think is about Kayla). Kayla goes to the mall, turning the other way when Carol shoplifts (an item Kayla later wears to a party). The guy Kayla likes only gives her attention or a smile when Carol tells him to. The entire world is at odds with all Kayla once knew yet she never really questions anything.

At the climatic parents-are-away party Kayla, all dressed up thanks to Carol and the shop-lifted item, takes her first drink only moments after entering the house, without pause, a bit odd for the child of an alcoholic. She then accepts the hand of the guy she likes and follows him to an upstairs bedroom, again without pause.. There he pretends to like her and proceeds to play baseball, hitting a home run over Kayla's objections. Suddenly the door flies open and four more guys take a swing. This was all Carol's idea of revenge. What had Kayla done to deserve this? She had the audacity to change schools. Seriously? Because Kayla had gone to a rival high school she was slipped the date drug, not once but twice leading to an overdose. Revenge in the form of rape, which gets out of hand and becomes a gang rape. Seriously? And the ending? Where is it? Loose threads are everywhere making for a completely dissatisfying end. What was the author thinking leaving everything unfinished like this?

For me book was difficult to stay with in the beginning. Those first few pages, until the actual move, are dry, without a hook to make the pages turn. Once the move occurred the pace picked up yet still dragged at times. The voice of the kids sounded the same. Everyone used the slang "'Kay" including the adults way too many times. The phrase became annoying.

I think the entire book needs a re-edit and polished. It could be a good story, even an interesting story, a horror story Just not a cautionary story, unless gang rape revenge for being the new kid in school has become a problem. The ending was non-existent and immediately made me think the author was more interested in fishing for a sequel than finishing "book one." I do not know if I could read another Kayla story; the character is not compelling. I do think everyone who reads this will want that missing ending and be frustrated to find it doesn't exist.

NOTE: received copy from author(less)

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Jan 09, 2013 Paula rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary

Teenage girl forced to move to new town, attend a new school, leaves behind old friends and gets caught up with a new crowd that does not have her best interests at heart. Girl continues to hang out with new friends, despite misgivings because....they're popular! And it's cool to be popular! Okay, I get all of that. Sounds fairly realistic to me so far.
The author then adds a morality tale component to the story: Parents, even though they are not perfect, have your best interests at heart and you...more Teenage girl forced to move to new town, attend a new school, leaves behind old friends and gets caught up with a new crowd that does not have her best interests at heart. Girl continues to hang out with new friends, despite misgivings because....they're popular! And it's cool to be popular! Okay, I get all of that. Sounds fairly realistic to me so far.
The author then adds a morality tale component to the story: Parents, even though they are not perfect, have your best interests at heart and you shouldn't lie to them. Okay, I'll buy that, too. It's a good thing to sneak into a YA novel. And it is a point well-taken, because I think most kids do feel guilty about deceiving their parents, so it's nice to see that portrayed in a YA novel.
The e-book version, as mentioned by other reviewers, needs some serious editing. I won't list all of the issues because several other readers have already listed the problems in detail. There are also a few confusing issues regarding the plot that should be fixed, so the reader isn't left wondering what is really going on and can concentrate on the story as it moves forward. Why did they have to move? Why so much talk about the old neighbor and then she just sort of falls out of the story? One party results in a gang rape, horrible car crash and a meth bust? Really? I suppose it could happen and probably has happened, but still...And what is up with Carol? If I'm supposed to believe that she is really overcome with that much remorse, I need to know more about her character. The one part that I didn't have an issue with, but some other readers did, was the whole mom-thinks-malls-are-evil thing. I didn't have an issue with that, because I actually know a woman like that. I think it's just an overreaction to all of the anxiety caused by trying to raise a child in today's society.
The book's premise isn't bad; it just needs work. The writing can be stilted, the proofreading is atrocious, and the ending is horrible. The reader would have been better served if there was less time spent on moving at the beginning of the book, and more time spent on the aftermath of the party. There is potential here; I would like to see the author rework this and try again. At the same time, I am not at all interested enough to read any upcoming sequel.
I was glad that the author included resources at the end of the novel. (less)

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Jul 28, 2011 Jill rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Kara moves to a new town, attends a new school and makes new friends, who then set her up for date rape and an overdose of alcohol laced with ecstasy.

***

Author Linda Nelson emphasizes the influence friends can have on teens and the consequences from deceiving parents in this story of Kara, a self-conscious and insecure teen with an alcoholic mother and an enabling father. Kara gets good grades, but more than anything else she wants to belong. She can’t believe that Carol wants to be her friend....more

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Jul 11, 2011 Rhonda rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

As a parent of two college girls this book scares me. I wish thier was no way kids would drug other kids and set them up for rape. It is written well and I appreciate the information at the end of the story.
Karla is a 16 year old when her family sells their house and moves to a bigger town two towns away. She is not happy with her parents over it. Karla does not get along with her mom. Her mom drinks a lot and is controlling. Karla has a lot of anger.
The first day at new school she meets Carol a...more

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Jul 12, 2011 Cate rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: NOBODY.

Shelves: lt-giveaways, 2011-reads

This is a Reading Good Books review.

I tried. Don’t get me wrong… I really tried. But I couldn’t finish this. I couldn’t even get to the midpoint. Provided it was just 88 pages on e-book.

I respect the obvious effort of the author to make a compelling story and (as I skipped to the end) a public service to teens, the writing was just so bad. There’s no other, nicer way to say it. Just… BAD.

Errors – typographical or grammatical or BOTH – litter the whole thing. At least the parts I’ve read. But ba...more

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Jan 02, 2012 Elizabeth rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Brutally honest look at what can happen to a child who just wants to make friends. Kayla's family have lost their jobs and have had to sell their house and move to another town. Kayla meets Carol at her new school and Carol starts to include Kayla. Kayla notices that Carol's friends are whispering and she starts to feel uncomfortable but she is new in school and doesn't want them to not like her. After hanging out with Carol, Kayla notices her deliquient behavior and she wonders if Carol is real...more

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Sep 02, 2011 Ezinwanyi~For you, Agron (Mira, Crixus, Gannicus & Spartacus) rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This story was about a high school teenager named Karla Centon. Her family moved after her father got a new job in another town. She wasn’t that popular in her old school, so she may have seen this new school as a new opportunity to reinvent herself.

She meets a girl named Carol and Carol befriends her. It is obvious that Carol has some bad behavior from the beginning, but Karla chose to overlook it. Carol was drinking, shop lifting, unconcerned with her education or really her future, lacked pa...more

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May 23, 2011 Birgit rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I rarely read YA novels, but since being a member of LibraryThing I have came across a few. Some I enjoyed, others not quite.
Linda Nelsons book about a girl moving into another town with her family and trying to make new friends at the local high school is the kind of book that transports such an important message for youth today – choose your friends wisely – but the execution is unfortunatelly really bad. You can tell that Linda puts her heart into the story, but the characters remain flat and...more

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Jan 31, 2011 Laurie Carlson rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Friends of Choice by Linda Nelson – REVIEW

I thought the author had a nice, easy style of writing, good for young adults to follow and stay engaged. This author also caught the main character’s teenage, whiney, true-to-life ‘angst’ teenagers have against their parents, in particular, her mother. The author hit the nail on the head with that one! Great job! I did enjoy this part because it is so true to life.
I had a hard time writing this review because there are to many things that did not make s...more Friends of Choice by Linda Nelson – REVIEW

I thought the author had a nice, easy style of writing, good for young adults to follow and stay engaged. This author also caught the main character’s teenage, whiney, true-to-life ‘angst’ teenagers have against their parents, in particular, her mother. The author hit the nail on the head with that one! Great job! I did enjoy this part because it is so true to life.
I had a hard time writing this review because there are to many things that did not make sense in this book and to many loose ends the author left hanging.
I did feel as if the book dragged out a little too long in some places. I read there is a sequel, and perhaps the sequel and this book should be merged together so this book would make more sense.
Karla had to move because of her parent’s decision to move closer to her father’s new job to accommodate his new commute. The author spent to much time explaining the packing at the old house, driving to the new house, the packing and unpacking at the new house, setting up her bedroom, etc.
Even though I said I really liked the way this author writes, there are some areas where this book dragged on to long. This is where an author could lose the attention of Young Adult Readers by taking to much time to get the story going.
Karla’s mother had Karla go to school the VERY NEXT DAY after moving? It was FRIDAY!! Karla ‘could’ have started on Monday. This could have given Karla some more time after the moving ‘rush’ to unpack and set things up a little slower and not in such a rush? The packing and moving from the old house happened all in one day, as well as the unpacking into the new house. Karla’s mother expected everything to be done in one day? I feel if she had given Karla more time to make the adjustment of her new home, slowed down just a little, perhaps she could have had more time in making better choices when choosing her new friends, instead, she was rushed through all of this.
As Karla started at her new school the very next day after moving to her new house, she met a new WRONG friend named Carol, who, right away approached Karla, trying to make friends with her, and to find out all about her. Carol finds out Karla is from a close by RIVAL school. Hmmm? Carol is a popular girl at this new school, among the Jocks and Cheerleaders. Karla, I think, felt special that she fit in so well with this crowd right away at her new school when she did not fit in with this crowd at her old school, however, she didn’t really fit in with this new crowd at the new school, as the other kids in the group pretty much just ignored Karla. It was Carol who was putting Karla in with this crowd.
Could this rushing Karla to school be where Karla’s parents’, especially her mother, faulted in not learning about her newly found friends? Rush, rush, rush. She asked about the new friends Karla made, but didn’t go deeper into finding out how Karla made friends with Carol, or what ‘other’ friends she had made, or how they all became friends. Could this, perhaps, helped to have stopped Carol from doing what she did at the end if Karla’s parent’s had been more involved with the choice of friends she was making?
Karla was always trying to call her new friend, Carol; having her calls ignored. Hmmm? Carol was NEVER home. Suggest anything? Doesn’t LIKE being at home?? Hmmm? Carol’s parents evidently did NOT teach her any values or else she would have been home more, in my opinion. Carol’s relationship with her parent’s should have been expanded on so we could have learned more about Carol and what she was really like. This was part of the problem with this story. We never learned enough about who Carol really was. I was NOT expecting what happened at the end of the book. Way to many loose ends.
In my opinion, the author should have incorporated many other new friends Karla made. We know she made other friends other than Carol, as that is only natural, but we are never introduced to them, either in Karla’s classes or at lunchtime. Someone, naturally, would have told Karla to be careful around Carol, as it sounded as if Carol had a reputation, and had done things to other new students who came to their school from the ‘rival school’, Karla’s old High School. This is where there is a huge missing link in the book where Karla had no idea just exactly what Carol had set her up for. This could have tipped Karla off at least a little bit if she had made more friends. This is where the book needs to be expanded upon.
We keep reading about how much Karla wanted to get out and go meet Carol here or there, or when Carol ignored Karla, and Karla’s feelings were hurt. When that happened, if Karla had made other new friends, she could have hung out with them other than Carol. Carol took up a large part of the book, too much.
As I said in the previous paragraph, this is where Karla’s making new friends in her other classes should have come into play, and given Karla some ‘gut feeling’ that something was ‘off’ with Carol. Details in this section of the book would have helped the reader understand more about ‘why’ Carol wanted to be friends with Karla so bad. Karla was getting confused about this and a little worried about some of the things that Carol did right away.
When Karla’s friends from her old high school and neighborhood came to spend the night, one of the girls mentioned her parent’s taught her to follow her gut with people and friends, I thought the author was going to go further with this and get Karla thinking more about this new friend, Carol, and using her gut more, but she was ignoring it. Karla did keep feeling a little uncomfortable about them, even to the point where she did not want her old friends to meet her new friend. Was Karla worried her old friends would not like her new friend? That, right there, was her gut working. The author should have expanded on this.
The book is called “Friends of Choice”, and perhaps Karla could have thought about the ‘choices’ of the friend’s she was making, especially when it came to Carol.
What happened at the end of the book? This really bad thing that happens to Karla, and now all of a sudden this book is all about Carol? What about Karla? What about Karla’s condition? She had no voice. What about Karla’s parents? Where are they? We are left hanging terribly. All we are told is they don’t know if she is going to make it? Why such a turn-a-round in the book? I can understand a small chapter on how Carol felt, ‘if’ Carol had talked earlier in the book, but she didn’t. She had no voice until the very end of the book. We should have been left with something about Karla and her condition. Some type of a resolution, but we were left completely hanging. I do see there is a sequel coming from this book, so I hope it is mentioned, or the sequel sold with this first book, so we will get to learn more of the details of why Carol did what she did.
As I said in the beginning, the author does have a talent for making her words flow, even though they were a bit lengthy at times, but this book lacks in this story in several places leaving Karla with virtually no choice in making friends, having nothing to do with the title. It leaves us, with no resolution in the end as to Karla’s condition.
I hope the books (the original and the sequel) are out together so the reader knows there is some type of resolution; more about Karla. Otherwise, they will be just as confused as we are as to why the book reverts to Carol.
Laurie Carlson
(less)

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Apr 14, 2011 Ivy rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Friends of Choice is about a girl named Karla whose family had to move to a new town. Leaving her old life behind, she had to face a new school, and a new environment. She seemed reluctant to move, but it was her parents who made the decisions. When she attends the new school, she befriends a girl named Carol and started to hang out with her. Little did she know, she was different from the usual crowd of friends she would hang out with, and she was having second thoughts about whom she should’ve...more Friends of Choice is about a girl named Karla whose family had to move to a new town. Leaving her old life behind, she had to face a new school, and a new environment. She seemed reluctant to move, but it was her parents who made the decisions. When she attends the new school, she befriends a girl named Carol and started to hang out with her. Little did she know, she was different from the usual crowd of friends she would hang out with, and she was having second thoughts about whom she should’ve hung out with.

This book was okay; I liked it. The beginning was somewhat slow until you get towards 2/3-way of the book where Karla and Carol started to hang out. Karla and Carol are two different kinds of people. Karla is not popular whereas Carol is popular.

When Carol started to befriend Karla, I thought why would a popular girl be friends with a new girl. I thought something was up. I knew that it wasn’t easy to be a popular girl’s friend. When Karla hung out with Carol the first time at the mall, Karla knew already that she wasn’t a good person because Carol does the five-finger-discount. Karla doesn’t want friends like that, but as a new girl with no friends, it might be her last resort. If I was Karla and had no friends, I think I would continue to be friends with Carol until I meet new and better friends that aren’t like her; somewhere that I would fit in more and don’t seem out of place.

The second time Karla hangs out with Carol, her life changed. Going to a party and hanging out with Carol might not be such a good idea anymore. This was the most exciting part of the book. It became a fast read when it got to this point. However, you have to tackle the beginning to get to this point of the book.

Something repetitive about what the characters says in the book that bugged me was the word, “Kay,” because it seemed like each character says it so often that I keep thinking the characters will say it often throughout the book, and they do. There were spelling errors that threw me off too. I had to reread some words over again to understand what the author was trying to say.

The beginning was too slow and it didn’t capture my attention that much. I only really liked the last 2/3 of the book where there was action in the book. That was where the action was and that was the only thing I really liked about it. However, I wished there was more to the ending than leaving off where it was left off…(less)

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Jul 08, 2012 Elaine rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle, free-kindle-finds, young-adult

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Feb 22, 2011 Suzanne rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: young teenagers

This book had a really good moral to it. I would recommend an edited copy for teens, 13-17 or so.

It follows a young girl, 16 years old, from the house that she grew up in to a new house, a new town, and a new school. She was forced to leave behind her two best friends. She tries to make friends at her new school, and ends up falling in with the wrong crowd.

It covers everything from shoplifting to drug use to date rape. It is a cautionary tale for teens to be careful who they choose as friends.

T...more

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Jun 24, 2011 Emily rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was a fast pace story and I almost wish there was a little more from the other side than the few small sections there was. Just to show the cruelty and deceptiveness that has come to grasp our young adults. It's a very accurate and sometimes disappointing betrayal of how the teen girls and guys of generations have come to be. Down right vindictive and cruel for no other reason than they can be. It's a very good story with a touching moral and proof that you need to be sure of what you want...more

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Mar 21, 2011 Shiree rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I think this book would be good for younger readers, early to mid teens. I can see this book being used for school health class discussions - when I was at school we would read books with a moral such as this in groups and then present what we learned to the rest of the class.

However, I don't think I would recommend this book to the casual reader, as there were quite a few spelling/grammer mistakes in the copy I read, and there seemed to be inconsistancies in the characters and the plot at some...more

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Dec 23, 2011 Looking rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

its not very well written(spelling and grammer wise) but this iis easily forgiven and ignored. the story is simple but touching. This is a rape drug awareness novel.

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Oct 10, 2011 Amberlee rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I won this book as a giveaway. I didn't finish it. I couldn't get into it and it was kind of weird.

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Aug 18, 2011 Can't-Decide-On-A-Name;) rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I won this book yay! should come soon:)

Review:

Okay the plot was simple, Karla's parents get a new job and she has to move a few towns away and start a new school. She is very negative about the whole thing but when she starts her new school, Carol starts hanging around with her. Carol is the popular girl of the school. But when she becomes uncomfortable

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Oct 08, 2010 Megan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

i loved this book, it really left me thinking you should chose friends carfully and a real friend woulden't do anything to hurt you karla paid a high price for picking the wrong friends i found myself wanting to go into the book to warn her. very well writen i felt like i was in the book the whole time and coulden't put it down.

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Jul 22, 2011 Dr. rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Long story short, I hated this book.

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Jun 07, 2013 Up All Night Reviews marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: in-cue-to-be-read

Jun 06, 2013 Brianna♥ marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle-app, freebies, owned

Jun 05, 2013 Vicki marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Jun 04, 2013 Becky added it · review of another edition

Apr 23, 2013 Irene marked it as kindle-freebie-tbr · review of another edition

Apr 17, 2013 Lisa Marie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Apr 15, 2013 Meghan marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Apr 06, 2013 Klaudyna Z. marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Apr 05, 2013 Laura Brick rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Apr 02, 2013 Taylor marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: books-to-buy, wishlist

Mar 04, 2013 Morgan Thaler rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: no

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About Linda Nelson

Linda likes to write Teen Contemporary and Fantasy. Fantasy is her number one choice when it comes to writing and reading. She writes Teen Contemporary for one reason. Her children had social issues when they were growing up. These issues are the same issues many other teens deal with in their own lives. This being namely substance abuse and peer pressure.

She wrote her first book in 2010 called Fr...more

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