Fifteen Seconds of Normal
Fifteen Seconds of Normal, by Alex Marestaing
Blurb:Step 1: Transfer High Schools.Step 2: Hide your Tourette’s.Step 3: Find your fifteen seconds of normal.Kaeya Garay has a plan. And it seems to be working.But when a curious interruption named Thatcher Kelly stumbles upon her “safe” place in the school’s abandoned art gallery, her grand plans for normalcy are suddenly derailed.Set over the course of three weeks, Fifteen Seconds of Normal is the quirky saga of a literature obsessed teen on the edge of a meltdown and the hope driven heroine who begins to pull him back.Reviewed for Readers' Favorite.Kaeya moved to a new school with the hopes of being treated like a “normal” teenager by her peers. It’s hard to hide her Tourette’s, but she manages and even draws the attention of the boy she’s crushing on. Unfortunately, that boy’s not Thatcher, who is already half in love with her! The drama starts on school photo day, when Thatcher, totally oblivious to what day it is, comes to school after the worst morning of his life, looking an absolute mess. Needless to say his picture is horrendous and he immediately throws it away, only for someone else to fish it out and create a humiliating meme that quickly goes viral. One thing leads to another and Thatcher ends up being suspended for fighting. It’s in suspension that he gets to know the real Kaeya, who retreats there when her Tourette’s gets too much to handle. However, despite budding feelings for Thatcher, Kaeya’s still set on going to the school dance with her crush and getting her fifteen seconds of normal. Alex Marestaing weaves a beautiful, heartwarming coming-of-age in 'Fifteen Seconds of Normal'.With complex, relatable and likeable characters ‘Fifteen Seconds of Normal’ is a brilliant read for Young Adults and grown-ups alike. In this day and age, cyberbullying is something everyone is aware of, even if they haven’t experienced it firsthand, and Alex Marestaing has a way of putting you into Thatcher’s shoes so that it really felt like you were going through it with him. The same goes for Kaeya with her Tourette’s. Both main characters were so lovely that it was a genuine pleasure to read about them and I loved how they developed over time and figured out what was really important to them. Also, although it's a teenage story set in high-school the angst is kept to a minimum, which I appreciated because it doesn't detract from the main plot. The layout was also a big plus for this novel; as it flitted between Thatcher and Kaeya's perspective, the paragraphs were short and to the point, which meant I kept saying to myself "Just one more section!", resulting in my finishing it in a day! It's a wonderful story focusing on friendship, love and accepting who you really are. I guarantee 'Fifteen Seconds of Normal' is a story you will want to go back to again and again.My favourite quotes for 'Fifteen Seconds of Normal':'If it had been another picture of him on another day, he might have laughed. But his life had imploded that morning. And they'd taken a picture. And now people were laughing at him as he struggled to crawl out from the wreckage.''... the name Dad didn't automatically make someone a hero.''Because his father's words were only feelings, dreams that evaporated when someone tried to touch them.'' "Words read and forgotten are wasted ink on paper, but words acted upon become monuments." ''Maybe love, real love, was more than unicorns and rainbows. Maybe it meant hanging on even when it tore you apart.'' "Just finish with I love you, and you can say anything,".'' "There comes a time when the fear of being aloneoutweighs the fear if rejectionAnd in this glorious imbalance,Love is born." '' "I used to think that Mom was the weak one, for caring too much, for always waiting by the phone for you to call, for crying. But now I'm starting to realise that she was the strong one. She made a choice to love you, to love this family, and she was willing to go down with the ship for it. ..." '' "What we once loved deeply we can never lose... because it's become a part of us." '
Blurb:Step 1: Transfer High Schools.Step 2: Hide your Tourette’s.Step 3: Find your fifteen seconds of normal.Kaeya Garay has a plan. And it seems to be working.But when a curious interruption named Thatcher Kelly stumbles upon her “safe” place in the school’s abandoned art gallery, her grand plans for normalcy are suddenly derailed.Set over the course of three weeks, Fifteen Seconds of Normal is the quirky saga of a literature obsessed teen on the edge of a meltdown and the hope driven heroine who begins to pull him back.Reviewed for Readers' Favorite.Kaeya moved to a new school with the hopes of being treated like a “normal” teenager by her peers. It’s hard to hide her Tourette’s, but she manages and even draws the attention of the boy she’s crushing on. Unfortunately, that boy’s not Thatcher, who is already half in love with her! The drama starts on school photo day, when Thatcher, totally oblivious to what day it is, comes to school after the worst morning of his life, looking an absolute mess. Needless to say his picture is horrendous and he immediately throws it away, only for someone else to fish it out and create a humiliating meme that quickly goes viral. One thing leads to another and Thatcher ends up being suspended for fighting. It’s in suspension that he gets to know the real Kaeya, who retreats there when her Tourette’s gets too much to handle. However, despite budding feelings for Thatcher, Kaeya’s still set on going to the school dance with her crush and getting her fifteen seconds of normal. Alex Marestaing weaves a beautiful, heartwarming coming-of-age in 'Fifteen Seconds of Normal'.With complex, relatable and likeable characters ‘Fifteen Seconds of Normal’ is a brilliant read for Young Adults and grown-ups alike. In this day and age, cyberbullying is something everyone is aware of, even if they haven’t experienced it firsthand, and Alex Marestaing has a way of putting you into Thatcher’s shoes so that it really felt like you were going through it with him. The same goes for Kaeya with her Tourette’s. Both main characters were so lovely that it was a genuine pleasure to read about them and I loved how they developed over time and figured out what was really important to them. Also, although it's a teenage story set in high-school the angst is kept to a minimum, which I appreciated because it doesn't detract from the main plot. The layout was also a big plus for this novel; as it flitted between Thatcher and Kaeya's perspective, the paragraphs were short and to the point, which meant I kept saying to myself "Just one more section!", resulting in my finishing it in a day! It's a wonderful story focusing on friendship, love and accepting who you really are. I guarantee 'Fifteen Seconds of Normal' is a story you will want to go back to again and again.My favourite quotes for 'Fifteen Seconds of Normal':'If it had been another picture of him on another day, he might have laughed. But his life had imploded that morning. And they'd taken a picture. And now people were laughing at him as he struggled to crawl out from the wreckage.''... the name Dad didn't automatically make someone a hero.''Because his father's words were only feelings, dreams that evaporated when someone tried to touch them.'' "Words read and forgotten are wasted ink on paper, but words acted upon become monuments." ''Maybe love, real love, was more than unicorns and rainbows. Maybe it meant hanging on even when it tore you apart.'' "Just finish with I love you, and you can say anything,".'' "There comes a time when the fear of being aloneoutweighs the fear if rejectionAnd in this glorious imbalance,Love is born." '' "I used to think that Mom was the weak one, for caring too much, for always waiting by the phone for you to call, for crying. But now I'm starting to realise that she was the strong one. She made a choice to love you, to love this family, and she was willing to go down with the ship for it. ..." '' "What we once loved deeply we can never lose... because it's become a part of us." '
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