Stronger Than You Know (ARC) by Jolene Perry - Starting May 29th 2014

[Sarah Elizabeth]

After police intervention, fifteen-year-old Joy has finally escaped the trailer where she once lived with her mother and survived years of confinement and abuse. Now living with her aunt, uncle, and cousins in a comfortable house, she’s sure she’ll never belong. Wracked by panic attacks, afraid to talk to anyone at her new school, Joy’s got a whole list of reasons why she’s crazy. With immense courage, Joy finds friends and grows closer to her new family. But just when hope is taking hold, she learns she must testify in her mother’s trial. Can she face her old life without losing her way in the new one? Will she ever truly belong in a world that seems too normal to be real?

Abbie, Rachel, Tatiana and I will be reading this from May 29th. This book has not yet been published, and copies are available on request from Netgalley.

[Tati]

I started this early, hope you don't mind

[Sarah Elizabeth]

Not a problem ☺

[Emily]

I'd completely forgotten about this one!

[Tati]

This is really good! I'm liking this one better than The Summer I Found You.

(view spoiler)[ It's so heartbreaking to read Joy's story... She is just so broken.

I do wish the author would get to her mother's trial, though (hide spoiler)]

[Sarah Elizabeth]

Poor girl, just the summary report sounds awful!

[Sarah Elizabeth]

chapter 3 (view spoiler)[ this poor girl is so messed up! (hide spoiler)]

[rachel, x]

I'm trying to finish quickly so I can get to this but I'm only 50% through. I'll try and speed read the rest. :)

[Tati]

Sarah wrote: "chapter 3 [spoilers removed]"

Yes, she is!

(view spoiler)[ it's really awful what happened to her... I am missing a bigger plot here, though. (hide spoiler)]

[Sarah Elizabeth]

Rachel wrote: "I'm trying to finish quickly so I can get to this but I'm only 50% through. I'll try and speed read the rest. :)"

That's quite a long one to get through!

[Sarah Elizabeth]

chapter 6 (view spoiler)[ losing interest. (hide spoiler)]

[rachel, x]

Sarah wrote: "Rachel wrote: "I'm trying to finish quickly so I can get to this but I'm only 50% through. I'll try and speed read the rest. :)"

That's quite a long one to get through!"

It is! Hopefully I can get through it though. Its getting late here now though so I don't know how much I'll get read!!

[Sarah Elizabeth]

chapter 18 (view spoiler)[ I'm glad that she's trusting her uncle now. She is opening up more, and I like that she talks to Justin. I just don't love this though. She's messed up, that's obvious, but I'm just not loving the journey. (hide spoiler)]

[Tati]

I just finished it.

And you're right, Sarah. (view spoiler)[ The journey could be shorter, somehow. Maybe with some more time jumps? Because this is a character-driven book, there is no plot to keep our interest (hide spoiler)]

[Sarah Elizabeth]

Tatiana wrote: "I just finished it.

And you're right, Sarah. [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ You're right. there is a bit of a lack of a plot. it's purely a story about her coming out of her shell, and I'm not really loving it. It will be getting three stars from me at this rate. Even the romance doesn't interest me. (hide spoiler)]

[Abi]

Will be starting in a bit. :)

[Abi]

Chapter 8 - (view spoiler)[ I'm glad she's started to talk to Rob. He seems like a nice guy. (hide spoiler)]

[Abi]

Chapter 9 - (view spoiler)[ Trent's horrible. (hide spoiler)]

[Tati]

Abbie wrote: "Chapter 8 - [spoilers removed]"

I was like, finally! I like him a lot!

[Abi]

Tatiana wrote: "Abbie wrote: "Chapter 8 - [spoilers removed]"

I was like, finally! I like him a lot!"

I do too. :)

[Abi]

Chapter 30 - (view spoiler)[I really like her new family. Well, everyone except Trent! (hide spoiler)]

[Abi]

Chapter 31 - (view spoiler)[ I'm glad Trent's finally stopped being an ass! (hide spoiler)]

[Abi]

Just finished. It had a few slow patches, but i really liked it!

[Sarah Elizabeth]

I just got bored.

[rachel, x]

15% (my copy doesn't have chapters) - (view spoiler)[Poor Joy! Sounds like she didn't have a great life so far and still isn't coping. I feel sorry for her uncle too. It would be horrible to scare someone so much for no reason that you can prevent. :( (hide spoiler)]

[rachel, x]

15% - (view spoiler)[I hope something is going to happen other than seeing Joy live her daily life. That would be dull. I feel a romance thing coming on with that kid that walked her to school and thought she had an asthma attack. Justin was it? (hide spoiler)]

[Sarah Elizabeth]

Rachel wrote: "15% - [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ I kinda had issues with the lack of a plotline. The book was more about Joy's journey than anything else. (hide spoiler)]

[rachel, x]

25% - (view spoiler)[Bored. Not much is happening. Its well written but I need something to happen. (hide spoiler)]

[Sarah Elizabeth]

Rachel wrote: "25% - [spoilers removed]"

That is exactly how I felt.

[rachel, x]

36% - Having dinner break now. Still bored.

[rachel, x]

43% - (view spoiler)[Glad she is making progress but something needs to happen! Its killing me. (hide spoiler)]

[rachel, x]

53% - (view spoiler)[I'm so, so bored. Something needs to happen already! (hide spoiler)]

[rachel, x]

Sarah wrote: "Tatiana wrote: "I just finished it.

And you're right, Sarah. [spoilers removed]"

[spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[I really love the detailed development too but this really needs something extra happening. I'm so bored. This is only a 2 star read for me so far. (hide spoiler)]

[Sarah Elizabeth]

Rachel wrote: "Sarah wrote: "Tatiana wrote: "I just finished it.

And you're right, Sarah. [spoilers removed]"

[spoilers removed]"

[spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ I was disappointed with it too. I expected it to be much better than it was. It is the worst book I have read by this author so far. I mean, great that Joy is adapting slowly, but I don't really care all that much. I was glad to be finished. (hide spoiler)]

[rachel, x]

Sarah wrote: "Rachel wrote: "Sarah wrote: "Tatiana wrote: "I just finished it.

And you're right, Sarah. [spoilers removed]"

[spoilers removed]"

[spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[I don't know how much more I can cope with! Its sooo dull. :( I'm at 63% now and if my copy wasn't from Netgalley I would just give up now.

[spoilers removed]" (hide spoiler)]

[rachel, x]

Is this a series or standalone?

[Sarah Elizabeth]

standalone. I don't think I'd bother if there were more books after this one.

[Sarah Elizabeth]

Rachel wrote: "Sarah wrote: "Rachel wrote: "Sarah wrote: "Tatiana wrote: "I just finished it.

And you're right, Sarah. [spoilers removed]"

[spoilers removed]"

[spoilers removed]"

I don't know how much more I ..."

(view spoiler)[ I can see why you're bored. I got bored too. It's like nothing really happens! The whole book is about Joy getting her act together, which isn't really fascinating reading. (hide spoiler)]

[rachel, x]

Sarah wrote: "standalone. I don't think I'd bother if there were more books after this one."

I wouldn't either.

[rachel, x]

88% - (view spoiler)[Sigh. Do I need to say it again? Bored.

I really want to know what it is that her Mum is being charged with. (hide spoiler)]

[Sarah Elizabeth]

Nearly over!

[rachel, x]

Sarah wrote: "Nearly over!"

Done! Thank goodness! That went on forever and ever and ever! :(

[Sarah Elizabeth]

That's what I thought. considering that the book was supposed to be less than 300 pages, it felt long.

[rachel, x]

Sarah wrote: "That's what I thought. considering that the book was supposed to be less than 300 pages, it felt long."

It felt so much longer than that. I agree!

[rachel, x]

What colour do you think this would count for in te Rainbow challenge? :)

[Sarah Elizabeth]

Don't know. it's a bit of a mish-mash. I'll ask Abbie ☺

[Sarah Elizabeth]

Abbie says Orange ☺

[rachel, x]

Sarah wrote: "Abbie says Orange ☺"

Okay, thanks! :)

[rachel, x]

Oh, and a completely random question but you know on blogs how they have all those page tabs that you can click along the top? There's like a "home" one and a "review list" one etc. How do you get it that (on your own blog) that you can click on that tab and a list of pages comes down to click on? For examples, I have a "review list" tab but I would like that when you click on it comes up with a "review copy list" and a "by title" and a "by rating" option. Would you have nay idea how to do that? (If you can follow my rambling that is!) Thanks!

[Sarah Elizabeth]

Not a clue. I think I know what you mean, but I'm not sure how to do it. You could possibly do it so that you redirect to other pages. so you would go to the review page, and it would say 'by title', 'by rating', and then link those to other pages with the reviews arranged like that. I think you'd have to do the lists yourself though, which would take ages. is that what you mean?