Ask Me How I Got Here by Christine Hepperman - Review

Where did I get it? I bought it a few years ago when I was looking for YA books which featured abortions. I must have had it recommended or googled it, and bought it. I had completely forgotten about it and it was on a shelf, but then about two months ago I pulled it off the shelf and added it to the huge pile of books next to my bed. I'm not sure why! But I did! By which point I just couldn't remember what it was about at all, so it was a total surprise. 

What's it about? It's a novel told in verse (which you already know I love) starring Addie, who is in high school in Minnesota. She has a boyfriend called Craig but he's cheating on her. She then starts seeing his friend Nick and they have sex multiple times. Addie is on the cross country run team and is very good, she's one of their best athletes.

She realises she is pregnant and tells Nick, and then her parents. She doesn't want to tell her parents because she's afraid of letting them down, but she has to because an abortion in Minnesota requires parental consent for minors. The actual abortion is barely touched upon, which I liked. But Addie goes to a Catholic school and in one of her classes is a girl who think abortion is a terrible sin. Addie also writes poems and Nick, who is in a band with a terrible lyricist, wants her to write some lyrics for him. 

She doesn't regret the abortion at all. She does start missing running practice though. She starts to go to a different coffee shop while pretending to her parents that she's at practice, and while there she meets Juliana, who used to be on the running team but is now at college. The two start to get close, and there's a bit of a relationship/crush between them. Addie is pulling away from everything she knows - but can she find herself again? 

I loved the poems, they were just lovely and really got across the whole novel in such a good way. I read this quickly because it was just so nice. 

What age range is it for? 15+ 

Are any main characters LGBTQ+? Yeah kind of, definitely there's something between Addie and Juliana even if it's not explicitly labelled by the end of the book 

Are any main characters people of colour? I don't think so 

Are any main characters disabled either mentally or physically? Juliana has mental health problems 

Is there any sex stuff? Yes, it's a bit explicit (in a very good way!) 

Are drugs mentioned or used? No, the abortion drugs are barely mentioned either 

Is there any talk of death? There's a little bit about an attempted suicide, it's not graphic 

Are there swear words? No 

 

What criticisms do I have? I wished it was longer! I wished we'd seen more of Addie and Juliana falling in love! 

Would I recommend the book? Yes especially if you like books told in verse.

Why did I choose to read it at this point in life? I pulled it off the shelf to get to it, so I did! 

 

What do I think of the cover? I like it, it's cute 

 

What other books is it like? Well anything by Sarah Crossan definitely 

How many stars? Four out of five 

 

Where is the book going now? I think I'll keep it!

Unpregnant by Jenni Hendriks and Ted Caplan - Review

Where did I get it? I bought it, I've had it on pre-order since January, can you believe?! I have been researching books about abortion because of something I want to write myself, and when I saw this book mentioned way back in January I ordered it immediately. 

What's it about? Veronica, known to her friend as Ronnie, has what appears to be a perfect life. She's about to be valedictorian, she has three lovely friends and a gorgeous boyfriend, Kevin. She has plans to go to Brown University in Rhode Island, many miles away from her home in Missouri. 

She is also pregnant. 

She does the test at school and ends up dropping it in the bathroom, where it lands at the feet of Bailey, Ronnie's old friend. The two girls were close in junior high, but Bailey's life turned a little chaotic and Ronnie stopped talking to her. Since then, Bailey has become the school outcast, the school loner. She teases Ronnie when she sees the test, saying that Ronnie's perfect life is over.

Ronnie doesn't feel she can tell her parents - her older sister had a baby young and her parents haven't really got over it. She decides to have an abortion, so she calls her local Planned Parenthood. They inform her that Missouri doesn't allow abortions for minors without parental consent, and Ronnie is only seventeen. The closest place that will give her a termination without her parents knowing is in Albuquerque, over a thousand miles away. 

Fortunately, Ronnie is supposed to head off to a cabin by a lake with her friends for the weekend to cram for finals, so she realises she can use that time to get Kevin to take her to New Mexico. However, this plan soon goes awry when it turns out Kevin has been keeping something from her. Ronnie is beginning to despair, but goes to ask Bailey for help. 

The two set off on the thousand mile trip involving cows, strippers, kidnapping a ferret, robbery, and putting a friendship back together. 

The book, despite its serious subject matter, is really funny in parts, and touching in others. It is political and doesn't apologise for that - it is scandalous that so many people have to travel so far for abortions in the US and in the UK and across the world. Safe access to abortion is a human right, in my opinion. It is also really, really good. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would read something else by the same authors. 

What age range is it for? 14+, I guess 

Are any main characters LGBTQ+? Yeah but no spoilers. 

Are any main characters people of colour? No. 

Are any main characters disabled either mentally or physically? No. 

Is there any sex stuff? It isn't graphic. There's no graphic bits in the whole book. 

Are drugs mentioned or used? No. 

Is there any talk of death? A little, not much 

Are there swear words? Almost none. 

What criticisms do I have? Almost none! I think it is a great example of contemporary YA. 

Would I recommend the book? Yes one hundred percent. 

Why did I choose to read it at this point in life? It arrived a couple of weeks back and was on the top of the pile. 

What do I think of the cover? It's so eye-catching isn't it!? I love it. 

What other books is it like? It's kind of the antithesis of Belly Up by Eva Darrows, I feel like they're a good pair of books. 

How many stars? Five out of five. 

Where is the book going now? I'm going to send it to my friend Janet as she said on Instagram she wanted to read it and we often share books!

And We Stay by Jenny Hubbard - Review

Where did I get it? I bought it. I'm researching, broadly, for my own writing, abortion in literature. I'm writing some things on the subject so I wanted to see what others had written. I read an article with some recommendations and this was one of them. I ordered about seven books I think? 

What's it about? Well, Emily Beam has just arrived at Amherst School for Girls, where poet Emily Dickinson was a student, in the town where she lived. Emily Beam lies to her new classmates about where she's been. The book is set in 1995, and what happened at the end of 1994 was that Emily's boyfriend, Paul, killed himself with a gun in the library of their school. 

I started off the book thinking it was about a school shooting; I didn't realise Paul had killed only himself and not taken people out with him. Then it turns out that Emily was pregnant, and had broken up with Paul, telling him she was going to have an abortion. Through flashbacks (which are really deftly woven in, I liked them) throughout the book, we see what happened between Emily and Paul.

Meanwhile, Emily writes poetry. Encouraged by her French teacher (who I really liked) and her growing friendship with her roommate K.T, we see Emily write all her experiences into poems. 

To begin with I didn't understand why the book was set in 1995, I didn't get why, if it was written in 2014, it was set so far in the past, especially as the events of the book really could have happened in 2014. However, I think it was a good choice because it does mean that smartphones didn't exist and therefore Emily can go more incognito. In 2014, if a girl joined your school and you didn't know her history, you could probably find out everything about her within about ten minutes thanks to social media. I liked this aspect once I thought about it (but I do think you could write a similar book set in 2014). 

I really liked the book - I liked Emily as a person, as well as most of the supporting characters. I liked how clear she was about the fact she wanted an abortion. She was encouraged by her parents, it's true, but I certainly didn't get the vibe that it was something she was being forced into. We don't see much of the actual abortion itself, it's certainly not graphic. I would have liked to see more of life within the school, but it's not overly important in the scheme of things. I liked Emily's poems and how we learnt more about her through them. I liked the inclusion of the stuff around Emily Dickinson and learning more about her life - I know almost nothing about her but I'd like to read some of her poetry. I am glad I read this book. 

What age range is it for? I'm going to say 15+ for sensitive content and gun violence. (Although Paul's death itself is not described graphically)

Are any main characters LGBTQ+? No 

Are any main characters people of colour? No 

Are any main characters disabled either mentally or physically? I'd say Emily has some PTSD going on, which explains some of her actions, but it isn't explicit. 

Is there any sex stuff? A little, although it's not graphic. 

Are drugs mentioned or used? No 

Is there any talk of death? Yes, as I said, Paul's death isn't described explicitly, but Emily thinks a lot about his death and his body. 

Are there swear words? No. 

What criticisms do I have? Honestly very few. I would have liked to see more of the school life, but that's because I love stories about boarding schools. I would love to read Jenny's other book - I may have to purchase it! 

Would I recommend the book? Absolutely 

Why did I choose to read it at this point in life? As I said I'm trying to do this research, and I wanted a short book to get through before my holiday on Saturday! 

What other books is it like? Hmmm, it reminded me of something but I can't quite put my finger on it. Something like older LGBT books, like Annie on My Mind maybe? I think it's setting and tone. 

How many stars? Five out of five. Lovely book - a difficult story but really empathetically told. 

Where is the book going now? I will definitely keep it!