One Old, One New: The Unlikely Romance Edition

One Old, One New features two books - one old, one new, which are connected in some way. Today, I am sharing two books that feature unlikely romances. One, between a have and a have-not, the other between a base ball player and a base ball hating Francophile.

How to Build a Heart
Maria Padian
Age/Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Publisher: Algonquin Young Readers
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Goodreads

One young woman’s journey to find her place in the world as the carefully separated strands of her life — family, money, school, and love — begin to overlap and tangle.

All sixteen-year-old Izzy Crawford wants is to feel like she really belongs somewhere. Her father, a marine, died in Iraq six years ago, and Izzy’s moved to a new town nearly every year since, far from the help of her extended family in North Carolina and Puerto Rico. When Izzy’s hardworking mom moves their small family to Virginia, all her dreams start clicking into place. She likes her new school—even if Izzy is careful to keep her scholarship-student status hidden from her well-to-do classmates and her new athletic and popular boyfriend. And best of all: Izzy’s family has been selected by Habitat for Humanity to build and move into a brand-new house. Izzy is this close to the community and permanence she’s been searching for, until all the secret pieces of her life begin to collide.

How to Build a Heart is the story of Izzy’s journey to find her place in the world and her discovery that the choices we make and the people we love ultimately define us and bring us home.

Izzy had always felt caught between two worlds. Biracial, but white-passing, she passed her days in her private school, and the rest of her time in her trailer park home. When Aubrey, the new transfer student, befriended Izzy, she had the opportunity to mingle among the town's wealthier citizens, but how long would Izzy be able to hide who she was from her new friends?

This was a story of friendship, family, first love, identity, and grief, and Izzy was at the center of it all. Right when she had started to settle into her new life in Virginia, her family was selected to receive a home via Habitat for Humanity, AND she fell for her best friend's crush. Obviously, both things resulted in lots of stress and complications in her life, because she was trying to hide so much from both her best friend and her crush.

It was quite interesting watching Izzy attempt to navigate the aforementioned situation, however what I really enjoyed was the exploration of her identity. With the loss of her father, she was missing a very vital piece of who she was, while she was also isolated from her father's side of the family. This left her with many questions, and I was happy, when Izzy sought those answers by reconnecting with her father's kin. She learned a lot from the experience, and it brought an important part of her past into her present.

All the characters in this book were stellar, and Padian did fantastic job shaping them. They were multifaceted and interesting, and real. I had a lot of love for Sam and Aubrey, but I absolutely adored Mami. This woman was a superhero. The way she sacrificed for her children, and the determination it took for her to keep going in the face of so many difficult circumstances, all on her own, was nothing short of amazing.

The author took on some BIG issues in this book, but she did so in an honest and sensitive way. I appreciated her approach, and it never felt heavy handed to me. I appreciated the different sides she approached each topic from, and liked the way she wove it all into the story.

Overall: A wonderful and touching story of self discovery, that was filled with lots of hope and love.

**ARC received in exchange for an honest review.

The Distance from A to Z
Natalie Blitt
Age/Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Publisher: HarperCollins
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Goodreads

Seventeen-year old Abby has only one goal for her summer: to make sure she is fluent in French—well, that, and to get as far away from baseball and her Cubs-obsessed family as possible. A summer of culture and language, with no sports in sight.

That turns out to be impossible, though, because her French partner is the exact kind of boy she was hoping to avoid. Eight weeks. 120 hours of class. 80 hours of conversation practice with someone who seems to exclusively wear baseball caps and jerseys.

But Zeke in French is a different person than Zeke in English. And Abby can’t help but fall for him, hard. As Abby begins to suspect that Zeke is hiding something, she has to decide if bridging the gap between the distance between who she is and who he is, is worth the risk.

Abby just wanted to immerse herself in the French language and get as far away from her baseball obsessed family as possible. When she was paired with Zeke for class, she found herself getting lost in him, as they honed their French skills despite the fact that his wardrobe consisted solely of baseball caps and jerseys. Abby was faced with deciding if her hatred for baseball was greater than her feelings for Zeke.

I immediately connected with Abby, because I was always forced to go to Mets games growing up, and I just never developed a love for the sport. I totally related to having to tolerate sports obsessed people, who let the game schedule rule their lives, and therefore, understood Abby's need to escape. I also thought it was kind of sad, the way she fell out of love with baseball, because it put some distance between her and her family, though, it was obviously how much they all cared for each other.

Zeke was such a lovely surprise. The reasons why he loved French and baseball were very sweet, and those details just added to my love for him. There were times in the story, when I struggled with some of his choices, but he always seemed to do something to make me forget the bad and focus on the good.

The romance between these two was sweet and adorable, though, there was also a lot to great chemistry and a little steam. I was shipping them hard, and I wanted Abby to forget her sports rule, because I thought Zeke was worth it.

I also loved the friendship between Abby and her roommate, Alice. They had this wonderful connection, which would make anyone jealous, but they were also willing to work for their friendship. Alice suffered from anxiety, and Abby did a good job being a supportive friend, who pushed just the right amount, but also knew when to retreat.

I loved the setting, the characters, the romance, the friendship -- all the elements were there. I will say I had a smile on my face at the end of this book, though, I wish we had gotten an epilogue. I am curious about what happened, when they went home, but I understand, that this is my personal struggle. Regardless, this was so fun, sweet, cute, adorable, and happy tear inducing. I loved just about every second of it, and am so glad I finally picked it up off my shelf.

Did you ever study a foreign language?
Let us know in the comments!