#AmReading YA

Prepped
Bethany Mangle
Age/Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Goodreads

For fans of Jeff Zentner and Katie Henry comes a thrilling and funny debut about a teen raised in a doomsday community who plots her escape with the boy from the bunker next door.

Always be ready for the worst day of your life.

This is the mantra that Becca Aldaine has grown up with. Her family is part of a community of doomsday preppers, a neighborhood that prioritizes survivalist training over class trips or senior prom. They’re even arranging Becca’s marriage with Roy Kang, the only eligible boy in their community. Roy is a nice guy, but he’s so enthusiastic about prepping that Becca doesn’t have the heart to tell him she’s planning to leave as soon as she can earn a full ride to a college far, far away.

Then a devastating accident rocks Becca’s family and pushes the entire community, including Becca’s usually cynical little sister, deeper into the doomsday ideology. With her getaway plans thrown into jeopardy, the only person Becca can turn to is Roy, who reveals that he’s not nearly as clueless as he’s been pretending to be.

When Roy proposes they run away together, Becca will have to risk everything—including her heart—for a chance to hope for the best instead of planning for the worst.

Becca was a third generation doomsday prepper, who was determined to escape this life. She had a plan and all the pieces were falling into place, but after tragedy strikes, would she be able to leave her little sister behind? 

This book was wild! That's the best way I can think to describe it. If I wasn't laughing, I was shaking my head in disbelief or trying to calm my racing heart. I found myself throughly entertained and engrossed in this story from beginning to end as I experienced Becca's life. 

I am well aware that people actually live like this, but I never really took the time to learn much about the doomsday lifestyle. Mangle did an incredible job bringing me into their world. I watched drills, learned about their daily routines, and had a lot of the hows and whys explained throughout the story. I felt fully immersed in the world, and I thanked my lucky stars that I was not raised by preppers. 

It was somewhat surprising how gentle and loving Becca could be given her upbringing. She was not raised in a warm and fuzzy home, but I suppose her mixing with the outside world via public school gave her a peek at how the other half lived. She had a wonderful relationship with her younger sister, but a very complicated one with her parents. Her struggle, especially with the love she had for her father, was explored as Becca tried to come to terms with walking away from her family and her community. 

Mangle deftly balanced the heavy and the light in this story. There was tragedy, pitfalls, punishments, and dire straits, but it was infused with a bit of romance, fun moments, and humor. I appreciated how well she meshed all these elements together without diluting the story. 

Prepped wasn't what expected. It was better! It was amusing and touching, while also being heartbreaking and appalling. I found Becca to be such a compelling character, and I was rooting so hard for her as she attempted to blaze her own trail and escape this life that was chosen for her. I think you will love rooting for her too. 

Happy Girl Lucky
Holly Smale
Series: The Valentines, #1
Age/Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Publisher: HarperCollins Children's Books
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Goodreads

Introducing Happy Girl Lucky, the first book in the hilarious new romantic-comedy series, The Valentines, by Holly Smale, author of the bestselling Geek Girl books.

Fame – it runs in the family!

The Valentine sisters – Hope, Faith and Mercy – have everything: fame, success, money and beauty. But what Hope wants most of all is love, and it doesn’t matter how far she has to go to find it.

Except real life isn't like the movies. Unless of course you're a Valentine . . .

It's not easy being the youngest member of the Valentine family. Inspired by the fame of her great-grandmother, grandmother, mother, and father, Hope could not wait to assume her place in the spotlight. Family rules dictated that she must stay under wraps until she turned 16, and this meant that Hope was left out of many family events. Lonely and isolated, she often wrote her own scripts and used filters to see things in a better light. However, the time may have arrived for Hope to view the world unfiltered. 

I thought this was pure frothy fun, and I enjoyed getting to know the youngest Valentine. Hope was the dreamer and the optimist of the group. She was always trying to write the events of her life, but lately, they weren't going according to script. 

Her two biggest goals were to save her parents' marriage and find her leading man. Her strategy here involved some cute and fun moments. I admired her determination and sunny outlook, but there came a time when Hope had to acknowledge the reality of the situation. 

Hope lived a lot of her life in her head, playing out imagined scenarios and interacting with imaginary friends. A lot of this was due to her family's fame, which resulted in her being homeschooled and kept away from the public eye. Her sisters and brother were free to do as they pleased, but Hope was stuck. At home. Alone. My heart went out to her, and I really wanted everyone in her family to step up here. 

Though Hope's siblings could be a bit self-centered, in the end, there was a lot of love between them. With their parents largely absent, they had learned to rely on each other. They may have had an odd way of showing their support and affection at times, but it was there, and I am interested in learning more about their dynamic. 

The mother was sort of a hot mess. I felt bad for her situation, but hello! Be the mom! Dad wasn't much better, though he did make an effort there towards the end, and I actually really liked him. Grandmother was a trip, and another character I would like to know more about. 

Overall, I found this to be a fun and entertaining story. Hope was a sweetheart, and I was really pulling for her the whole time. 

**ARCs received in exchange for honest reviews.

Do you know any interesting doomsdayer facts?
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