Avail Yourself Beau, Lee, The Bomb, Me Created By Mary McKinley Displayed As Copy

boy.

Though unpolished, I really liked the first book, sitelinkBeau, Lee, The Bomb, and Me , . . and don't worry, The Bomb is a sweet doggy that has terrible flatulence thus the name, I felt that the themes and the stories were amazing, You can see the ratings weren't great, but I loved it, The story was about some kids in school that were frequently bullied for different reasons, They go on a road trip, learn about each other, and learn about their place in this world and how to make a difference,

Book, sitelinkThe Hurt Patrol got better ratings overall, but to me needed a lot more editing, This was Beau's story as told by Rusty which was the biggest issue and barrier for readers in my opinion,

Heavy sigh This book needed major editing in my opinion, As with the other two books the author starts the book with MC Rusty in full blown teenage vernacular, It's distracting. However, as each book progresses, and the author gets into the story, this slowly goes away in favor of a stronger MC voice, The author should start with that more mature voice, This story was fairly anticlimactic, but ties up what happens to the three as they are about to graduate,

The story was too long, covered a variety of things that didn't quite mesh, It's too bad really. This was one I was really hoping would return to the magic of the first book,

Thank you Netgalley for a free digital copy in exchange for an honest review, I received a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review, Thanks to Mary McKinley, Kensington and Netgalley, A copy of this review is posted on my blog, too: sitelinkflyingbookpages, wordpress. com

Believe me, I tried, I love discovering good books and the privilege to read awesome books in advance is just so overwhelming and I rarely DNF a book, sigh This is the second book that I DNFed this year,

If you read my review for "Me and Earl and the Dying Girl", you know why I don't DNF a book, And I honestly want to know what this is all about and how it ends but I'm truly sorry because I didn't understand one thing.


I barely got to the firstof the book when I put it down, I tried going back to it the next few days but it still didn't work, I was convinced that I had a reading slump so I decided to read some other books and I loved them, I wasn't on a slump, This book just didn't work for me,

So I'm sorry, Mary, for not finishing the book, I know Rylie has an awesome story to tell but it's just not for me, I received an ARC through NetGalley,

Beau, Lee, The Bomb amp Me sounded like it was going to be a fun story with a lot of heart.
Well, it's more like a big, ol' mess and then gets a lot of heart at the end, Rusty is ourpound narrator who is tortured daily at school, so she's happy when there's a new kid to take some of the pressure off of her.
Of course, she and Beau strike up a friendship and brave the bullies together, At least until things go too far and Beau is beat up, He needs to get away, so he decides to reach out to his gay uncle in San Francisco, Rusty gets her mom's van, and then their friend Leonie jumps in with them, and off they go on a road trip from Seattle to the city by the bay.


I immediately hated Rusty, She is completely irritating. She's smart, which is great, but she's also one of those smart people who uses her brains to put others down, She doesn't do it to their face, but she makes a lot of snarky comments about everyone, And just about anytime she makes a reference to something, she follows it up with "look it up" because apparently there's no way we can know what she's talking about.
She also has no filter, so the first half of Beau, Lee, The Bomb amp Me feels very rambly and all over the place.
Rusty seriously says everything that comes to mind, and that girl has some high and mighty opinion on EVERYTHING, I just could not stand her, She does mellow out during their trip though, which was good, Oh, and there are no chapter breaks which added to the rambly feel, and the most common punctuation was an ellipsis, . .

I also had major issues with Rusty's best friend, Leonie, She's the pretty girl who's kind of an outcast because she's a slut, That's all well and good, except she's also an idiot, This girl knows nothing. She's been having a relationship with one of her teachers for two years she's, and doesn't understand why she can't shout their love from the rooftops.
Um, seriously It's illegal! Rusty explains this to her but she doesn't know what her boyfriend being in a "position of authority" means and why that's bad.
She does have some big revelation about their relationship later and calls it off, but not because she realizes he's using her and she still doesn't understand why it's illegal!!!, but because he doesn't pick her up or meet her anywhere.
She always has to go to him, Are you kidding me right now! Leoni also didn't know what homophobia was, and then didn't get what it had to do with Beau, who is gay and getting harassed because of it.
Basically, everyone had to explain everything to her because she knows nothing, Then she'd get stuck on some aspect of conversations that wasn't even the point of what they're talking about, and it was just frustrating!

The road trip portion of Beau, Lee, The Bomb amp Me was kind of fun, but I was very annoyed with it at first.
Beau and Leonie want to take a detour to Forks, which ismiles out of their way, If I was Rusty, I'd be irritated by them too, But instead of explaining that they're short on gas money and it's too far out of the way, she goes on and on and on about how stupid Twilight is until Lee points out that just because she doesn't like it, doesn't mean she gets to make them feel bad for liking it.
And then Rusty is all concerned about their funds, but stops at two restaurants in one day and orders full meals, then whines when Lee wants a tshirt as a souvenir.
But then Rusty rents a cabin so Beau can see the ocean, because apparently the Pacific Ocean doesn't exist at their destination, and then proceeds to whine about money again.
COME ON!

Once our trio plus a dog Lee rescues arrives in San Francisco things do get better, I really liked Beau's uncles, They were both funny, but also taught them a lot about their struggles and what they're doing to change things, However, there are pages and pages of ranting, which felt like having their message shoved down my throat, I totally agree with everything their saying, but it kind of felt like an attack of opinion, And it just kept going and going and going, Uncle Oscar also came across as an inspirational poster rather than a believable character, The last quarter of Beau, Lee, The Bomb amp Me was pretty great though, I loved how everything turned out, especially for Rusty, even if I still didn't like her at all,

In the end, Beau, Lee, The Bomb amp Me was a huge disappointment, The only character I actually liked and thought was written well was Beau, I felt so bad when he didn't get

the answers he hoped for, but it's not up to his uncles to tell him how to live his life.
It was also nice to see his eyes opened up to a whole world of possibilities, Unfortunately, everyone else sucked, especially our narrator,

Read more of my reviews at sitelinkPinkindle Reads amp s, It's bad enough being smart or fat in a high school with known bullying issues, Rusty Winters is both, It's even worse to be gay, which is unfortunate for new kid Beau Gales,

When Beau arrives, Rusty's first thought is relief when she thinks the school might have someone else to target for a while, But when Rusty and Beau become fast friends, it hits her hard when Beau's bullying escalates to a beating on his way home, Rusty and fellow misfit Leonie readily agree to follow Beau when he decides to run away to San Francisco to ask his gay uncle for advice.


This roadtrip novel is peppered with nods to The Wizard of Oz that range from clever to heavyhanded, A detour to the town of Forks of "Twilight" fame and numerous additional plot pointsincluding the friends deciding how to properly deal with Leonie's molestation by her teacher and others, a carjacking, and moreforce much of the character development offpage in the form of time jumps and informative asides.


Lengthy passages about the devastating effects of the AIDS outbreak, often reductive explanations of the gay rights movement, and numerous reminders about the importance of tolerance lend a selfrighteous tone to the narrative.


While the issues of bullying and gay rights are timely, outmoded popculture references and odd slang choices lend a dated feel to this novel.
Worth a look for those hoping to flesh out their LGBTQ or bullying selections as well as hardcore Ozphiles, A good choice to pair with Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan,

A slightly different version of this review appeared in an issue of School Library Journal from which it can be seen in various sites online I got aboutchapters in and I didn't even know what I was reading.
This was such a disappointment, Honestly, I ended up bringing it back to the store and swapping it out for something else,

Ugh. Nothing made sense and the writing was so childlike and poor, it was making me actually frustrated trying to read it, Such a disappointment. I'm honestly surprised at how much I ended up loving this book,

I already liked the book from the beginning because I thought the main character, Rusty, was very funny and I liked her sarcasm.
I also liked the way the book is written, Since it's told from her point of view, it's written as if it's her speaking voice, That makes the pacing unique and it makes the descriptions even funnier because it's being told through her humerous perspective,

At first, I wasn't sold on the plot, though, The pacing was a little slow and pointless for me at times, But, by the end, I was seriously laughing out loud hysterically, I love how the relationships between the characters grew and became more realistic, By the end, I was really attached to them and felt like they were real life friends, I related to them and their love for one another so much, I especially love Beau's uncles! They're so tender and loveable they're like somewhere between being fairy godmothers and santa claus,

SPOILERS BELOW




I also love how all the friends overcame their own personal obstacles, It was so inspiring. It was a feelgood ending and I'm glad, At one point I thought that everything was set up for disaster to strike, But I'm glad the book didn't try to cop out with some needlessly dark and tragic ending,

The other thing the story made me realize is how far we've come in such a short time, This book is copyrighted inand I was so confused at first because the uncles were wistfully waiting for a day in which they could finally marry.
I forgot how recent it was that something as basic as gay marriage was FINALLY legalized! We have so many battles to fight still, but it it made me happy to remember that we ARE making progress.
The world IS getting beter and one day maybe there won't be any places where kids like Beau have to run away from violence, . .



I really thought this was a great book, Yes people will have gripes, such as the vernacular being annoying but give it a chance, The bigger picture and the topics are what make this book amazing,

This book tackles bullying, LGBTQ issues, kids with labels, suicide, and poor family upbringing, This was a thoughtful look at these issues through the experiences of those in the book, There is no quick fix for these issues, but there are ways to make changes bit by bit, Younger readers may learn to consider what the life is like for others, perhaps be a little kinder or be a friend, So many teenagers are lonely and contemplate suicide, For adult readers, they can keep in mind that it only takes one friend or one mentor to make a difference, Instead of shying away from troubled kids in your life, try to make a difference, Be there.

Growing up, I had friends from many circles but never really a group, I was friendly with everyone but never really belonged in a clique, My parents taught me that everyone is a potential friend, They mentored the "bad" kids in our neighborhood teaching some to drive when their parents didn't, encouraging them, helping in ways they could, and treating them with respect.
Guess what These troubled kids treated my parents with respect and their outlook on life and themselves changed, My parents told me the goody goody to go outside and and play with the kids that were sitting on a couch in their front yard smoking.
So at a young age, I didn't size up others the way my peers did, I knew that everyone had something to give, needed friendship and respect, and had things to share with the world, One year the day after Halloween, our yard was covered in smashed pumpkins, We finished our morning routine and headed outside to find the pumpkins GONE, Down the street, two of the "bad kids" were smoking on the couch, We took our leftover candy and asked if they cleaned our yard, "Yeah it wasn't cool that someone would do that to you guys, "

So I was amazed when this book evoked my feelings of the past and shared it's message that is so deeply rooted in my own being.
First these three were alone in a sea of teenagers that looked down on them, Readers experience their isolation and desperation, We see them find each other and a glimmer of camaraderie starts, After Beau gets beat up badly, they embark on a roadtrip, Taking time to extract themselves from the stressors, they bond, evaluate their own situations and each others, When they get to their destination, they find mentorship, I loved that there was no "easy fix" for their issues, but more of a change in mindset, It is also for the reader to change their mindset and do what they can when the issues present themselves,

Oh, and that teenage vernacular issue that keeps getting slammed in reviews I see it differently, As the book opens, the main character has a bit of a facade, She wants to blend in so much in her world that she doesn't even reveal to the reader that she is a girl until several pages in.
Her voice in the book starts out with a lot of typical high school acronyms and eyerolling slang because that is another way to blend in with the crowd.
However, as she finds her stability and matures, that falls away, The author reflects all the changes going on within the main character by increasing the strength and maturity of her voice as the story progresses.
Subtle if you're not evaluating it, The author's website hints that true life friends and situations inspired the story,

The only area I wish the author would have touched on is to contemplate the life of the bullies in the book, It would have been one more "big picture" moment,

A couple of quotes from the book that stick with me:

Because this is an Advance Reader Copy prior to publication, quotes are subject to change in the final version.


When discussing why a girl would put out so much to anyone and everyone, "There is not enough love in her world for her to reject it lightly.
Even its ugly counterfeit doppelganger, which is all it ever was with him, "

"I will try never to judge anyone again, Who knows how or why they are here or from what hell they escaped, "

I received a free digital ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, .