Thursday, August 23, 2012

What We Keep is Not Always What Will Stay by Amanda Cockrell

Summary:
Fifteen-year-old Angie never used to think much about God--until things started getting weird. Then Angie falls for Jesse Francis, a disabled war veteran who's a lot deeper than most high school guys. But Jesse is battling major demons. As his rages grows more frequent and unpredictable, Angie finds herself losing control of the situation. (from GoodReads)

Review:
Pretty much the only reason I wanted to read What We Keep is Not Always What Will Stay is because I love the title. I absolutely adore titles that are phrases or sentences and can stand alone. The storyline isn't one that I would necessarily want to read, but I did so because of the title.

Luckily for me, I really enjoyed What We Keep! It's one of those books that as soon as you finish it you want to read it again right away. There were so many elements that I liked, such as the diverse cast of characters. Angie, her mother, stepfather, grandparents and friends were all fun to read about and I wanted to be part of her family. Even Angie's priest and the homeless man Felix who lives in her church are great characters.

Even though What We Keep is a very serious story about PTSD and the horrors that our military men and women have to face daily, it was still funny and light at some points. I love the way Amanda Cockrell wrote Angie's voice; it sounded just like a real teenager's. Overall, What We Keep was a very well-rounded story and I would definitely recommend everyone picking it up at some point.

Rating: 9 out of 10.
FTC: borrowed from the library.

2011/Flux/256 pages.

2 comments:

We Heart YA said...

Ditto your love for this title. The cover doesn't do anything for us, but we'd read it anyway, based on the title and your review! In fact, we're totally adding this to our TBR list and checking our library right NOW. Thanks!!

Katja Weinert said...

Cute cover and title, hadn't heard of it before, but it sounds like a good read.