Stranded Book

This was one of my random picks off the library shelf. It was initially the beautiful cover that brought me in. The size of the book was also convenient, it was smaller in height than most. After reading the jacket I decided to check it out and see how it was.

I'm glad I did, because this book was pretty good. The quirkiness of Kelly seriously had me rolling in laughter at a few parts of the book! She was such a blunt and honest character. I have to say that she's one of my favorite coming-of-age characters I've ever read. If it wasn't Kelly that made me really enjoy the book, then it was the town described as the setting.

Heaven, Iowa, a seriously strict and religious town with some strange people. I'd never read anything like it, and I have to say it was rather refreshing compared to the usual small town image depicted in most young adult books. Her Nana, surprisingly, was one of my favorite aspects of Heaven. I feel like she was written so well. I could see this poise and strict woman running around the house, making sure everything was perfect, and freaking over the tiniest things. She wasn't exactly an evil-stepmother figure, but more like a woman whose grown her age and just wants just peace in her life at this point.

And don't get me started on Kenny. I loved Kenny. To me, Kelly and Kenny was one of the highlights of the book. I don't know why, I just loved the whole bad-boy image of him. I don't think he was purposely trying to be a terrible person, but like Kelly, didn't exactly fit in with the people of Heaven.

At times the book can be very blunt, but in all honesty it worked. I don't think that Dutton went too far or stayed too behind with this book. It was good, and I enjoyed it.

The ending I wished to be a little more well-wrapped and tie things off with Kenny a little more, so that was just a tad disappointing. I wanted something a little more special to be tied in with them. As strange as the entire thing with the two was, I get the vibe that they were the only ones in town that actually understood each other.

I rated this 3/5 because of course it's not i-need-to-buy-myself-a-copy-or-i'm-going-to-burst good, but I really didn't have any serious problems with it. It kept me entertained throughout the entire thing.