Blog Tour: Uses For Boys by Erica Lorraine Scheidt ~ Review and Excerpt

 

Uses for boys by Erica Lorraine Scheidt

Anna remembers a time before boys, when she was little and everything made sense. When she and her mom were a family, just the two of them against the world. But now her mom is gone most of the time, chasing the next marriage, bringing home the next stepfather. Anna is left on her own—until she discovers that she can make boys her family. From Desmond to Joey, Todd to Sam, Anna learns that if you give boys what they want, you can get what you need. But the price is high—the other kids make fun of her; the girls call her a slut. Anna's new friend, Toy, seems to have found a way around the loneliness, but Toy has her own secrets that even Anna can't know.

Then comes Sam. When Anna actually meets a boy who is more than just useful, whose family eats dinner together, laughs, and tells stories, the truth about love becomes clear. And she finally learns how it feels to have something to lose—and something to offer. Real, shocking, uplifting, and stunningly lyrical,  Uses for Boys  is a story of breaking down and growing up.

Release date: January 15th 2013 by St Martin’s Press

 Add it to

Purchase at

      Amazon || Book Depository || B&N || Fishpond                 

About the Author

When Erica was a kid all she did was write. She dropped out of high school and attended the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University where she was surrounded by writers and artists.

But then, in Erica's early twenties, she got a job. She worked hard at that job for 15 years and didn't write a word.

Then this happened: Erica walked into a bookstore and bought two books by Francesca Lia Block. No particular reason, she just liked their covers. Then Erica read everything Francesca wrote. She read all the YA she could. She still does. Erica think's the world that happens between 13 and 17 is everything.

She quit her job. Studied writing. And then spent three and a half years writing Uses for Boys. Now she's working on a new novel and it's like falling down a hole. Writing her first novel taught her nothing about writing the next one.

Found her @

Website

Twitter

Facebook

Goodreads

My review

I give this book 3 and a half stars.

First of all. DON'T LET THIS BEAUTIFUL, GORGEOUS, GREAT-LOOKING AND ROMANTIC COVER FOOL YOU. IT'S NOT A ROMANTIC BOOK.

That's one of the things that bothered me. The cover isn't along with the plot.
The plot is raw and realistic. I really liked it for that. Many authors just try to give an unrealistic touch of happiness to characters. But this books isn't like that.

This girl, Anna, she's a teenager that struggles with loneliness, and has grown up seeing her mother with a lot of men; fantasying about a true love, that always was going to come with a new man.
The life she has lived is not good for anyone. She just try to find love. She wants to be loved. But in the way to that, she lets the boys do what they want to her. Many boys on her short life. Wow! Really shocked me. I knew a couple of girls in that same situation. And you know what? Sometimes I kept thinking that we all could have been Anna...

I liked it because isn't book full with butterflies and little hearts everywhere. This book is reality.

But there was another thing I didn't liked it, and that's why I rated 3 and a half star: The writing style. Because since the book starts, when Anna was 7 years old, I think at that pace it was perfect. But then, when she turns a teenager, I think it should have changed, at least a little bit. It was like reading a story from a child not a teenager.

Oh, and the end of the story.. I reached for the final page and I was still looking for something else. It's like ending in nothing. Really, that's what I perceived. (view spoiler) Very inconclusive.

Anyway, in general, this is a great book, so realistic, with a story that'd break your heart. Not would recommend it like a YA book though.

We have a Giveaway!!

US only

a Rafflecopter giveaway