Chloe Snow is back is the wonderful follow-up to Emma Chastain’s Confessions Of a High School Disaster.
Keep reading to learn more about The Year Of Living Awkwardly and to read about my awkward year of high school ...plus there’s a giveaway!
The Year of Living Awkwardly: Sophomore Year
(Chloe Snow's Diary #2)
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Release Date: July 10, 2018
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Synopsis:
High school student Chloe Snow chronicles another year in her life while she navigates the highs and lows of family, friendship, school, and love in her diary.
It’s Chloe Snow’s sophomore year of high school, and life has only grown more complicated.
Last year, Chloe was the star of the musical. This year, after an audition so disastrous she runs off the stage in tears, she’s cast as a lowly member of the ensemble. Will she be able to make it through the show knowing everyone’s either pitying her or reveling in her downfall?
Chloe’s best friend, Hannah, is no help: she’s been sucked into the orbit of Lex, the velvet-gloved, iron-fisted ruler of the sophomore class. Chloe’s dad is busy falling in love with Miss Murphy, and Chloe is no longer speaking to her mother, who is sending her increasingly desperate and unhinged emails from Mexico. As her parents’ divorce negotiations unravel, a custody battle looms.
If only Chloe could talk to Grady about it: his parents are divorced, and he’s easy to talk to. Or he was, until he declared his love for Chloe, and she turned him down because despite all her rational brain cells she can’t seem to get over Mac, and then Grady promptly started going out with Lex.
As the performance of the show approaches, Chloe must find a way to navigate all the messy elements of her life and make it through to the end of the year.
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Emma Chastain is a graduate of Barnard College and the creative writing MFA program at Boston University. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and children.
My Year Of Living Awkwardly by Jennifer Y.
I absolutely loved this book and could totally relate to Chloe. To be honest though, Chloe is actually a lot braver than I ever was in high school. I was never courageous enough to audition for anything like a school play or musical...at least not in high school. For some reason, after elementary school, my courage left me and my awkwardness and self-consciousness kicked in.
Like Chloe, Sophomore year was definitely an awkward and busy year for me. I was pretty much an introverted reader who mostly kept to herself...kind of like I am now...with very few friends (if any, really). I spent lunch hour reading books and never really talked to people. But that year, I met one of the best friends I would ever have and probably the main reason I made it through high school...and it all started because of the Spice Girls.
You see, my friend was absolutely obsessed with the Spice Girls and that is how we met. We were in gym class and I was pretending to practice playing basketball (basically I was standing at the back of the court with a ball in my hand which I’d bounce occasionally and chase when it decided to run away from the non-athletic bookworm). I was counting down the minutes until I could get out this nightmare when this tiny pixie-like girl came and stood next to me with a ball in her hand (we’d later bond over our lack of athletic ability). After a few awkward minutes where I wondered why this stranger had approached and what I should do or say, she randomly asked, “Can you believe the Spice Girls are breaking up?”
I had no response to this because honestly I didn’t really care. The Spice Girls were not my thing. She must have taken my stunned silence and staring as an invitation to continue and for the rest of the period she vented her frustrations at her favorite girl group and her disappointment. I nodded and tried to appear sympathetic at the appropriate time and it must have worked because we went from talking about Posh and Ginger Spice to talking about others things. Turns out we had a lot in common.
At the end of class she finally introduced herself and said she’d seen me around school the last couple of years, but had never approached because she was nervous. From that moment on I had a new friend...one who didn’t mind what we talked about or did because it turns out she was just as awkward, shy, and nerdy as me.
Besides our first meeting, I have some another favorite memory with her from Sophomore year that started out fun but turned out to be one of the most awkward weekends of my high school experience. It was Halloween and we went to an amusement park. I didn’t want to wear my glasses because I didn’t want to lose them or mess them up so I left them at home...that was probably not the greatest idea, but back then my eyesight wasn’t quite as bad as it is now and I figured that I wouldn’t need to read anything anyway and could see if I squinted. My friend wore hers though...and well, it turns out that maybe my idea wasn’t that bad because, well, um...she lost hers on a rollercoaster when it went upside down.
So for the rest of the night, it was the blind leading the blind. Honestly, it was kind of hilarious and we laughed so hard because things like this only happened to us, but it was definitely an interesting night. Especially since it was Halloween and they had people in scary costumes walking around...something we didn’t see until they were right in front of us.
Later that night, after the disappearance of the eyeglasses, I had probably my most awkward encounter with a guy and experience flirting ever. We were in line for a ride and two cute (well, I assume they were cute...I had to squint to see their faces) guys overheard us talking about my German class. One turned around and said, “Oh, you speak German?” and proceeded to speak to me in perfectly fluent German. I squinted up at him and had absolutely no clue what he said or what to say to him. My friend nudged me and I informed him that it was just beginning German and told him my name using German and he told me his. Keep in mind that this entire time my friend and I are squinting at these two guys (turns out she’s practically blind without her glasses and I’ve had to direct her or hold her hand all night). We stand in awkward silence for a bit (my friend and German-speaking dude’s friend oddly have not said a word) and I ask about their favorite rides (no clue why, or what possessed me to prolong this strange encounter) Then, thank goodness, it’s our turn to ride and “Poof!” German-speaking guy & his silent friend disappear probably wondering why those two girls squinted at them the entire time we were talking.
The next couple of years were rough for both me and my friend health-wise (something else we had in common and bonded over), but we got through it and finally graduated. My health issues caused me to miss a lot of school and we weren’t as close as we once were, which makes me sad. I am also sad that I lost touch with her after graduation as we both went our separate ways and to different colleges. I just hope she knows how much her friendship meant to this awkward teen girl who was so grateful to have a friend like her.
GIVEAWAY
Prize: 3 copies of THE YEAR OF LIVING AWKWARDLY
US ONLY
Starts: 7/3
Ends: 7/18
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