Speed of Life by Carol Weston

Published: April 1st 2017 by Sourcebooks Jabberwocky

Read Date: July 5th 2017

Star: 5/5

Blurb (in my words)-

Sofia, 14-yr-old, having hard time after her mother’s sudden death. After 10 months of this tragic loss, she couldn’t talk about her mom. She feels no one understand her grief, her friends doesn’t know what to say to her and her dad feels sad. He is gynecologist, so when it comes female adolescent topic, she feel kind of awkward to talk. She decides to confide in Dear Kate- the advice columnist at Fifteen magazine, thinking they will never cross path but here comes the next bombshell and now she is thinking why she wrote her at first place. The Bombshell – Katherine Baird, a.k.a., Dear Kate is her dad’s new girlfriend.

What will she do now? Will she able accept Kate as her dad’s girlfriend while she is still mourning? Will she able to live life again?

And then there is Kate’s 16-yr-old daughter, Alexa.

My view:

This book was there on my NetGalley for long time, I saw it will be almost 3 months since I downloaded this book, so I wanted to read it quickly. After reading this book, I was kicking myself why I haven’t read it earlier (it’s not possible practically!!). I loved this book.

Speed of Life is coming of age book for age group between middle grade and YA. This is perfect summer read for teens (for girls only).

The book is about life of Sofia after her mom’s death, her grief and struggle, feelings, family drama, and teenage stuff. The age when she needs a mother the most, is not around and about how after all she gone through will climb the mountain of life and whether she will reach a summit or fall.

My favorite line from the book:

“Real life wasn’t like watching a movie on a laptop. You couldn’t press Pause or Rewind or Skip or Strat Over. Life barely skipped a beat for Death. The planet never slowed down to let people absorb a shock or play catch-up. It just kept spinning and spinning.”

Characters– Sofia– sweet nice girl. I really liked that author made this character sad and not whinny. Dear Kate– Savior of teens, and so was for Sofia. She was amazing in the book. I loved her advices and how she also was struggling with her own kid and handling her. Alexa– Athletic. Spicy and hot, but in nature. She gave a real hard time to all characters in the book. Initially, I didn’t like her. Usually I like open, bold and smart character but she was rude and bitchy with everyone. As story progressed, I liked her. In fact, she made book more dramatic. Kiki, was also cool and great supporter of Sofia. Male characters were good but you see it’s more female oriented so I’m not discussing them. Sorry boys! 😉

What I liked? I loved the beginning of the book. It gave warning that the book is going to be sad. It was sad of course, but book had a sense of humor that lightened up the grief of Sofia. The book was actually from January to January and each chapters in month. I really liked that style, different and unique. Story was divided in 2 parts- first was from Jan to mid-year and second- July to Jan.

First part was all about characters, their background, and new change in their life. = sad, grief, fun, dramatic, exciting. When I reached the end of this part, I felt like book just ended, really because I expected this an end. So, on starting second part I was clueless. Second part = surprise, dramatic, character development which was really amazing especially of Sofia and Alexa.

Another thing I loved was email exchange of Sofia and Kate, I loved how Sofia has signed off all emails. In fact, throughout the book Kate’s email from various girls were really engaging. It gave the book very realistic touch- How virtually we can open up with a stranger, we can ask anything without hesitation. And girls having questions regarding hormones, boyfriend, kiss, and sex, was all there in the book, like an education but in form of story that all girls needed to know at this age. Kate’s advices were meaningful and yet fun to read.

I loved author’s note at the end. The background of author that actually resemble to the characters and author has been “Dear Carol” advice columnist. That was wow! There were many Spanish lines and it feels good when book teaches different language through story.

Overall, Speed of Life is not very different story, I could guess where the story was going. But, it was funny, speedy, cute high-school romance, entertaining, and meaningful book. You know that feeling while you watch movies on Romedy Now? It gave exactly the same feeling. I will call this a mother-daughter book.

Who should read it? Contemporary lovers, girls ages 11-15.

Author: Carol Weston

To know more about author click HERE.

Publisher: SOURCEBOOKS Jabberwocky

Buy Here: Amazon.com

*** Note: I received a copy of this book via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to Publishers and author. ***

What do you think about the book and my review? Have you read this book? Share your thoughts in the comment-box below.

Happy Reading! 🙂

–BT&R