Title: Torn Away
Author: Jennifer Brown
Release Date: May 6, 2014
Jersey Cameron has always loved a good storm. Watching the clouds roll in and the wind pick up. Smelling the electricity in the air. Dancing barefoot in the rain. She lives in the Midwest, after all, where the weather is sure to keep you guessing. Jersey knows what to do when the tornado sirens sound. But she never could have prepared for this.
When her town is devastated by a tornado, Jersey loses everything. As she struggles to overcome her grief, she’s sent to live with relatives she hardly knows-family who might as well be strangers. In an unfamiliar place, can Jersey discover that even on the darkest of days, there are some things no tornado can destroy?
In this powerful and poignant novel, acclaimed author Jennifer Brown delivers a story of love, loss, hope, and survival.
My ****4 Star**** Review
Torn Away was fast paced and intriguing from the start. I’ve been a little obsessed with tornadoes since childhood as a result of one coming right by our house. We had damage, but nothing that amounted to any real loss. That same tornado ripped a baby out of my mom’s friends arms. That baby was found 3 days later under a stack of three mobile homes…UNHARMED. It was a miracle of God! Truly amazing! Well, that’s not the kind of book this is. This book gives you the truly ugly side of what a natural disaster can bring. It is heartwrenchingly sad!
While this is a book about the after-effect of a tornado, it’s a book about good and evil, too. There are some well-depicted villains that the heroine has to contend with. She is so very strong, though, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking to have a pity party! Jersey will show you how to suck it up!
You’ll find this to be a very emotional read. The real life trauma that can take place behind the scenes of a tragedy are WELL portrayed. If you’re looking for an intense read, look no further!
Warnings:language
*I received a copy via NetGalley and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers in exchange for an honest review.*
About the Author ~ Jennifer Brown
Two-time winner of the Erma Bombeck Global Humor Award (2005 & 2006), Jennifer’s weekly humor column appeared in The Kansas City Star for over four years, until she gave it up to be a full-time young adult novelist.
Jennifer’s debut novel, HATE LIST (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2009) received three starred reviews and was selected as an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, a VOYA “Perfect Ten,” and a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year. HATE LIST also won the Michigan Library Association’s Thumbs Up! Award, the Louisiana Teen Readers Choice award, the 2012 Oklahoma Sequoyah Book Award, was an honorable mention for the 2011 Arkansas Teen Book Award, is a YALSA 2012 Popular Paperback, received spots on the Texas Library Association’s Taysha’s high school reading list as well as the Missouri Library Association’s Missouri Gateway Awards list, and has been chosen to represent the state of Missouri in the 2012 National Book Festival in Washington, DC. Jennifer’s second novel, BITTER END, (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2011) received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and VOYA and is listed on the YALSA 2012 Best Fiction for Young Adults list and is a 2012 Taysha’s high school reading list pick as well.
Jennifer writes and lives in the Kansas City, Missouri area, with her husband and three children.
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/432859.Jennifer_Brown
Twitter: @JenniferBrownYA
Website: http://www.jenniferbrownya.com/
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