Shine

location: home

mood:  sleepy

music: Black Eyed Pea's ( thanks Loretta! )

Shine by Lauren Myracle

Release Date:  May 1, 2011

Publisher: Amulet Books
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 376

Format: Hardcover
Source: Library
Intrest: Young Adult
Challenge: 2011 Reading Challenge
Buy the Book: Amazon

When her best guy friend falls victim to a vicious hate crime, sixteen-year-old Cat sets out to discover who in her small town did it. Richly atmospheric, this daring mystery mines the secrets of a tightly knit Southern community and examines the strength of will it takes to go against everyone you know in the name of justice.

Against a backdrop of poverty, clannishness, drugs, and intolerance, Myracle has crafted a harrowing coming-of-age tale couched in a deeply intelligent mystery. Smart, fearless, and compassionate, this is an unforgettable work from a beloved author.

2011 has been an amazing year in the YA book genre. I've read many amazing books this year, but very few incredible books that have a truly incredible message that everyone needs to hear! But that is exactly what I found with Shine by Lauren Myracle!

I am a huge Lauren Myracle fan and have been reading her books since I was a teen! This book, is so diffrent from anything I've ever read by her. She proves what an incredible and talented author she is!

Shine is the story of Cat, who has grown up in a very small country town in the south. Something traumatic has happened in Cat's life, that she has kept to herself and not told anyone about. Cat has withdrawn from all of her friends, and kept this secret to herself. To her shock, she learns that her best friend Patrick has become the victum of a horrible and brutal hate crime. The local police chalk what happened to Patrick, up to a gay hate crime comitted by out of towners driving through. With the police not doing much to bring justice to Patrick, Cat is determined to track down his attacker if its the last thing she does! Will Cat be able to overcome her own struggles in order to help Patrick? Or will the attacker silence Cat for good before she can   find justice for her best friend?

I would first off like to start with a disclaimer of sorts, and let you know that although this book is in the YA genre, it has some very mature content. Involving drugs, gay hate crime, and sexual abuse. Even though it has some pretty heavy mature content, it is very much what teens are facing on a regular basis!

I am a Texas girl, born and raised. When I started reading this book I immediately thought, oh here we go again, yet ANOTHER book making small town southerner's look like druggie rednecks. But I couldn't be more wrong! This book was so realistic about what life is like in small southern towns. I'm not sure why, but drugs always seem to be extremely problamatic, even putting little towns like the one I live in on the media's map!

Lauren was brutally honest in this book about how drugs can affect someone's life. How they have the power to take over someone's life competely and destroy the youth and innocence of so many lives! I wish I could take this book to the local high school, where undercover drug busts resulted in over 17 kids arrested on a single day landing us in the media spotlight ( and sadly this has happened more than once in the past 4 months!) and hand them out to all the students!

I also appreciated that this book addressed the issue of gay hate crimes. It seems that crimes such as the one in this book, are far too often splashed across the 10 o'clock news. This book shone a light on this problem, and how it affects the victim, their family, friends, and even their entire community! Crimes as hateful, and violent as this one can shock a very town right to its core!

Shine, isn't just the tale of a best friend trying to solve the mystery of what happened to her best friend. It is so much more! This book address so many problems that teens face on a daily basis and has a great message!

In a genre full of vampires, werewolves and witches, this book truly Shines! Thank you Lauren Myracle for writing a truly breathtaking novel that addresses so many of the social issues facing our teens on a daily basis!