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Searching for Normal

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Protagonist Shay is a teen girl whose world has been turned upside down multiple times. She lands at her aunt’s house and learns a great deal about herself in relationship to her family, to her friends, and to her beloved horses. Her faith grows through the mistakes that she herself makes, living with the consequences of the mistakes that others make, and trying to make things right in her own life. Young teens and perhaps upper elementary students would enjoy this book for its reality and yet its hopeful message overall. I gratefully received this e-book as an AR, see from the publisher and author in exchange for my unbiased review.

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The second book in the Riverbend Friends series picks up where the first left off, but now readers get to focus on Shay and see her story. A great YA/Coming of age story that is perfect for young adult readers.

The second book in the Riverbend Friends series focuses on the life of Shay Mitchell. Her life changed forever six months ago when she came to live with her aunt and started a new school that brought about her being bullied. Living with her Aunt Laura above a bookstore is nice, but none of her new friends know the real reason she came to live with her aunt and what happened in her past that is causing her to be bullied. While living with her aunt, Shay learns the truth about her biological father and rushes at the chance to meet him. All she wants is a normal family life and to be happy without all the bad stuff hanging over her. But what she wishes for and how she thinks it will happen might be the farthest thing from a happy normal life.

With this second book in the Riverbend Friends series, I am falling in love with these four friends and the way these books are written to young adults, especially young girl readers. For me, this is the perfect series because it isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, it shows these girls going through hard things and the way they lean on each other and find a deeper relationship with God through the problems they are facing. They go through hard things, but they realize that even through bad, good things come out of it, like the new friendships they find with each other. I think that is one of the most important things, especially now, finding a few good friends you can trust and rely on through the hard times makes getting through those hard times a little bit easier.

Shay and her story picked up where the first book left off but also gives readers some good back story as to what happened to her and makes the first book even better because I was able to reflect on why she reacted the way she did to some of what happened in that book. I liked this character and how she handled what happened to her, her aunt was one of my favorite characters with her taking Shay in and dealing with how she was treated by both family and school issues. I would recommend reading the first in the series with this one, it could be read after but in my opinion to get the most out of the series go in order. Young girls will be the target audience for this one and parents can enjoy the fact that it is a good story that is clean and no questionable content.

I received a complimentary copy of this title from the publisher. The views and opinions expressed within are my own.

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Great story, enjoyed the honest spiritual thread that shows a young girl Shay struggling to make sense of her life, her relationship with God, and others as she searches for a “new” normal. Her whole world is flipped upside down after the death of her father. Shay feels lost without him. What to believe about life and God? Her grandparents want nothing to do with her after she has made a bad decision. They bring her to her Aunt’s house to live.

Shay is a complex, intelligent girl trying to make sense of the loss that has her trying to pick up the pieces of her life, trying to make sense of it all as she deals with an emotional storm raging inside and out. Her Aunt and friends try to love the unlovable her, but she has a hard time understanding and loving herself.

I enjoyed the natural spiritual thread going on with Shay as it organically grows with her struggling with life and what she felt about faith, and the fact she is mixed up. Was it all a lie? I like how the author does this naturally in the story line. It was not preachy but refreshing. We do not have the answers to everything. I liked how gut honest this author is in expressing what Shay is going through, and the struggles of high school, finding real friends and trying to fit in. Not to mention dealing with a drama class she did not sign up for.

The authors love of horses, dogs, and kitties shines through this heart-warming, brutally honest look at being a teenager facing hard things and testing the boundaries of a new life. I enjoyed how the author takes readers to a horse show and how Shay was in tuned with the animals. She could see the tale-tale signs of animal abuse. What does that say about the owner? Does he abuse people too? The characters are believable and grow throughout the course of the story. This would be a great read and one that would work well for your next book club pick.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have received a complimentary copy of this book by the publisher through NetGalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”

Nora St. Laurent
TBCN Where Book Fun Begins!
The Book Club Network blog www.bookfun.org

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This is the second book in the Riverbend Friends series told by various authors. Searching For Normal follows Shay's story.

Six months ago, Shay's adopted dad died. She was living with her grandparents until she made one mistake. That one mistake
not only made her grandparents no longer want her but it's now hanging over her new life in Riverbend.
Now she's living with her aunt in an apartment over a bookstore and going to a new school, living a life where she can't
seem to find normal. On top of her failure in drama class and keeping her new friends at a distance, she's dealing with
bullies who know her secret.
Just when she's giving up on normal, she learns the truth about her biological father. The father who could change
everything about her life. She dreams of family and security. When she has the chance to meet him, she takes it.
Will he be the father who changes her life forever and give her the normal she's searching for?

I liked this second book in the series, mainly because I like the characters a lot!
I really liked Shay's character, and really liked getting inside her head. In REAL, NOT PERFECT, we didn't know much about
her which intrigued me. I could relate to her in a lot of ways. She's the quiet, introverted girl of her friend group which
I strongly relate to. Her struggles with everything felt authentic and real, and I really sympathized with her. I loved
that she was a bookworm and liked that she wasn't obsessed with boys. A unique quality in this genre!
I liked Tessa even more in this book. It was neat seeing her from someone else's POV after being in her head in the first
book. It was like I knew the behind the scenes of her life, but seeing her from Shay's perspective was cool.
I love Izzy, she's awesome! I can't wait for her story. And although Amelia still isn't my favorite, I'm excited for her
story.
The bullies and her Grams were pretty infuriating. But I liked her aunt a lot! Oh, and the greyhound Stanley, of course.

Like the first book, I liked that this book focused on friendships rather than relationships with a boy. It's a unique
and nice change from typical YA contemporaries.
I liked watching the girls grow closer and open up. And I love how supportive they are of one another. But
they're not altogether perfect. They're a fun friend group for sure!

The struggles Shay faces with her faith, particularly not understanding why things happened the way they did, was really
relatable. And the feelings of shame she felt at admitting her anger and frustration was something I could identify with.

Also, how cool would it be to live above a bookstore? And your aunt owns it? You can basically get a book anytime you want
one... awesomeee. Also being around for author signings and all that stuff. I wouldn't choose to because I'm not a city
girl but it still sounded like a booklovers dream!

I actually teared up a few times, especially at the ending. It was bittersweet.

Overall, this was a very quick read which I liked! It focused on a lot of relatable topics, especially for highschoolers
and Christian teens. It deals with being bullied, struggling with school classes, and being open to friendship.
It talks about Shay's struggles with her relationship with God, her questions and confusion in a real way.

I'm looking forward to Izzy's story in the next in this series!

*I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for a review. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

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Well written book. I would recommend Searching for Normal for the young adult reader. Great plot and character dynamics.

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Such an emotional time reading this book. The bullying so many of us face was really well described and processed by the author. There were many reminders of the importance of friends who stand in the gap.

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I'd just finished crying through tthe first book in the series and dove right into this one--and continued to cry my way through Shay's story! I love that each book has a different author, but one editor. You sense the continuity and get a new perspective at the same time.

Been a fan of C.J. Darlington's writing for a long time, so I was very excited about this story, and was NOT disappointed!

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SEARCHING FOR NORMAL by C.J. DARLINGTON carries on with the story of four friends at Riverbend High that we first meet in Real Not Perfect, This time the story is told by Shay Mitchell, who is sent to stay with her mother's sister, Aunt Laura, because her grandparents seem to have given up on her. She has a secret which she is afraid to tell her friends and for which she is bullied by two horrible older girls who know the secret and threaten to tell everyone.
Friendship, loneliness, dealing with anger and fear, the longing to belong and what makes up true love are themes that are dealt with in this Christian message which is meant to encourage young girls to live life God's way. I like this quote from Zoë, the girls' youth leader, "Girls, don't let the world define love for you, God has already done that by sending His Son". We are also reminded that we are all unique in God's sight and He has a different plan for each of us.
Add to this a greyhound Called Stanley, a horse called Ava, Matilda the cat, a famous biological father, a bookshop, drama classes, and a group of mismatched friends, and you have the makings of a great novel!
I really enjoyed Searching for Normal and highly recommend it.
I was given a free copy of the book by NetGalley from Tyndale House Publishers. The opinions in this review are completely my own.

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Shay Mitchell’s life has fallen apart. The trauma of losing your mother before you ever knew her really never goes away, but Shay and her dad had built a life for themselves together. Then he died and she was shipped off her grandparents’, who were going through their own loss. Those competing losses didn’t work out well and they’d kicked her out and sent her to her aunt’s. And that’s where Searching for Normal begins.

Shay is an orphan, living with an aunt she doesn’t really know, kicked out by grandparents who don’t seem to love her, not able to pursue her favorite hobby, dealing with a new city, a new school, trying to make new friends, and avoid new bullies. It’s all a bit overwhelming.

As the story progresses, Shay finds healing in a new group of friends even as she struggles to adapt and deal with adversity. With a few shock revelations along the way, Searching for Normal takes readers on a character-driven, intensely-relational look at finding one’s identity and the importance of community.

Writing for a younger YA audience, C.J. Darlington manages to telegraph this message clearly while still allowing it to rise organically from the story. At times, this requires Shay to seem wise beyond her years—such as when she notices her grandparent’s coldness toward her stems from the loss of their son, her dad. At other times, it requires her to seem more childish than normal. Indeed, for much of the book I assumed that Shay was twelve or thirteen and not fifteen.

The struggle with any book written to a young audience that deals with deeply complex and messy themes is the ability to approach these themes appropriately, giving them their due weight while also acknowledging the age of the reader. It’s no different in Searching for Normal. Shay is dealing with the loss of both parents, the lovelessness of her grandparents, and issues surrounding adoption (to say any more would be to ruin a twist).

Any one of these would make material enough for a whole novel. By adding in so many issues, Darlington isn’t able to talk deeply about any of them. The adoption storyline—something dear to my heart, as I have two adopted children—was particularly rushed and, while providing the book with its twist, unnecessary to the plot.

The book’s heart is how Shay finds a new normal in her group of friends, who take her into their group and provide her with emotional support throughout the twists and turns. It’s this piece of the novel, this relational core—along with Shay’s developing relationship with her aunt—that makes the book worth reading.

Overall, Searching for Normal is a fairly typical, good quality young YA book. If you have a younger girl who loves horses, this book might stand out to them in particular. Younger YA fiction is sometimes a forgotten-about segment in Christian fiction and I’m happy to see Darlington filling that role here.

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