Super duper exciting news! :D Soul What?! is now officially available to the public. I cannot believe it, it all feels so surreal. It has always been a dream of mine ever since I was a little girl to write a story and share it with the world and now that day has come years later. I'm so excited to share the Val's story and the world of Soul What?! with you all today. I hope that you all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
To get everyone excited about the release of Soul What?! on June 16 (only 2 days away!) I'm going to do Soul What?! related posts on my blog to help you get a better feel of what the book is all about. When it comes to writing books I really like creating a playlist for a book that captures the essence of of the story. Soul What?! sort of takes place in the 90s, it's not mentioned anywhere in the book, but when I wrote Soul What?! the world was in the 90s. :) As a result a majority of these songs are 90s themed; boy and girl bands, bubblegum pop, and more! So without further ado;
Hey Juliet by LMNT
Mirror Mirror by M2M
The One by The Backstreet Boys
Only in the Movies by Diffuser
The Tide is High by Atomic Kitten
Can't Help Falling In Love by A*Teens
I'm Ready by Cherie
What's Good For Me by Lucy Woodward
(You Drive Me) Crazy by Britney Spears
I'll Never Break Your Heart by The Backstreet Boys
How Long by Dream
All Star by Smash Mouth
Crush by Mandy Moore
Us Against the World by Play
So Contagious by Acceptance
Each one of these songs plays some significance in the story Soul What?! Some of them describe a few of the characters, their relationships and struggles, the situations in the book, and so many different things about Soul What?! I cannot put it into words. Ignore some of the music videos, these were the videos that worked on the blog so hopefully they'll still work once this post is published. If Soul What?! was a movie (I'm just speaking hypothetically, don't worry I'm not getting way too ahead of myself here) then these songs would each represent different scenes within the novel. But the two main songs out of all of the ones mentioned above that I feel best represent Soul What?! are Hey Juliet by LMNT and So Contagious by Acceptance, and I had no idea I made them first and last in this list, that was unintentional.
I've got some super exciting news to share with you. Since Soul What?! will be released this month I thought, "Why not do a giveaway?" Be sure to click the link below to win your very own copy of Soul What?! my debut novel. :) It hasn't been approved by the GoodReads staff yet, but keep checking back within the next day or so. The giveaway ends June 25 :) Good luck!
Synopsis:
Val’s officially a junior. It’s a new school year, and another chance to try and be invisible. Being in the spotlight with the popular crowd wasn’t as glamorous as she had once thought, and Val had to learn the hard way. But her plan for invisibility shatters when the school’s most feared bad boy Nathan Alexander steps into the picture. Any sane person would’ve been afraid of him, but having daily conversations with Lucian, a talking cat Val fatefully rescued, doesn’t help prove she hasn’t lost her marbles. Forced to tolerate each other’s presences during after school detention every day Val learns there’s more to Nathan and his motorcycle than meets the eye. In a sea of rumors and quick wildfire-spreading gossip it’s difficult to tell truth from fiction. Val begins to question if Nathan’s really the cold-hearted delinquent that the student body is convinced he is. Just when Val thinks everything is almost normal again Lucian lets her in on a little secret; he knows who her soul mate is. All Val wanted was to lay low, but she can’t help that her heart beats like a drum whenever she’s around Nathan.
A young widow raising two boys, Sarah Laden is struggling to keep her family together. But when a shocking revelation rips apart the family of her closest friend, Sarah finds herself welcoming yet another troubled young boy into her already tumultuous life. Jordan, a quiet, reclusive elementary school classmate of Sarah's son Danny, has survived a terrible ordeal. By agreeing to become Jordan's foster mother, Sarah will be forced to question the things she has long believed. And as the delicate threads that bind their family begin to unravel, all the Ladens will have to face difficult truths about themselves and one another--and discover the power of love necessary to forgive and to heal.
My Review:
Every year I try to read books that make me grow by teaching me, enlightening me, and opening my eyes to things I have never thought about before. That includes reading books that make me uncomfortable. I try to read one book a year that makes me uncomfortable because if we don't step out of our comfort zones how can we ever grow? The Kindness of Strangers makes all of the uncomfortable books I have ever read seem like child's play compared to it.
Right off the bat you need to know that The Kindness of Strangers deals with really heavy subject-material including sexual abuse, incest, and child pornography. The synopsis of the book doesn't hint about what the 'big secret' Sarah discovers is and I had no idea what I was in for when I began to read the book. I had been under the impression that this book may have dealt with abuse and drug use but that wasn't what I discovered.
There were times when reading this book that I felt sick and disturbed by the content and had to put the book down. In the beginning it was hard for me to pick the book up again but I felt like I owed it to poor Jordan to read his story. It sounds weird; owing a fictional character something, but Katrina Kittle has an amazing gift for storytelling and her characterization was impeccable. Jordan felt as real to me as a friend. The book was told in third-person perspective of three of the characters; Sarah, Jordan, and Nate. She did a fantastic job voicing each of the characters you never would have known that they were all written by one person.
This book brought tears to my eyes numerous times and broke my heart. Though this book deals with really bad things it's a really good book written with compassion and poise.
If I would have known that The Kindness of Strangers was about sexual abuse, child pornography, and incest I probably would not have picked it up off of the shelf and given it a second thought. But I am glad I did. Kittle brought to light that there are so many false stereotypes regarding sexual abuse and pedophiles that most of us have it entirely all wrong. We usually think of a 40-something year old white male with a creepy mustache when we think of pedophiles, but they can be 'normal' people too and often are. I never would have imagined that there are parents that sexually assault their children, but tragically that is the case for some children all across the globe. But it isn't an issue we should turn a blind eye toward just because it's hard subject-material. Silence is the heaviest form of oppression for children that are sexually abused and we as adults should look out for children and be the voice for those who cannot speak for themselves.
This book will teach you that tragedy can tear one family apart and pull another together.
