Roomies by by Sara Zarr & Tara Altebrando

Roomies
by Sara Zarr & Tara Altebrando
Pages: 297
Published December 24th 2013 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers 

Summary: It's time to meet your new roomie.

When East Coast native Elizabeth receives her freshman-year roommate assignment, she shoots off an e-mail to coordinate the basics: television, microwave, mini-fridge. That first note to San Franciscan Lauren sparks a series of e-mails that alters the landscape of each girl's summer -- and raises questions about how two girls who are so different will ever share a dorm room.

As the countdown to college begins, life at home becomes increasingly complex. With family relationships and childhood friendships strained by change, it suddenly seems that the only people Elizabeth and Lauren can rely on are the complicated new boys in their lives . . . and each other. Even though they've never met.

National Book Award finalist Sara Zarr and acclaimed author Tara Altebrando join forces for a novel about growing up, leaving home, and getting that one fateful e-mail that assigns your college roommate.

MY REVIEW 

Roomies is a story about life in between high school and the start of college. It documents those last few moments that you have with family, friends and who truly matters in your life. Roomies follows the story of Elizabeth or Eb and Lauren as they email each other back and forth to get to know each other before college. Before they realize they are relying on each other through their summers ups and downs and what they thought was completely weird turns into a surprised friendship. 

I enjoyed this book. I never went to college, but some how I still found myself attached to Elizabeth and Lauren and their experience. Maybe it's because I feel I missed out on this portion of my life, or the characters were that relateable. Either or, this was one of the few books where I enjoyed every single character. There wasn't a character I didn't like. 

I like how they started out just emailing each other and then found themselves building this friendship over time. They go about their lives and rely on each other in their times of need. 

The only thing I did have to complain about the book was I wanted more at the end. It cuts off at a cliffhanger, and it's like ugh. I wanted a little more from that, but after the initial let down of the end, I felt it was a good place to stop. It could have dragged on. It also leaves room for a sequel if they so desire. 

4 to 16 Characters by Kelly Hourihan

Title: 4 to 16 Characters
Author: Kelly Hourihan
Pages: 314
Published November 7th 2013 by Lemon Sherbet Press

* This was given to me thanks to Lemon Sherbet Press & Netgalley for an honest review.

Summary: Fifteen-year-old Jane Shilling’s best friends don’t know her real name. In fact, they don’t know anything about her at all. Jane’s life has collapsed in the last few years; following the death of her mother, her father turned to drinking, and Jane is reeling from the double blow. To escape, Jane devises a number of online personas, each with a distinct personality, life history, and set of friends. But things become trickier when she finds herself drawing close to some of her online friends, and winds up struggling with the question of how to maintain a real friendship while masquerading as a fake person. With the help of Gary, a socially awkward classmate and competitive Skeeball player who is Jane’s only offline friend, and Nora, her therapist, Jane begins to sift through her issues. The only catch is that that involves taking a long, hard look at what her life’s like when the computer is shut off, and that’s a reality she’s been fighting for years.

MY REVIEW

4 to 16 Characters is a story of Jane who loves being online and creating fake personalities mixed with her own reality to not face her own world. 

I hate to admit this, but I related to Jane A LOT in this book. A few years ago I was apart of the very popular fandom of LOST, and would often role play characters from the tv. While I didn't do the fan fiction writing of it, the role play was very much in the same sense. I was glued to my group of online writing fans and we would talk about the show and talk about up coming lines we would have in the writing group. It was a lot of fun at the time. It's something that was a lot of fun, and allowed you to connect with other fans in the same fandom. Unlike Jane, I didn't have multiple personalities online. Just the one I was writing in the group, and when I was talking "out of character" I was true to who I was. 

I thought this book was entertaining and a quick read. This was told through emails, posts, and other forms of online which makes the book quick.  The only thing I would complain about is that the adults had voices like children. Sure the father did lose his wife and was a drunk, but how it was written he sounded like a whiny teenager. Overall, not a bad book. Enjoyable.