Girl Out of Water by Laura Silverman was different than I thought it would be.

I personally thought Anise was immature, whiney and self-centered. Throughout most of the book she did nothing else than whine about being dragged across the country to be with relatives, missing her friends, surfing and the ocean. And shockingly enough I realized that's exactly how teenagers are.

Anise was exactly how an almost 18year old would react, when she was asked to pack and spend her summer in Nebraska of all places. She missed her friends, all the surfing she would be doing, and a crush that could have been more. On top of that, Anise had a mother that was never around. She literally flitted in and out of Anise's life and brought emotional upheaval with her every single time she visited.

Unfortunately knowing all the circumstances AND knowing that Anise was still young and showing typical teenage behavior I did NOT like her. I couldn't connect with her, and she got on my nerves more often than not.

Lincoln was the very opposite of Anise. He was used to traveling, moving, and living in a new city every year. Lincoln was friendly, outgoing and extrovert, and used to making friends on the fly. Anise was happy staying in California and the group of friends she had since she was young. She wanted stability, he craved the world.

It was an interesting take using Lincoln as a catalyst for Anise's summer of finding herself.

I thought the author did a great job writing a very well plotted and executed novel. I have to give her kudos for writing a very well thought through book that came full circle in the end.

Anise's summer was all about growing up, letting go, opening up and finding acceptance.

Even though it wasn't my kind of book, it felt authentic and real.

review will be published July 24th

There are some unmarked spoilers, but it's not really the kind of book where anything is a "twist", so... continue at your own discretion?

I honestly tried to salvage my thoughts into something USEFUL, but this review would be better described as a rant. If you're the type of GR user who loves salty tangents, please keep reading.

PLOT ➳➳
It's the summer before Anise's senior year, and she's got to make this summer count: she's going to spend every waking moment catching waves, spending time with her very best friends, and planning the annual Surf Break event that draws tourists from all around to Santa Cruz to watch great surf and even better bands. It's going to be a summer to remember... until Anise's aunt Jackie is hospitalized due to an accident, and her father is dragging her out to Nebraska to take care of her young cousins. For the entire summer. How can Anise survive a summer without her unofficial family, the salt water, and the childhood BFF who's suddenly catching her eye?

WRITING ➳➳
This book was an incredibly quick and easy read, but that isn't necessarily a compliment in this review. Maybe I've become jaded by the amounts of fantasy I've been reading lately, but this just feels so overly casual. The banter feels incredibly forced at times, like there's just this really concerted effort to convince the reader that this is just a couple of teenagers chatting with each other, but it didn't come across well at all for me. There's so much filler material in the dialogue!

ANISE ➳➳
There are honestly so many things I could say about how much I hated Anise's character, but I'll just stick to a few main points. Still... buckle up, y'all.

• She’s incredibly self-centered and rude. She spends the majority of the book moping about one thing or another, whether it’s having to take care of her cousins, having to help her aunt, staying in the house her mother grew up in, being away from the beach, skateboarding… I tried to give her the benefit of the doubt for the first 30% or so of the book, and kept chalking it up to, “she’s just being written as a melodramatic teen!” but this was honestly too much.

• She refuses to believe that anything on the planet could hold a candle to her beloved surfing. She literally goes on multiple inner and outer tangents about how pathetic every sport is compared to surfing, and how surfing is soooo much harder than everything anyone else does… until she tries skateboarding, which just leads her to complain about how hard skateboarding is, and how lame it is… until she magically is a pro skateboarder after SEVEN DAYS of practice, and then overnight, it becomes the most amazing thing ever and she’s a born-again evangelist of the religion of the Almighty Skate Park.

• She literally kisses her LIFELONG BEST FRIEND right before she leaves, knowing she’s about to leave, and then within five minutes of meeting Lincoln, it’s like, “who the hell is Eric?” and she stops responding to any of his messages or even making any attempt at all to salvage their friendship?

• Actually, on that note, she bails on ALL of her friends and manages to completely alienate every last one of them. Of course, by the end, everyone has forgiven her and pretends nothing happened (including Eric, who, you know, spent the entire summer waiting for her to come back so they could resume their budding relationship but lol NOPE she’s ~in love~ with Lincoln!).

• Despite her insistence that Lincoln is basically The Greatest Dude Ever, she treats him like complete garbage. He tries to cheer her cousins up? She yells at him. He offers to spend his money to drive her to Santa Cruz in time for Surf Break? She spends the entire trip sulking and moping and treating him like garbage. He goes to Surf Break and tries to hang out with her friends? She gets wasted and ditches him for the entire evening. LINCOLN, RUN. JUST RUN.

Sorry... I had a lot of feelings about her.

WHAT I LIKED ➳➳
Lincoln and Tess are enjoyable characters. They're both really sweet and way more patient than Anise has ever deserved for a moment in her life, thank you very much. Anise's dad is also a patron saint and he has these fantastic heart-to-hearts with her that actually portrayed a healthy, loving father/daughter relationship, which I don't see nearly often enough in YA contemporaries.

OTHER STUFF I DISLIKED ➳➳
The ending. I mean, there's this huge build-up over whether or not Anise and Lincoln will be able to survive the distance, with her in Santa Cruz and him in Nebraska. Despite Lincoln's very obvious and intentional efforts to get close to Anise and to offer himself to her as legitimate relationship material, she just keeps telling herself that there's no way they can make it as a couple because he wants to explore the world and she doesn't. I mean, I know they're just a casual summer fling couple, but if you're going to keep telling the reader that you're head over heels for the kid, the least you could do is act it.

I digress. The ending is so open and just... nothing gets resolved, at all. We have no clue what will happen between Anise and Lincoln, plus Anise's first conversation with Eric after she gets home basically consists of her ogling him, which felt a bit tasteless given the fact that she showed serious interest in him and then ditched him and led him on while she chased another guy?

Also, there's this whole big story arc regarding Anise's mother, who basically only shows up once every few years, for a few days at a time, before disappearing again. No phone calls, no letters, just the occasional postcard with no return address or phone number or anything. It's bizarre enough that we're told Anise's father just accepts all of this as normal familial behavior, but to make matters worse, we spend the entire book hearing about Anise's mom and how she's probably going to show up at Aunt Jackie's house as some sort of surprise visitor, and then... nothing happens. NADA.

FINAL VERDICT ➳➳
I would not recommend this book to you unless you just really love surfing and/or skateboarding, and don't mind really obnoxious narrators. The only reason I gave this 2 stars instead of 1 is because Lincoln is amazing POC rep and disability rep and I loved his lil' cinnamon roll self.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for sending me this ARC! All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Good story, fairly standard YA novel. Liked the Midwest setting for a change of pace.

Why Did I Listen To Girl Out Of Water by Laura Silverman?

Girl Out Of Water by Laura Silverman initially hit my radar because of Twitter. Like, I do not know the entire story because I am old and not as into twitter as I once was. However, apparently the author was under internet attack by anti-semites? Anyways, that grabbed my attention and so when I then later saw people I trust giving it glowing reviews, I knew I had to pick up the Netgalley edition. Of course, I am also a realist and when I saw this book on Hoopla, it was an instant YES I NEED TO LISTEN TO THIS NOW. And really, I did listen to it as soon as I downloaded the Hoopla audiobook.

What's The Story Here?

Laura Silverman's debut is about this girl named Anise. Anise lives with her dad in sunny California. Her mom isn't really in the picture because she's one of those wanderer types. Anyways, Anise's aunt gets pretty injured and so instead of her cousins coming to visit her - she and her dad head to one of those flyover states for the summer to help take care of her aunt. This is rough on Anise because she's really into surfing (if I am remembering correctly). So, anyways, Anise then learns about skating with the help of this boy - Lincoln. Lincoln only has one arm, however, he's pretty fantastic at skating (I can't remember if it is skateboarding or rollerblading - I am old and the worst). So, Anise gets interested also in Lincoln and there's a little bit of a romance and a little bit of what happens next when summer ends.

How Did I Like Girl Out Of Water?

Girl Out Of Water was a lot better than I had expected it to be. So, I do like sports books, really I do. I just do not always read them all that often. What was particularly enjoyable was how into surfing Anise is. It was cool seeing her adapt when she was in Nebraska for the summer. I also enjoyed seeing her friendship with Lincoln grow and eventually become something more. The book goes pretty quick too. It's a nice read for winding down summer, I think.

How's The Narration?

The audiobook is narrated by Laurence Bouvard and is published by Dreamscape Media. Dreamscape is kind of new to me, but they have a ton of audiobooks on Hoopla of young adult books, so I am starting to listen to them more. I felt like this was a quality audiobook. It's kind of short and easy to listen to. It's very well narrated.

When Anise’s dad breaks the news that they will be spending their summer in Nebraska to take care of family, she doesn’t want to go at all. Now, some may say she’s being self-centered. Her reasons for staying or purely beneficial for her alone. But the reality is, I felt for Anise. If I were in her situation, I’m pretty sure I would have acted the same. She just wants to have fun this summer with her friends and surfing, not being stuck in a place that doesn’t even have a beach. But off she goes to Nebraska and she got more than what she bargained for.

The people Anise met in Nebraska were just what she needed to help her be open-minded about things in life. Lincoln was the perfect addition to the story! I totally loved him and his quirkiness and all the cuteness he brought to the story. I will say, at times I thought Anise and Lincoln fit more as friends, but that’s just me. Anyways, Anise’s cousins were great. I loved the relationship that they got to build over the summer and how close it brought all of them. I really liked Anise’s relationship with her father. It felt so real! They don’t agree on everything, but their bond is something special and they know they can fully trust one another.

I wish there had been more time for Anise’s friends from Santa Cruz. We only got glimpses of them. And also, the ending left me hanging a little. The ending should have had more to it, for sure.

Overall, Girl Out of Water is a cute contemporary that’s perfect for a summer read! It deals with family, friends and growing up. For a debut, this is hands down a great one and I can’t wait to read more of Laura Silverman’s work.

A good, solid debut. I felt like there were a few ends that could have been tied up better, but overall, a great summer read.

You know when you read a book and it just sits deep in your sole because of the message behind the words is just so amazing, you can't help but be moved by it - yea, that is this book. Girl out of Water was so much more than what I anticipated.

"Time doesn't varnish things; it just shifts them."

This is the perfect book for any young adult to read and be able to relate to these characters in one way or another. Yes, the main character is Anise who's never left her hometown til now. But it's every single other character in this book that makes this story so damn good. How each and every one of them interact with one another at some point.

Laura not only wrote some very amazing characters, but she wrote one hell of an awesome story. Anise grows a lot in this book, but not in the way that you think. She's already got a great head on her shoulders, but she struggles with some issues that I think any young adult in her position would struggle with. She matures in her self respect and her actions. But what I truly found resounding in this book was that none of her growth was because of a guy she met or anything along those lines. Her maturity and growth came all from within her and her alone. That's what makes this book stand out amongst the other YA novels

The ending to this book was the best ending you could have. Anise and her friends are all young and some are off to college or armed forces. Their futures are unknown with endless possibilities. And I love that Laura doesn't give them this perfect, tied-together ending. Their young and their lives are just now starting for them.

I highly recommend this book to anyone to read, young adult or not. But I would truly urge any young adult to read this book. It's a great read and one I won't be forgetting any time soon.

This is an amazing coming of age story with unexpected love, friendship, and acceptance, Highly recommend this for anyone looking for a summer read!

*I received this ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

I quite liked this book- it was a fun summer novel. Anise the main character was overall a bit shit, she was SUCH a teenager; super selfish and with massive mother-based hang ups and my GOD she was obsessed with boys lips it was like she was on heat I just wanted to tell her to calm down. The result of all this was that the internal thinking writing was pretty lame.

Lincoln was such a lovely character, black and disabled so that brought some diversity along. As far as the other characters went, they got screwed over pretty badly by Anise being a really shitty friend. Especially Eric, wherein any other YA novel they'd be pretty well set as a pairing so it was a bit shit that he got the short end of the straw by Anise being too horny to wait around 2 months for him when she's apparently liked him for ages and has been best friends with him for forever.

Idk the ending was not what I expected. I feel like absolutely nothing was resolved. Anise's mother never came back (even though little things around the house were different, hinting that she did in fact visit? But nothing was said so maybe not? Who knows? Loose thread.) and also what is the go with Lincoln and Anise now that he's going back to Nebraska? Just a fun summer fling or will he go to California, seeing as he's doing the PCT and could go study biology in Cali anyway.

Idk I wanted more answers than what I got.

https://bibliophilefeminist.wordpress.com/2017/05/13/girl-out-of-water-by-laura-silverman-review/

Book Review

Girl Out of Water - 5 STARS

Girl out of Water was the second book I read for 2017 and let me tell you it did not disappoint for anything; I loved this book beyond words.

Girl Out of Water is about a girl who loves surfing, if she could she would spend her entire life on the beach and surfing. Anise thought she would have her last epic summer with her friends but a family emergency happens and Anise and her dad are uprooted to Nebraska for the summer.

Lincoln. I love Lincoln. Lincoln is a one armed skater who will steal your heart as soon as you are introduced to him. Every time he was in a scene my heart did this flutter thing and I couldn't stop smiling, I'm pretty sure he will be my top book boyfriend of this year, yup I adored him that much. AND THAT DIMPLE.

Family is very important to me, they are the ones who lift you up when everything feels like it's crashing down so the fact that Laura Silverman has this in her book was really great.

Girl out of Water is one of those books that you will read over and over again.

Those that know me know that I'm not usually a contemporary person. I'll read them but I'll get bored and give them low ratings. Not the case with Girl Out of Water! There were enough events happening throughout the story to really keep my attention which helped me to keep reading. I actually had a hard time putting it down, mostly because it was just a happy book full of adorable things. Sure there was some not so happy events but the whole book had a 'feel good' kind of feeling and that's what made it so addicting.

One thing I have to point out is the diversity. Girl Out of Water hit quite a few of those points but it was all so casual which was amazing! A lot of the time book will throw diversity in your face but in Girl Out of Water it was just another addition to the story that made it a fantastic read.

I also really loved the sports vibe in this book. Surfing and skateboarding which isn't something I thought would go together but in this story it worked perfectly together.

This was generally just a happy book. It made me feel good while reading it and I felt great after finishing. The main character Anise felt her age but she had to mature a little quickly at some parts and she wasn't always graceful about it which made her feel more realistic to me. She was surrounded by her family for most of the book but her friends were around too and they were all these really interesting characters. Definitely a book I'd recommend.

I was sad for Anise because her whole summer was planned out. She was a good student, ready to enjoy her vacation before a jam-packed senior year and before her recently graduated friends leave for college. When an accident puts her aunt on the sidelines and unable to care for her three children for weeks at a time, Anise and her father fly to Nebraska, leaving behind any plans Anise had, including her end-of-the-summer surfing bash.

Her aunt is the closest family member Anise has besides her father, considering her mother abandons her family for months or years at a time. Even though this is her mother's sister, Anise is loyal to her aunt and helps out, watching her cousins as best she can while dealing with her own hard feelings about missing her friends and with the fact that she's as far from home as she's ever been. Nebraska is vastly different from Santa Cruz, California. A landlocked state full of hills and farmland, there's no ocean in sight, but there is skateboarding...and Lincoln, the boy who could make things better.

I loved reading this book, aside from the initial sadness of Anise being taken away from her planned summer and her home due to her aunt's injury. While we don't get to spend as much time with surfing as Anise would like, you could feel her love for it in the brief glimpses we got and once skateboarding was introduced. I've never done either sport, but I've watched them and they're beautiful, in a way. There's a danger element (drowning/breaking bones on cement), of course, but the adrenaline, the speed, the lines as the sportsperson flies along the water or ground, there's magic in that.

It wasn't just the main characters Anise and Lincoln that made this book fun, though. While like the surfing we don't get to see or hear as much of her as I'd like, Anise's friend Tess was a joy for the brief time I knew her on the page. She was evidently someone that loved Anise and was crushed that she wouldn't be around to share things with over a crucial summer.

Laura Silverman's debut novel gives me a good feeling that her future work will be just as good. Her writing style in this contemporary novel was suitable to the genre and was really easy to sink into and read almost straight through. Sometimes a contemporary novel can be difficult because real life is not always something I want to read about; usually I read to get away from that kind of thing. Whether her next book is a contemporary, fantasy, non-fiction, or otherwise, I'm sure I'll be picking up the next Silverman work, no question.

This is a very realistic and fair portrayal of what it's like to be a teen torn from their home for a summer they didn't expect. The dialogue, thoughts and actions of Anise, our lead gal, are genuine and honest. This is not a girl who is perfect and selfless; this is a teen girl who is bitter and confused but also sensitive and caring. I found myself relating to many of the things Anise said or did. All things I thought or did as a teen.
I believe Anise is a teen much like many of us were (or are). Selfish at times, but not because she doesn't care but because life is hard and being a teen is even harder.

The love interest in Girl out of Water is probably the most frustrating part. While I like him, he's a little too perfect. I would have liked to see him have some vulnerable moments and share times when he's struggled. With the love interest being a little more realistic there might be a fifth star for this book, but as it is I just can't rate it next to Judy Blume's Tiger Eyes at five stars. That said, this is a solid four star read.

This is not a book where the plot moves the story forward; in fact there is very little plot. Instead this is a character development book focuses on Anise and her 'coming of age' story. I didn't have a problem with it and felt it had just enough of everything.

I would recommend this book for anyone that enjoys average teens doing average things for stories. Or anyone who is struggling with leaving to go somewhere. This is an excellent story to gift to a teen that is moving homes, being forced on a vacation they don't want to go on or anyone that is struggling with change.

So I finished Girl Out of Water and............
It was freaking fabulous! Girl Out of Water, is a coming of age, YA contemporary novel. That will no doubt make you yearn for summer and maybe even that summertime crush.
From the start, Girl Out of Water made me desire summer, the beach, the sunshine and the pure sounds of waves in a beautiful summer night. Also, let's not forget a summer crush, which for me has always been Keanu Reeves hehe
This book unquestionably has me aching for summer. But that's not the only thing this book is about. Girl Out of Water is definitely more than that.

It made me long for more time with family, spending time and making memories with them. It made me think about loss and grief but also abandonment and neglect and how people deal differently.
How people see others with disabilities and wish people would just treat us like everyone else.
This book really opens your eyes and makes you feel things very profound and real.

This book is faultless and intelligently refined. And I simply can not wait for Ms. Lauran Silverman's other works.
I recommend this book to anyone from YA to an adult, that wants to get in touch with the carefree self we once were as kids

I received an e-copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Our main character Anise loves the ocean and has lived in California all her life. She is a surfer and you can find Anise at the beach everyday on her surfboard. Her aunt is in a car accident and Anise and her dad have to go to Nevada for the summer to help with her cousins and aunt during her recovery. This really messes Anise up because she has started something with her long time best friend Eric and many of her friends are leaving once the summer is over. Anise might be in for a nice surprise in Nevada though and may have a new love interest soon. I liked this book and Anise learns a lot about herself in this story. I think this is a great summer read for those who like the young adult genre : }

This book was very hyped up for me by many other bloggers I know and follow. Anise is ready for the best summer in her home of Santa Cruz to spend with her friends before they leave for college and one for the navy. She expected a great summer full of surfing waves, late night bonfires, and the Surf Break - a big music festival. Her plans drastically change when her Aunt Jackie gets in a horrific car accident and she has to spend her summer in Nebraska babysitting her cousins; Parker, Nash and Emery as well as helping Aunt Jackie around the house.

Anise is devastated and sulking throughout her time in Nebraska with her cousins and her father. I really didn't like Anise's actions toward her friends and family, she was sulking the whole summer and taking it out on her friends and family members. I think she was selfish, however she made her summer work by taking her cousins to the skate park every day. She learns to appreciate the art of skateboarding to savor her loss of surfing all summer. I really liked the aspect of comparing Anise's love for surfing with her learning to skateboard. This also had some perks because she meets a local skater, Lincoln - a disabled black character who is an excellent skater despite living with one arm. Lincoln and Anise spark a relationship and go on adventures. I really liked seeing their adventures and the fun spots that Lincoln took her.

The writing was concise and I did get some great quotes out of it! I especially liked Lincoln's character because he pushed Anise and showed her that she didn't have to lack her sense of adventure just because of her mother's history. I appreciate this novel for Lincoln and his diversity, as well as the skateboarding and surfing aspect which I don't see often!

However, this novel just fell short for me with Anise. She really bothered me and I hated that she pushed away her friends because she was angry about her summer plans being messed up. Then, she came back to Santa Cruz confused why her friends weren't happy she was there? Like I mentioned, she was selfish but hid it from her cousins. I just didn't love this as much as I expected to. I would recommend this for a summer read.

I was given this ARC by NetGalley in return for an honest review.
I am aware of the circumstances surrounding this book and the author and my sole purpose is to honestly review this story after having read it in its entirety.
I had to take a two-day break from reading this story and needed a lot of encouragement from my husband and mom to finish it, because about half way through the book I felt like giving up for good, without possibility of reconsideration. But their encouragement worked wonders. I was intrigued to read a young adult contemporary novel about a sporty young woman, facing personal challenges. Sadly, I am not sure what the point of this story was.
The main character, with her personal problems and weaknesses I thought could have been a perfect character for great personal development; however, not much development ever did occur. And the secondary characters were all very well thought out to cater to the main character’s whims.
The writing was easy flowing enough to keep me going, even when it got almost too much to bear. Also, for almost 300 pages the author kept repeating that the main character lived in Santa Cruz, loved Santa Cruz, surfed in Santa Cruz, had her friends in Santa Cruz, misses Santa Cruz, and so on and so forth. It got extremely tiresome to keep reading about it.
The plot would have been great, if it hadn’t been created around those whims of the main character. It felt like the author was too scared to have the main character actually face real challenges and situations that would force her to change. Every time I thought the main character finally had to face the fact that life can not always be peachy, the plot magically twisted in such a way to make it easier for her. It got monotonous very quickly. Also, no action taken by the main character ever had any consequences, which made this entire story even more unrealistic.
Overall, I wanted to give this story a one-star rating, but changed my mind to rate it two-stars, since it could still be entertaining in a fluff-don’t-take-it-too-seriously-beach-read kind of way.