Monday, November 16, 2015

Review: Hello? by Liza Wiemer

Title: Hello?
Author: Liza Wiemer
Series: Stand Alone
Published By: Spencer Hill Contemporary (November 10, 2015)
Source: ARC Copy Provided by the Publisher (in exchange for an honest review)
Genre: YA Contemporary
My Rating: 5 Stars!


Book Description:
One HELLO? can change a life. One HELLO? can save a life.

Tricia: A girl struggling to find her way after her beloved grandma's death.
Emerson: A guy who lives his life to fulfill promises, real and hypothetical.
Angie: A girl with secrets she can only express through poetry.
Brenda: An actress and screenplay writer afraid to confront her past.
Brian: A potter who sets aside his life for Tricia, to the detriment of both.

Linked and transformed by one phone call, Hello? weaves together these five Wisconsin teens' stories into a compelling narrative of friendship and family, loss and love, heartbreak and healing, serendipity, and ultimately hope.

Told from all five viewpoints: narration (Tricia), narration (Emerson), free verse poetry (Angie), screenplay format (Brenda), narration and drawings (Brian). 








After reading a ton of wonderful reviews for this I decided it was time I break my dry YA contemporary spell and take the plunge and give it a go.

I am so very thankful that I did. This is one of those rare cases where the hype really did pay off. This wasn't a trumped up book that let me down or disappointed in the least. In fact, I was enamored with it from the very first chapter.

And let me tell you, I was nervous going into it because of all the different point of views I knew I was going to be getting and not only the different voices, but the different ways in which those voices would be portrayed. 

Can I say this was done so beautifully?

A truly wonderful heartfelt read about grief, growing up, ad facing troubles challenges and horrors that sadly, a lot of young adults will see and experience in their life time and all of it, truly was relayed and spoken in a way that made all the characters relatable and lovable. 

I'm so very thankful that I took a chance and got to experience this wonderful story. It truly was worth the time, energy, and emotion. 




*All thoughts and opinions are my own and were not influenced by the author or publisher. I was not compensated for this review.*

59 comments:

  1. Wow this seems like one of those odd books that your not quite sure whether to read because of the hype and then the best thing did was read it to find out. That courage that, I couldn't do that. Me and hype don't go very well at all. But it seems to have a paid off. I will keep my eye out for this one. Great review.

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    1. I try not to read all the too hyped up ones either or at the very least wait a bit but it definitely paid off in this case. ;)

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  2. I also got this one after seeing all the raves and I start it today. So glad to see you really enjoyed it too. Great review!!

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  3. Every time I see this title. I start singing Adele's Hello. I've been seeing this around a lot lately, so I'm gonna keep an eye on it. I do love me a good YA contemporary. Thanks for sharing!

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  4. Wow Ali I think I want to read this too! thanks for this wonderful review!
    Happy Monday!

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  5. I love when there are multiple POV's and it works. I'm really excited for this.

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    1. I do too because it honestly is rare, at least for me it is. ;)

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  6. I have heard such wonderful things about this book so far! Sounds like I need to check it out!!

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  7. I'm so glad this worked out beautifully for you, Ali!! I've heard many great reviews also, and that the multi pov you mention are done in such a unique way - namely the verse. Did you have a fav character? I'm very curious now - sounds so heartfelt :)

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    1. Funny enough Emerson was my favorite, I just loved him!
      The verse was different but fun. The character who did the verse wasn't a favorite but she did grow on me by the end.

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  8. YAY!!! Everyone seems to be loving this and I'm so happy to see it. It's so much fun to see a blogger transition to author:)

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  9. I'm so happy you loved this one just as much as I did, Ali! Your review totally does the book justice and I agree with everything you said.
    Lovely review!

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  10. The summary and your review left me very curious! I'm so glad to hear you LOVED this one, and that it was beautifully written. :)

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    1. Thanks so much Grace, it really was well done. ;)

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  11. I hadn't seen this book before. It sounds really good.

    Karen @For What It's Worth

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    1. I hope you check it out, especially if you already love the genre then it is a must. ;)

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  12. Ahh!!! I cant decide. I keep seeing terrific reviews for this, but I have been burned badly by YA contemp this year. What to do what to do.

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    1. I say give it a try, I think you will really like it and how it is set up and laid out.

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  13. I must be living under a rock since I never heard of the book before, but I'm very curious considering not only the different formats it is written and also the various points of view. I would have picked it up for these reasons alone, but your 5 star rating makes me want to pick it up for sure.

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  14. gaaah everyone has been loving this writing!

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    1. It was so much fun with all the different formats and POVs and usually I don't do well with more than one POV but it was awesome!

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  15. I was under the rock as always and haven’t heard about this book before. Thanks for putting it on my radar, it sounds interesting.

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    1. So glad I could put it on your radar, yay! I hope you try it. :D

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  16. Wow! Great review! I'm not too keen with the contemporary genre, but you sure swayed my interest! Thanks for sharing this with us :)

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  17. I love it when you take a chance on a book and it totally pays off! Oh I'm so curious about this one now. I haven't heard much of the hype so that may be good for me. :) Brilly review.

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    1. Thanks Melissa! It was just done so well and really stuck out in the genre which doesn't happen every day. ;)

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  18. Gosh dang it. Okay, okay ... I'm so reading this.

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  19. Honestly! This book is getting so much love that I just had to request it. I'm glad you loved it, too, Ali!

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  20. Is it me you're looking for??

    OKay, can't help it! I haven't heard/seen this book before. Thanks for the introduction, it sounds solid

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  21. So happy you enjoyed a YA contemp. It's nice to take a chance on a book and it pay off so big.

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  22. This is the first review I've seen of this one. I'm so glad to hear you loved it. It sounds like a really good story and I'm happy that the various narrations worked out.

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  23. Yes it's great you broke it with this one, it sounds full of feelings and all. Thanks for the discovery!

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  24. I am a huge contemporary fan so I think I need to add this to my TBR, I'm all for heartfelt!

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  25. This does sound beautiful. I am glad it lived up to the hype Ali :)

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  26. This sounds like a really unique read. I think I would really enjoy it :)

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  27. Sounds like something I would like, however I rarely pay over $7 for a Kindle book as there are just too many good ones for a lot less. I will put it on my Amazon list. Thanks for sharing :)

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  28. Yay! So glad you found a book to break your dry spell. I hadn't paid much attention to this one, but now that the reviews are pouring in, it's looking like a must read!

    Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction

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    1. I hope you love it too if you decide to try it!

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  29. Wonderful review! I loved this book too. It's one of my favorites this year. :)
    New GFC follower

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    1. So glad you loved it too and thanks for the follow!!

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