My Not-So-Fairy-Tale Life

I enjoy talking with Julie but I always feel like the shy girl talking to the popular girl! I get tongue tied and flustered only because she is so fun, funny and wickedly cool! I rarely cry; not in movies and not while reading a book (well, sometimes those Hallmark commercials get me). This book got me. Probably because I am adopted. I wasn't sure I wanted to read this book. I didn't want to read a YA sob story about sin and sinning and poor girl what ever will she do? Wringing of the hands... But the story took me places I haven't been and wasn't sure I could go. Thank you, Julie! Suzanna Quincy, or Cue as she likes to be called, is raised in a home where her mother lets her know she isn't wanted and father who bows to the mother. Her brother is the only person who understands her. To get away from her harsh life she abuses drugs and alcohol and surprise! Ends up pregnant. Now she must come to grips with living as an adult and with the consequences of her choices. After being kicked out of the house by her mother, she finds herself running to Utah in the hopes her brother and his wife will take her in; both are converted members to the LDS faith. On the bus ride to Utah (paid for by a kind stranger) a LDS boy named Rion sits by her and doesn't give up on her. Cue has attitude but it is a front for hurt that goes deeply. And the big question for her; what to do with the baby? Julie's book made me laugh out loud and quietly cry. I would recommend it to mothers who have daughters. Not only does the story show the consequences of choices, good and bad, it teaches how we should treat others. We don't know what everyone is going through. We should love each other unconditionally. And we should know, any person of any faith, that our Heavenly Father is real and loves us.

I read this novel months and months ago and one of the lines from the first chapter is still in my head. Julie Wright knows how to write a powerful villian!

This book was such a joy to read that even now, months later, I'm thinking of it and wanting to spread the word. It's a difficult story: bad girl gets pregnant, goes through hell, and has to decide whether or not to keep the baby. I found tears running down my cheeks during a number of sections. But in the end I was pumping my arm in the air and shouting with joy at the triumphant ending (although with more tears pouring down my face). Wright has written an amazing book, full of laughter and tears, she's tackled some hard topics, and dealt with them with grace and skill. The characters are so real, I found myself searching the acknowlegements to see if it was autobiographical in any way. (It isn't.) A sheer delight to read.

I had the privilege of reading Julie's novel before it was published -- it's now one of my top favorite LDS YA novels. Julie has a wonderful, easy-to-read style of writing with great, realistic dialogue and intriguing, three-dimensional characters. I couldn't put this book down! Truly a wonderfully-crafted novel on the subject of adoption. I'm really looking forward to reading more of Julie's novels in the future!

I tend not to enjoy books written solely for an LDS audience. The innate optimism and idealism in such books feels shallow to me. My Not So Fairy Tale Life by Julie Wright has that optimism and idealism, but fleshes it out with solid characters who have real emotional conflicts. I truly enjoyed reading this book.