Kiss, Bang, Boom! by Leslie Lamb

Do you remember how difficult your teen years were?

 

Were you awkward?  

Did you feel unloved by those you most desired to be loved by?

Did you march proudly to the beat of your own drum?

Did you gain satisfaction and fulfillment in knowing that others were attracted to you as a friend or even more?

Do you know anyone in any of these stages right now or soon to come upon them?

Are you still in any of these stages, just in a more "grown-up" way?

In Kiss, Bang, Boom! Leslie Lamb weaves an honest and realistic account of teens walking through some of the toughest years of their lives.  Her characters are bold, strong, and easily arouse a plethora of emotions in the reader.  Though I am not in her target audience (youth or young adults), I found myself identifying with many of the thoughts and struggles her characters experienced.


Kiss, Bang, Boom! is the first of a series.  It is told from Zella Storm's point of view.  Zella is one of the main characters of the story and is just as unique as her name...and not at all ashamed of it.  Zella has chosen to live quite differently from the majority of her peers in many ways...dating (or a choice not to), hair color (hot pink then later rainbow!!!), living unapologetically for the Lord, and so on.  In this anecdote, she is dear friends with one girl and bitter enemies with another.  In the meantime, a dreamboat of a guy comes into the picture that unintentionally threatens to throw off part of her plan of being different than the rest.  (Leslie even makes you remember the warm, fuzzy feelings of first love, or first like, or first crush...whatever you wanna call it, she reminds you how it feels!)

Without going into the story details (because I can in no way do justice to the excellent job Leslie has done in writing this YA saga), I will say that Leslie has boldly tackled and brought to the surface some very real but hard to face teen topics...one being that of self-mutilation---cutting.  (If you scroll down to the very bottom of my blog, you will see the banner for "To Write Love On Her Arms," a.k.a.TWLOHA.  Leslie also supports this cause.  You should check it out.)

If this is sounding in any way familiar to you because of someone in your life (or yourself), please get a copy of this well-crafted, essential story of young adults at some of the most important and most difficult times of life.  I wish I had read this at a much younger age.  It would surely make a great gift for anyone in this target audience.

Disclaimer:   I received this book for free from Leslie Lamb.  No other compensation was received.  The fact that I received a complimentary product does not guarantee a favorable review.