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The Pacifist by Jenny Holiday – a Review

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The Pacifist by Jenny Holiday – a Review

 

The PacifistAmazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Description:
She’s done holding her peace…

Laraline Reynolds has spent her entire life as a certified Good Girl. The perpetual peacemaker in her volatile, conservative family, Laraline promises herself that she’ll spend her last year of grad school getting in touch with her inner rebel before she settles down and marries her family-approved long-distance boyfriend. But Laraline’s Year of Fun quickly turns into something more complicated, and she finds herself at the forefront of a movement to change her college’s sexual assault policy.

It’s the Year of No Fun for Tony Bianchi. A fifth-year senior, he needs to graduate, so he’s put a moratorium on his two favorite distractions: girls and photography. But when Laraline comes calling, needing some photos for her cause–and for her campaign for a seat on the college board of governors–Tony’s resistance comes crashing down.

They both fall hard. But while Tony is ready to give it everything he’s got, Laraline is afraid. She wasn’t prepared for her one-year rebellion to lead her to the life she truly wants. In order to break free from her family, she’ll need to do the scariest thing of all–follow her heart.

 

Review:

I love the juxtaposition of two college students on very different paths.  Laraline’s “Summer of Fun” is brought to ruination by Tony’s “Summer of No Fun”.  The irony escapes the stymied Laraline, but it sparks conflict that creates dialogue, that flies in the face of expectations, grating Laraline relief from her gilded cage.  This sounds so awesome, tell you, tell you now what I’m reading?!  It’s obviously Jenny Holiday and her fabulous New Wave Newsroom series!  The Pacifist is book 3 out of three, and I couldn’t be more distressed.  🙁  I adore this series and insist that you start it right away.  The writing, it’s engaging and interesting.  Her characters, arresting and delicious.  All three books are available, time to feast!

Tony is on self-imposed sabbatical from fun if he’s to finally graduate after 5 years (slacker, I was on the 6 year plan, lol!)  Being productive and proactive in academia is not as gruesome as Tony imagined, but banning girls does create a different kind of strain.  No one’s gotten to Tony quite like Laraline.  When Tony gets to know Laraline, when she unravels her past and present before him, his resolve weakens.  Tony is hypnotized by Laraline’s approach to life, but she’s tangled up in appearances befitting that of a harmonious family and she’s strangled by a modern-day “arranged marriage” that is too near for her (and Tony’s) comfort.  What fuels Laraline is rallying and lobbying for women’s rights on the Allenhurst campus, but that’s met with friction and displeasure.  Capricious and chaotic though Laraline may be, Tony is smitten and all too willing to rid Laraline of the anchors dragging her down.

Laraline and Tony weren’t looking to change, not in any profound way at any rate, but the ease of their friendship, the unconditional support offered…those things add up, mean something…become everything.

“What was it about this guy?  It was like we were mirroring each other, like we didn’t need words to be tuned into what was happening.”

Ms. Holiday makes you root and swoon for this couple.  She’s done this consistently for every book in the series.  I mentioned this was totally worth reading?!

The Pacifist introduces you to characters that have an immediate, lingering effect.  In just a few pages, Laraline and Tony (Art/Dawn, Jenny/Matthew) get in your head and you don’t want to stop reading; you certainly can’t stop thinking about them.  There’s a quality of light, but I don’t mean that in terms of substance.  It comes with spirit and joy, just like a…Holiday.  😉  A fitting finale for a fabulous series.  Siouxsie Sioux, The Cure, Tab soda, the holes of a rotary phone…you nailed the 80’s.  Don’t go too far, Ms. Holiday — we fans clamor for your return!

Reviewed by Carmen

Copy supplied for review

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The Gossip by Jenny Holiday – a Review

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The Gossip by Jenny Holiday – a Review

 

The GossipAmazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Description:
Dawn Hathaway is a realist. She’s not the smartest girl at Allenhurst College. She’s not the prettiest, either. So if she wants to be popular, she’ll need something else: power. What better way to get it than to start a gossip column in the campus newspaper? If she has to commit a few minor crimes in pursuit of the latest scoop, what’s the harm?

Arturo Perez loves being a campus cop. He knows Allenhurst’s nooks and crannies—and lately he’s been finding the campus gossip snooping into every one of them. He can’t deny that he enjoys bantering with the sassy schemer. But he also can’t shake the sense that there’s more going on with Dawn than meets the eye.

When tragedy strikes and Dawn needs help, how far will Arturo go to protect her?

 

Review:

Dawn wants to be seen, to be heard, so she starts writing a gossip column for Allenhurst’s college newspaper.  What she achieves is much more purposeful:  To be relevant.  Coming off of an awesome introduction (The Fixer review available here), I couldn’t wait to absorb all The Gossip, ;), aka book 2 of Jenny Holiday‘s wonderful New Wave Classroom series!  This is another short, but deliciously full story about time and patience making love even more profound.  Jenny Holiday knows how to capture the essence of the 80’s and continues to inspire us with her meaningful love stories.

Officer Art is not unhappy at his job as campus police, but his family, those of the “real” variety via Boston PD, can’t seem to fathom why he won’t move up into the “big league”.  Art makes a difference for college students living it up, living independent of their parents’ roofs. 

“Their lives were nothing like my own had been…It was my job to to care about them.  Which sometimes meant saving them from themselves.”

Dawn is one such student, a prime example of freedom unchecked.  Art maintains professional distance, but he is also there at pivotal times to soothe Dawn while she explores and ventures too close to the edge, securing “social power”.  Popularity has its perks, but Dawn was looking for more, the kind of more that only someone who truly cares would notice.   
 
“I’d gotten into this mindset where I needed to make sure she was okay.  She always was, of course.  But I had to check.  I always had to check.  Because something told me that she wasn’t actually okay, not really…I wasn’t sure why I was so compelled to look out for her, except it seemed like maybe no one else was.  She was at the center of everything, but she was also alone.”

Jenny Holiday gives us a bird’s eye view of college life, the joyous and perilous consequences of decision making when no one is around to hold your hand.  Art and Dawn influence each other’s choices and breathe life into a friendship that forgives and empowers bold choices.  I couldn’t get enough of this couple!  The ability to balance witty banter with sparring bouts grew the attraction, making themselves too irresistible to, well, resist!  You’re going to love Art and Dawn individually and root for them romantically.

Another lovely read to lift your spirits and remind you of a more carefree time.  Of coming into your own skin after trying on so many others.  The Pacifist is undoubtedly destined to conclude the series in fabulous fashion.  Book covers are to die for!  Well done, Ms. Holiday…you rock!

Reviewed by Carmen

Copy provided by Promoter

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The Fixer by Jenny Holiday – a Review

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The Fixer by Jenny Holiday – a Review

 

The FixerAmazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Description:
Jenny Fields is a crusader. As the editor of her college newspaper, she’s never met a cause she couldn’t get behind. So when the administration announces it’s tearing down the historic art building, she’s on the case All she needs to do is get Matthew Townsend, the art department’s boy wonder, on board. They say he his talent is unbounded. It turns out so is his ego.

Matthew Townsend cares about art. And that’s pretty much it. If he has a reputation for being moody and aloof, that suits him just fine. He doesn’t have a family worth speaking of, and as a scholarship student, he can’t afford to goof off like the preppy rich kids at his school. He certainly doesn’t care about the art building. Or about the relentlessly perky Jenny, who looks like she was barfed up by Rainbow Brite. What will it take to the preternaturally cheerful girl with the massive savior complex to leave him alone?

 

Review:

Jenny Fields is aware that her prowess as a newspaper editor, writing impassioned articles, is going to gain her cause notoriety.  But when push comes to shove, and the art building is as necessary as every other department, Plan B goes into effect:  Seek the aid of hot, enigmatic art student, Matthew Townsend.  Surely this collaboration is a juggernaut unlike any other, right?  The potential to change worlds even.  Jenny Holiday, the fabulous Jenny Holiday, writes to make it so in The Fixer.  When Matthew and Jenny collide, virtual unknowns save for this chance meeting in their last year of college, a different kind of upheaval imbalances destinies.

While she’s no Pollyanna, Jenny’s bright clothing and zeal for righting wrongs suggests otherwise to Matthew, the in demand, artist du jour, who can’t wait to graduate and leave behind the community, and art building, that inspired so much of his outrage.  If they’re already at odds, who’s going to give?  When Jenny realizes there’s more behind Matthew’s cold exterior, the backing and support she once desperately sought pales in comparison to reaching the heart of the man.

Me, I talked a lot.  I wrote- I wrote many, many words.  But this?  This was something else entirely, something beyond language.

Yes, swooning is a direct correlation to character development.  The more honest Jenny and Matthew became, the deeper their emotional connection.  I loved the explorations of thought and body.  Jenny Fields, you simply rock!

Before long, Matthew and Jenny rearrange priorities and take more than cursory interests in each others’ passions.  Jenny’s mundane observations become extraordinary to Matthew, who couldn’t be more dismayed by this new perspective.  Without over analyzing (Jenny with the equal astonishment), the pair subconsciously gravitates, in synergy, toward something mutual, something outside their wheelhouse.  Those preconceived assumptions and judgments are suddenly quite forgiving.  Man, oh, man, Jenny Holiday writes with such energy.  Matthew and Jenny are likable, relatable characters who deserve success, and if they end up falling in love…who dares impede their journey?!  I freaking want to squeeze them!  While I can’t stake a claim, consider this review a recommendation of serious proportions!

The Fixer made my heart soar.  I enjoyed Matthew and Jenny’s unique outlooks on art and writing, and I admired how they weren’t only undeterred by their differences, they were captivated and inspired to be more.  Now insert the 80’s culture, hair and music references, and the images simply revive my own youth.  Super sweet short story that includes an epilogue if you subscribe to Ms. Holiday’s newsletter.  Soooo…what’re you wating for?  😉

Reviewed by Carmen

Copy provided by Publisher

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