Welcome to the book tour for My Crunchy Life by Mia Kerick. I am so excited to bring you this book today, and think it's one that everyone should be reading. Keep on reading to find out more about it, as well as my full review.
My Crunchy Life
by Mia Kerick
Genre: YA Contemporary - LGBTQ
Release Date: June 26th 2018
Harmony Ink Press
My Crunchy Life
John Lennon fought for world peace, but sixteen-year-old hippie hopeful Kale Oswald’s only made it as far as tie-dying his T-shirts with organic grape juice. Now he’s ready to cement his new hippie identity by joining a local human rights organization, but he doesn’t fit in as well as he’d hoped.
After landing himself in the hospital by washing down a Ziploc bag of pills with a bottle of Gatorade, Julian Mendez came clean to his mother: he is a girl stuck in a boy’s body. Puberty blockers have stopped the maturing of the body he feels has betrayed him. They’re also supposed to give him time to be sure he wants to make a more permanent decision, but he’s already Julia in his heart. What he’s not sure he’s ready to face is the post-transition name-calling and bathroom wars awaiting him at school.
When Kale and Julian come face-to-face at the human rights organization, attraction, teenage awkwardness, and reluctant empathy collide. They are forced to examine who they are and who they want to become. But until Kale can come to terms with his confusion about his own sexuality and Julian can be honest with Kale, they cannot move forward in friendship, or anything more.
**My thoughts**
I loved this book, and I want to make it required reading for just about everyone. I have never before read characters who seemed so real. I have known people in the LGBTQ community for over 20 years and can only imagine what goes on in their minds. We have had numerous conversations, but nothing provided as much insight as reading what these characters expressed. I laughed and cried right along with them.
I'm so glad we are in an age where people are talking about being transgender and have become somewhat more accepting of it. We clearly have a long way to go. People are still so small-minded and cruel, which is also clearly demonstrated in this book. But others are so kind and caring. And yes, even those who are accepting still struggle to understand at times. I think following Julian on his journey helps to provide that understanding.
Kale is one of those kids that I just want to smack. He is a complete poser. But at the same time, I get that he is just a kid and is still trying to figure out who he is. He definitely has his own journey as he learns more about being authentic to his true self and what it really means to be accepting of others and how to truly be concerned for and to care about others. I think on the surface, Julian is the one that you expect to change the most in this book, but Kale is the one who truly undergoes the most intense growth.
This is such a timely novel and it also touches on some of the other problems that we have in our society. I really hope that in the future, people will pick up this book and be surprised at how Julian and Kale are treated, much like we look back in horror at some of the social problems of our forefathers.
About Mia Kerick
Mia Kerick is the mother of four exceptional children—all named after saints—and five nonpedigreed cats—all named after the next best thing to saints, Boston Red Sox players. Her husband of twenty years has been told by many that he has the patience of Job, but don’t ask Mia about that, as it is a sensitive subject.
Mia focuses her stories on the emotional growth of troubled men and their relationships, and she believes that sex has a place in a love story, but not until it is firmly established as a love story. As a teen, Mia filled spiral-bound notebooks with romantic tales of tortured heroes (most of whom happened to strongly resemble lead vocalists of 1980s big-hair bands) and stuffed them under her mattress for safekeeping. She is thankful to Dreamspinner Press for providing her with an alternate place to stash her stories.
Mia is proud of her involvement with the Human Rights Campaign and cheers for each and every victory made in the name of marital equality. Her only major regret: never having taken typing or computer class in school, destining her to a life consumed with two-fingered pecking and constant prayer to the Gods of Technology.
Contact Mia at miakerick@gmail.com.
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Thanks so much for hosting me on your blog and for your heartfelt review!
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