The Sunset Strip Diaries by Amy Asbury

(The Sunset Strip Diaries series, book 1)
There comes a time in every girl’s life, where she has to choose good or choose bad. Amy Asbury chose bad, hands down. Good meant wallflowers, secretaries and subservient wives. Bad meant power – and a possible escape from a life of secrets.

At twelve-years-old she was trying to make sense of a drug-addicted father and his disturbing behavior. By fifteen she was dealing with horrendous depression, blackouts and rape. At sixteen she was in a mental institution for suicidal tendencies and violent behavior. She could never be normal. The only place for a girl like her was Hollywood.

This is a true story of the social ascent (and eventual decline) of a girl in the Sunset Strip music scene of the early 1990’s. From crazy parties to glittered junkies and man-eating strippers, Amy has chronicled what life was like back in the days of excess and debauchery. It is not just a fascinating look into an amusing time in pop culture, but also details the mindset of a young woman trying to find confidence and self-worth in a life full of pain and chaos.

The party came screeching to a halt when the Grunge movement took over and heroin became more prominent. How far off track can a person go before it’s too late?

WARNING: This book contains substance abuse, profanity, and disturbing sexual situations,

This book chronicles the life of a confused teenage girl trying to find her way in life, and desperately wanting to become a part of the party scene on the Sunset Strip. She succeeds, and the stories of her three wild years being a popular staple on the Strip are shocking, somewhat depressing, and at some points even a little bit horrifying.

Amy’s childhood was anything but normal; her mother has completely turned her back on her and acts like she doesn’t exist and she is coping with the realization that her father may have sexually molested her when she was just twelve-years-old. She does however show off her humor to lighten up the book in some situations, whether it’s from her dousing herself in knockoff perfume (where she says “I’m sure I smelled like an old lady’s crotch"), to trying to teach herself about sex by listening to the Beastie Boys album, Licensed to Ill, to finally describing herself as “a giant heaving bowl of crazy with sprinkles on top.” Even through the humor, it was easy to see this was a troubled girl. By the age of fifteen, she had been date raped, videotaped, blackmailed, contracted VD, was bulimic, suicidal and failing school. By the age of sixteen, she had been put in a psych ward twice. That just sounds like the definition of path of destruction.

Her stories while on the Sunset Strip are just outrageous…that’s really the only way I can describe it. She tells of her relationships with glam rockers from various bands like Swingin’ Things, Alleycat Scratch, Glamour Punks, and Big Bang Babies, befriending various strippers (and as she finds out, one hooker), and details partying and frequently blacking out at hot spots on the Strip; The Rainbow, The Roxy, Whisky, El Compadre, and Gazzarri’s were a few of her most frequent hangouts. She rarely worked, never had any money, and relied solely on her looks and mooching off of her friends to support her Hollywood lifestyle. She’s determined to make it to the top no matter what the consequences. She eventually does become a hot commodity on the Sunset Strip, and then the Grunge movement takes over and she soon realizes the whole scene that has been her life for the past three years is in serious decline, if not already dead. Should she stick around Hollywood and live life as a has-been, or should she try to turn her mess of a life around?

I won’t lie; some parts of this memoir are actually rather disturbing. The number of times she gets raped is shocking, and her complete disregard for everyone is just sad. Overall, it was an easy read, and her writing style coupled with frequent diary excerpts makes you feel like you are right there partying on the Sunset Strip with her. You get an inside view of the crazy, glitter-covered Sunset Strip in the late 80’s and early 90’s, and I can’t wait to read the sequel to see just what became of Amy after the death of glam rock. 

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Beyond The Phog by Jason King

Since the turn of the century, not many college basketball teams in the country have enjoyed success quite like Kansas. Winning the 2088 national championship was certainly the highlight, but the most dominant era in school history also includes a national-best 300 wins, three Finals Fours and nine Big 12 titles since 2001.

The consistency was unmatched.

As a sportswriter covering the Jayhawks, first for The Kansas City Star and then for Yahoo! Sports, Jason King was there to chronicle it all. From Roy Williams’ stunning departure to Mario’s Miracle against Memphis to Kansas’ 69-game winning streak at Allen Fieldhouse, King witnessed all the highlights – and lowlights – from 2000 and beyond. In short, he was the ultimate insider.

Now you will be, too.

With Beyond The Phog, King provides Kansas fans with an unprecedented glimpse into one of the most memorable eras in the program’s rich history. Extensive interviews with nearly 40 players from the last decade, as well as both head coaches, reveal fascinating details about the inner workings of a true college basketball dynasty.

You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll be riveted – and, at times, shocked. Whatever the case, even the most ardent Kansas supporters will be exposed to candid, behind-the-scenes stories and anecdotes that, until now, had been confined to the Jayhawks’ locker room.

I debated on whether or not I should post a review for this book, but ultimately I figured why not?! Now, one thing you should know about me is that I am a huge sports fan; I am also a die-hard KU fan. I read this book when it first came out about a year ago, but I figured there was no harm in posting my review. Yes, I am a biased KU fan. Yes, I cry when KU basketball loses a game. Yes, I have trained to hate Missouri since I was a little kid. BUT…I appreciate sports, and even if this book wasn’t about KU basketball I would be tempted to read it; unless it was about Mizzou. You couldn’t pay me enough to read anything about anything to do with Mizzou. I digress.

This is an insider view on the most dominant decade in Kansas basketball history with interviews from prominent players and both head coaches, Roy Williams and Bill Self. Now...I love to see the camaraderie between both former and current players, as well as the coach-player relationships. The individual chapters for each player give you an insight to what they thought of their fellow players, the coaches, and how they managed to pass the time when they weren’t in class or on the court. As a KU student, I know how the basketball players are treated off the court; they are celebrities in Lawrence, Kansas. They get free drinks, free cover at any club or bar, and have girls throwing themselves at them. In Beyond The Phog, they admit that being a basketball player does have its perks in regards to girls and social life.

I loved reading about Bill Self’s boot camp, the locker room vibe at halftime of big games, finding out who the jokesters were on each team…all of it. The one thing that just crushed me was reading the chapters of players involved in the heartbreaking NCAA tourney losses; Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrich talking about the loss to Syracuse (which still stings 8 years later by the way), both first round losses to Bucknell and Bradley, and Brady Morningstar and Tyrel Reed discuss the feeling in the locker room after their VCU loss.

If you are a college basketball fan and enjoy reading about the dynasties, I know you’ll enjoy this book. I am a KU fan, so I am completely biased but this book is just awesome. Rock Chalk Jayhawk.

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Fallout by Ellen Hopkins

(Crank trilogy, book 3)
Hunter. Autumn. Summer.

Different homes. Different guardians. Different

Last names.

Different lives.

But there is one person who binds them together.

Kristina.

Nineteen years after Kristina Snow met the monster – crank – her children are reeling from the consequences of her decisions. Instead of one big, happy family, they are a desperate tangle of scattered lives united by anger, doubt, and fear.

A predisposition to addiction and a sense of emptiness where a mother’s love should be leads all three down the road of their mother’s notorious legacy. Sex, drugs, alcohol, abuse – there is more of Kristina in her children than they would ever like to believe. But when the thread that ties them together brings them face-to-face, they’ll discover something powerful in each other and in themselves – the trust, the hope, the courage to begin to break the cycle.  

Fallout is the bestselling author Ellen Hopkin’s riveting conclusion to her trilogy begun by Crank and Glass. It is a revelation and a testament to the harsh reality that addiction is never just one person’s problem.

WARNING: This book contains sexual situations, drug abuse, and profanity.

This last book in the Crank trilogy keeps form as it is written in verse, however it is written from the point of view of Kristina’s three children. It goes back and forth between Hunter, Autumn, and Summer as we see the effect Kristina’s meth addiction has on her children. Hunter is Kristina’s first child, and was adopted by her mother in the second book, Glass. He still lives in Reno, hasn’t met his father, and has his own set of issues. He tends to drink heavily, lash out angrily, and cheat on his serious girlfriend, Nikki. Most of Hunter’s story is him trying to do damage control to save his relationship that he has destroyed. Autumn is seventeen-years-old and lives in San Antonio with her sister. She suffers from OCD and panic attacks and frequently uses alcohol to help ease her pain. The youngest, Summer, is fifteen-years-old and has been passed around between multiple foster homes, and suffered sexual abuse. She meets Kyle, a meth user, after her father is arrested for a DUI and she is placed back in foster care. They all meet at Kristina’s mother’s house for Christmas and realize they aren’t all that different, and that they are all living in the wake of Kristina’s decisions.

I won’t lie, this book was a little hard to finish. It was just really hard for me to watch her three children suffer because of Kristina’s addiction. I understand that you have the ability to break the cycle, but like in Summer’s case, being sexually abused by a foster parent and then getting jostled around from house to house makes life incredibly difficult. It scared me a little bit when she started dating Kyle, who just like her mother, was at the mercy of the monster. I felt of all her children, Summer most reminded me of Kristina.

When they all get together at Christmas, Kristina included, it was less than perfect. Her children all made it very clear they had an unrelenting grudge against her for deserting them, and you know what? I sure as heck would to! If my mother abandoned me because she would rather go get high with her boyfriend, I would find it very hard to forgive her. That’s just an emotional void that is hard to fill. Not only that but knowing that Kristina’s addictive personality traits have resonated in her three children is heartbreaking. As I said, there are ways to break the cycle but they all three seem to have turned to some sort of substance abuse as a coping mechanism. It’s just really sad.

This book was a little more promiscuous than the previous two, and the craving for sex from the children was a little disturbing. It seemed as though they didn’t have a lot of restraint. In the end, her children did somewhat manage to realize they all needed help with their moral compasses and throughout the book were generally upset with themselves for their decisions. It’s an intense novel, but overall a good ending to this trilogy. It is classified as a young adult novel; however I would be more cautious to let a young teenager read this book than the previous two. 

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Glass by Ellen Hopkins

(Crank trilogy, book 2)
One little bit, my heart revs

High, then settles into quick-

Step mode. How I’ve missed

That race and pound. How

I’ve missed the lack of control.

Crank. Glass. Ice. Crystal. Whatever you call it, it’s all the same: a monster. Kristina thinks she can control it. Now with a baby to care for, she is determined to be the one deciding when and how much, the one calling the shots. But the monster is strong, and before she knows it, Kristina is back in its grip…and it won’t go away.

WARNING: This book contains sexual situations, drug abuse, and profanity.

Glass picks up right where Crank left off; Kristina is now seventeen, a mother to a little boy, and still battling her meth addiction. She gets a job at a convenience store and considers herself strong enough to choose when and how much she uses; she has a baby to take care of, and she only uses enough to get her through the day. Little by little, she finds herself falling back into the iron grip of the monster. She returns to Albuquerque to visit her father, and is introduced to a new, pure form of meth: glass. During her visit she also meets Trey, a fellow glass user/dealer and potentially the love of her life. She also begins dealing with the Mexican Mafia in order to maintain an income, most of which is spent on the exact drugs she’s selling. Any sense of normalcy Kristina attempted to maintain at home in Reno quickly goes out the window, and her life goes with it. Her mother kicks her out of the house when her baby gets hurt while Kristina is getting high, she turns her back on her son and her family, and actually robs her mother’s house with her boyfriend, Trey. Kristina and Trey continue their tumultuous relationship that consists of fighting and getting high; they are eventually picked up by the police, hauled off to federal prison, and await trial for distributing glass. While she is in jail awaiting her sentencing, she finds out that she is pregnant with baby number two.

If you read my review of Crank, you know that I had really high hopes that Kristina would turn her life around after she found out she was pregnant. Glass makes it very clear that walking away from the monster isn’t that easy. Kristina seems to think that because she also has the “high” of her baby loving her, she will be able to control her addiction and only use when she decides it’s necessary. She won’t let the monster sink it’s claws into her again…but it does. She finds herself even farther enveloped this time, and ends up way too deep dealing for the Mexican Mafia. In the first book, I was constantly rooting for Kristina and still thought there was good in her if she could only get free of the monster’s grasp. In Glass, my view of her took a really negative turn. As she says, it’s not easy to walk away from a drug that powerful, but when she didn’t even care that her mother was obtaining legal custody of her son, I wanted to smack her. Granted, Hunter is in much better hands with her mother caring for him rather than her and Trey.

Kristina goes a little more depth with the change in her appearance in this book; in Crank, she mentions that she loses a significant amount of weight but in Glass, she lets the reader know that isn’t the other toll the glass is taking on her physically; While brushing her teeth one morning, she notices her gums are bleeding and her teeth are starting to rot, and while staring in the mirror, we learn that her face has become incredibly hollow and her cheeks are now covered in sores. Yuck.

I’ve become spellbound by Kristina’s story, and still hold out hope that maybe she’ll finally get her life together for baby #2. Glass, along with the first book in the trilogy Crank, is written in verse which allows for quick reading. The honesty and devastation in Kristina’s story is an excellent cautionary tale for young adults. 

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Crank by Ellen Hopkins

(Crank trilogy, book 1)
Life was good before I met the monster.

After, life was great,

At least for a little while.

Kristina is the perfect daughter: gifted high school junior, quiet, never any trouble. Then she meets the monster: crank. And what begins as a wild ride turns into a struggle for her mind, her soul – her life.

WARNING: This book contains sexual situations, drug abuse, and profanity.

This is a really fast read for a couple reasons: 1) it’s written in verse and 2) it’s pretty much impossible to put it down. In the author’s note at the beginning of the book, Ellen Hopkins says "It is hard to watch someone you love fall so deeply under the spell of a substance that turns him or her into a stranger. Someone you don't even want to know." That is exactly what happens. The narrator is 15-year-old Kristina who tells her story of going from a straight A student to a crank addict. Kristina tries crank for the first time while she’s visiting her father in Albuquerque; she meets handsome, young Adam who first introduces her to the “monster” and soon finds herself in the backroom of a bowling alley doing crank with her deadbeat father. It’s at this time she unleashes Bree, her new personality fueled by her drug use.

She heads back home to Reno, and finds herself craving the monster. Her addiction leads to her becoming a drug dealer, dating multiple men, getting raped, and eventually finding out she’s pregnant. Throughout the book, Ellen Hopkins details the unbelievable highs and lows of drug addiction, and it’s incredibly devastating. Kristina’s whole life is turned upside down by the monster; she sleeps for days at a time, she never eats, she goes through unbelievable mood changes…she’s at the mercy of this drug. When she finds out she’s pregnant, she intends to get an abortion but changes her mind at the last minute and decides to keep the child.

Books on drug addiction seem to fascinate and devastate me at the same time. I have never fallen victim to drug abuse, so it’s a foreign topic to me. I don’t know what it feels like to depend so heavily on a substance, and I am so thankful for that. Kristina’s story broke my heart, but when she got pregnant, I had so much hope that the baby would be exactly what she needed to turn her life around. However, as she states in the last chapter: “Crank is more than a drug. It’s a way of life. You can turn your back. But you can never really walk away.”

This is a compelling and tragic story of how drugs can completely destroy your life, and turn you into a person you never in a million years knew you could be. As I stated earlier, it’s a quick read and a hypnotic story.  

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Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

(The Hunger Games trilogy, book 3)
Katniss Everdeen, girl on fire, has survived even though her home has been destroyed. Gale has escaped. Katniss’s family is safe. Peeta has been captured by the Capitol. District 13 really does exist. There are rebels. There are new leaders. A revolution is unfolding.

It is by design that Katniss was rescued from the arena in the cruel and haunting Quarter Quell, and it is by design that she has long been part of the revolution without knowing it. District 13 has come out of the shadows and is plotting to overthrow the Capitol. Everyone, it seems, has had a hand in the carefully laid plans – except Katniss.

The success of the rebellion hinges on Katniss’s willingness to be a pawn, to accept responsibility for countless lives, and to change the course of the future of Panem. To do this, she must put aside her feelings of anger and distrust. She must become the rebels’ Mockingjay – no matter what the personal cost.

In Catching Fire, Katniss and Peeta were sent back into the arena for the Quarter Quell; the twist in the 75^th anniversary was that the tributes from each district would be made up of victors from past Hunger Games. As the only girl to ever win from District 12, Katniss was forced to be thrown back into the arena. The Head Gamemaker was part of the rebellion, and managed to convince all of the victor tributes to do whatever it took to keep Katniss alive. They rescued her from the arena and have deposited her into District 13, which up until now, everyone thought had been destroyed by the Capitol. They have been secretly been building an underground community and have been plotting to take over the Capitol.

While in the arena, a number of districts staged rebellions and are behind the movement to overthrow the Capitol. In an attempt to persuade the remaining districts, Katniss is thrown into the role of the Mockingjay; the face of the rebellion. Through bombings, weapon training, raids, and deaths of loved ones, Katniss attempts to fulfill her personal mission: kill President Snow.

I loved this book, although I must say it was my least favorite of the trilogy. It may have just been because I was upset that it was the last book and that meant this story that I had fallen in love with was actually almost over. Even so, I didn’t find it as good as the first two books.

One of the main things I didn’t like about this book was that Peeta was somewhat absent for almost half of it. I’ll be the first to admit that I just love Peeta…love, love, love him! He was kidnapped by the Capitol while in the arena and is being held captive in an attempt to thwart the rebellion. His and Katniss’s relationship takes a hideous turn, and it absolutely breaks my heart. Gale kind of rubbed me the wrong way in this book, and some of his comments he made actually made me wonder if he was glad Peeta was…well…the way he was. He no longer posed as a threat to him securing a relationship with Katniss. Now, I’m biased because as I’ve said in my previous reviews I am a huge Katniss & Peeta fan. I want them together, and for the first time since the first book I really thought they weren’t going to end up together. Do they? Well, I can’t tell you that!

Some parts seemed to drag a little bit, however I did like that Suzanne Collins went into more detail on the lives of Finnick and Johanna, and if it’s possible I became an even bigger fan of Finnick than I was in Catching Fire. I actually did cry a little bit while reading this book, and my heart ached for Katniss on a couple different occasions. The ending was pretty perfect, although slightly bittersweet. I grew so attached to these characters that I didn’t want this mesmerizing story that spanned over three novels to end. Harry Potter has always been my favorite book series, but if The Hunger Games trilogy didn’t surpass it, it’s damn close. Let’s all give a round of applause to Suzanne Collins for this captivating, heart wrenching, kickass trilogy!

***On a side note: one of my all-time favorite lines from a book came from Mockingjay. Here it is:

So after, when he whispers, “You love me. Real or not real?”

I tell him, “Real.” 

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Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

(The Hunger Games trilogy, book 2)
Against all odds, Katniss has won the Hunger Games. She and fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark are miraculously still alive. Katniss should be relieved, happy even. After all, she has returned to her family and her longtime friend, Gale. Yet nothing is the way Katniss wishes it to be. Gale holds her at an icy distance. Peeta has turned his back on her completely. And there are whispers of a rebellion against the Capitol – a rebellion that Katniss and Peeta may have helped create.

Much to her shock, Katniss has fueled an unrest she’s afraid she cannot stop. And what scares her even more is that she’s not entirely convinced she should try. As time draws near for Katniss and Peeta to visit the districts on the Capitol’s cruel Victory Tour, the stakes are higher than ever. If they can’t prove, without a shadow of a doubt, that they are lost in their love for each other, the consequences will be horrifying.

In Catching Fire, the second novel of the Hunger Games trilogy, Suzanne Collins continues the story of Katniss Everdeen, testing her more than ever before…and surprising readers at every turn.

The story of heroine Katniss Everdeen continues in Catching Fire, and the second book in this trilogy is just as good as the first. Katniss and Peeta defied the Capitol during the Hunger Games when, as the only two tributes left and the rule of both tributes from the same district being declared winners revoked only moments before, they attempt to eat poisonous nightlock berries knowing they won’t allow both tributes to die and leave them without a victor. This clever trick gets them both out of the arena and back to District 12 as they are both crowned the victors of The 74^th Hunger Games. However, in order to avoid dire consequences, they must make everyone…including President Snow…believe it was an act of love that compelled them to act the way they did.

President Snow doesn’t buy it. Not for one second. While Katniss and Peeta are travelling to each district on the Victory Tour, rumors of a rebellion begin to surface and Katniss and Peeta’s act of defiance in the arena is being known as the initial act of rebellion. In an attempt to thwart any and all future problems, Katniss and Peeta are desperate to make everyone believe they were in no way trying to rebel; they are just two teenagers who are crazy in love. This of course means that Katniss will never be able to live the life of her choosing; she knows that she will have to continue a relationship with Peeta with no end in sight. With this being the 75^th year of the Hunger Games, we are introduced to the Quarter Quell; on the anniversary every 25 years, the gamemakers make a change in the rules. The 25^th anniversary every district had to hold an election and vote on the tributes who would represent it; the 50^th anniversary each district was required to send twice as many tributes. What will the change be on the 75^th anniversary? It’s pretty dang shocking!

This book didn’t disappoint at all! I still think the first book was slightly better, but not by much. In Catching Fire, you are introduced to more victors from previous Hunger Games; my favorite by far was Finnick. He’s charming, gorgeous, and adds some comedic relief. The Head Gamemaker from the first book is no longer around and you are introduced to the new Head Gamemaker, Plutarch Heavensbee. I had a weird feeling about him from the moment he met Katniss during the Victory Tour while they were being thrown a dinner party in the Capitol. My questions and/or suspicions were luckily answered at the end of this book, but the cliffhanger at the end was particularly surprising. I have such a love/hate relationship with cliffhangers!

You also get to see Katniss’s feelings towards Peeta blossom and you realize that there just might be real emotion behind their façade. The relationship between Katniss and her best friend Gale goes more in depth, and starts to somewhat present the potential for a triangle romance between Peeta, Katniss, and Gale. I’ve been Team Peeta since the very beginning, and after this book my opinion didn’t waver too much. The writing is just as superb as the first book, and I almost shed some tears during one particular incident involving Katniss and Peeta.

I finished this book in one day and immediately starting reading the final book of the trilogy. Catching Fire was really almost as good as The Hunger Games; it was just as action packed, and set the tone for what to expect with the final book, Mockingjay. It’s just so dang good! It’s also nice to read a book about a girl who is a heroine, and not some lovesick human who is completely dependent on her relationship with a sparkling vampire. (I’m looking at you, Twilight!)

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