In well crafted sentences Jennifer Kelland Perry traces the journey of sixteen year old Samantha Cross and her family through their different struggles: sister rivalry, parents’ divorce, moving to a new place, teen pregnancy, mother’s drinking, money worries, Alzheimer’s and death. Whew!
Although the plot of Calmer Girls is far more dramatic than my adolescence ever was, I was filled with nostalgic moments as I found myself reminiscing about my own adolescence with its taste of first love and the confusion of young adult friendships.
The Coming-of-Age story takes place in St John’s, Newfoundland, a city and province I have always wanted to visit and, thus, appreciated the author’s descriptions of St John’s and what it was like growing up there in the 90’s.
II found the characters interesting and the author did a good job of portraying their faults along with the family’s dynamics. Although it is categorized as a YA novel, I thought the mother in the story added a domestic reality as she coped with being a mother to two teenage girls while in the midst of a separation and having to relocate to a new city. My interest was sustained until the end. Jennifer Perry makes us care about these broken characters.
Carol Balawyder 
A good coming-of-age story can really be engaging, Carol. And it sounds as though these characters are realistic and believable, too. Glad you enjoyed it.
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Thanks for your comment, Margot. The characters are realistic but very different from my reality.
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Whew! Indeed! I already feel for Samatha. Carol, I love your reflective review of ‘Calmer Girls’ giving us insight into the characters, their struggles as well as suggesting it works well beyond a YA genre. I found this with many so-called YA books and the cross-over is a narrow line. I’ve meant to read this book for a long time and it’s now going on the top of my TBR list. Happy Reading (& Reviewing!) 📖😀
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Thank you so much, Annika, for your thoughtful response. The characters are very well developed. You might not like them at certain times during the development of the plot but they have human traits which make them also lovable. 🙂
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I really enjoyed this book, Carol. The setting was wonderful, too.
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Oh, yes, Jill, the setting was wonderful! 🙂
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I always enjoy your recommended and reviews Carol. I’ll add this one to my TBR too ❤
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I think you’ll like it! ❤
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Carol, how nice of you to review my book on your blog. Thank you! And thanks too, for rating it five stars on Goodreads. 🙂
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You’re welcome, Jennifer. I’m planning on putting a review on Amazon.ca. Bravo, Jennifer. I like your style of writing. 🙂
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Thanks so much! 🙂
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What a wonderful review. I agreed–my HS years were much calmer.
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Thanks, Jacqui. Your comment made me laugh because my HS years were such a contrast to Jennifer’s characters. 🙂
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