Is Normal all that Great Anyway? | Fifteen Seconds of Normal by Alex Marestaing

Fifteen Seconds of Normal

By Alex Marestaing
Published on October 11, 2016

294 Pages
Young Adult, Diverse



This book was provided to me from YA Bound Book Tours in exchange for an honest review. I swear on my bookshelf that this has not affected my opinion of the book.

Step 1: Transfer High Schools. Step 2: Hide your Tourette’s. Step 3: Find your fifteen seconds of normal. 
Kaeya Garay has a plan. And it seems to be working. But when a curious interruption named Thatcher Kelly stumbles upon her “safe” place in the school’s abandoned art gallery, her grand plans for normalcy are suddenly derailed. 
Set over the course of three weeks, Fifteen Seconds of Normal is the quirky saga of a literature obsessed teen on the edge of a meltdown and the hope driven heroine who begins to pull him back.

YALit Giveaway Blitz 2017

YALit Giveaway Event!

A bunch of authors who got together to bring you a YA Big Box of Paperbacks Giveaway! One lucky winner is going to win 50 Young Adult Paperback Books! How’s that for an epic Book-Lover’s Prize?!

The giveaway is valued at over $500, yet it still open worldwide! Our first giveaway went to a winner in ROMANIA–and yes, we’re willing to pay the insane shipping on this oversized, overweight package to get the prize to WHOEVER wins!

Some of my personal favorites are included in the giveaway, like Adorkable by Cookie O'Gorman, The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard, and even Wicked Lovely by Marissa Marr. You would definitely be able to find some new favorites in the line-up.

Today, I am sharing some exclusive excerpts from authors who organized and sponsered this amazing giveaway along with the giveaway.

My quirks are not for your entertainment | How quirky gets in the way of diversity

In today's world, there is nothing more important than diversity--accepting people as they are. It is not a choice to include everyone, regardless of race, sexuality, gender, disability, but a duty. Diversity has two main components, inclusion and respect. This is an all-or-nothing game so you cannot claim to respect someone without including them in your lifestyle, art, and literature. The reverse is also true: there is no point in including someone if you misrepresent or diminish their existence and struggles. 

One of the biggest offenders of polluting diversity is inclusion without respect, which can be seen in the sudden influx of "quirky" YA characters. There are a lot of characters who have some kind of defining characteristic that is not normal, therefore, it is a quirk. 

Many books nowadays are trying to pass off quirks and "cute" abnormalities as diversity. They take a complicated, complex, and meaningful topic like depression or suicide, and then trivialize the meaning by making it a "quirk" instead of a real issue.

Waiting on Wednesday | February 2017

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme (or monthly in my case), hosted by the amazing Jill at Breaking the Spine.

Since I am a rebellious blogger, I am not following the traditional Waiting on Wednesday rules. Instead of posting the meme weekly, I am going to do it monthly (work smarter, not harder). Plus, my WOW will only include books that will be releasing (or have already been released) in the same month, so you don't have to wait forever to get these beauties. 

This month features a lot of diverse books, which could not have been timed better. This year, I vowed to read and blog about more diverse and inclusive novels. With such a suffocating atmosphere in the real world, I want to be able to spotlight books that offer a more diverse, accepting, and open-minded approach to the world. Books really do have power; the power to increase knowledge, open minds, and create understanding, but only if you pick up the right ones. So, I hope that I can guide you in the right direction with my picks this month.