Tilt by Ellen Hopkins (CBR-IV #41)

Cannonball Read IV: Book #41/52
Published: 2012
Pages: 608
Genre: Young Adult

Ellen Hopkins is one of my favorite YA writers. She doesn't dumb her books down like some YA novels and although she knows how to bring the drama, there is still a sense of realism with these kids and their lives. 

Tilt is a companion novel to Hopkins' previous novel, Triangles. Triangles was her first adult novel that was published last year. Tilt reverts back to her normal teenage characters, but this time they're the children of the main characters in Triangles. 

This book mainly follows three teens: 

Mikayla: A senior who finds out she's pregnant with her jerk boyfriend's baby.

Shane: A gay teen with a tumultuous home life. His 4-year-old sister is dying from a disease she was born with and his parents marriage is on the rocks. Now they are dealing with Shane coming out and his HIV-positive boyfriend. 

Harley: A younger teen who becomes infatuated with her older soon-to-be step-brother. 

Overall, I liked this book. Some of it seemed a little redundant because it's pretty much the same storyline as Triangles, but from the perspective of the kids. It's different enough to not be boring, but there aren't any huge surprises because most of the bigger things were spoiled if you'd read the companion novel. It definitely could be read as a stand-alone book though. 

Triangles by Ellen Hopkins (CBR-III #52)

Cannonball Read III: Book #52/52
Published: 2011
Pages: 544 (190,458 total pages so far)
Genre: Fiction

If you've read my reviews before, you know I love Ellen Hopkins. She finally wrote an adult novel (she normally writes YA) and I've been really excited to read it. My only complaint is that the Kindle edition is going for $12.99! I really wish publishers would keep the price under $10. They're making mostly profit off of it anyways since there are no physical costs (ink, paper, etc.).

Triangles revolves around three women, all who are in entangled in some sort of extramarital affair. Holly has recently lost a lot of weight and enjoys the attention she is now getting from men. Usually it ends with some shameless flirting, but now she's delving deeper. Her best friend Andrea is a single mom with a teenage daughter who can't seem to find a decent guy to date...so she finds herself in bed with Holly's neglected husband. Andrea's sister, Marissa, finds out her husband has been cheating while she stays at home with her special needs daughter and deals with her son coming out as being gay.

I just love the drama in Ellen Hopkin's books. The poetic writing just flows off the page, making the 500+ page book seem much shorter. This book was everything I was hoping it would be. I'm glad Hopkins didn't tone it down for an adult audience -- she simply transferred the drama to more adult issues. 

Of course I still didn't have much to relate to with this book either. The teenage books are fun, but I'm 26 and can't really relate to 16-year-old drama anymore. This book was 30-something moms with teenage kids. Obviously not really my demographic either. However, I still really enjoyed the novel. I'm just hoping one day Hopkins decides to write a book about 20-somethings and their drama. I definitely hope she ventures more into the adult novels in the future. 

Perfect by Ellen Hopkins (CBR-III #36)

Cannonball Read III: Book #36/52
Published: 2011
Pages: 533 (15,025 total pages so far)
Genre: Young Adult

I love Ellen Hopkins. Her books are like every episode of Degrassi rolled into a novel. If you're not familiar with Degrassi, it's a Canadian teen soap opera that covers every major teen issue under the sun. Seriously, the teens in these books have more issues than anyone I've ever met. Makes for good reading though since I've read every single book Ellen Hopkins has written.

Perfect is a companion novel to Hopkin's book Impulse. However, it can easily be read on it's own. The book follows four teens who all have issues. Cara is coming to terms with breaking up with her boyfriend and realizing she's a lesbian. Her ex-boyfriend, Sean, tries to win her back by any means necessary. Oh, and he's also on steroids. Kendra is an anorexic model. Andre is dealing with his alcoholic girlfriend (Kendra's sister), her racist father, and the fact that he wants to be a dancer instead of following his parent's dreams for him.

This book was a little slower paced than most of the other Hopkins books I've read. It was a little heavier on the teenage angst and a little lighter on the drama until the end. Then things got much better and more drama-filled.

If you've never read anything by Ellen Hopkins, I'd recommend trying one of her other books first. Try Crank or Burned.

Fallout by Ellen Hopkins

I avoided Ellen Hopkins for a while because I wasn't a huge fan of how she writes in verse form. Then I found Crank in a thrift store and picked it up and read it in one night. The books look huge, but they're actually a fast read because of the verse form. And it's not nearly as annoying as you'd expect.

Fallout is Ellen Hopkin's newest YA novel. It's sort of a sequel to
both Crank and Glass, but instead of the main character being Kristina, they focus on three of her children who are now teenagers and have been effected by her drug abuse.

Hunter was the son that Kristina had Crank. His dad raped Kristina and he was eventually adopted by her parents. Now he's 19 and having problems with his girlfriend. Autumn lives with her paternal grandfather and aunt. She is trying to deal with her father trying to come back into her life at the same time her aunt is leaving her to get married. Summer has been passed around between foster homes her whole life until she decides to run away with her boyfriend.

I liked:

-A drug addict would TOTALLY name her kids "Summer" and "Autumn".

-How realistic these characters are. Kristina is still on drugs and it's still effecting everyone in her life, including her children at this point. It's so sad to read, but these characters really come to life.


I didn't like:

-I didn't like Fallout quite as much as some of Hopkins' other novels. It was slightly slower moving, but still very good nonetheless.

Verdict:
4.5/5 stars. Amazing book.