One horrible moment has changed a lot for Aspen. She's survived an accident, but the other driver wasn't so lucky and didn't survive. Katelyn was so perfect and Aspen wants to find out more about the person who was killed because their cars crashed into each other, but she doesn't have much success. Aspen's struggling at home, because her mother Ninny doesn't take care of her. It's the other way around. Ninny is a free spirit who smokes a lot of pot and who goes out with someone Aspen doesn't like at all. She thinks he's a loser and he's filthy. Fortunately Aspen has a few great friends and somehow the accident has also made her more popular at school. Katelyn's best friend wants to hang out with her and her boyfriend, Ben, is sitting next to her in Physics. Slowly they're getting to know each other. Aspen has to remember what happened on the night of the accident before she can deal with it. Will she finally allow the memories to come to the surface or will she never be ready to find out what happened?The name Aspen comes from a tree, the one she's been born under. She was a surprise pregnancy and Ninny was just a child herself. Aspen is such a talented girl. She can draw very well and she doesn't do things because everyone else does them. She finds her own way in life. Even though that means she has to fight more battles. I really liked her strong character and her openness and frankness towards others. Gradually the reader finds out what happened on the night of the accident. I read this story in one sitting because I wanted to know as soon as I could. I couldn't stop reading. Aspen doesn't have an easy life, but she never complains, I liked that a lot. Ninny isn't a very good mother, but somehow she isn't a terrible person. I really appreciated the layers and nuances. Aspen isn't a standard YA novel, the story is more raw and honest, which made it both impressive and very good. I received my copy from Netgalley and it was an unedited galley, so the currently published one might be different then the one I read, but still I really liked this novel. Aspen is about Aspen, a girl who survived a horrific accident is now permanently scarred and is seeing the girl who was killed in the accident. The girl, Kaitlynn is seriously pissed off about something. Aspen is carrying around the guilt that she won't confront as she slowly moves into Kaitlynn's place in school and in with her boyfriend. Not to mention she's juggling the end of senior year, her pot-smoking mom, and once again guilt. There was a bad habit of moving really fast when scenes were changing, if you aren't paying rapid attention to the novel while reading then you'd be completely lost and very confused, and you'll also end up re-reading passages more then once. The emotions in this novel were very real and vivid. You completely believe her emotional distress and can even relate to it, if you've ever had a bad night where you just need someone to be there. Or something similar to a panic attack, Aspen experiences all of this and sometimes regrets her decision's and sometimes doesn't care, like a normal person. None of that fake YA emotion here. If you're against people in high school having sex, then don’t read this novel. For me it was fine but I'm use to it. The mother in this this novel is very open and welcoming to Free-Love, and Aspen has sex with two different people, one in the story-line and one in the past. There is also a lot of pot included in the novel, they live in Boulder, Colorado so there's a lot of pot. The mother usually reeks of it, and at one point Aspen partakes in it at a concert. All of the characters were very well written, all believable. Dynamic emotions throughout the story from all characters, who all contribute to the storyline, there are no extra characters who us hang around the story. This novel was a good mix of semi-supernatural and reality. I say semi because I can’t tell if Kaitlynn's presence after death was grief or if she was really there. Either way it was a big contributing factor to the story, and made the book better. But I do suspect it might have been more grief because Aspen was the only one to notice Kaitlynn at all.
What do You think about Aspen (2014)?
3.75 stars. I enjoyed this one. It was a quick read with an endearing story. Very PG and sweet.
—lilaudrey
Speechless!I can't stress how much I love this book! Full review soon.
—maz
