Review of "Awakening Foster Kelly" by Cara Rosalie Olsen

Awakening Foster Kelly by Cara Rosalie Olsen

Genre: YA/Contemporary/Romance 

Page Count: 672 Pages

Synopsis: If only a pile of wayward curls and the inability to stay on her feet were seventeen-year-old Foster Kelly's most pressing concerns. Unfortunately, stubborn hair and clumsiness is just the tip of it. It was only a mistake, but when at the age of five Foster is told "You don't belong her" the result is one broken heart. These four carelessly spoken words have shaped and shadowed Foster, and now - a senior at Shorecliffs High School - she seeks the wallflower's existence, denying herself the most casual of friendships, much too afraid that someone will see what Foster believes is certain: she does not belong anywhere - or with anyone. This reality would continue to suit her just fine, however...

Love has a long-standing history of undoing broken hearts.

Like a comet, an unexpected arrival knocks Foster out of the crowded, starry sky, sending her directly into the limelight. Exposed and afraid, she will attempt to regain anonymity; but it isn't so easy now that someone is watching. He pursues this shy enigma, confronting Foster's deepest fears head-on, and in the process falls wholly and completely in love with her. But there is something he is not saying; a secret capable of certain ruin. There are two probable outcomes: either he will break her heart once and for all, or he will heal it.

In the end, though, it is Foster who must decide if she is worth mending.

(Summary from Goodread.com)

Review: Awakening Foster Kelly by Cara Rosalie Olsen is an incredible self-discovery novel that takes such a different twist than the usual coming of age novel. It's characters are so real they feel like people I could run into on the street. The characters are what really made this book. All of them are so possible and fleshed out that they seem like they could be living, breathing people. They're also shockingly ordinary. Many Young Adult books are riddled with impossible characters, but Awakening Foster Kelly has a cast of characters that seem all too real.

The story itself progresses slowly and doesn't really pick up much speed until towards the middle, but really gets going at the end of the book. The last 50 pages are an emotional roller coaster.

Foster herself is such a relatable character with her insecurities and her flaws that, aside from the blown out of proportion clumsiness, are very real. She's an amazing character that really grows in the story and seems very different at the end compared to the beginning.

My one major frustration with Awakening Foster Kelly is that occasionally the word choice gets rather sophisticated. My vocabulary is very good, but I still had to grab a dictionary quite frequently to double check the meaning of a word. This ruined the flow of the story for me since I kept having to look up definitions instead of allowing myself to be sucked into the story.

Still, it's definitely worth a read and I enjoyed it immensely.

Rating: 4 STARS 



*I received Awakening Foster Kelly in exchange for a fair and honest review*