How to Be Brave by E. Katherine Kottaras Pages: 288
Published by St. Martin's Press on November 3, 2015
Genres: Young Adult, contemporary
Source: Finished Copy from Publisher
An emotional contemporary YA novel about love, loss, and having the courage to chase the life you truly want.
Reeling from her mother's death, Georgia has a choice: become lost in her own pain, or enjoy life right now, while she still can. She decides to start really living for the first time and makes a list of fifteen ways to be brave - all the things she's wanted to do but never had the courage to try.
As she begins doing the things she's always been afraid to do - including pursuing her secret crush, she discovers that life doesn't always go according to plan. Sometimes friendships fall apart and love breaks your heart.
But once in a while, the right person shows up just when you need them most - and you learn that you're stronger and braver than you ever imagined.
How to Be Brave is a debut young adult novel by E. Katherine Kottaras. It is a really beautifully done standalone novel about a high school girl that is learning how to be brave, but really just learning how to be herself after her mother’s untimely death. I really enjoyed the main character, Georgia. I thought she was all at once a breath of fresh air in young adult novels, but at the same time so quintessentially teenage that it is impossible not to relate to her in some way.
How to Be Brave is a really cute story about Georgia and her friends and her high school life. And as a bonus it is a list story! You know what I am talking about- main character is sad about missing out on something, or some event happens in her life (or is about to happen) and she makes a list of things she wants to accomplish. The event in How to Be Brave was Georgia’s mom’s death. Her mom wrote her a note and told her to “do everything” and to “always be brave”. I loved the list of things that Georgia and her friend Liss came up with. I thought they were a mix of really original items, with a few classics thrown in for good measure to “get the guy”. I loved how the list story line played out. I was completely 110% loving How to Be Brave, and then the author threw a major curve ball into the mix and I didn’t know how to take it. The book ended up taking a bit of a different turn than I originally expected, but it ended up being a really interesting turn. I didn’t always agree with the actions of the main characters, but their journey was pretty great, and Georgia is a star in my eyes.
How to Be Brave is told alternating between classic dialogue chapters with random verse style stream of consciousness interspersed throughout the story. I thought that was a unique flair to the narration. I really dug it. If you like well done, and beautifully different young adult stories- How to be Brave is one for you to check out.
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Ooo a bucket list type story, sounds fun!
Ohh awesome review! This book really looks and sounds totally cute and fun. I really haven’t read a list book yet. But I have a feeling I will absolutely love enjoyed this kind book. Thank you for the great post!