Wish I Could Have Said Goodbye by Shari A. Brady Blog Tour

Today I am pleased to be a stop on author Shari A. Brady's Wish I Could Have Said Goodbye Blog Tour! I am a huge fan of Contemporary YA literature so when Candace at CBB Book Promotions listed this book as an upcoming tour I jumped right on board!

As my part of the tour I read and reviewed Wish I Could Have Said Goodbye. Be sure to check out the awesome giveaway opportunity after my review!

Wish I Could Have Said Goodbye
by Shari A. Brady
June 11, 2012
Createspace
260 pages
Source: A copy of the book was provided by the author for tour purposes in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Synopsis

Before my older sister Francesca died, I worked at the bakery and wrote songs, but now I write lists. Lists like ten reasons why it's my fault Francesca's dead, or five reasons why I should try and win Howie back, or one reason why I need to stop lying to everyone, including myself.

Wish I Could Have Said Goodbye is an extraordinary novel about one family's struggle to make sense of their world after losing a family member to addiction. Through sixteen-year-old Carmella's eyes, we witness the courage and strength it takes to overcome the consequences of grief, guilt and co-dependency. With conviction and determination, Carmella shows us what can happen when we're open to love, feel the pain of our loss, and find the courage to accept the truth of our lives.( Goodreads Summary.)





My Take On It

I was attracted to this book after reading the synopsis for two reasons. One: I love contemporaries. Definitely my favorite genre in YA. And two: this book's description reminded quite a bit of one of my very favorite reads: The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson. In that book, the main character of Lennie also loses her older sister in a tragic way. As the story begins, Lennie and her family are still coming to terms with the loss. So there are some similarities in terms of plotting between both The Sky is Everywhere  and Wish I Could Have Said Goodbye as well. 

But the similarities between the two books stop about there. I found that Wish I Could Have Said Goodbye is darker and much more somber in feel than Nelson's book. In fact I felt a LOT of emotions while reading Brady's book: sympathy, pity, and frustration being the strongest. But there were also lighter moments in the book, the romantic storyline in particular was sweet, and by the book's end I did feel the tide turning and things looking much more hopeful for Carmella and her family.

We meet Carmella D'Agostino, or Mello to her friends, shortly after her sister Francesca's  drug overdose results in her death.  It is obvious right from the start that Mello's family is not handling things very well. Mello feels immensely guilty, she was much closer than her parents were to her sister at the time of her death, and she knew that Francesca had been struggling with her addiction problems. Mello feels that she could have done more than she did to prevent her sister's accidental overdose. She also regrets never telling her parents just how bad things had become with Francesca and her live-in boyfriend, Donny.

Unfortunately Mello cannot talk to either of her parents about any of this because they are dealing with their own problems. Her mom has turned to religion as her only means of solace, believing that any help she or her family might need to get through this experience can be found in the hands of God and the church alone. Her father on the other hand is living in denial, choosing to blame Francesca's death on her boyfriend. To make matters worse he forbids the family to tell anyone the real cause of her death, he's too worried about how it will reflect on the family and his business. 

I have to say that while I felt so very sorry for this family, I found myself beyond frustrated with the way they, her parents in particular, coped with this tragedy. This family is in dire need of professional help, Mello more than anyone, and it made me angry that her parents refused to consider that as a viable option. It really was like witnessing a train wreck in slow motion.

The bright spot? A boy Mello meets while working at the neighborhood bakery, named Howie. Howie is a ray of sunshine in Mello's very dark world. He is sweet, attentive, and allows Mello to feel normal as her family is secretly imploding from within. Howie is actually a pretty unconventional male lead, in my opinion. Sure he was described as cute, and he had a great sense of humor. But what I love most about him? He is a figure skater!  I know what you are thinking. In fact, that is the same thing that Howie tells Mello when she finds out, but have no fear: he's most definitely straight and interested in girls. I love that Howie was presented in this unusual way, and he takes Mello ice skating which was all sorts of adorable. 

Another character, one very different from Howie, but memorable nonetheless, was Francesca's boyfriend, Donny.  Donny is terribly messed up, you guys. He's battling his own addiction on top of losing the girlfriend he clearly loved. He shares a brotherly bond with Mello too, calling her "sis". There were times in the book he really pissed me off, but for the most part my heart ached for him. Unlike her parents, Mello doesn't blame Donny, and wants to keep him in her life. She wants to help him, since she wasn't able to help Francesca in the end. I really liked this part of the book even though it was hard to read at times.

Another part of the story that I enjoyed were Mello's lists. At the beginning Mello explains that she and her sister always made lists. Lists about anything and everything. Now that Francesca's gone, Mello feels it is more important than ever to keep that connection between them alive. So at the start of almost every chapter Mello makes a list. These lists were both poignant and funny and I loved reading them. I felt they really gave deeper insight into what Mello was feeling and experiencing internally. And they also reminded me again of The Sky is Everywhere when Lennie would write her poems and conversations with her dead sister Bailey.  The lists in Wish I Could Have Said Goodbye aren't written as lyrically but that makes them no less emotionally charged. 

As I said, the majority of the book was quite sad, gut wrenching in some instances, and they were times that I feared the worst, but there does come a turning point in the story, and I feel that the book ends on a hopeful, if not necessarily upbeat, note.  I also liked that after the end of the book, Brady leaves readers some pretty staggering statistics regarding drug overdose related deaths in the US. Definitely an important message for young people today. 

In summation, Wish I Could Have Said Goodbye is one part cautionary tale and one part  study in grief and redemption. If you enjoyed Jandy Nelson's The Sky is Everywhere or Hannah Harrington's Saving June, Wish I Could Have Said Goodbye is another work in the same vein that you might like as well. 

Now for the Giveaway!

Author Shari A. Brady is giving away 3 signed paperback's of the book and 3 buttons to 3 lucky US winners.  

In addition she will be giving away 3 ebooks  to 3 International winners. 

But wait, there's more! Brady will also be offering  a $25 Gift Card to one person, and that giveaway is international as well!

You must be at least 13 years old to enter
This giveaway will run from February 4- February 20, 2013.

To enter, just fill out the Rafflecopter form below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Shari A. Brady is a native Chicagoan and previously had so many careers she’s lost count. A graduate of Loyola University’s Business School and University of Chicago’s Creative Writing program, she’s finally a full-time writer, a dream she’s carried with her since she was twelve. She lives in suburban Chicago with two of the best kids ever and their shelter dog, Betty Queen Elizabeth. This is her first novel and her last career.

website/ goodreads/ facebook/ twitter

And don't forget to check out all the tour stops along the way!

2/4 Chocolate Coated Reviews ~ Excerpt & Interview

2/4 Moosubi Reviews ~ Review & Top Ten

2/5 The Flyleaf Review ~ Review 

2/5 Love is Not a Triangle ~ Review & Excerpt

2/6 I Am a Reader, Not a Writer ~ Interview

2/6 I Talk Books! ~ Review

2/7 A Diary of a Book Addict ~ Review

2/7 A Dream Within a Dream ~ Excerpt

2/8 Emily's Crammed Bookshelf ~ Review 

2/8 Reads and Thoughts ~ Review

2/9 YA Romantics ~ Review 

2/11 Coffee, Books and Me ~ Excerpt 

2/11 Xpresso Reads ~ Review

2/12 Candace's Book Blog ~ Confident Reads Interview

2/12 Lost in YA Wonderland ~ Review & Excerpt

2/13 For Love and Books ~ Review

2/13 Ivy Book Bindings ~ Review

2/14 Alluring Reads ~ Review

2/14 D for Darla's Definite Reads ~ Excerpt

2/15 Buried in Books ~

2/15 Pink Polka Dot Book Blog ~ Review