YA Buddy Readers' Corner ♥ discussion

It’s 1950, and as the French Quarter of New Orleans simmers with secrets, seventeen-year-old Josie Moraine is silently stirring a pot of her own. Known among locals as the daughter of a brothel prostitute, Josie wants more out of life than the Big Easy has to offer.

She devises a plan get out, but a mysterious death in the Quarter leaves Josie tangled in an investigation that will challenge her allegiance to her mother, her conscience, and Willie Woodley, the brusque madam on Conti Street. Josie is caught between the dream of an elite college and a clandestine underworld. New Orleans lures her in her quest for truth, dangling temptation at every turn, and escalating to the ultimate test.

With characters as captivating as those in her internationally bestselling novel Between Shades of Gray, Ruta Sepetys skillfully creates a rich story of secrets, lies, and the haunting reminder that decisions can shape our destiny.





Ashlee and I will be reading this from 19th December and everyone feel free to join us. :)

very excited about this! i just started, only about 20 something pages in, so far it's pretty interesting

i finished only first 2 chapters and i'm already loving it.
now i have gordie shore on tv so i'll continue reading.after that.

i just got to about 17%, it's really picking up. so far, so good. i had a question(view spoiler)[ do you think Mr. Hearne is a major figure to Josie? This just crossed my mind as I was reading. I definitely think there's something up with him (hide spoiler)]

I still haven't come to that part so i'll write what i think about that later. anyway, i'm planning to read 40% today. i hope i'll manage to do that.

okay, i just hit 40% this morning, so i'll take a break so we can discuss what's going on so far

I still haven't got to 40% but i have to tell you (view spoiler)[yes, i think forrest hearne is a major figure and will play a big part in her life (hide spoiler)] .
now i'm finally free of all the abligations for today and starting my reading evening.

Oh crap, i just got to the part where we foud out that (view spoiler)[forrest is dead. so much for my theory about huge part of josie's life. (hide spoiler)]

i don't like that Richard guy. in fact, i hate him because i hate cat killers.

great, now my keyboard doesn't work if i'm not on app, so i don't know if the spoiler hodding option will work this way. i'll try now.

so i'm at chapter 14 now and i have a question: do you think (view spoiler)[jessie has a feelings for josie because he comes to the book store but never buys books (hide spoiler)]?

ugh, Richard is the worst! i have a cat and that made me so upset :< but (view spoiler)[ yes i think he does! i also can't tell if Patrick has feelings for Josie. I think he does though, and I feel like they'd be really cute together. (hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)[i think that about patrick too. i kinda already thought to myself he could be a good book boyfriend (hide spoiler)]

chapter 28: i am scared for josie. (view spoiler)[mr. L.'s inventation smells fishy to me. (hide spoiler)]

chapter 35 (view spoiler)[i totally knew it would be josie's mother who killed mr. forrest. but something tells me there will be a
turn out. (hide spoiler)]

i haven't gotten to chapter 35 yet, but i am at chapter 33. (view spoiler)[ i totally have a feeling that Mr. L's death is connected to Josie's mother and Cincinnati leaving etc. I guess I'll find out as we keep reading. I also agree, Patrick is a good book boyfriend. I'm still trying to figure out how I feel about Jessie. I think he likes Jo a lot and she reciprocates to some extent but she truly likes Patrick and it's obvious she cares a lot about Charlie as well. I'm just confused about one thing...I can't tell if Willie giving Jo the watch was coincidence or if she actually knows about Mr. L's watch that Jo has (hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)[i am not so sure about the watch eather. and if josie's mother killed him, i really don't understand why wouldn't she take it with them in l.a. i think there will be someone else involved too.
and there is one more thing: remeber when patrick asked if she would be there for him if she knew everything about him or something like that? I wonder what we will find out about him...
i don't know why exactly, but i like jessie better. (hide spoiler)]
Anyway, i hope i'll finish this today.

chapter 46: i HATE Josie's mother.

chapter 48: (view spoiler)[so patrick is gay. i totally had that feeling since the scene where he told josie he can't choose but would if he could. (hide spoiler)].
this book is so good i'm kinda sad it's comming to the end.

i'm so sad right now. (view spoiler)[why she got rejected? :( (hide spoiler)]

i just finished! (view spoiler)[ i actually didn't see Patrick being gay coming. I suspected something was up, for instance there someone else in the picture, but I wasn't expecting that! It broke my heart a little cause I know Jo was really hurt, but Jess really grew on me by the end. As for Jo's mother....she really is such a scummy character.

Willie's death broke my heart into a million pieces. I knew she really loved Jo and I didn't see her death coming although I knew something was wrong with her every time Jo mentioned her swollen ankles etc. Poor Jo, Cokie, and Sadie. All of the characters were so lovely and heartfelt. Especially Cokie wow. I absolutely adore him!! And one last thing, I'm so glad Jo and Jesse got together!! I can't believe she decided to go up to Northhampton in the end even though she got rejected. I hope it all works out for her. I really wish there was a continuation! (hide spoiler)]

I finshed it too. god i'm glad i've read this book. it the second best i've read this year (the first is anna and the french kiss). (view spoiler)[it's not that i'm looking for sequel but epiloque would be nice. so we would find out if josie got.accepted after all and i feel like there is a missing part avout patrick's life. i'm wondering how his life turned out to be.
glad she ended up with jesse.
i still hate her mother. And the fact that there are the.people like her in a real life.
Willie was sick, i really didn't predict that. but josie's mom is the one who pushied her out.of the edge. (hide spoiler)]

Anna and the French Kiss was awesome, I read it last month I believe and I loved it!! You're right, an epilogue would have been nice. (view spoiler)[ i also want to find out what happened to Patrick and whether or not she got into Smith. I hope her and Patrick still keep in touch even though he went away to travel. I still hate Josie's mom too, it's terrible that people like that DO exist, you're so right (hide spoiler)] but yay! i'm so glad we read this

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Date Changed. Restarting September 5th 2014. Happy Reading ☺

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Jamie and I will be using this thread for our buddy read of out of the easy. Join us!!

I'm excited to start! I have my book so if I have time, I might start tonight!!

I read the prologue and I don't like her mother she's pretty terrible. But I do like Jo, she's kind of sassy even for a seven year old.

I hope to start this tonight. I was hoping to read this afternoon but just got stuck with a double shift at work. So I will be going home, lying down and reading until I pass out.

That sounds like a good evening!!

Up to chapter 6 (view spoiler)[ I love Jo, she's a pretty amazing character. I love that she stands up for herself no matter what and when she hit Patrick with that book. That was pretty great!!! Thick books make great weapons. I feel like I could be Jo, love of books, works in a bookstore/library, strong. But minus the whole "My mother is a prostitute." Also, I think Patrick might like Jo. (hide spoiler)]

Up to chapter eighteen. I really hate Jo's mom, errgh. She makes me angry. Though I really love Charlotte and I think Jo and her will be great friends. Also Patrick is really funny! Yay, he's awesome. I'm not going to say anything else because it will just be about how much I love almost all the other characters.

I agree about Jo's mom. She sickens me! I am still behind you but right from the get go she gets me all riled up.

Yeah definitely. I'm 62% done but I need to go to sleep so I'll post a spoiler in the morning before class.

Halfway through Chap 37 (view spoiler)[ I really am loving this book. I like the mystery infused with normal everyday problems, like does Jo like Patrick or does she like Jesse? Plus there's the whole college dilemma. Honey, I can relate. I wish my tuition was 750 a year, that would be amazing!! I really hope Charlie gets better, I love him. He seems like such a grandpa! And Willie is pretty cool. She's like a mother/grandmother to Jo and Jo is like the daughter she never had. Jo is pretty kick ass. Boy, this book makes me happy and a little confused. But it's wonderful!!!

Prediction: Her mother and Cinci killed Hearne and then left town because of that. Mother stole his money and Cinci stole his suit. They didn't know about the watch. Maybe he was Jo's father and he confronted her mother about it and they got into a fight or they still love each other and Cinci found them and killed him. I don't know! But I feel like her mother and Cinci had something to do with him dying. OK I'll shut up now. (hide spoiler)]

Whew, that's a long one, didn't think I'd have so much to say.

Okay I finished. I'll post my review in the next couple of hours.

The End (view spoiler)[ Oh My GOD!! I Hate Josie’s Mother and if I could I’d track her down and get Jo’s stuff back I would. Then I would bitch slap the shit out of that EVIL woman. Then I’d push her in a lake and kick Cincinnati’s ass as well. Evil People. I. Hate. Them. On the other hand, I love Cokie!!! He’s so good to Josie and I love that Josie took his last name! And I love Jesse and Jo, they are so cute and ohmigod. (hide spoiler)]

Congrats on finishing! I still have a ways to go. Overall thoughts so far: Willie seems interesting and genuinely care for Josie, but I feel that she is hiding things as well. Her mother just keeps getting worse and worse in my opinion. I think she'll be hitting me "worst parents in books" list.

I will read your review when I am finished :) Hopefully in the next day or 2. I have another buddy read I am working on so my time has been divided. Life threw a curveball at me last week that put be behind all over the place.

Yeah no worries! I keep checking so we can like actually talk about things. And fair warning Jo's mother is the evilest person in the world and there is absolutely nothing nice you can say about her. The only good thing she ever did was have Jo.

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Okay, I should be done with this most likely later today (tomorrow morning at the latest).
Some random thoughts: I can see why Willie would not be 'comfortable' with Jo going to a prestigious college. How she wouldn't fit in easily. I had a similar situation growing up. I wanted to go to a privated school. It wouldn't have cost money even since my grades were high enough and if I went I had a guarantee into a fairly good college. However my father was against it due to the fact that almost all the other students were on a whole different financial level of living. He thought, with how materialistic people are, I would have a hard time making friends. I wouldn't afford to go do a lot of things with them and couldn't wear the name brands, etc. So with her calling Jo "salted nuts" is similar. She lives in a different world. Her reality and backround could set her apart. Not that she couldn't do it, or change her life but that it would be hard. I feel that Willie does want good things for Jo but that a prestigious school may not be it.
Next random thought: I am not to sure what to think of him. He seems like an okay guy but I just can't get into him. Guess time will tell.

Finished. Barely got it done on my lunch break but now that I am home for the night I am too tired to write the review right now so I will get it up tomorrow.

Sounds like a plan! What did you think of the ending??

Wah! Sorry I meant to get my review up sooner and spaced it. Busy last couple days. I really enjoyed this! (view spoiler)[I did not expect Willie to die but she did make my awesome characters list in the end! (hide spoiler)]
Here is my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

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Date changed. Restarting October 10th 2019. Happy Reading ☺

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Opening chapter floored me a little. I liked the child’s acceptance of her mother, but I do sense her background is going to be problematic.

Up to ch4. Her mother is awful, but she’s had adult figures looking out for her.

Up to ch11. Josie is, rightly, not surprised by her mother’s selfishness. Wondering at the significance of certain characters.

Up to ch23. Can’t help but think Willie is hiding something, and I’m pretty sure Patrick is going to cause problems somewhere along the way.

Up to ch36. The latest development regarding her mother could prove problematic for Jo.

Up to ch43. There must be something behind Willie trying to keep Jo in New Orleans.