Review: The Jelly Bean Crisis by Jolene Stockman

Title: The Jelly Bean Crisis
Author: Jolene Stockman
Expected Publication date: August 1st 2012
Age group: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary
Cover rating: 5/5
Content rating: 5/5
Source: Review copy

Description:

A total meltdown. The whole school watching. Now Poppy’s an ex-straight-A with no Plan B. 

When Poppy Johnson throws away a full scholarship to Columbia, she can only blame the jelly beans. The yucky green ones? Midnight cram sessions and Saturday’s spent studying. The delicious red? The family legacy: Columbia, and a future in finance. Except now it’s starting to look like Poppy’s jelly bean theory is wrong. School has been her life until, but maybe it’s time to start living now. 

Poppy has thirty days to try a new life. No school, no studying. Just jumping into every possible world. Thirty days to find her passion, her path, and maybe even love. The Jelly Bean Crisis is officially on.

My thoughts:

I am on such a contemporary kick this year. Every one of these books I pick up ends up blowing my mind. I'm actually surprised I practically ignored this genre for so long but happy that I've finally changed that! The Jelly Bean Crisis was a splendid novel and I'm happy to report that it's not just a pretty cover. This book really packs a punch and I devoured every page of it. I got so caught up in Poppy's story and I can tell you, ''one more page'' quickly turned into some lost sleep but it was totally worth it. It was really lovely, from start to finish.

Poppy is the protagonist in this book and a brilliant one at that. Her voice is really unique and strong. Her personality practically bursts through the pages. Obviously, being able to form a connection to the main character of a book is pretty important and thankfully I found that really easy. I felt like I knew Poppy from the get-go. As well as you can know a character who's going through a crisis like this, that is. It was so intriguing to watch Poppy just snap and to suddenly question everything she's ever known.

The Jelly Bean Crisis follows Poppy on her month long journey to find herself. All her life she's planned for one thing: college and a steady financial career. I felt really sorry for Poppy when she started freaking out and feeling like she had to make all her major life choices right now as a teenager. I enjoyed joining her as she dove headfirst into the search for what she really wanted! Poppy's Jelly Bean Theory is that you should eat the not-so-nice jelly beans first and then save the best for last. In this book we see her going against the theory she's held for many years and wondering if perhaps she should have been going for the red jelly beans- her favourite- the whole time. 

Poppy gets up to a lot during her ''gap month'' in order to see if she can figure out which career path is perfect for her. We meet a whole host of interesting characters at each place and there are several minor characters who intrigued me. Poppy's friends annoyed me at parts but definitely redeemed themselves. Her Nana is a pretty awesome and wise woman and her relationship with her is really sweet to read about. The only thing I can say is that there wasn't enough of a certain love interest. Not really a flaw in the book- more of a personal preference and simply means he was such a great character, I wanted to read more about him! 

Overall, I seriously enjoyed this book and I'm so glad I got the chance to read it. I'd recommend it to any contemporary fans, and anyone in that awkward stage in their life where they've got to figure out what they want from their future- which is probably everyone, right? Definitely one to look out for. It's a beautifully told story that you'll still be thinking about long after you finish reading it. 

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Side note: If you're a blogger and intrigued by this book, there's still time to sign up for the blog tour which will take place in August. You can find the sign up sheet HERE.