Book: Jumping Off Swings by Jo Knowles
Rating: 3 Stars
Release date: August 11, 2009 from Candlewick
Summary: Tells, from four points of view, the ramifications of a pregnancy resulting from a “one-time thing” between Ellie, who feels loved when boys touch her, and Josh, an eager virgin with a troubled home life.
Little does Ellie know, she’s pregnant and Josh is the father. The only person she can tell is her best friend who doesn’t know how to help her. Instead things get even more tangled when Corinne involves Josh’s best friend, Caleb.
What will Ellie choose to do about her pregnancy? Can Josh prove to Ellie that not all guys are after one thing only? Will Ellie’s home life ever improve?
Jumping Off Swings was one of those books that just didn’t do it for me. I think it was just too short. I felt like I didn’t get any background information about any of the characters and it really made the book hard for me to like.
In the book you can tell that Ellie’s home life is screwed up and it even mentions it once or twice but I never knew why it was so messed up. I was really confused. Also, you saw glimpses of Caleb’s and Josh’s home lives but you never once got any insight into Corinne’s family situation. It just didn’t make any sense to me.
Also I just hated the ending. I felt like things were unfinished and I was just left thinking, huh? I know a ton of other people who really liked Jumping Off Swings but I was not one of them. I’m not saying don’t read it if you think you might like it, I’m saying maybe check it out from the library before buying it.
Similar books:
After by Amy Efaw
Angel’s Choice by Lauren Baratz-Logsted
I finished this book this morning and loved it. lol. Oh well. I understand what you are saying about the ending though. However I couldn’t help but feeling that, sadly, it is a very realistic ending. It might could have used about a 100 or so more pages though. Nice honest review!
~Briana 😀
Sorry you didn’t like it! Good review 🙂
-Briana
I’ve been seeing mixed reviews on this book. It looks good. I’ll check it out.Great review 😀