Searching for Normal (Riverbend Friends) by C.J. Darlington

Searching for Normal (Riverbend Friends) Reviews

• 
  Ry

  I need to read the rest!!! XD This was just as great as the first! (i'm horrible at writing reviews for books... XD)
  Spiritual: Church. One girl feels like got doesn't care about her or something.
  Language: Maybe a few words.
  Romance: None... Well, talks about being pregnant before marriage.
  Violence: Car crash mentioned. Talks about not caring if she gets run over by a truck (I think. I may be wrong). Animal abuse.
  Other: Nothing.
  
  AWESOME book!!!!!!!
• 
  Hannah:)

  slow at times... the ending was sweet tho
  rating - 2.5 stars
• 
  T.K. {Genie in a Novel}

  This book had me filled with so many different emotions that I couldn’t process them all at once. I felt everything for Shay and her situation because I can’t even imagine going through what she did at her age.
  
  Shay is mostly a relatable character for me, in that she’s introverted and prefers to curl up with a good book rather than going out and being around people. However, she has a few friends to pull her out of herself once in a while (I did too) and that’s a good thing, especially for her. Shay’s a bit more shy and reserved, and even wary about her friendship with Tessa, Izzy, and Amelia. After all, she’s still new to Riverbend and has a bit of a past going for her, so she tries her best to hide it, all while dealing with the still-fresh loss of her adoptive dad, the possibility of meeting her biological father, and bullies.
  
  “And it’s not like I assumed Christians were immune to mistakes. We were all on an even playing field when it came to sin, but it was different when it was your mom."
  
  I have to say that Shay’s a pretty strong character. I did spend a lot of time going “just tell someone!” when it came to her dealing with having bullies who were threatening to spill her secret around school, but you know that’s never what happens at first, even in real life. She even struggled with her faith a bit, not in that she turned away from God or anything, but she felt like there was a wall between her and God, which made it hard for her to pray over her situation at times. I immediately related to that because I’ve been there more than once, and I think every Christian goes through those times, so it was good to see that the author portrayed that in Shay’s character. The good thing was that Shay had a group of Christian friends to pray for her when she couldn’t herself.
  
  I’m a little upset that the injustice of a couple parts of this book weren’t brought to, well, justice and the people basically got away with what they did, but I guess that’s also realistic to how life works. What I did like was that even though Shay’s bullies got away with a few things they did, Shay learned to stand up to them and her friends were there to back her up.
  
  As it is with any book I loved, I have so much more to say but I don’t want to give anything away. I will say there were moments I nearly cried (which involved a dog – no worries, he didn’t die), and that alone makes me love a book because if I can feel that hard for a book then you know it’s good. I also realized after reading The Me You See that I’m reading this series a bit out of order, but oh well… it happens.
  
  Rating: 4.75/5 stars
• 
  Josh Olds

  Shay Mitchell’s life has fallen apart. The trauma of losing your mother before you ever knew her really never goes away, but Shay and her dad had built a life for themselves together. Then he died and she was shipped off her grandparents’, who were going through their own loss. Those competing losses didn’t work out well and they’d kicked her out and sent her to her aunt’s. And that’s where Searching for Normal begins.
  
  Shay is an orphan, living with an aunt she doesn’t really know, kicked out by grandparents who don’t seem to love her, not able to pursue her favorite hobby, dealing with a new city, a new school, trying to make new friends, and avoid new bullies. It’s all a bit overwhelming.
  
  As the story progresses, Shay finds healing in a new group of friends even as she struggles to adapt and deal with adversity. With a few shock revelations along the way, Searching for Normal takes readers on a character-driven, intensely-relational look at finding one’s identity and the importance of community.
  
  Writing for a younger YA audience, C.J. Darlington manages to telegraph this message clearly while still allowing it to rise organically from the story. At times, this requires Shay to seem wise beyond her years—such as when she notices her grandparent’s coldness toward her stems from the loss of their son, her dad. At other times, it requires her to seem more childish than normal. Indeed, for much of the book I assumed that Shay was twelve or thirteen and not fifteen.
  
  The struggle with any book written to a young audience that deals with deeply complex and messy themes is the ability to approach these themes appropriately, giving them their due weight while also acknowledging the age of the reader. It’s no different in Searching for Normal. Shay is dealing with the loss of both parents, the lovelessness of her grandparents, and issues surrounding adoption (to say any more would be to ruin a twist).
  
  Any one of these would make material enough for a whole novel. By adding in so many issues, Darlington isn’t able to talk deeply about any of them. The adoption storyline—something dear to my heart, as I have two adopted children—was particularly rushed and, while providing the book with its twist, unnecessary to the plot.
  
  The book’s heart is how Shay finds a new normal in her group of friends, who take her into their group and provide her with emotional support throughout the twists and turns. It’s this piece of the novel, this relational core—along with Shay’s developing relationship with her aunt—that makes the book worth reading.
  
  Overall, Searching for Normal is a fairly typical, good quality young YA book. If you have a younger girl who loves horses, this book might stand out to them in particular. Younger YA fiction is sometimes a forgotten-about segment in Christian fiction and I’m happy to see Darlington filling that role here.
  
• 
  Joy

  In Searching for Normal, Shay is a quiet girl and keeps all her secrets to her self, not even sharing them with her own close friends!! But, when Shay find out who her father really is (biological father she was adopted by her step father) she HAS to tell her friends!! But, her aunt doesn't want to her to be disappointed when she goes to watch a horse show and he's there! With bullies named (Kelsey and Jade), drama class, drama in general, and a strong love for her foster puppy what could go wrong? I would recommend this book to mainly girls ages 13-18.
• 
  Iris Miller

  Absolutely amazing. I confess I cried at several points.
• 
  Emma

  This is the second book in the Riverbend Friends series told by various authors. Searching For Normal follows Shay's story.
  
  Six months ago, Shay's adopted dad died. She was living with her grandparents until she made one mistake. That one mistake
  not only made her grandparents no longer want her but it's now hanging over her new life in Riverbend.
  Now she's living with her aunt in an apartment over a bookstore and going to a new school, living a life where she can't
  seem to find normal. On top of her failure in drama class and keeping her new friends at a distance, she's dealing with
  bullies who know her secret.
  Just when she's giving up on normal, she learns the truth about her biological father. The father who could change
  everything about her life. She dreams of family and security. When she has the chance to meet him, she takes it.
  Will he be the father who changes her life forever and give her the normal she's searching for?
  
  I liked this second book in the series, mainly because I like the characters a lot!
  I really liked Shay's character, and really liked getting inside her head. In REAL, NOT PERFECT, we didn't know much about
  her which intrigued me. I could relate to her in a lot of ways. She's the quiet, introverted girl of her friend group which
  I strongly relate to. Her struggles with everything felt authentic and real, and I really sympathized with her. I loved
  that she was a bookworm and liked that she wasn't obsessed with boys. A unique quality in this genre!
  I liked Tessa even more in this book. It was neat seeing her from someone else's POV after being in her head in the first
  book. It was like I knew the behind the scenes of her life, but seeing her from Shay's perspective was cool.
  I love Izzy, she's awesome! I can't wait for her story. And although Amelia still isn't my favorite, I'm excited for her
  story.
  The bullies and her Grams were pretty infuriating. But I liked her aunt a lot! Oh, and the greyhound Stanley, of course.
  
  Like the first book, I liked that this book focused on friendships rather than relationships with a boy. It's a unique
  and nice change from typical YA contemporaries.
  I liked watching the girls grow closer and open up. And I love how supportive they are of one another. But
  they're not altogether perfect. They're a fun friend group for sure!
  
  The struggles Shay faces with her faith, particularly not understanding why things happened the way they did, was really
  relatable. And the feelings of shame she felt at admitting her anger and frustration was something I could identify with.
  
  Also, how cool would it be to live above a bookstore? And your aunt owns it? You can basically get a book anytime you want
  one... awesomeee. Also being around for author signings and all that stuff. I wouldn't choose to because I'm not a city
  girl but it still sounded like a booklovers dream!
  
  I actually teared up a few times, especially at the ending. It was bittersweet.
  
  Overall, this was a very quick read which I liked! It focused on a lot of relatable topics, especially for highschoolers
  and Christian teens. It deals with being bullied, struggling with school classes, and being open to friendship.
  It talks about Shay's struggles with her relationship with God, her questions and confusion in a real way.
  
  I'm looking forward to Izzy's story in the next in this series!
  
  *I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for a review. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.
• 
  Jessica Higgins

  The second book in the Riverbend Friends series picks up where the first left off, but now readers get to focus on Shay and see her story. A great YA/Coming of age story that is perfect for young adult readers.
  
  The second book in the Riverbend Friends series focuses on the life of Shay Mitchell. Her life changed forever six months ago when she came to live with her aunt and started a new school that brought about her being bullied. Living with her Aunt Laura above a bookstore is nice, but none of her new friends know the real reason she came to live with her aunt and what happened in her past that is causing her to be bullied. While living with her aunt, Shay learns the truth about her biological father and rushes at the chance to meet him. All she wants is a normal family life and to be happy without all the bad stuff hanging over her. But what she wishes for and how she thinks it will happen might be the farthest thing from a happy normal life.
  
  With this second book in the Riverbend Friends series, I am falling in love with these four friends and the way these books are written to young adults, especially young girl readers. For me, this is the perfect series because it isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, it shows these girls going through hard things and the way they lean on each other and find a deeper relationship with God through the problems they are facing. They go through hard things, but they realize that even through bad, good things come out of it, like the new friendships they find with each other. I think that is one of the most important things, especially now, finding a few good friends you can trust and rely on through the hard times makes getting through those hard times a little bit easier.
  
  Shay and her story picked up where the first book left off but also gives readers some good back story as to what happened to her and makes the first book even better because I was able to reflect on why she reacted the way she did to some of what happened in that book. I liked this character and how she handled what happened to her, her aunt was one of my favorite characters with her taking Shay in and dealing with how she was treated by both family and school issues. I would recommend reading the first in the series with this one, it could be read after but in my opinion to get the most out of the series go in order. Young girls will be the target audience for this one and parents can enjoy the fact that it is a good story that is clean and no questionable content.
  
  I received a complimentary copy of this title from the publisher. The views and opinions expressed within are my own.
  
• 
  Sarah Creeley

  This is the second book in the Riverbend Friends series. This book deals with adoption, death of a loved one, and anger. It's a great series, but it can be a standalone. I love how the books have great discussion points in them, but they're fun to read. Since it's a more modern book, it does include texting and Instagram, which is a plus for many teens. I highly recommend this book and this series.
• 
  Meagan

  This may actually be my favorite in the series. I loved all the discussions about books, partial setting in a bookshop, everything books! And horses…I loved all things horses growing up, and this brought back so many memories.
  
  Really a solid installment that thoroughly developed every character and furthered the foursome’s bond. Loved it.
• 
  Jennie Webb

  This is the 2nd book in this series, and I am loving the series! I feel like these books deal with issues that are relevant for teens today. I really love the main character of this story too, Shay. She really seems like a very real person to me--great job by the author!! Plus, I love the dog, Stanley! And, of course, Aunt Laura, and the bookstore, because I work in a bookstore myself. ;)
  
• 
  Deena

  I cried through most of this one. And kept wanting to hug the characters. And to punch a few, too!
• 
  Rachel Reads

  Really good. Sweet and short. Can’t wait to read the other books
• 
  Four Puddles In The Rain

  This book is great! A must-read if you liked the first one.