20190106_144928.jpgHappy Monday!  Today I have a review and giveaway of The Martin Chronicles, now available from Grand Central Publishing, so please make sure to read all the way to the bottom to check it all out! P.S. I’ve been without home internet all weekend. Wow, does that ever mess with blogging plans!

My Thoughts:

A coming-of-age novel always gives me a sense of nostalgia, especially when set in a time period of which I’m familiar. The Martin Chronicles is set in 1980s New York. 

Martin “Marty” Kelso is eleven years old, and life is changing quickly. He feels differently about girls, is confused by them, and he’s no longer sure how to act. 

Times are different with his friends, too. Playing cops and robbers is losing its appeal, and one day, on their walk to school, he’s in a group of children who are attacked. 

Marty is forced to grow up and feel more prepared for the real world. And while the world is opening up and becoming more enticing, it’s also scary as heck. 

Following Marty from ages eleven to seventeen, we experience his firsts right along with him, and relive our own firsts. That nostalgia brings emotions, and I found The Martin Chronicles poignant, funny, and honest. I never tire of these types of stories because there’s always something to relate to.

Fried writes in a subtle and engaging style that added to the simple profundity. Each chapter has the feel of its own story, but each is a building block in Marty’s road to adulthood. 

Overall, I found The Martin Chronicles memorable and relatable with a heart of gold.

Thanks to Grand Central Publishing for the complimentary copy. All opinions are my own. 

Synopsis:

A powerful and heartfelt novel that follows one boy as he grows up in 1980s Manhattan, bringing the magic of first experiences and the brutal truth of hard lessons to life on the page.

In sixth grade, eleven-year-old Martin Kelso’s world starts to change. Girls get under his skin in ways he never noticed before. Even his cousin Evie, who taught him the right way to eat pizza and how to catch tadpoles, has grown wild, unpredictable, and mysterious. Mugger was once just a game played by Marty and his friends, but now real muggers are targeting them on their way to school. Marty used to feel secure in his own skin; but as he grows up and life changes too quickly around him, it becomes increasingly difficult for him to choose right over wrong-or to even tell the difference between the two.

This moving debut perfectly captures the intense emotion, humor, and earnestness of young adulthood as Marty ages from eleven to seventeen and navigates a series of life-changing firsts: first kiss, first enemy, first loss, and ultimately, his first awareness that the world is not as simple or safe a place as he had once imagined.

*****Book Giveaway*****

Simple entry! For a chance to win a physical copy of The Martin Chronicles, please make sure you are following my blog and comment below! You must be a resident of the United States or Canada to enter, per the publisher. Thanks to Grand Central Publishing for sponsoring the giveaway! The book will be mailed by the publisher to the randomly chosen winner. Good luck and thanks for entering!

I’m running two giveaways, and for a second chance to win the book, please visit my instagram page here (giveaway will be posted on Instagram later today): GIVEAWAY on Bookstagram (another chance to win!).

Have you read The Martin Chronicles, or is it on your TBR? Happy Reading! ~ Jennifer THR