This Ordinary Life by Jennifer Walkup Find the Author: Website, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads
Published by Inc. on October 1st 2015
Genres: Romance, Young Adult
Purchase links: Amazon
Add to Goodreads
Source: The Fantastic Flying Book Club
Sometimes Hope is the Most Extraordinary Gift of All.
High-school radio host Jasmine Torres's life is full of family dysfunction, but if she can score the internship of her dreams with a New York City radio station, she knows she can turn things around.
That is, until her brother Danny’s latest seizure forces her to miss the interview, and she’s back to the endless loop of missing school for his doctor appointments, picking up the pieces of her mother’s booze-soaked life, and stressing about Danny’s future.
Then she meets Wes. He’s the perfect combination of smart, cute, and funny. He also happens to have epilepsy like her brother. Wes is living a normal life despite his medical issues, which gives Jasmine hope for Danny. But memories of her cheating ex-boyfriend keep her from going on a real date with Wes, no matter how many times he asks her.
Jasmine can’t control everything. Not who wins the internship, not her mother’s addiction, not her brother’s health--not even where her heart will lead her. She wishes she could just have an ordinary life, but maybe what she already has is pretty extraordinary after all.
Amazon paperback – Barnes & Noble – Bookdepository
“Jasmine’s definition of an ideal ordinary day”
I’d like to know how would be Jasmine’s ordinary days if her life was perfect, if she had total control of everything.
An ordinary and perfect day for Jasmine would be a day where nothing went wrong. It would be a day where she got to broadcast on the school radio station. She’d have an amazing theme planned for her broadcast with lots of music and lots of interaction from her adoring listeners. Her mom would be a different type of mom, a real mom, one that is there for Jasmine and Danny when she’s needed, and not one that Jasmine is busy taking care of. Danny would be healthy. He’d go to school and have fun with his friends like a normal little boy and there wouldn’t be even a thought of him having a seizure. And she’d get to spend some time with Wes, of course, doing something fun, some adventure where they were sure to laugh a lot – and maybe fit in a fair amount of kissing, too.
“The research about epilepsy illness to write this book”
This book has the epilepsy topic all around the main character, not only her brother but her love interest suffer from that illness, so I’d like to know how much did the authort learn about it, and how it affect the person who has this desease, but also their family and people around.
Epilepsy is a topic that is near and dear to my heart and my family, as a few members of my family suffer from the disorder. I wanted to write a book that shows a little bit more about epilepsy, but even more importantly, a book that shows that these characters having epilepsy is secondary to them just being regular teens who like to do teen stuff. Epilepsy is a part of their life, but certainly not what defines them.
In terms of research, I live with and care for someone with epilepsy and have other family members who also suffer from the disorder. I have met many families over the years with various epilepsy stories, and have also become active in epilepsy support groups and epilepsy advocacy groups (both local and national). Because of this, I’ve become familiar with so many different types of epilepsy and histories, and have enjoyed talking and working with so many families. Almost all of the epilepsy information in THIS ORDINARY LIFE is based on situations I’ve either personally experienced or seen others experience firsthand. As with many disorders, one epilepsy case is often very different from another as epilepsy can be completely different for different people – even if they have the same *type* of seizures. So while THISORDINARY LIFE is medically accurate, it is in no way meant to be representative of all cases of epilepsy out there.
Leave a Reply