Going Forth into War

For the fourth day of our holiday book giveaway bonanza, we’re going to war with Travis and Charlie, Kevlar and Moss. Trish Doller’s debut Something Like Normal was a 2013 YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults and Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers nominee, an NPR Top 100 Young Adult Novels nominee, a 2012 Spring New Voices title, and a Kirkus Review New and Notable Books for Teens title for June 2012. The Horn Book praised it thusly:

Doller’s debut novel effectively captures the haunted and hallucinatory feeling of a damaged soldier returning home, a nineteen-year-old who says he’s “having trouble even picturing a future with me in it.” Travis is a likable guide to his personal hell, and the characters in his orbit are well drawn and believable. His voice is strong, even when his belief in himself is not. When Travis reunites with Harper Gray, a girl who has hated him since he started an ugly rumor in middle school that ruined her reputation, he is drawn to her, “all green eyes and tousled hair,” and the tentative relationship that ensues may just ensure some kind of a new normal for Travis. Her support and shy love, including nudging him to see a therapist, may help Travis to feel a bit more whole and stop feeling like a “Travis Stephenson-shaped space that needs to be filled in.”

Today’s winner will receive an ARC of Something Like Normal, and a crush on Travis. Or Harper. Possibly both. You’ll also get a download code for the song “Bullet” by Matt Kearney, which is on the Something Like Normal playlist. I can’t help but think of Travis every time I hear this song.

Enter to win!