The Snowball Effect by Holly Nicole Hoxter

Summary:

18-year-old Lainey Pike can tell you everything you need to know about the people in her family just by telling you how they died. Her reckless stepfather drove his motorcycle off the highway and caused the biggest traffic jam in years. Her long-suffering grandmother lived through cancer and a heart attack before finally succumbing to a stroke. And Lainey's mother, still devastated over her husband's death, hung herself in the basement just days after Lainey's high school graduation. Now Lainey's five-year-old brother is an orphan and her estranged older sister moves back home to act as his guardian. Dealing with her brother has always been a struggle, but sharing the responsibility with her sister is proving to be just as challenging.

Lainey knows that this is all her mother's fault, but she also knows that she eventually has to move out of the "anger" phase of the grieving process. What she can't figure out, though, is how to make peace with a dead woman.
 
Review:

I seriously just LOVED The Snowball Effect so much that I feel that there's not a good enough word out there to express just how much I enjoyed it.

I'm not exactly sure why I specifically liked it so much. Since, there was a few flaws to it such as how the story kind of jumped around a lot. Though, by the end all the flaws came together with the perfections and formed a fabulously told story.

One of my favorite parts of The Snowball Effect was how unique yet real it was. I mean who hasn't lost a loved one, let alone three in one year. Yeah, I doubt a lot of you haven't, so that's just one tiny thing among others that teens can relate to with Lainey. Since, The Snowball Effect is basically her story of coming to terms with the lives of her lost ones all while moving on, forming a better life for herself in the process even when she screws it up at times. Plus, I adored Riley simply because he was so sweet and loving towards Lainey even when she was acting like a bitch to him. Oh, and I loved how Vallery, Lainey, and Collin had formed their own little dysfunctional family by the end.
 
Further more, Holly's writing flowed extremely well and she certainly has the talent to form a fantastic story because of her ability of making a sad story hysterically funny at times but moving at others. It just shows what great of author she is and gives you a taste at what’s to come over the upcoming years.
Overall, The Snowball Effect is one of those books that will leave you with a goofy smile on your face at the end, leaving me to highly suggest it to all of you teens (and adults!) out there.

Oh, and because I know there's some Sarah Dessen lovers out there who read this blog, The Snowball Effect actually reminded me of something Sarah would write several times. :)

Grade: A+!
 
The Snowball Effect will be realeased March 23, 2010!
 
This review was brought to you bescause of a little site called the 1 ARC Tours. You should check it out sometime! =)