'89 Walls by Katie Pierson

Title: ’89 Walls
Author: Katie Pierson
Publisher: Wise Ink Creative Publishing
Pages: 240
Genre: Young Adult
Format: Paperback

College is not in the cards for Seth. He spends his minimum wage on groceries and fakes happiness to distract his mom from the MS they both know will kill her. It’s agony to carry around a frayed love note for a girl who’s both out of his league and beneath his dignity. 

Quinn’s finishing high school on top. But that cynical, liberal guy in her social studies class makes her doubt her old assumptions. Challenging the rules now, though, would a) squander her last summer at home, b) antagonize her conservative dad, and c) make her a hypocrite.

Seth and Quinn’s passionate new romance takes them both by surprise. They keep it a secret: it’s too early to make plans and too late not to care. But it’s 1989. As politics suddenly get personal, they find themselves fighting bare-fisted for their beliefs—and each other—in the clear light of day.

For More Information

• ’89 Walls is available at Amazon.
• Pick up your copy at Barnes & Noble.
• Discuss this book at PUYB Virtual Book Club at Goodreads.

My Review:

To be quite honest, I'm not a very political person. I have a hard time getting into politics, and well, that may have been the reason I didn't absolutely love this book. I DID enjoy the writing style and the "other stuff" in this book though. The characters seem like the typical mixed up kids that want to pave their own ways, but have lots of differing opinions coming at them from the adults. I can totally relate to that feeling! I remember being a teenager and trying to figure out the world around me and what to believe in. It's a tough time!

I enjoyed the alternating viewpoints from both Seth and Quinn. The glimpses into each character's minds and how their worlds differed was a great way to understand them as they, at first, only orbited each other and then later as they came together in a very sweet yet realistic young relationship. This was my favorite aspect of the book. The relationship isn't perfect, goes through some rather grown up events, and changes both of their lives.

This book is full of intense subjects and interesting conversations between the main characters. Katie Pierson knows how to write "young adults." Her writing is solid, her characters are fleshed out and interesting, and the story itself is pretty good. I knew there would be politics involved in this book, I just wasn't expecting THAT much of the book to surround the subject. My lack of love isn't the book or the writer's fault, but my own. I totally respect what the writer is doing with '89 Walls, and would recommend it to people that DO enjoy a good political chat mixed in with their YA.

Katie Pierson freelances for local non-profits, using her background in public policy and grassroots organizing to overthrow the patriarchy one introverted step at a time. When she’s not writing fiction, she returns library books, makes soup, and tries to be cooler than she really is by hip-hopping at the YMCA. She earned a Bachelor’s Degree in American History from the University of Pennsylvania (where she dabbled briefly in being a College Republican) and a Master’s in American History from the University of Minnesota. She grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska, and now lives with her family in a suburb of Minneapolis. ’89 Walls is her first novel.

For More Information

• Visit Katie Pierson’s website.
• Connect with Katie on Facebook and Twitter.
• Find out more about Katie at Goodreads.
• Visit Katie’s blog.