{"id":5593,"date":"2013-10-08T11:57:51","date_gmt":"2013-10-08T15:57:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sistahsontheshelf.com\/?p=5593"},"modified":"2020-05-07T20:58:33","modified_gmt":"2020-05-08T00:58:33","slug":"brooklyns-journey-by-coffey-brown-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sistahsontheshelf.com\/?p=5593","title":{"rendered":"BrookLyn’s Journey by Coffey Brown"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>Publisher\/Date:<\/b> CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, June 2012
\nGenre(s):<\/b> Young Adult, Coming of Age, Identity
\nPages:<\/b> 258
\nWebsite:<\/b> http:\/\/www.coffeybrownbooks.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Rating:<\/strong> \"★\"\"★\"\"★\"\"☆\"\"☆\" <\/p><\/b><\/p>\n

There were times reading BROOKLYN\u2019S JOURNEY<\/i><\/b> by Coffey Brown I didn\u2019t quite know what to feel.<\/p>\n

On one hand, it\u2019s an affecting story about 18-year-old BrookLynn Scott living an abusive home. On the other hand, the unlikely love story surrounding her and Gabriella Michaels is almost like an fanciful fairy tale, because Gabby saves her in a way BrookLyn never thought possible \u2013 with unconditional love.<\/p>\n

Growing up with a belt-swinging father and a snitch of a mother caring only to save herself, Brooklyn is trapped in her own house. She is the baby of the family, her brother and sisters long escaped, and her goal is to excel in high school so she can attend college far away from her parents. Since she wasn\u2019t allowed out except to go to school or church, no parties and definitely no boys, her plan seemed attainable.<\/p>\n

It also seems like fate when she runs into Gabby, and her church mate uses this chance to finally be with dream girl BrookLyn. As Gabby confesses her affection for the quiet girl in the choir and asks for her trust, BrookLyn imagines a life free of pain. With an inheritance and her own home at 19, Gabby woos BrookLyn with promises of love, protection and most of all, normal teenage experiences. In every step of their relationship, it appears impossible that BrookLyn has found someone who will love her, scars and all, but she holds on tight to this impossibility \u2013 because if not, what else does she have left?<\/p>\n

I applaud Brown for the message she sends with BrookLyn\u2019s Journey<\/i>, because the questioning BrookLyn has about her sexuality is authentic to what some teenagers face when they\u2019ve been sheltered and discover their first attraction to the same sex. Her portrayal of the horrid emotions of child emotional and physical abuse, as unfortunate as it sounds, was too real. I wanted BrookLyn to leave this house or to have someone, her older siblings especially, to take her away from her awful excuse for parents. No one would save the studious girl who missed days at school so her bruises wouldn’t be noticed.<\/p>\n

Yet when that someone comes in the form of Gabby, I was skeptical at first. With everything BrookLyn’s been through, I didn’t want to see her hurt again, and I couldn\u2019t wrap my mind around how quickly they fell for each other, more so Gabby. She is totally in love with BrookLyn, and I think being in her situation, BrookLyn was grabbing on to any life preserve she could find.<\/p>\n

But the one thing I love about BrookLyn is that she\u2019s resilient; she may not know what love is, but she surely knows what love isn\u2019t. And that\u2019s what she sees in Gabby \u2013 someone who won\u2019t hurt her again. That kind of love is powerful, and I wish every child, neglected or not, has someone \u2013 whether a parent, teacher, aunt or uncle, best friend or significant other \u2013 she can receive that kind of love from.<\/p>\n

There are other things about BrookLyn\u2019s Journey<\/i> \u2013 the sometimes awkward dialogue, the plausibility of the love affair \u2013 that I question, but Brown does a decent job giving BrookLyn a voice that teenagers will undoubtedly relate to and cheer for.<\/p>\n

Reviewed October 2013<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Publisher\/Date: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, June 2012 Genre(s): Young Adult, Coming of Age, Identity Pages: 258 Website: http:\/\/www.coffeybrownbooks.com There were times reading BROOKLYN\u2019S JOURNEY by Coffey Brown I didn\u2019t quite know what to feel. On one hand, it\u2019s an affecting story about 18-year-old BrookLynn Scott living an abusive home. On the other hand, the unlikely […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"NEW SOTS REVIEW: BrookLyn's Journey by Coffey Brown http:\/\/wp.me\/p3r7qG-1sd @coffeybrown1 #NationalComingOutDay"},"categories":[4,13],"tags":[37,55,132,136,195,207,242,361,376,534],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sistahsontheshelf.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5593"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sistahsontheshelf.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sistahsontheshelf.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sistahsontheshelf.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sistahsontheshelf.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5593"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.sistahsontheshelf.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5593\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7175,"href":"http:\/\/www.sistahsontheshelf.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5593\/revisions\/7175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sistahsontheshelf.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sistahsontheshelf.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sistahsontheshelf.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}