Rae by Chelsea Rae Swiggett

Rae
Chelsea Rae Swiggett
Pulisher: HCI Teens
Release Date: August 2, 2010
Pages: 168

Rating: 5 stars

When you're fourteen and trying to deal with the highs, lows, traumas, and humiliations that go along with being a high school freshman, having severe anxiety can become all consuming. Chelsea Rae Swiggett's anxiety has affected every area of her life—school, family, friendships, and romance—ultimately pushing her to lose her voice, withdrawal from everyday life and school, and develop an eating disorder.

The sounds of planes flying overhead could spark a panic attack and something as simple as being called on in class could push her over the edge, convinced that everyone was judging her, mocking her. Faking sickness so she could stay home became her only solution, since she'd rather do anything than face the reality of what happened behind the school's double doors. Rae tells a story all-too-many teens today relate to—what it feels like to see the world through a lens of constant debilitating fear, anxiety, and stress.

I loved this book. I truely did. Parts made me so angry and others made me want to cry. I really could connect with, and on a deeper level than just connecting with the book, as I suffer from anxiety and I could see aspects of myself throughout the entire book. It really makes you realize you are not alone in the world. Chelsea is so brave to share her story with the world.

Rae is so beautifully written. I really hope that Ms. Swiggett writes more books in the future, as she has a voice that was so enticing. Reading her story, so many emotions came to pass. When she'd talk about certain events, I'd get so angry at some of the people and just want to yell at them, where others I just downright started crying at the fact people could be so horrible.

Thank you Chelsea for sharing your story. I think this is the kind of book you could hand to a girl who suffers from anxiety to read, and empower her and realize that she isn't alone. People can be mean, and that's the truth, but if we all band together, we can fight back. Rae is that book.

Blog Tour - Louder Than Words: Alexis

Louder Than Words: Alexis
Alexis Singer edited by Deborah Reber
Publisher: Health Communications, Incorporated
Release Date: August 2nd, 2010

Rating: 5 stars

At the age of sixteen, Alexis Singer was solicited by, manipulated by, and eventually became involved with a married thirty-seven-year-old man over the Internet. He coerced her into having cybersex with him and sending him explicit photos of herself.

In her debut memoir, Alexis Singer describes how she, a bright student at an arts school in Pittsburgh, first encountered an older man on a message board and how he posed as a friend and father figure who could support and advise her when her own father was physically and emotionally absent. Over the course of a year of online communication, Alexis became emotionally connected to and dependent on this man, whom she had never met. Alexis is the heart-stopping and raw account of Alexis's Internet affair, the turmoil and confusion that plagued her as she became more and more attached through her cyber encounters, and the dark details that ultimately led her to end the relationship. Alexis's recovery from the collateral damage of an affair gone awry continues to this day.

Wow. That is really all you can say when you finish Alexis. When you read her story, it really does just suck you in. It's horrifying that there is such people in the world. Alexis is a brilliantly-written debut from a talented young writer I hope we see more from in the future!

Reading Alexis's story brings me back several years. A girl I used to be friends with went through something somewhat similar. She had met a guy on an online game called Tibia. She had met this guy randomly while playing the game. She talked to him all the time for hours, she'd be sneaking in her basement, hoping her grandparents wouldn't find out. This guy said he lived in New York, and she sent pictures in the mail to him of herself. They also exchanged phone numbers. One day, I got a call from her. She was panicking. This guy, who claimed to live in New York, had called her grandpa and threatened to kill him. They traced the number back to Puerto Rico. Her parents wanted to know where he had gotten the number, and she said it was my "boyfriend". She called me to tell me she had told her grandparents and mom this. I told her No, I wasn't going to take the blame. I had been concerned from the beginning about this. My mom had happened to be listening in the at the time, and she told my friend that I would not be taking the blame. Luckily that one incident was the final one and nothing followed. While Alexis's story is something more traumatizing, horrible, and more permanent, this incident was something that made me connect more with her story. It hurts to think about the fact that those people are out in the world.

Alexis made me so angry at times. I hated this man. The thing about her story is its real, and that's the horrifying thing. In a fiction book when something horrible happens, sure you get upset, but no one was actually hurt in it. Her story is something completely different. This book will give you the creeps, but in a good way. I was discussing with Nicole about the book, and our words were the same. How it gives you the chills and you get the creeps, but they're good creeps. It is so well written and has a great style of writing that you like reading it despite the horror the pages contain.

About the author:

Alexis Singer is from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. At 19, she is about to begin her junior year at Chatham University where she studies political science and women’s studies. She attended the Pittsburgh High School for Creative and Performing Arts as a writer. She is a writer, a read, an activist, a feminist, and an avid home cook. Her heroes include AlicePaul, Conan O’Brian, and her mother.

Deborah Reber, editor of the Louder Than Words memoirs, is a bestselling author of nonfiction books for teens, including Chill and In Their Shoes. Visit her popular blog for girls, Smart Girls Know

For more information on the Louder Than Words books here: http://www.louderthanwordsbooks.com/

Check out TLC Book Tours for more stops for all three of the Louder Than Words books: Alexis, Rae, and Hannah.