Book Review: Bold by Julia Swift and Andrew Landis

Summary: 

Sasha, a shy, 15-year-old girl who hides from the world, almost dies in a car crash and vows that if she survives, she will be bold and live life to the fullest. Her new-found courage is tested when she meets Will, who just moved to her Air Force desert town after his journalist father’s disappearance. Will is fascinated by Sasha’s brush with and secret knowledge of death.
Sasha and Will push each other to take chances and break out of their sheltered suburban world. But will they discover there is a difference between being bold and being stupid before they put themselves, or someone else, in danger?

Release Date: July 4, 2013

Age Group: YA

Source: Review copy from authors
Reviewed By: Kelli

Review:

I decided to read Bold because I was intrigued by the premise.  I like the idea of living life to the fullest, and was interested in how Sasha would change her life after her near-death experience. 

Bold was a good, clean read with a great message.  I liked that it's contemporary fiction, but not just a love story.  I appreciated the focus on self-awareness and self-change.  There was a lot of character growth, which is one of my favorite things to read about.

I didn't like the dishonesty between the two main characters, which felt like it went on for too much of the book.  Some of the parts didn't flow well, and I found myself reading certain segments twice to make sure I wasn't missing anything.  Maybe this was due to the fact that Bold is written by two authors instead of one, or maybe it was just me.

Overall, I really did enjoy Bold.  It was different from other books in the genre, with fresh voices, and well-developed characters.  I'd recommend it to fans of contemporary fiction.