Title: My Crunchy Life

Author: Mia Kerick

Genre: Contemporary, Teen Fiction, Transgender

Length: Novel (180pgs)

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (June 26, 2018)

Heat Level: Low

Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥ 4 1/2 Hearts

Blurb: Every hippie worth his salt fights for a cause, and if sixteen-year-old Kale Oswald wants to call himself a true hippie, he has to do more than look the part. He has to stand for something, so he chooses the local human rights organization… where things don’t go as planned.

Julian Mendez is fresh out of the hospital because he thought swallowing a bottle of pills would be easier than admitting to his mother—and all the kids at school—who he really is and longs to someday live as: a girl named Julia. His medication might stop his body from developing into a man’s, but it won’t make facing his fellow students any easier. Because he plans to move forward with his transition—there was never any other choice.

Sexuality and desire aren’t the only facets of themselves Kale and Julian discover—and struggle with—as they get to know each other through the human rights organization. Some sides of themselves are easier to accept than others, but before they can move on—to friendship and maybe more—they’ll both have to take a hard look at what they want to become.

ISBN-13: 978-1-64080-392-3

Product Link: Harmony Ink | Dreamspinner Press | Amazon US | Amazon UK 

Reviewer: Shorty

Review: My Crunchy Life is about two teens who have very real issues they are struggling through.

Kale is unsure of his sexual identity. He traverses from one thing to the next in search of answers of who he is. He joins REHO (Rights for Every Human Organization) where he meets Julian another teen who is struggling with bullying from a classmate. Julian is a male but feels he’s a female. After his attempted suicide he is firm in his decision to transition and has no doubts.

Hughie is young boy that Kale and his family take in after discovering he is living under a bridge. His mother is not what I would call a mother. Hughie seemed to flounder at times at Kale’s but I did worry every time his mom wanted to see him as he seemed to get almost depressed at those times.

These were serious issues that well fleshed out and written well. I felt the characters pain as the story progressed. Teens will enjoy the feel of this story with it’s sometimes humorous yet series settings. I liked the way the teens had some support with certain things. It broke my heart at the cruel nastiness that Julian and Hughie’s bully delivered to them constantly for a petty reason. I so wanted to hold them and tell them it would all be o.k

Emotional story with very real issues that affect teens today. It’s a message of hope and growth.

Great read.