My Life Through Books 4: My Inner Teen! Review: Karma Bites

 In the last year I've developed a great love for YA Fiction. It was a genre that I rarely explored until I joined the blogging world. One of my recent favorites was Karma Bites by Stacy Kramer and Valerie Thomas I won this book from the lovely blogger Reading Vacation Melina raved about this book and I was so happy to support her contest and be the winner!  Karma Bites is the story of Franny Flanders. She is dealing with a lot of burden's in her young life: Divorced Parents, Best Friends who aren't talking, and a very New Age Grandmother moving in with her. In the midst of being pushed and pulled in different directions Franny finds a box of Magic Recipes that may be the solution to all her problems. Or NOT! I really enjoyed this book. I can honestly say I probably wouldn't have brought this book. If I would have picked it up n the YA section I probably would have thought it wasn't for me. I would have really missed out. I read Karma Bites in three days. The writing style was very engaging and I really wanted to know how it turned out. There is a wonderful bonus in this book. The recipes that Granny and Fran use in the book are also available for the reader to try! From Blissful Buddhist Bracelets to Naturally Nice Nog. The recipes are an integral part of moving the action of the story along. Stacy and Valerie really capture the teen vernacular and lifestyle in this book. I found myself reminiscing about my own  middle school experiences. Franny experiences many challenges that make here relate able. The most prominent issues is the gulf that has occurred between two of her best friendships. Franny, Joey and Kate had been best friends since grade school. Upon entering middle school Kate and Joey gravitated to different cliques leaving Franny in the middle, constantly straddling the middle bridge between the other two girls world.Franny is such a loyal friend, she spends her days negotiating her visits to both her friends events(Band and Cheer practice) Visits with them alternate weekends and even negotiates equal lunch time.  After a few successful attempts with Her Granny's recipe box Franny tries to find a way to bring her two friends back together. She succeeds but in ways that she couldn't imagine and that cause her significant heartbreak.  it was a great adventure watching Franny dig herself deeper and deeper into trouble. he reliance on the box leads to disastrous results. It takes a gifted Lama and Granny to help Franny sort out the mess she has created and find the strength to settle her problems for herself. There are some wonderful themes in this book that offer wonderful guidance and examples for teens dealing with similar situations. I especially enjoyed their exploration of the Buddhist themes and even the parts about yoga and meditation of which I'm a huge devotee:)  THIS ONE THING There was only one part of this book I had a little discord with is The character Kate's vernacular. She speaks a strange type of Slang that though is uniform throughout the whole book is a little annoying :) I chop that up a little to my Adult nature, but my favorite scenes with Kate were when she wasn't using "Kate Speak" I'm aware that there are a lot of kids who talk in there own vernacular but Kate's speech although unique was a little grating to me. CONCLUSION A very enjoyable read, I'm really looking forward to seeing more from these authors.