All You Get Is Me - Character Interview With Storm

Everybody, welcome Storm!

You were raised in a strict Christian home, when did you start to stray from your parents ideals?
Near as I can remember, I was about ten. My parents put me in Sunday school and I soon realized that no one was paying that much attention. Me and Ricky Crawford would slip out the back door and smoke cigarettes in the graveyard. I showed him my underpants. He wanted to see my breasts but I wouldn't let him because I was actually stuffing my training bra at the time.

Have your parents basically thrown in the towel or do they think you are going through a rebellious stage that you will outgrow?
Well, I am going through the longest rebellious period known to man so I have to give them credit for sticking with the program. They still pray for me. But then they also pray for complete strangers.

What are your plans after high school?
Thanks for reminding me, I need to make a plan.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
The palm reader at the fair said I would be dead but she might be a big fake. I guess I see myself designing clothes for famous people and married to someone fabulous from New York who can get me out of this dump.

Be honest, what was your first impression of Roar?
Oh, man, is she lucky I came along. She was a babe in the woods. She knew nothing about how to survive in the harsh world that is rural High School. Lucky for her, I was on hiatus from a formerly popular group of girls who went all skank on me and I was in the market for a new BFF. I swooped in and rescued her, I mean, she was just standing there in the halls, looking lost. I think she was even wearing clogs.

Roar's father doesn't exactly "approve" of some of your choices. Why do you think he lets you hang out with his very obedient daughter?
Well, most of the time he doesn't know. He's so busy saving the world and growing shit. But wait, lets back up.."Obedient?" since when? Roar isn't the good girl she pretends to be. She's been hanging out with Forest...uh...the SON of the WOMAN who KILLED SYLVIA. They spend a lot of time alone together....a LOT, and he's from LA, where NO ONE is a virgin. Roar pretty much does whatever she wants. She doesn't even have a mom and like I said, her dad's totally tuned out. Anyway, if her dad took the time to know me, I think he'd see that I'm the best thing that ever happened to Roar. I mean, before me she had no life at all.

Do you think Roar and Forest can endure a long distance relationship?
I dunno. They're all serious. It's nauseating, frankly.

Date the drummer or the lead singer?
Lead singer..d'uh.

L.A. or New York?
New York for the fashion. LA for Hollywood.

Sex Pistols or The Ramones? 
Sex Pistols, wait, The Ramones, yeah, The Ramones.

Red lipstick or fishnet tights?
Can't I have both? Wait, I do have both.

Black boots or red heels?
Again, I have to have both but I also have Black heels and Red Boots, plus those fab. white go-go boots I got from Roar.

You can find out more about Storm and her BFF Roar when you read All You Get Is Me by Yvonne Prinz. 

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Happy Reading!

Review - All You Get Is Me by Yvonne Prinz

All You Get Is Me by Yvonne Prinz
Published December 21st 2010 by HarperCollins Publishers

From the Publisher:
A summer of love, loss, and justice.

Things were complicated enough for Roar, even before her father decided to yank her out of the city and go organic. Suddenly, she’s a farm girl, albeit a reluctant one, selling figs at the farmers’ market and developing her photographs in a ramshackle shed. Caught between a troublemaking sidekick named Storm, a brooding, easy-on-the-eyes L.A. boy, and a father on a human rights crusade that challenges the fabric of the farm community, Roar is going to have to tackle it all—even with dirt under her fingernails and her hair pulled back with a rubber band meant for asparagus.

Review:

Roar, short for Aurora, is adjusting to her new life living on a farm quite well considering she didn't want to move in the first place. It has only been two years since Roar's father moved her from San Francisco to the Middle-of-Nowhere, California. Her father, once a big-time lawyer, decided that a drastic change was needed after Roar's mother disappeared one too many times during a drunken binge. Roar's mother abuses alcohol and would come and go as she pleased. One night, she decided not to come home. That, or she was dead in a ditch somewhere.

Life on a farm is tough for Roar. She wakes at the crack of dawn and has a list of chores that are back breaking. Her father's organic farm is successful, and life is simple until Roar and her father are witnesses to a terrible car accident that kills a Mexican immigrant woman that was married to a local farm worker. A wealthy Caucasian woman was in too much of a hurry and made an illegal pass on a two-lane road. The immigrant was killed, but the baby in the back seat, as well as the Caucasian woman who caused the accident, walked away relatively unharmed. Roar's father decides he can't let the deadly act slide, he talks the worker into filing a wrongful death lawsuit. The town folk are not pleased. They don't exactly believe in equal rights between US citizens and illegal farm workers. Roar is taking the stares and whispers all in stride until she meets Forest, the son of the woman who caused the accident. Just in from L.A. for the summer, Roar is immediately drawn to the boy. Her shock-and-awe BFF Storm keeps pushing her to see the boy, but how would her father feel about her dating the son of a killer? Will he understand that Forest isn't guilty by association? Roar takes a leap, follows her heart, and finds her self having the summer of her life. 

I admit it, the cover art is what me to read this book. Photography is a huge hobby of mine, and that old film camera on the front of the book sucked me right in. This book was an absolute breeze to read. The language is snarky, fun, and full of sarcastic hits that made me smirk. Prinz nailed the teenage voice in this book. Roar and her best friend Storm throw witty quips and comments at each other that I was constantly reminded of my two teenage daughters. Storm is so defiant and outlandish that you can't help laugh out loud at some of her antics. Although Roar appears to be completely opposite of Storm, the two have a strong friendship built on honesty and...a little sarcasm. I looked forward to having Storm enter a scene. I was always excited to see what crazy thing came out of her mouth. I think there should be a companion book just for her. *hint*

Although I really enjoyed this book, I had a few "issues". The continuous use of the word "Mexican" was used to identify everything Hispanic or Latino. I would have like to have seen a little more diversity. There were a few culturally insensitive passages that I found totally unnecessary "dance like a white girl" and "..look like an Amish woman." Different words could have conveyed the same message - "...look like I just stepped out of The Little House on the Prairie" for example. There were a few stereotypes used against Latinos. Remember, even if it is a positive stereotype (smart Asian child, hard working Mexican), they are still stereotypes. I would have liked to have seen these edited out.

Regardless, I was pleasantly surprised by the love story, witty dialogue, the surprising resolution with Roar's mother, and the diversity of characters. I would definitely give this read a try.

3.75 stars