Does that mean that I was in a thing with an older guy? Nope, it means I get where this character is coming from. Real life is not the rich guy sweeping in with his red room. This story is more real life. It’s dark. It’s dirty. Life ain’t always pretty.

The story is told in quite a few voices along with Wavy and Kellen's from their own perspectives which was easy to follow along with all the characters and the storyline. Allowing us to see that everyone has their own views and how it is perceived and how it ultimately effects them. When she first brings Wavy home she realizes how very different her granddaughter is, but she accepts Wavy for who she is and they start to forge a tight bond. I LOVED her grandmother. Sadly, Wavy isn't with Grandma for very long. As a book that seems intent on legitimizing the relationship between Wavy and Kellen and calling it a love story, it gets zero stars. The author missed the opportunity to take this book in an entirely different direction in the end, but did not. She missed an opportunity to advocate for abused children but instead chose to legitimize a sexual relationship between a child and an adult. Leslie’s face fell when she saw our cousin, but I wasn’t disappointed. As soon as my mother opened the door, Wavy stepped in and surveyed her new home with a bottomless look I would grow to love, but that would eventually drive my mother to despair. Her eyes were dark, but not brown. Grey? Green? Blue? You couldn’t really tell. Just dark and full of a long view of the world. Her eyelashes and eyebrows were translucent, to match her hair. Silver-blond, it clung to her head and ran trails of water off her shoulders onto the entryway tile.

Bryn Greenwood: Because I knew quite a bit about that life, it was easy for me to place the events within the meth culture of the 70s and 80s. Some of the events and people in the book are the product of my personal experiences, but there are no direct correlations. Liam is nothing like my father, and Val is not my mother. Did I know some people who were a bit like Butch and Dee and Sandy? Yes, but I don’t think any of the actual people I know would recognize themselves in the borrowed traits of my characters. ALL THE UGLY AND WONDERFUL THINGS is a romance between a twenty-four-year-old man and a thirteen-year-old girl. Wavy is the daughter of abusive, mentally ill meth dealers. She's shunted from home from home for a while, from a grandmother who loves her but dies, to an aunt who doesn't love her and is afraid of the influence Wavy will have over her own girls, before being returned to her completely unfit parents. Speaking of Jonah... he recently relaunched his Taco App, with 50% of proceeds going to a different charity each month that supports BIPOC and immigrants in L.A. She grows up with Kellan at her side, he protects her, takes care of her house, goes to school. Their relationship changes over time, but something bad happens in their lives and puts it upside down. Kellan is one of the only people that Wavy can bring herself to say any words too. They talk about the stars and he just completely understands her.

Wavy is the daughter of a violent man, womanizer and drug dealer, and a drug addicted mother with deep emotional, existential and psychological problems, who transmits to her daughter her fears regarding food and germs. After all, it's just a story. To me, it was captivating. The book is written very well and I loved it. I'm delighted to have discovered this author and I'm looking forward to reading more. I'll leave it at that. :) LOVE......( unfortunately/fortunately) Inappropriate situations. It's the way it is....and the it isn't. My mother’s eyes bulged. “I—I—I.” She couldn’t get a word out and even Dad looked stunned. The silent ghost girl could speak in complete sentences.A raw, real, and painfully thought provoking novel. You can tell the Author really poured her heart and soul into this book.

I enjoyed the writing and was enthralled with the story, but man oh man - the subject matter was tough! I cannot say that I would recommend this to someone because I kind of worry what they would think I thought of them if THIS is the book I thought they would like. If we could give this more than five stars we most definitely would. But, since we can't this gets another five ***** sparkly stars from me! My sister, Brenda and I decided to do another sister read and this time around we chose ALL THE UGLY AND WONDERFUL THINGS by BRYN GREENWOOD. What an extremely good choice we made in reading this one together. This is by far the best book we have read in quite some time and we have read some pretty good books lately.Do you sympathize with Amy's point of view? Did you ever do something you considered risky because you were afraid of missing out? There was only one thing that was sorta wonky for me in this book and honestly it’s not a biggie because I didn’t even notice until I was half-way though the book. The time period was the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. I don’t remember meth being the drug of choice during that time period. See the thing is…My dad was a drug dealer during that time period. I think this book got into my heart and head so much because some of my past was similar to Wavy’s. I remember being at school and the police officer’s bringing in some drug paraphernalia and it being some of my dad’s stuff. Raids and a fear of the police were nothing new at that house. (Relax-my dad served his time later and my family went even more nuts into religion-but that’s a whole nuther story) My family is a total Jerry Springer wet dream.

Bryn Greenwood: Read as many books as you can. Reread the ones you love most until you understand why you love them. Then write the things you feel most passionately about.At the heart of this book is a love story between a child and a man. Wavy meets Kellan when she’s about 8. He’s 24. Kellan starts out as a protector — sort of friend but almost family. As Wavy gets older and becomes a teenager, their relationship takes a turn it shouldn’t. Their relationship becomes more boyfriend and girlfriend. I couldn’t stomach this. We have 8 read-alikes for All the Ugly and Wonderful Things, but non-members are limited to two results. To see the complete list of this book's read-alikes, you need to be a member. Yes it did. I never thought before that a 13 year old should have the ABILITY to consent. I make the exception for Wavy. I have a friend who is angry over her 18 year old wanting bodily sovereignty. The 18 year old is a foster child and my friend... - celiap