Nice Try, Jane Sinner by Lianne Oelke Published by Clarion Books on January 9th 2018
Pages: 432
Goodreads
The only thing 17-year-old Jane Sinner hates more than failure is pity. After a personal crisis and her subsequent expulsion from high school, she’s going nowhere fast. Jane’s well-meaning parents push her to attend a high school completion program at the nearby Elbow River Community College, and she agrees, on one condition: she gets to move out. Jane tackles her housing problem by signing up for House of Orange, a student-run reality show that is basically Big Brother, but for Elbow River Students. Living away from home, the chance to win a car (used, but whatever), and a campus full of people who don't know what she did in high school… what more could she want? Okay, maybe a family that understands why she’d rather turn to Freud than Jesus to make sense of her life, but she'll settle for fifteen minutes in the proverbial spotlight. As House of Orange grows from a low-budget web series to a local TV show with fans and shoddy T-shirts, Jane finally has the chance to let her cynical, competitive nature thrive. She'll use her growing fan base, and whatever Intro to Psychology can teach her, to prove to the world—or at least viewers of substandard TV—that she has what it takes to win.
We are so incredibly excited to be part of the NICE TRY, JANE SINNER Blog Tour! Special thanks to Rockstar Book Tours, HMH Teen, and Lianne Oelke for having us! Check out Jennzah’s review below, and enter to win a copy of the book for yourself!
Title: NICE TRY JANE SINNER
Author: Lianne Oelke
Pub. Date: January 9, 2018
Publisher: Clarion Books
Pages: 432
Formats: Hardcover, eBook
Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, B&N, iBooks, TBD
The only thing 17-year-old Jane Sinner hates more than failure is pity. After a personal crisis and her subsequent expulsion from high school, she’s going nowhere fast. Jane’s well-meaning parents push her to attend a high school completion program at the nearby Elbow River Community College, and she agrees, on one condition: she gets to move out.
Jane tackles her housing problem by signing up for House of Orange, a student-run reality show that is basically Big Brother, but for Elbow River Students. Living away from home, the chance to win a car (used, but whatever), and a campus full of people who don’t know what she did in high school… what more could she want? Okay, maybe a family that understands why she’d rather turn to Freud than Jesus to make sense of her life, but she’ll settle for fifteen minutes in the proverbial spotlight.
As House of Orange grows from a low-budget web series to a local TV show with fans and shoddy T-shirts, Jane finally has the chance to let her cynical, competitive nature thrive. She’ll use her growing fan base, and whatever Intro to Psychology can teach her, to prove to the world—or at least viewers of substandard TV—that she has what it takes to win.
Lianne lives in Vancouver, BC. A mere three years of working in the film industry has left her far more jaded, bitter, and misanthropic than she could have dreamed possible. Having worked on one too many made-for-TV movies featuring the mild romantic antics of generically attractive white people, she’s taken it upon herself to push back with some pretty substandard stories of her own.
Besides books, her three great passions in life are cats, craft beer, and camping. When she’s not working, Lianne likes to take off, eh in her ‘83 camper van. She maintains a steady hate/ love relationship with hiking, but is always up for exploring British Columbia- whatever it takes to find a nice spot to set up her hammock. Her hammock is her favorite place in the world.
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It isn’t possible to get all my feels down that I have for this book, but I loved this book so entirely. It’s not often I pick up a contemporary and love it, but I read the first four pages and suddenly I was a quarter of the way through.
The book is written from the point of view of Jane Sinner — from her journal. She’s recently dropped out of high school due to an “event” and is struggling to deal with the pressure to “be something” from her highly religious parents. After begrudgingly agreeing to visit the local community college to consider finishing her education — Jane stumbles upon an ad for a YouTube reality show called HOUSE OF ORANGE.
Seeing an opportunity to reinvent herself – Jane applies for the show and eventually embarks on a journey of self discovery, through her relationships with her fellow housemates, challenges the show presents her, and trying to maintain the balance between her family life and her college life. All along the way she has a dry, sarcastic tone, which made everything even more fun to read.
This book touches on issues that I relate to, like depression, guilt, suicide, and atheism/apathy. But it’s written in such a witty, fun, and snarky way that you find yourself sucked in, speeding through the pages.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a fun, yet meaningful read about a girl just trying to find herself. I hope we see more of Jane Sinner in the future.
Enter to win one of 3 copies of NICE TRY, JANE SINNER! US Only!
Don’t forget to visit the other stops on the NICE TRY, JANE SINNER Blog Tour!
Week One:
1/1/2018- Emily Reads Everything– Spotlight
1/2/2018- The Hermit Librarian– Review
1/3/2018- A Dream Within A Dream– Excerpt
1/4/2018- The Bookish Libra– Review
1/5/2018- Tales of the Ravenous Reader– Interview
Week Two:
1/8/2018- The Book Nut– Review
1/9/2018- Margie’s Must Reads– Guest Post
1/10/2018- Book-Keeping– Review
1/11/2018- BookHounds YA– Interview
1/12/2018- JustAddaWord– Review
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