I'm posting my review of The Jelly Bean Crisis by Jolene Stockman as a part of the AToMR blog tour.
From goodreads
A total meltdown. The whole school watching. Now Poppy’s an ex-straight-A with no Plan B.
When Poppy Johnson throws away a full scholarship to Columbia, she can only blame the jelly beans. The yucky green ones? Midnight cram sessions and Saturday’s spent studying. The delicious red? The family legacy: Columbia, and a future in finance. Except now it’s starting to look like Poppy’s jelly bean theory is wrong. School has been her life until, but maybe it’s time to start living now.
Poppy has thirty days to try a new life. No school, no studying. Just jumping into every possible world. Thirty days to find her passion, her path, and maybe even love. The Jelly Bean Crisis is officially on.
When Poppy Johnson throws away a full scholarship to Columbia, she can only blame the jelly beans. The yucky green ones? Midnight cram sessions and Saturday’s spent studying. The delicious red? The family legacy: Columbia, and a future in finance. Except now it’s starting to look like Poppy’s jelly bean theory is wrong. School has been her life until, but maybe it’s time to start living now.
Poppy has thirty days to try a new life. No school, no studying. Just jumping into every possible world. Thirty days to find her passion, her path, and maybe even love. The Jelly Bean Crisis is officially on.
Review
It only takes one look at the totally fun cover of The Jelly Bean Crisis to decide it's just the kind of book you might want to randomly pick up. But reading The Jelly Bean Crisis made me realise that this book was a far cry from the quirky and funny book I thought it would be. Instead, it was scary relatable. I thought the way Poppy did in high school. I think the way Poppy did even now.
Poppy has always applied the Jelly Bean Theory to all aspects of her life. She gets to the green jelly beans first (or the yucky stuff like homework and studying) and then the orange jelly beans and the others until she finally gets to gobble the red ones, the jelly beans she has been drooling over all along. For Poppy, the red jelly beans were supposed to be her family legacy: a finance degree at Columbia. But then she starts to wonder if maybe, her theory of delayed gratification is all wrong.
Is a full scholarship to Columbia really what she wants in life, or is it what her parents want? Were the red jelly beans worth working her way through all of those green beans? Poppy takes a gap month in which she hopes to figure out what she doesn't like and hopefully something she's truly passionate about. All in all,
The Red Jelly Beans:
(or what I LOVED about this book)
- THE MESSAGE. I'm sure there are a lot of people who have no clue about what they want to do with the rest of their life. The Jelly Bean Crisis captures the dilemma amazingly well. I also love how it says that it's okay to get right to the red jelly beans!
- I loved the idea of a gap month! It's not as long and scary as a gap year but is nevertheless filled with possibilities!
- The characters and all of Poppy's experiences. They were so much fun and I felt Poppy's growth was very realistic.
- Poppy's Nana!
The Green Jelly Beans:
(or what I didn't love)
- The romance was a little too formulaic for me even though it was pretty sweet.
The Jelly Bean Crisis is a heartwarming and thought provoking story, especially if you're in the process of figuring out your life!
Click on the banner to check out the rest of the blog tour stops!
| 
And I throw another book onto the TBR pile. :-)
ReplyDeleteI love that you divided your review up into red and green jelly beans - very clever! I think the message was great, too!
ReplyDeleteAww, Ajoop! I didn't even think of dividing my review into red and jelly beans, so I ADORE your review! <3 Hun, you always know how to write the most creative reviews ever! <3
ReplyDeleteI really like the message in the story too! I'm sure that almost everyone have experienced that kind of dilemma in their life. I'm glad how Poppy works it out though. Beautiful review, Pooja! <3 We're missing you here on blogosphere! :')
I enjoyed this as well, but I wish the ending was neater. I wanted to know how everything played out. I was expecting light and fluffy and got something deeper.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised to hear this isn't a quirky read as I guessed from looking at the front cover but I'm glad you liked it nevertheless.
ReplyDeleteThe jelly bean theory seems quite awesome - when applied correctly, of course and I love how you divided your review into the jelly bean colours! I like books that send out a message cos it makes them more meaningful. A gap month sounds totally cool!
Great review, Ajoop <3
Hmmm, I don't think I've heard of this book before but love the title! I love jelly beans and their variety of colours so I think I should read this book ;) Love how you separate your review to different jelly bean colours!
ReplyDeleteAwesome review, Ajoop! ♥ Glad you enjoyed it :)
I'm kind of the girl who eats the red jelly beans first. Life is to short to save them. This books seems to deal with something all of us experience. Not knowing exactly what you want to do with your life can be hard. I'm glad it captured those feelings so well. Lovely review Ajoop. :)
ReplyDelete