2 Mini Reviews: Running Wide Open and Getting Sideways by: Lisa Nowak

I read these books back to back and didn't want to spread out the reviews.  Yet I felt writing two full

reviews in one go would be too much. Solution: I tried to write the greatness of these books

into two smaller reviews!!

Goodreads Description:   Cody Everett has a temper as hot as the flashpoint of racing fuel, and it's landed him at his uncle's trailer, a last-chance home before military school. But how can he take the guy seriously when he calls himself Race, eats Twinkies for breakfast, and pals around with rednecks who drive in circles every Saturday night?What Cody doesn't expect is for the arrangement to work. Or for Race to become the friend and mentor he's been looking for all his life. But just as Cody begins to settle in and get a handle on his supercharged temper, a crisis sends his life spinning out of control. Everything he's come to care about is threatened, and he has to choose between falling back on his old, familiar anger or stepping up to prove his loyalty to the only person he's ever dared to trust.

  Chase is not only a problem to others but a problem to himself as well!  When this becomes too much for his dad he is sent to live with his Uncle.  He doesn't think that things will be any different there. Heck why should they be?  The people that raised him can't handle him and why should a guy he hasn't seen in ten years be able to deal with him and love him is just out of the question.

  Not having the ideal childhood or any childhood really has left Chase with little ambition and feeling like he isn't worth anything.  I find it horribly annoying at times the lengths he goes to, to try and sabotage everything.  Lisa has captured an angry 15 year old boy boy to a 't' but it is very frustrating dealing with his destructive and pessimistic ways! They test even my patience and I am not the one dealing with him ever day.

  Race however seems to have the patience of a saint! Being Cody's Uncle really tests the limits at every turn of the track but that doesn't detour him from believing that things will work out.  I really admire Race for his strength and patience with Cody.  He has more of those things than most parents have but sometimes he seems to forget he is supposed to be the adult.

  There is tragedy in this book somewhere (lol). It will have you holding your breathing and tears forming for those pages/chapters. You will question is they will all survive or is this the last straw for Cody and Race?

Normally I don`t add book quotes but I LOVE this one made me laugh so hard:

I have animal magnetism. When I go outside the squirrels

stick to me. - Cody shirt (you will understand later)

Buy it: Amazon, Smashwords

4/5

Goodreads Description:  Getting shipped off to live with his uncle Race was the best thing that ever happened to fifteen-year-old Cody. Then a wreck at the speedway nearly ruined everything. Cody’s making every effort to get his life back on track—writing for the school paper, searching for the perfect girlfriend, and counting the days until he gets his drivers’ license—but there’s no escaping the nightmares that haunt him.

A chance to build his own car seems like the perfect distraction. Until Cody realizes he’ll have to live up to Race’s legendary status. But that’s the least of his worries, considering he doesn’t have his dad’s permission. All he has to do is the impossible: keep Race from discovering his lie until he can convince his dad that racing’s safe.

Yeah, sure. That’ll be easy.

  Now that Cody has his anger in check (well for the most part) things seem to be looking up.  He and Race are working on some projects together and starting to really bond together.  If only the nightmares that haunt him would go away and the girl issues that pick at him would stop. 

  I enjoyed this book just a little more than the last one.  That is partially because Cody has started to grow up and be less of child and learned to control his anger a bit better.  I would like to say emotions but keep in mind he is a teenage boy and the past is still hard on him.  Letting it all go seems to be more than he can handle and it seems like he is going to spiral back into his old ways and you have to wonder will he learn or will he just give up.

  Factor in Race again now.  With everything he has been through he`s as close to being who he used to be as possible.  He is better than he was was but there are still some issues that he needs to work out and his non-girlfriend/girlfriend Kasey contributes to both the good and the bad.  I like her (I really do) but sometimes I want to smack her for not realizing what she is doing!!

  Being the second book in the series I didn't expect to be as impressed with this as I was the last one but I was.  Lisa does a wonderful job working with a male protagonist.  Cody is a well thought out character and provokes you to keep on reading.  This is a series not to be missed! 

Buy it: Amazon, Smashwords

4.5/5