Boyfriends, Burritos and an Ocean of Trouble (Real Life, #2)

by Nancy N. Rue

In this YA contemporary novel from bestselling author Nancy Rue, the issues of abuse and its emotional effects are explored as Bryn O’Connor struggles to find her voice while many of her one-time friends doubt she’s telling the truth and her ex-boyfriend won’t let go of their past.

Bryn has learned to keep her mouth shut. But when a trip to the hospital following a car accident reveals bruises and injuries inflicted by her boyfriend days and months before, her biggest secret is unwillingly unleashed. And though a restraining order is meant to keep her safe from Preston, it seems nothing can protect her from her supposed friends, who refuse to believe Preston is capable of such violence and look to punish her for what happened to him. Making Bryn wonder if finally telling the truth only made things worse.

The stress and loneliness leaves Bryn feeling crazy—especially when it seems like the leather book she picked up at the hospital is reading her thoughts. It doesn’t help that her visiting grandma, Mim, is convinced surfing lessons and homemade Mexican food will somehow help Bryn regain control and focus away from the bullying messages pinging her phone. Though when Preston breaks the restraining order yet again, and a trial date looms, it’s clear the only way out of the tsunami that is her life is to charge in and take control of the waves around her.

Boyfriends, Burritos & an Ocean of Trouble:

• uses a fictional setting to explore the real-life issues of abuse and quieted voices young women face
• delves into the concepts of finding your voice, overcoming difficult circumstances, and working past feelings of self-blame
• provides an inspirational message for those dealing with tough circumstances
• is the second book in the Real Life series, but can be read as a stand-alone novel

• ISBN10: 0310714850
• ISBN13: 9780310714859
• Publish Date: 4 May 2010
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Zondervan
• Imprint: ZonderKidz
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 224
• Language: English

Reviews

[readingwithwrin]

"I stopped arguing. I stopped crying. I realized for the first time ever that I didn't really know how to get my way with anybody. I did know how to pretend it didn't happen or that I could make it disappear, or that I was somebody else."
Contains Spoilers
See reviews first on my blog
I originally got this book as a part of the #VASRP Challenge that I set for myself with trying to read more summery books for the next few months. While this book does have a summery theme with the beach and surfing it also deals with a very heavy topic of abuse in dating as teenagers. I haven’t really read many books that deal with abuse in general, as it’s something outside of my comfort zone, but after I found that out about this one, I decided to go ahead and keep reading and see how it turned out.
Bryn is dating Preston who is an Olympic Level swimmer, but has serious problems that he hides from almost everyone and those problems he takes out on her in private so no one will know he’s doing it. But one night he escalates and they end up getting into a car accident. Preston knows how to act like the doting boyfriend in order to not get caught, but this time no amount of doting boyfriend act will keep him from getting into trouble.
"I just wanted this to go away. I wanted me to go away. I was nothing before I met him and I could be that again. But Preston was everything everybody wanted to be. Who were people going to believe?"
At the hospital Bryn starts telling what’s been going on after her father is accused of hitting her. After this she is forced by her dad to charge Preston. This is when everything starts going wrong, not only does no one she had become friends with believe her, she also gets a ton of hate via social media that continues on throughout the whole book.
When Bryn’s grandma that goes by Mim comes into town to help her deal with all of this as her mother is out of the country with her sister. Bryn is not happy and instead closes herself off even more until Mim takes her surfing where they have to talk to each other and Bryn start opening up about what happened and why she let it go on for so long. While Bryn didn’t really want to surf she was finally able to and really started to enjoy it and make new friends as well until Preston started to try and take them away.
As court started happening as well and Preston refused to take plea deals, his friends antics to try and scare Bryn escalated, but she never told anyone until near the end of things and then told everything after she realized they just weren’t going to stop. Once court starts and things don’t look so good for Preston he ends up sealing his own fate after hurting one of Bryn’s friends and her new boyfriend as well.
Overall I really liked this story and wanted to find out what happened to Bryn and if she could make it stop before he hurt anyone else. I loved how her relationship with Mim changed as they spent more time together and Bryn also grew an extreme amount as a person. By the end of the book I was proud of what she was doing and how she was dealing with things. I did think jumping into a new relationship so fast wasn’t such a great idea, but it ended up turning out for the best thankfully. The way Bryn learns to deal with things is through a book she got at the hospital called RL and through this scripture is personalized exactly for her and her situation which I found very interesting and a good way to add it into the story without it being preachy.

I can’t wait to read the other books in this series a little later on this year as they are all companion novels I believe which I’m really starting to enjoy.


"If you don't start talking about it to the people that matter, no amount of surfing or new girlfriends or new boyfriends is going to heal you. It's still going to be in their, festering, until you get on a witness stand and have to tell it to strangers who not only don't love you, they want to prove you wrong."