Outspoken - Lora Richardson

Title: Outspoken
Author: Lora Richardson
Publication Date: August 16th/18th 2015
Publisher:  Createspace
Available Editions: EBook, Paperback





Book Synopsis
Penny Beck is a girl who says yes when she means no.  She keeps to herself, follows the rules, and does what she’s told.  After a disastrous experience with her boyfriend, she's determined to change from the spineless person she’s always been into the strong woman she wants to become.  All she needs is a little practice.

On a cross-country trip to check on her grandpa, she strives to become bolder and more outspoken with the strangers she meets.  Penny's plan is to practice saying and doing what she wants without worrying about what anyone else thinks.

Then she meets Archer, an introspective loner to whom she finds herself drawn.  She realizes she does care what he thinks, very much. Will Penny be able to stick to her plan, or will she revert back to her people-pleasing ways?

Review:

Lora emailed me earlier this month about possibly being interested in reading her book and featuring it here on my blog, of course I said yes and soon I received my EBook copy and got to reading. It took me around two days all together to read the whole book and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The main character Penny is used to saying yes to everything she's asked to do, yes here yes there but she travels across the country to finally say no. I felt a large connection with Penny as soon as I learned about her, she seemed like me quite a lot. Loving sleep, always saying yes when she meant no amongst other things. Unlike me however she makes friends a lot easier, like Gwen and Marissa and Archer amongst others. Gwen is full of energy and very much someone I'd love to have in my life but I never got sick of any of the characters they were all so important in Penny's journey especially her Grandad Cal and Archer.

Penny and Archer were great characters on their own, but they were even better together. I loved how slowly but surely the bond between them strengthened. Archer's story was extremely sad for me to read but his honesty and how he opened up to Penny was fascinating. He grandfather has a sad story to tell too, he lost his wife Ruby years ago but he is now suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Throughout the story I was really sad when it came to Cal, as I just didn't want him to forget Ruby, it just got me. Also Id love to know where he keeps his stash of chocolate.

Penny's job in the super market  where Archer and Marissa also work, where she delivers customer orders leads her to meet a range of weirdly wonderful people who all shape her experience as she find a new self.

The book of course comes to a satisfying end having taught me lessons and left me with a few questions. The book is incredibly well written and an awesome go at a coming of age/Y.A/Romance book.
I give it a 5/5 and I recommend it to everyone who has ever suffered from saying yes and doing everything you've meant to do, it will open your eyes and hopefully teach you some of the lessons it has taught me.
This book is also Lora's first YA novel and I wish her all the best with the success of it and of future works. This has been a great book to read and I hope you feel like Outspoken is an experience you need to have.