Customer Reviews

How It's Done

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book was an amazing read that really got me thinking. The characters seemed to come alive to the point where I was living in their shoes. I would definetly reccommend this book to anyone who is looking or a book that will make you laugh, cry, think, and most importantly, learn what it was like for one very mixed up high school senior.

P.S. Mr. Mandabach, this is Amianne i'm just using my dad's account.

In her new release, How It's Done, Christine Kole MacLean shows us exactly how it's done-- with great characterization! In fact, the characters are so real and developed that I'm wondering what Grace, Michael, Grace's parents, Tori are doing today. I can only hope there will be a sequel.

I felt as though I lived with Grace this encounter and relationship she has with an older man. Grace thinks she finds the man she is going to marry, but mostly the person she finds is herself.

Grace is endearing as she often stumbles through "doing" this relationship well. This includes her first experience with sex. Yes, mothers, that's in there too -- in a very honest and real portrayal. Good discussion material for you and your daughters!

Eighteen-year-old Grace Passedge has spent her life under the thumb of her controlling father. Her timid mother can't even stand up for herself, so she isn't much help to Grace. Raised in a God-fearing home, Grace has always assumed her parents' beliefs and followed their rules. She longs to break free of them but doesn't know how.

Her chance finally arrives when she meets Michael Irving, an attractive college professor. He is nearly 10 years older than Grace but is instantly attracted to her. Their relationship must be kept secret since they live in a small town, and Grace does not want her father to find out. When he finally does hear about her relationship with Michael, the fireworks fly and Grace has to decide where her loyalties lie.

During her relationship with Michael, Grace receives a lot of unsolicited advice from well-meaning friends and acquaintances. Among them is Michael's housekeeper, a nerdy boy she meets on a field trip, and her best friend, Liv.

Woven into the main plot is a nice subplot about the family dynamics between Grace's mother and father. The book's ending made me stand up and cheer.

Christine Kole MacLean, best known for her picture books and middle grade novels, writes with honesty and empathy in her first young adult novel. Readers will feel Grace's pain as she struggles to make her own decisions.

HOW IT'S DONE is completely original, and the characters are fresh and well-developed. Though not recommended for younger teens (due to the subject matter), this is a great book for opening up meaningful discussions between mothers and their teenage daughters.

--- Reviewed by Renee Kirchner (renee.kirchner@usa.net)

I loved this book! Grace's character brought me back to my own teenage years. I didn't want the book to end...As the mother of two teenage daughters, the book gave me a different perspective on how my daughters see the world. In fact, they both read the book. We discussed Grace's journey towards adulthood and finding herself and they thought that the portrayal was very realistic. I look forward to Christine MacLean's next book.

For her entire life, Grace has played by her parents' rules, assumed their beliefs, and stayed close to home. Her father is strict, her mother obedient, and Grace doesn't necessarily want to follow in the footsteps of either one. Finally eighteen years old and almost done with high school, she wants to speak up more than ever, but whenever she does, she seems to get into an argument with her father. In fact, were it not for one particular disagreement, she may not have seized the moment during a fateful meeting with a young man named Michael.

"If it had been any other day, I would have given him a straight answer, but I was still seething over the fight with my father. I had been a good girl -- more or less -- my whole life, and what had it gotten me? A seat on the perimeter of life."

Michael's nice, he's attentive - and he's older. Nearly ten years older. Dating him breaks many of her parents' rules, and living in "a small town where almost everyone knows most everything about each other" means that their relationship has to be kept secret.

How It's Done by Christine Kole MacLean is about far more than this relationship. It is about changing, about questioning your beliefs, about realizing who you are and what you can become. The book toes the line tastefully when discussing adult situations, religion, and responsibility. Recommended for older teens.

Christine Kole MacLean's novel, "How it's Done," is a powerful, honest story of a girl desperate to be an adult, to be free from her strict, religious parents, and to know real love. When Grace falls for a college professor named Michael, who amazingly, returns her feelings, she thinks her life has finally begun. Of course, things are not so simple, and Michael not the knight he first seems to be. The novel is unflinching in revealing the light and dark sides of first love, of sex, and religion. It is a cautionary tale, but more than that, it is a glimpse into the life of a very real young woman who wants to be herself, but first has to find out who she really is. I highly recommend "How it's Done" to teenagers and their parents. It is also a great book for bookclub discussions.

Grace is an eighteen-year-old raised in a fundamental Christian home who feels trapped in 'suburban Alcatraz' by her overbearing father and her timid mother. An affair with a college professor seems like the perfect escape. But Grace finds out that her relationship is much more than wine and poetry. She finds that with her choices are a price. A price she's not sure she wants to take.

HOW IT'S DONE is a well written book that deals with issues that come up when a teen makes choices that go in conflict with her religious upbringing. Chrisine Maclean does a wonderful job showing the conflict and inner struggle Grace feels as she continues her relationship with an older man who isn't of her faith. I know teens will be able to relate with Grace and the hard choices she faces.

Grace is feeling restricted by her life, but as soon as she meets Michael things change. He opens her eyes to how the world can be... the only problem is, he's about ten years older than her.

This was definitely an interesting book. It's incredible how Grace develops throughout the story, and I hardly even noticed that she was changing. But in the end she was this whole different person.

I would for sure recommend this book to someone looking for a book that's just a bit different.

Grace is an eighteen-year-old girl who wants to, like any other teenager, break free of her home, the life she's always known, and her parents. Grace wants independence from her strict, fundamentalist Christian father and the house that looks like every other house on the street, in the neighborhood that is a prison to her.

When she meets older, charismatic college professor Michael, she thinks he is her escape. He's not that much older than she is, and he is oh so much more worldly and mature than the boys her age. Grace falls head over heels in love.

She had anticipated a life full of excitement, sophistication and happiness with him, but being involved with Michael brings unexpected complications to Grace's life. She doesn't want to stay with her father, but she's having doubts about her relationship with Michael, too...What is the right choice, and will Grace have the guts to make it?

HOW IT'S DONE is a wonderful book that should be required reading for everyone, especially teenage girls! Readers will feel drawn along with Grace as she is pulled into her love for Michael, as it changes her life. They will feel her elation as her life seems to be improving, and her helplessness and despair as the reality behind all that she thinks is true comes to light, and she is forced to deal with all of it at once.

Christine Kole Maclean, with her excellent writing, has created magnificent, believable characters who are all a part of the fantastic story she tells in HOW IT'S DONE. This is a brilliant, flawless novel in every way. It's a must-read!

Reviewed by: Jocelyn Pearce

I thought the book was pretty good. You learn what the character goes through while still trying to anticipate what will happen next. You learn about the jail system in Texas too which was something new in my book. Overall, I think most teenagers would enjoy this book.