Friday, August 21, 2020

First Chapter Review: SOMEONE'S STORY by B.A. Bellec @b_bellec #firstchapterreview

by thewriterslife on August 21, 2020

Thanks for visiting Literarily Speaking! Today's post is a first chapter review for SOMEONE'S STORY, B.A. Bellec's latest YA Coming-of-age novel. First, a little about the book....

In his debut endearing coming-of-age book, B.A. Bellec writes about a group of weirdos that find and save each other from the dark depths of their minds. Someone’s Story is literally Someone’s story, as in a first-person narrative of a teenager that calls himself Someone. As he struggles to ﬁnd a new footing in a new space, we encounter the many ups and downs of modern teenage life, the diﬃculties that adjusting to adult feelings bring, and a few tear-jerking surprises along the way.

Littered with music, mental health, friendship, loss, meditation, advice, pop culture, and even inspiring an EP, there is so much nostalgia, inspiration, and depth here it is hard to absorb it all. Cozy up somewhere warm and enjoy!

“B. A. Bellec has crafted a masterpiece of emotive and well-rounded young adult ﬁction.”
K.C. Finn – Author

“The variety of personages, situations, and mental illnesses represented allows all readers to relate to this book and take something away from reading! This novel is on our list of all-time favourites!”
International Girls and Books

“Someone’s Story is a beautiful novel, written in great prose, very descriptive, and filled with insights about life. The author does an incredible job with themes of family, friendship, bullying, and personal development. It felt like I was reading a portion of my emotions and myself in Someone’s Story.”
Gobi Jane – Professional Critic @ Readers’ Favourite

FAVORITE QUOTE FROM FIRST CHAPTER:

The snow is crunching under the force of his electric yellow shoes, and the pace is like a metronome, always on point and never missing a beat.

BOOK COVER:

Beautiful cover...menacing in away...lone person at night - just him and his thoughts.

FIRST CHAPTER REVIEW:

Why I like doing these first chapter reviews is that it helps the next person decide whether to even start reading a book. Where I rarely have time for full reviews, I rather like to express my feelings on my first reaction to a book. After you read a book, that first reaction usually gets muffled with all the rest of the things that go into a book. Someone's Story does not have chapters per say, but it is divided into individual sections with titles. The first section titled Determination is very short, but if you let your mind wander it can be very deep. A man is walking in the snow. What the author think was doing was creating a preview of a man we know nothing about at this point. Kind of mysterious. What the author did accomplish with this was expressing quite a deep understanding of words - electric yellow shoes for example. Who would have thought to describe shoes as electric yellow? But of course there's more. Who is this guy with the electric yellow shoes and armband and why does he have an 88 pinned to the front of his shirt? Well that's where the first part has us.

KEEP READING?

I just had to keep going. The second part titled Small Town has a kid walking to school. In the snow. I rather like Someone, this kid who is walking in the snow. Bless his heart...he gets all the way to school and they tell him go home that school is canceled. He gets home and his father tells him he's been offered a better job in another town and they have to move. Someone doesn't want to move. Someone reminds me of myself - always moving, making new friends if you're lucky enough to be able to do that and survive. I think Someone is going to be a survivor. To answer my own question up there, yes, I would love to know what happens to this kid. The author provides me with great descriptions and I was able to pick up on what makes Someone work. Or he could surprise me.

Pick up your copy!

Amazon → https://www.amazon.ca/Someones-Story-B-Bellec-ebook/dp/B086Q2Y41W#reader_B086Q2Y41W

Author of Someone’s Story and co-collaborator on the music it inspired, B.A. was born in Richmond, BC and raised in Langley, BC, before settling in Winnipeg, MB. His first adventure was a career in

Finance, where he spent 15 years developing his business skills. His highest achievement was the Certified Payroll Manager designation. He currently still consults with businesses on their systems and processes. Over that period of time, he also attended film school where he started to nurture his early creative abilities.

A self-starter always interested in research, he taught himself many of the aspects of storytelling through reading books, screenplays and material online. Whenever he found an inspirational piece of art, he quickly went to the source to find the story behind the artist who created the work. It took many years after attending film school for him to finally combine his creative skills with his life experience and tell that story he had been holding back. Some of his favorite creative people: Lukas Rossi, Justin Furstenfeld, Peter Jackson, Stephen Chbosky, John Green, J.K. Rowling.

Currently he is pounding away on the keyboard writing his second novel, Pulse. This project is a change of pace and more details will come in a few months!

B.A. is also an avid jogger and walker, frequently using them as a way to work on those tough spots in life and his manuscripts. If you found it this far into his material, reach out to him on Twitter and make sure to like and subscribe to get updates on all his future endeavors.