600 Hours of Edward: A Review

  By May | 13 December, 2012 - 9:06 am | ,
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Author:  Craig Lancaster
Publisher: Riverbend Publishing
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
My price: $3.99

What would it be like to live in a world where no one seems to understand you, or to value the same things you ? That’s Edward’s life. He values data and organization and routine. He keeps a daily log of the weather report. He watches a Dragnet episode every night in consecutive order.

It seems like he’s the only one who cares about these things. Scratch that—Edward wouldn’t settle for assumptions. But he does tell us that when he tried eHarmony, “its system and its twenty-nine levels of compatibility couldn’t find anyone for [him].” That’s a pretty convincing proof point.

Edward is a 40-something man who’s been diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

I have little first-hand experience with Asperger’s and OCD. [Note: Medical professionals have recently removed Asperger's Syndrome from the list of clinical diagnosis; instead, the diagnosis will be folded into the Autism spectrum]. I’ll be reviewing the book from purely a literary standpoint, treating Edward just like any other character. If you’re curious about how one person diagnosed with Asperger’s related to the novel, I highly recommend you check out the website “Life With Aspergers.” She has a great take on 600 Hours of Edward:

“600 Hours of Edward features an Aspie protagonist (Edward). It’s the first novel I’ve read which does so. At first, I wasn’t sure exactly how well I’d be able to identify with Edward. After all, he’s a fiercely OCD aspie with a fixation on weather and Dragnet. His social issues are also so severe that he’s generally unemployable. Since I’ve never been unemployed, I didn’t think that I’d relate all that well.

I was surprised. It’s true that in the beginning, I didn’t identify with him much at all but as I got further and further into his character, I found myself identifying more and more with him.”

From a reader’s standpoint, I thought Edward was a fantastic character. He’s consistent and truthful, and there were so many points in the book where I wish I could’ve reached out and hugged him. But most importantly, he showed us the world through his eyes — eyes that are much, much different than mine. Isn’t that what good fiction is supposed to do?

600 Hours of Edward takes us through an especially challenging — and perhaps even transformational — 600 hours of Edwards’ life. Soon after we meet Edward, he gets new neighbors: a single mom, Donna, and her curious nine-year-old boy, Kyle. Their arrival into the neighborhood helps set the stage for domino-style change in Edward’s life.

From the start, the small family is a disruption in Edward’s life. Kyle pops by occasionally, and Edward struggles to stay polite while worrying that Kyle will disturb his carefully created routines and rituals.

Soon, however, Edward begins to feel affection for the boy and his mom, and tries to do what he can to make their lives better. Sometimes he succeeds — like when he builds a crazy awesome bike for the little boy — and sometimes he fails… spectacularly fails.

At times, author Craig Lancaster strains credibility with how quickly Edward is able to adapt to new situations. For example, in one scene, Edward has a fairly in-depth conversation with Donna about her life and how she feels. There’s nothing that we’ve seen from Edward that makes us think that he’d participate in such a long, emotional conversation, especially when he frequently reminds us that short conversations in the grocery store can drive him to a major freak out.

Aside from these few missteps, the author paints a fairly realistic picture of a person’s journey to become (forgive the cliché) a better version of oneself. Like Edward, we all take baby steps forward and then fall behind a few squares. It’s not only realistic — it also makes for very interesting reading.

The book also does a thorough job of getting the reader to identify with Edward.  Each chapter of the book starts with Edward’s account of his day. He records the time he wakes up and the weather for the day. Every night, he watches an episode of Dragnet, and then recaps it for readers. Similarly, towards the end of the book, Edward lists his favorite football games, and explains why they’re his favorites. It’s  exhausting. While I do appreciate how the author uses these “interludes” to make the reader stop and understand how Edward’s mind works, I do think these pieces could’ve been significantly shortened once we get deeper in the narrative and readers have already identified with Edward.

One of my favorite aspects of the book is Edward’s complicated relationship with his father. His dad, a rich, politically powerful man, seems to be embarrassed of his son. Still, he tries to take care of Edward, and has set up a home and a system where Edwards’ physical needs, like food and rent, are taken care of easily and without hassle. Edward doesn’t see it this way; instead, he sees his father building a prison to force Edward to remain hidden from the rest of the world. Edward doesn’t know any of his parent’s friends, or really anything about their lives. Instead of calls and emails from his parents, Edward gets cease-and-desist letters from his father’s attorney. And though he pays every bill, Edwards’ dad doesn’t seem to understand — or want to understand — his son. This tension between father and son is one of the standout parts of the novel. Their relationship is filled with complexity, and really gets at one of the book’s core themes: we all see things differently.

Unfortunately, at the end of the book, this tension  between father and son wraps up a bit too cleanly, making this otherwise realistic relationships less interesting and moving than it could’ve been. That’s true of the ending in general. Everything seems wrapped up too neatly with a little bow.

I’d still highly recommend 600 Hours of Edward to anyone looking for a good character-driven book that will make you smile — perhaps while shedding a tear or two. It’s an inspiring book about how we can each make changes to shape our own lives, even when we think it’s too hard.

So, what are you going to do with your next 600 hours?

 

 

 

 

So Over You: A Review

  By May | 28 November, 2012 - 8:09 am | ,
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Author:  Gwen Hayes
Publisher: Self-published
Genre: Young Adult (YA) Fiction
My price: $2.99

I realized a few weeks ago that I’d been reading twisted books that give me tons of nightmares, so I asked Twitter for suggestions on light-hearted books to read. My Twitter friend @KHarveyWrites suggested that I try So Over You as a break from all of the darkness. While So Over You isn’t all rainbows and butterflies, it certainly was a good change of pace from the creepy books that had me checking my shower for the boogeyman. (Don’t worry– reviews of the “creepy books” are on the way!)

The main character in So Over You is Layney Logan, an ambitious high school senior who lives for journalism. For three years she’s waited for the opportunity to be named editor-in-chief of the school newspaper, but the reality doesn’t quite match up to the dream. The newspaper is losing its funding, and Layney is forced to share the editor’s throne with Jimmy Foster, her high school nemesis.

Her hatred for ‘Foster’ only grows when he pitches a money-making idea: a calendar profiling a boy from each of the school’s clubs. Not a terrible idea—except that he wants Layney to go on a blind date with each guy and then write an article on what high school girls are looking for in a guy. Although some girls would jump at the chance for an assignment like this, Layney is not like most girls. She decides to suffer through the assignment in hopes that it really will generate some money for her paper.

Over the course of the book, Layney goes on dates with 12 high school boys, each one different from the next. As these things go, learning about each guy helps Layney learn more about herself.

While the storyline kept my attention, I was frustrated by the inconsistency in the way our main characters are portrayed. Although they’re seniors in high school, they jump back and forth between overly mature (throwing back handfuls of Excedrin while referring to their assignments hanging out with Olympians) and incredibly juvenile. I know high school is a funny time when teenagers straddle that vacillating line between adult and child, but this was a little more unrealistic.

Layney often refers to her 8th grade romance as if it was the relationship that will define her life. As an adult reader, I understand that it’s pretty unlikely for an 8th grade couple to remain together forever (except for Cory and Topanga, of course). I think most high school kids understand this too. Even from the vantage point of a high school senior, a 13-year-old seems very young. I wish the author had chosen to move the 8th grade relationship up a few years so that it wouldn’t seem quite as immature, but other YA readers might not be as frustrated by this.

I was also turned off by inconsistencies in Layney’s character. She describes herself this way:

“I’m not good with people. I tend to be brisk and seemingly uncaring. I’m the girl who never got hired to babysit a second time by the same family.”

We see that she isn’t exaggerating. At the start of the book, Layney doesn’t have any friends. She internally mocks the kids on the newspaper staff, and the only friend-like person in her life is Foster—the guy she has dubbed “Prince of Darkness” in her phone.

However, on her first few dates, Layney manages to put her date at ease and convinces him to confide details about his personal life. Another date develops an immense crush on her. And she tells another, “I’ve decided that you are going to be the closest thing to a BFF I’ll allow myself to have.” It’s sweet, but there wasn’t enough character development this early on to justify such a massive personality change. It also made her transformation from “loner” have much less of an impact.

Despite her inconsistencies, I really enjoyed being inside Layney’s head for a while. Her internal sense of humor had me laughing out loud.

“Great. Product placement. I’d already sold myself out and I wasn’t even eighteen.”

I also really enjoyed reading Layney’s banter with Jimmy Foster. The two of them use their intelligence and wit to keep each other on their toes. The tension between them is palpable, and reading their hot and cold relationship was one of my favorite parts of the book. Plus, the character of Jimmy Foster is adorable, in a romantic comedy hero sort of way. He says things that only teenage boys in dreams say. Still, I loved him, for pretty the same reasons that I love Colin Firth. (Not just me, right?)

Towards the end of the book, we learn something about Layney that helps us to better understand her and why she’s distanced herself from others. Author Gwen Hayes handles a very tough topic pretty well by not making light of it but not drowning it in pages of sorrow.

In general, I enjoyed So Over You despite its shortcomings — and it certainly was the light-hearted book I’d requested! The author has a really great voice that kept me interested and smiling, even though the characters and plot weren’t fully original or consistent. I’d recommend this book for teens or die-hard adult lovers of YA. Adult readers who just dabble in YA (like me) might be turned off by the massive jumps from mature to juvenile.

Here’s what some other reviewers had to say:

From a major fan of the book (I love the excitement!), Catholic Kittie:

“I love snarky heroines and heros, smart characters, memorable secondary ones and hot guys. A lot of short romances are superficial but So Over You has layer beneath layer of depth that you will keep reading late into the night just so you can reach the sweet end. And sweet it is. It is amazing and perfect and will leave you breathless and clutching at your bosom squealing “Ohmaaaagaaawd” that would do a southern bell proud.”

Ravishing Review makes some excellent points about the ending of the book. Definitely worth giving the review a full read:

“I’ve said it before – a teenager does not NEED to have something hugely traumatic happen to them in order to be interesting, realistic, or flawed. Little things can have a big impact on a teenager. And sometimes teenagers are just messed up because they’re teenagers. So it gets on my nerves when things like parental/sibling death, domestic violence, rape, abuse, drug use, etc. are at the core of so many of these YA books. Especially ones that are so fun otherwise.”

Teen reader/reviewer the Reading Chic says:

“This book wasn’t the best that it could have been, but it was a really fun read! I read it in about three or four sittings, which is pretty good for me (this novel is also very short, though).

Layney was an… interesting character. When I first started the book, she seemed like, well, almost like a stuck-up snob, but once I got into the book a little bit more and learned her back-story a bit better, I realised that she was actually a pretty good character.”

I definitely agree with Sassy Reads on this one:

“SO OVER YOU satisfies something that’s been missing in what I’ve been reading lately. It’s funny on purpose. More often than not, I laugh at how ridiculous I find a scenario or at how improbable I find certain events in books. And while this one does have a serious side, it’s laughter that was in mind when a girl “married to her job” is forced to go on twelve blind dates.”

What say you, fellow readers? Are you going to give So Over You a try?

Etiquette for the End of the World: A Review

  By May | 24 October, 2012 - 8:47 am | , ,
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Author:  Jeanne Martinet
Publisher: Liza Dawson Associates
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
My price: $3.99

This book came on my radar with impeccable timing. I had just finished talking to my family about the Mayan’s prophesy of the end of the world, expected 12/21/12. Of course we laughed and joked about it, but I’m sure in the back of our heads, each of us thought, “But what if?”

Etiquette for the End of the World is a highly hilarious story of a woman’s exposure to the end of the world prophesy. Tess is a late-30-something woman who has spent several years writing an advice column for her local paper. After she’s dumped unceremoniously by her boyfriend, disinherited by her father, and estranged from her family, her columns become angrier. She’s then dumped by her employer as well.

Once she’s sunk to the very bottom, she stumbles into a new gig: writing an etiquette book for a fringe group, the World Organization for Omniscient Solstice Harbingers, aka WOOSH. The group’s focus is to plan for the end of the world on Dec. 21, 2012. Like other books, in their interpretation of the Mayan prophesy, the world will not go ‘poof;’ instead, it’ll make way for a new “golden age,” where spirituality and connection to the land will be more important than technology and modern comforts. As part of their goal to serve as “midwife” to the new era, they tell Tess:

“We want, and need, an interpersonal handbook to help people deal with each other, to promote civilized behavior… in times of great turmoil, humor what gets people through.”

So, despite her heebie-jeebies about the group, Tess takes their money and sets to work writing an etiquette book for the end of the world. At several points throughout the book, we get to read some of the hilarious passages from the book:

“Remember that sensitive, caring, book-reading, portobello-mushroom-cooking kind of guy? … Well, don’t look now but this guy is simply not going to cut it under the current circumstances. On the contrary, what you are going to need is a lot closer to that red-faced construction worker who used to hoot at you from the shoulder on the New Jersey Turnpike…. The good news is that everyone looks attractive by firelight.”

Tess is a truly great character. She’s driven and smart, but she’s frequently self-deprecating and nearly every line is tinted with humor. I want to be her friend. Even when she’s at her lowest point, she’s fun to spend time with, at least one paper. And yet, she’s not so perfect that she’s unrealistic. She falls for the wrong men, and does silly things like wear silk pants in the rain. (C’mon, Tess, even I know not to do that!) One of those men is Peter, WOOSH’s gorgeous, suave head of donor relations. Tess falls for him hard, even though there are a dozen reasons for her not to pursue him.

The book follows Tess as she writes the etiquette guide and learns more about end of the world prophesies. She’s amazed at how prevalent these prophesies are. As Tess investigates these end of the world theories, she discovers that there may be some people who are planning to give the world a little bit of a push to make sure it does end on schedule. Tess finds herself working to prevent the end of the world in addition to her etiquette-writing duties.

As much as I loved the characters and author Jeanne Martinet’s writing style, some plot points did not work for me. For example, as Tess is researching end of the world prophesies in New York City, she meets a librarian who happened to know of a secret document hidden somewhere within the library. Later, Tess runs into the librarian in a completely different country, just at the moment when she’s needed again. Readers might be able to go along with a random coincidence once or twice, but after a few of these occurrences, it’s hard to suspend belief.

I was also turned off by the obvious foreshadowing in the book. The author tries to create mystery, but gives the reader so many hints that it’s impossible not to figure out where she’s directing us. There’s a chapter where Tess spends time with her lovable, quirky great-aunt Charlotte. Though Charlotte is a fun, unique character, the chapter doesn’t move the plot forward– and worse, Charlotte gives Tess a tarot card reading, which heavy-handedly foreshadows Tess’ future. This chapter should have been scrapped to keep up the intrigue without slowing the pace.

The strong voice and lifelike characters kept me reading (and laughing) throughout the book, and despite some of the iffy plot points, I would still recommend Etiquette for the End of the World to readers who love smart, humorous characters. I’m excited to see what Jeanne Martinet has up her sleeve next!

Finding Emma: A Review

  By May | 18 October, 2012 - 8:10 am |
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Author: Steena Holmes
Publisher: Winter’s Press
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
My price: $3.99

If you’re looking for a book that will keep you on the edge of  your seat — and constantly on the verge of tears– Finding Emma is a book for you. The novel is filled with heartache that thrusts the reader fully into lives of the characters.

Megan is a loving mother to three little girls, Hannah, Alexis and Emma. The girls are tiny bundles of energy, and in just a short scene, we see a glimpse into Megan’s normal, but hectic life. In the few minutes where Megan turns her attention away from her daughters, three-year old Emma disappears. The details of the disappearance are quite vague, which in some ways helps the readers sink into Megan’s shoes. What happened? Where did she go? Will she ever return?

The book quickly jumps to two years in the future. Emma is still missing, and Megan hasn’t given up hope that her daughter will be found. In the wake of Emma’s disappearance, Megan puts on a strong face for the community, organizing supervised walks to school and assemblies for kids to help keep them safe.

But on the inside, Megan is a constant wreck. Her older daughters have learned quickly that they can’t be a minute late without their mom freaking out. Megan’s distanced herself from her husband, who urges her to move on from the loss for the sake of the rest of the family.

As I was reading the book, I never once felt that Megan was overreacting or behaving in a way that seemed out of character or beyond the realm of real life. Because of this, she’s a very sympathetic character, even as we watch her life continue to spiral out of control.

One of my favorite aspects of the book was the family’s relationships. There are many layers to them; there’s sibling rivalry to the extreme, distrust between husband and wife, and complex emotions towards the missing daughter.

Although the plot is fairly simple, Finding Emma somehow finds a way to keep mystery building. Where is Emma? Is she alive? Megan frequently thinks she sees Emma  around town. Is she ever right? Author Steena Holmes keeps us worrying alongside Megan and her family throughout the book.

With this plot and cast of characters, the book could’ve easily slipped into saccharine territory. To its credit, the book generally avoids pure mushiness, though it is definitely sentimental. Some readers may also be turned off by some of the references to miracles and religion, which were a little heavy-handed at times.

There were a few parts of the book that I thought could have been more developed. For example, the author hints at romantic relationships between some of the characters, but readers don’t have a clear sense of exactly what transpired. Some minor characters, including Megan’s best friend, Laurie, also could’ve used some more development.

I also wish that the story’s plot continued a bit longer so that the ending wasn’t quite as abrupt. I won’t go into detail about Emma’s fate– you’ll have to read the book for that– but the closing scenario is bittersweet, but ends before readers feel the resolution. This may be one rare instance where an epilogue would’ve been helpful for the readers to feel closure. Thankfully, author Steena Holmes is working on a sequel and I can’t wait for its release (expected Spring 2013).

I highly recommend this book for anyone who likes well-developed, sympathetic characters and tear-jerking plot. (Mom—this means you.)

There’s a wide range of opinions on Finding Emma– here are just a few!

 Finding Emma caught me from page one and gripped me until the very last page.

I was pleasantly surprised at my ability to identify with and relate to the characters within this novel, which author Steena Holmes made unbelievably simple. I read Finding Emma intensely, captivated by the mystery, by the suspense, by the conflicts…eager to reach the conclusion, yet not wanting the book to end.

 

I was captivated by the depth of Megan’s sorrow and by her determination to find her youngest daughter. While I appreciated the complexity of Megan’s situation I was able to sympathize with Megan’s other two daughters as well. Not only did they have to deal with the horror of losing their sister but in a way they lost their mother as well on that day…There were times that the dialogue felt choppy to me, or we went from one scene to another without warning and those things tend to bother me. I also did not like the ending. It felt too abrupt and too many important questions were left unanswered.

The Loud Librarian didn’t find the plot or characters interesting:

 I liked the premise of this novel – the missing child, the mystery of where she went, the unraveling of a marriage – but felt the story was flat for my expectations. The ending is telegraphed from the beginning, Megan’s part of the story was big on repetition and little on change, and the ending didn’t really explain all the questions the reader probably had from the beginning – it just ended and the reader was left to fill in the blanks. There were characters with little to no development, and a lot of disjointed plot points.

As always, add your comments on the book in the comment section below.  Thanks everyone!

The Ups and Downs of Being Dead: A Review

  By May | 11 October, 2012 - 10:11 am | ,
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Author:  M.R. Cornelius
Publisher: Self-published
Genre: Science Fiction
My price: $2.99

*This book was recommended to me by the author.  I did not receive a free copy of the e-book or any other compensation in exchange for my review. The review is filled with my own opinions, as always.*

 

I received an email from author M.R. Cornelius, inviting me to read The Ups and Downs of Being Dead. As soon as I saw the short synopsis, I had to download the book sample — and then the book – immediately.

The book opens with the workaholic, 57-year old Robert watching a bunch of doctors freeze his body, a la Walt Disney and that guy from Forever Young. We learn that he’d been diagnosed with cancer. He chose crypto-freez-o (trademark pending) technology so that when there’s a cure for cancer, scientists can revive his body and bring him back to life.  Little does Robert know that while his body is frozen, his soul will roam the Earth—not at all the 75-year sleep Robert was expecting.

He soon meets two other frozen souls, Maggie and Sam, who’ve been assigned to greet him and others who’ve chosen to be frozen. In a few hilarious scenes, these old people help Robert adjust to being, well, dead. They show him how to walk through walls, and how to playfully irritate the living. There’s something so joyful about a group of very old dead people jumping around the city, climbing mountains, and playing jokes on the living. They also give Robert advice on how to spend his decades-in-waiting, and warn him against going home to check in on his family.

Of course, Robert promptly ignores their advice and visits his family—and is shocked at what he finds out. His son, Robbie, is a drugged-out disaster with terrible taste in women and friends; his unloving wife has clearly moved on; and behind closed doors, his pride-and-joy daughter, Rachel, is not who he expected.

Robert turns to Maggie and Sam, as well as other souls who are roaming the Earth, to help him cope with the shock of what his family has become, and later, to help him try to enjoy his decades of “dead” time.

The book does a good job of exploring Robert’s metamorphosis, but just like the title, this books has its ups and downs. The ups? M.R. Cornelius does a great job of developing the characters, especially the supporting characters. In just a few scenes (or lines, even) we get a real sense of who they are. One of my favorite characters is Suzanne, a dead woman Robert meets after she’s been killed in a car accident. She’s worried about her daughter’s well-being, and it’s this worry that’s kept her soul on Earth. She’s a very dynamic character, and even in death is so full of life. She’s the character who gets Robert to open up and think about how he wants to spend his eternity.

One of the most interesting characters in the book is a person we meet only briefly. He’s a teenager who had committed suicide—but his parents had his body frozen, so his soul keeps wandering. In just a few pages, the author really gets us to think. Were his parents right to have him frozen? What if there are better treatments for depression in the future? Then freezing him as about the same as freezing someone who’s died of cancer. But another perspective from a character in the book: “He sees it as just another example of them interfering in his life. He wanted to die, and they wouldn’t allow it. That’s pretty radical if you think about it.”

The author asks the reader to think about these sort of questions at several points in the book. It’s a real strength of the novel. For example, one of the most prominent themes in the book is the relationship between parents and their children. How do parents’ actions impact their kids? And how far would you go to help make your kid happy?  These are questions most of us can appreciate — even if we aren’t ghosts!

Although the plot and characters were interesting and the book posed some questions that did get me thinking, there were certainly a few issues. For one, the structure of the book was kind of awkward at times. Since the book spans roughly 75 years, there are bound to be jumps and skips in time. But these time warps aren’t presented in the same way, which makes it confusing and awkward to follow in some spots.

Also, there are some shifts in point-of-view which kept me on my toes unnecessarily. Characters also changed a little too drastically at times, as it seemed the author was trying to fit in soundbites and book main themes into dialogue. Sometimes it didn’t quite fit.

A few other points to keep in mind if you’re thinking about picking this up. Minor spoilers after the jump: (more…)

Turquoise: Reviewer Roundup

  By May | 28 September, 2012 - 9:00 am |
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I really enjoyed the book Turquoise, and the characters and themes really hit a chord with me. However, I thought the book could be trimmed a fair amount, and some of the over-the-top declarations were a bit much for me.

Here are some other reviewers’ thoughts on the book to help you figure out if Turquoise is the right book to add to your to-read list! (more…)

Turquoise: A Review

  By May | 27 September, 2012 - 9:00 am |
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Author:  Ayshe Talay-Ongan
Publisher: Sid Harta Publishers
Genre: Literary Fiction
My price: $8.16

I’ve just finished reading Turquoise, and I feel like I’ve lost a good friend. The book follows Yasmin, a young Turkish woman, through nearly two decades of her life, beginning in the late 1970′s. Through the course of the book, we live Yasmin’s life alongside of her, following along her ups and downs, good decisions and bad.

Her story doesn’t sound incredibly unique: young woman falls in love with a married man. But it’s the little details, the twists and turns of her life that keep the story so engaging.

The author, Ayshe Talay-Ongan, has a very unique writing style. It take a few pages to get into it, but once I did, I fell fully into the story. It’s told in the first person, present tense, so when Yasmin picks up an olive to nibble on, we pick up the olive with her. (On a completely unrelated note, don’t read Turquoise on an empty stomach. A Turkish cookbook is next on my list of books to buy!)

Due in part to the rich descriptions, Yasmin’s world feels very real. Gosh, when I put down the book, I almost felt compelled to speak in the same familiar, flowery language as Yasmin. At times the description is overdone, making wish we could see a bit more of Yasmin’s life instead of just her detailed thoughts on the world around her. (more…)

Cheer: Reviewer Roundup

  By May | 19 September, 2012 - 8:21 am |
1 Comment

Hello reader friends! Cheer by Leslie Gordon has only been on the “shelves” since August, and blogger feedback has been a bit limited. But here are a few additional reviews to help you decide if Cheer is right for you:

A.M.B from misfortuneofknowing.wordpress.com echoes my comments on the shifting perspectives, and calls the book “genuine with its realistic characters.”

Over the novel’s 176 pages (not that Kindle has page numbers), we witness the Dahl family’s healing process, with each chapter focused on a different character.  Ella’s and Jenny’s chapters are in first person, while Ethan’s chapters are told in third person, a shift in point of view that I found mildly jarring at first.  There are many emotional moments, some that were so sad that I needed a break.  However, the plot was compelling enough for me to resume reading until the very end, a hopeful conclusion that the sympathetic characters deserve.

I am so curious to know what the future holds for this family.  You will have to read the book to know what I mean.

Brenda Steele from the Chicklet Club rated the book 7 out of 10 stars. She says:

This fabulous debut novel is written in the style of Jodi Picoult. The author concentrates on the three main characters which allows the reader to get to know  them all well.

Have you added Cheer to your reading list? Stayed up way too late to finish it (like yours truly)? Let us know in the comments below.

Cheer: A Review

  By May | 13 September, 2012 - 9:31 am |
1 Comment

 

Author:  Leslie Gordon
Publisher: Self-published
Genre: Literary Fiction
My price: $2.99

 

 

Despite the peppy-sounding title,Cheerwas one of the saddest books I’ve read in a very long time.

The first character we meet is Ella, is a 14-year-old star cheerleader who believes she’s responsible for the death of her little brother, Riley. Ella quells any inkling of teenage rebellion and tries her hardest to be a model student, model cheerleader, model daughter… all to make up for the fact that she blames herself for her brother’s death. Instead of acting out in the usual teenage fashion, Ella cuts herself in discreet places. She takes pleasure in the pain, and it is absolutely heartbreaking. In spite of all of this, her parents barely  acknowledge her.

Her mom, Jenny, is one of the most insufferable characters. She, too, feels guilty for her son’s death. Instead of grieving or forgiving herself, she dedicates most of her energy to trying to conceive another child. She constantly explains how she doesn’t bond with her daughter, how she wasn’t interested in her as a baby, how she’s mad at Ella for her role in Riley’s death. Even though I could sympathize with her tragic loss, her lack of interest in her remaining family made her chapters almost unbearable. (more…)

New Look!

  By May | 31 August, 2012 - 8:07 am |
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Hi friends–

Just a quick note to let you know that you’re not on the wrong site! I’ve made some changes to the layout and design of Indebooks. Hopefully this makes it easier for you to navigate and find older reviews. Please feel free to get in touch with any questions or comments.

Thanks for reading! Have a great three-day weekend!