4 stars

Categories Book Reviews

Book Review: The Ruins of Gorlan by John Flanagan

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It’s not that I don’t enjoy YA fantasy. In fact, it’s one of the nicest things to escape into – since it tends to be light without being sappy and gritty without being crass. Nevertheless, I don’t often venture into that world.

I’m not sure why exactly. Certainly, YA fiction is a world where you can end up with just about anything – and a lot of YA fiction IS sappy and crass. Also, fantasy and sci-fi often overlap; and while I enjoy fantasy, I am not at all fond of sci fi (notable exceptions: Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Ender’s War). So I don’t spend a lot of time browsing the YA section of my local library.

But when my sister-in-law was visiting over Memorial Day, she mentioned that she’d been reading and enjoying these YA fantasies – John Flanagan’s Ranger’s Apprentice. Like I do with so many things, I made a mental note of the series and promptly forgot about it entirely. Thankfully, my husband has a better memory than I and he asked me about a month later if I’d picked up that book Joanna was telling me about. Of course, by then I’d forgotten the name of the series, so I had to text Joanna for the title. I put in the request at the library and dutifully picked it up and put it in my bookpile – where it languished for months as I devoured everything pregnancy-related I could get my hands on.

But one day, I guess I’d had enough of pregnancy (actually, it probably was right around the time where I was feeling terribly one-dimensional, like all I did was talk about pregnancy and babies) and I picked up The Ruins of Gorlan.

I read it straight through and it was tremendous fun.

Five orphaned children, 15 years old and wards of the castle, prepare for choosing day – when they will offer themselves as apprentices to craftsmen and will be accepted or rejected into apprenticeships that will set them into their lives courses. Alyss, Jenny, George, and Horace know exactly to whom they wish to be apprenticed. They have already shown interest and aptitude in their desired life’s calling and some even have agreements with their chosen masters that need only to be approved by the baron.

Will, on the other hand, knows what he wants to do – but fears being able to do it. Will dreams of being a hero. He never knew his parents, doesn’t even know their names – but the note left on his basket when he was delivered to the castle in hopes that the baron would take care of him declared his father to be a hero in the last great battle against Morgarath. Will had been cherishing fantasies of his father for years – and dreamt of following in his noble father’s footsteps.

Which meant battle school, of course, and knighthood afterward. But Will is small and not particularly strong, frequently bullied by the clearly battle-school-ready Horace. Will intends to request an apprenticeship to the battle school, but fears that he will instead be rejected by all the castle masters – and end up being sent off to the fields like a common peasant.

Choosing day arrives and goes off exactly as expected. Alyss is accepted as apprentice to the diplomatic corps, Jenny to the castle’s chef. George will learn law and Horace will go to battle-school.

Will requests battle-school and is rejected. He is allowed a second choice and offers horseschool – and is rejected there as well. The mysterious ranger, who many suspect performs magic, slips a piece of paper to the Baron, informing him that there is something he should know about this Will. And the class of castle wards is dismissed. Tomorrow, the apprenticed students will report to their craftsmasters – and Will will go off to the fields.

Except for one thing – Will simply *must* see what is on that piece of paper.

In my opinion, The Ruins of Gorlan is the perfect sort of YA fantasy. It’s set in a medieval-type world with strange creatures, but seems to distance itself from actual magic – thus avoiding the deus ex machina I detest so in a fantasy tale. The protagonists experience a physical and mental coming-of-age, in which they are forced to reexamine old beliefs and establish character through fire. Both the plot and the characters are engaging. It’s just right.

Now that’s not to say that I felt the writing was particularly amazing – the occasional awkward construction and odd simile reminded me that the author is not a genius at his craft – but one can be very good without being a genius, and what Flanagan lacks in genius in writing, he makes up in skill as a storyteller. I can definitely recommend this book.

Rating: 4 stars
Category: YA fantasy
Synopsis: The orphaned Will dreams of becoming a hero like his noble father, but finds himself on a very different path than expected after he is rejected as an apprentice by his preferred craftsmaster.
Recommendation: Recommended for anyone looking for a good coming of age story or light fantasy. An engaging story well-told.

Categories Book Reviews

Book Review: Origins: How the Nine Months before Birth shape the Rest of our Lives by Annie Murphy Paul

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Surely all of you have to be at least slightly familiar with “fetal origins of disease” theory by now? Earlier this year, I read The Gift of Health, The Prenatal Prescription, and Program Your Baby’s Health (all linked to the Nightstand post in which I mentioned it). All three of the aforementioned books were written by academics in the field of fetal origins of disease or “prenatal programming” and all three were focused on exploring and applying the science of how fetal environment (especially a mother’s nutrition, exposures, and mental health during pregnancy) affects the later development of offspring (including their risk of chronic disease later in life).

Annie Murphy Paul’s Origins: How the Nine Months before Birth Shape the Rest of our Lives is different from the above in several key ways. Murphy Paul is a journalist instead of an academic. She writes of her own experiences instead of prescribing someone else’s experience. And she makes fetal origins interesting (maybe even for someone who doesn’t make a living of caring for pregnant women).

Origins is divided into nine chapters, one for each of the nine months of the author’s second pregnancy, and each chapter details a different aspect of prenatal environment: the burgeoning science of prenatal influences, the impact of prenatal nutrition, how maternal stress affects the unborn child, toxic exposure during pregnancy, the differences between boys and girls in utero, how maternal psychological state impacts the fetus, how prenatal behavior may be capable of breaking “generational curses” of disease, societal interest in the health of pregnant women, and the amazing unconscious communication between baby and mother.

Very little of what I read in Origins was new information to me. I am, after all, a dietitian who focused a fair bit on maternal and fetal health during my formal schooling and in my continuing education afterwards. I work with pregnant women and young children on a daily basis. I have read journal articles as well as several books written for the general public on fetal origins of disease. Nonetheless, I found Annie Murphy Paul’s treatment of the subject to be fair and engaging. I didn’t slog through the repeated information like I have with some other books on the subject – I enjoyed the fresh look of a layperson’s perspective.

And I have a feeling that others who are interested in science and/or health would enjoy this book too.

Rating: 4 stars
Category: Popular science/health
Synopsis: The author explores the science of prenatal origins, using her own pregnancy as a frame for her exploration of the topic.
Recommendation: A wonderful introduction to the science of prenatal origins for the interested layperson. Engaging enough that anyone will enjoy it.

Categories Book Reviews

Book Review: The 101 Dalmatians by Dodie Smith

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Put this title among the “movies I didn’t know were based on a book.”

I watched the 101 Dalmatians as a child, but don’t remember anything beyond the basic storyline – so I can’t at all remark on the differences between the book and the movie.

What I can remark on is how very delightful this book is.

The story is told in third person omniscient, primarily following Pongo and Missus, the mother and father dalmatians who go off to search for their fifteen missing pups.

Pongo is a quite intelligent dog, capable of understanding most human speech and of engaging in higher reasoning. It is he who puts two and two together and figures out that it is Cruella de Vil who has stolen the puppies – and that she intends not to sell them but to turn them into furs!

Missus is a simple but loving dog who doesn’t know her right paw from her left and who can be a bit vain; but who valiantly protects her children.

Watching the relationship between Pongo and Missus was definitely my favorite part of the book – Pongo eager to protect his wife, Missus eager to help her husband. Again and again along their journey, one or the other meets a trial of some sort (whether a child that makes them very angry, an injury, or simply the lack of food) and the two rely upon one another to sort through their various emotions, thoughts, and reactions. The two reflect a marriage not often seen in fiction – and especially not in children’s fiction (where many parents seem absent) – a marriage of true partnership and service. It was beautiful.

Of course, I couldn’t help but notice a bit of old-fashioned sexism – not just in Pongo and Missus’s relative levels of intelligence but in the way the girl and boy pups are described as able or not able to tolerate cold and so on. I suppose I could raise a stink about it and let it spoil the story for me – but I don’t feel up to ire, and there are so many strong redeeming values to this story that make that smudge fade into the background. While Missus is not incredibly intelligent, she is not entirely a stereotype – and she has plenty of admirable qualities. So I’m ignoring the occasional chauvinism and choosing to just enjoy this book.

And enjoy it I did. A couple particularly enjoyable notes:

Cruella’s cloak is described (several times) as an “absolutely simple white mink cloak” – in a fascinating and no-longer-common use of the word simple.

When the dogs come up with the splendid idea of disguising themselves with soot, there’s a little wordplay with “soot” and “suit”.

So, should you read The 101 Dalmatians?

Yes, yes you should.

Rating: 4 stars
Category: Children’s animal story
Synopsis: The married Pongo and Missus take off on a wild adventure to retrieve their stolen litter of 15 dalmatians – and end up with even more than the handful they expected.
Recommendation: A wonderful book for reading to oneself or aloud.

I read this as a part of Carrie’s Reading to Know Classics Book Club Check out what other bloggers are saying about this book at Reading to Know.

Categories Book Reviews

Book Review: King Solomon’s Mines by H. Rider Haggard

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Adventure is not my genre, I told myself as I read the various introductions to June’s Reading to Know Classics bookclub pick. But I’m reading along with the bookclub, so I’ll read Haggard’s King Solomon’s Mines.

Having read King Solomon’s Mines, I wonder why I decided that adventure wasn’t my genre. I thoroughly enjoyed this tale of an English gentleman, a former British naval captain, and a white adventurer/elephant hunter traveling through South Africa in search of the former’s brother, who had not been heard of since he left on his quest to find the legendary diamond mines belonging to the ancient King Solomon.

Allan Quatermain, the adventurer and elephant hunter, is the book’s narrator – and he describes the action in down-to-earth style. Allan knows something of the mines, but he also knows that no man who has seen them has lived – so he’s circumspect as he begins this quest, leading the expedition north. He has received promise of a share of any findings, but has little hope of returning to civilization with diamonds in store. Instead, he carries on the expedition for the sake of his son, a medical student in London. As payment for his leading the expedition, Quatermain has arranged that, on the occasion of his death (which is almost certain), a generous stipend is to be paid to Quatermain’s son by the gentleman (or his estate). And thus he goes to what is almost certainly death.

What follows is a story of dangerous hunts, unexpected revelations, and even a battle. As adventure goes, this had a little bit of everything – but no single dimension was so emphasized that I got tired of the creepiness of a witch, the danger of the hunt, or the clash of steel against steel (actually, I don’t remember if the battle involved steel or wood – and I returned the book before I reviewed it – Gah!)

King Solomon’s Mines has officially made me rethink my earlier position that adventure is not my genre. Adventure done like this is definitely up my alley!

Rating: 4 stars
Category: Adventure
Synopsis: Three white men set out into the inner portion of South Africa in search of one of the men’s brothers – who had been searching for King Solomon’s legendary diamond mines.
Recommendation: This was good. Even if you don’t think adventure is your thing, it’d be worth giving it a try.

I read this as a part of Carrie’s Reading to Know Classics Book Club Check out what other bloggers are saying about this book at this month’s conclusion post.

Categories Book Reviews

Book Review: Naked Economics by Charles Wheelan

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So, apparently economics is really boring. Or at least, it is if your only exposure is a high school or college Econ 101.

I never had the dubious pleasure of taking Econ 101, so I’ve always considered economics to be fun.

Charles Wheelan’s Naked Economics seeks to undo this apparently common misconception by “undressing” economics from the equations that presumably cause the average economics student to consider economics boring.

Since I’ve never considered economics boring, I don’t know how well this book succeeds at its goal – I do, however, know that I found this to be a simple and fascinating introduction to economics.

Wheelan addresses how markets work, what incentives do, how governments help and hinder things, how to measure economies, what the federal reserve does, and much more.

It’s great. It defines terms, fleshes out principles, and makes economics absolutely simple.

But I like economics. So I really can’t say much.

Except that, if you don’t like economics or have always been intimidated by it, you should probably check this book out.

It might just change your view of the “dismal science”.

Rating: 4 stars
Category: Economics
Synopsis: Wheelan gives a basic no-math introduction to economics.
Recommendation: If you find your eyes glazing over when people start talking economics – or if you enjoy economics – this is a good introduction to the wonderful (actually very interesting) world of economics.

Categories Book Reviews

Book Review: The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery

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I knew I was going to like L.M. Montgomery’s The Blue Castle when I got to a line in the second paragraph that I could identify with oh-so-well:

“One does not sleep well, sometimes, when one is twenty-nine on the morrow, and unmarried, in a community and connection where the unmarried are simply those who have failed to get a man.”

Not that I’ve ever been on the cusp of twenty-nine and unmarried. Or that I’ve been in a community and a connection where the unmarried are simply those who have failed to get a man.

But I have been 27 and unmarried, feeling like I was simply one who had failed to get a man. I, like Valancy, “had never quite relinquished a certain pitiful, shamed, little hope that Romance would come [my] way yet.” Until I was 27 and talking to a mortgage officer about a home loan. Then, I felt sure that I’d given up hope.

I was entirely sympathetic with Valancy’s plight.

Then I got to the fourth page, where I learned of the blue castle in Spain, the daydream Valancy had been escaping to since she was a young girl. I knew at that point that Valancy and I would be kindred spirits.

I had no drab existence (at least, not in the sense of a yellow-painted floor with a hideous hooked rug and ancient photos of relatives I don’t know hung within my bedroom) or unloving childhood to escape from–but I took refuge in my own blue castles nonetheless.

Like Valancy, I decorated my castle and imagined romances for myself. I had a series of “lovers” (only one at a time, of course, like Valancy did) who each faded away as a new story presented itself to my mind.

I was never a shy child or a shy woman who cowed under the censure of a strong-willed family. I never had a dull life, was never colorless or mousy. I was not one bit like Valancy in personality or family circumstance–only in singleness and dreaming.

But that was enough for me to like her and be interested in her plight.

Thankfully, Valancy doesn’t stay a single doormouse caught up in her dreams (that’d be a rather boring book, wouldn’t it?) Instead, she receives some news that shocks her out of her complacency and compels her to start living real life.

She starts saying and doing the things she’s been thinking for so long. She throws the jar of mouldy potpouri that’s been sitting in her bedroom out the window and against the building next door: “I’m sick of the fragrance of dead things.” She announces to a dinner party of assembled family that “the greatest happiness is to sneeze when you want to.” And she moves out of her widowed mother and aunt’s house and into the home of a widowed man and his dying daughter.

And then she moves into her blue castle and building her own life–discovering along the way that her castle is a little different than she’d dreamed all along, and so much more wonderful. (I identify with this discovery completely.)

And then comes the second great shock of her life–a shock great enough to overthrow everything she’d been building for the past year (du-duh-DUH!)

I liked this book. I really, really did. And I think others will as well.

Rating: 4 stars
Category: Fiction/Romance
Synopsis: The only interesting thing in dull, mousy Valancy Stirling’s life is her dream world–the “Blue Castle” in Spain. But shocking news changes everything for her and she suddenly starts shocking everyone else by building a real life for herself–in anything but a dull, mousy way.
Recommendation: Definitely worth reading if you like romances (of the unsmutty variety) or L.M. Montgomery

I read this as a part of Carrie’s Reading to Know Classics Book Club and the L.M. Montgomery Reading Challenge–which means you don’t have to take my word on the book as the final word. All sorts of other bloggers are reading and writing up their thoughts on The Blue Castle. Check them out!

Categories Book Reviews

“A History of the World in 6 Glasses” by Tom Standage

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In the beginning, there was only water. Then man discovered beer.

This is how Tom Standage introduces his topic, tracing the history of the world through the lens of the beverages men drank.

Beer is the beverage of man’s early history. Standage notes how beer almost certainly was discovered rather than invented in the earliest civilization. In Standage’s thinking, beer was a sort of liquid bread–with the added nutritional advantages of Vitamin B12 (from the yeast used to ferment it) and a low level of harmful microorganisms (due to the alcohol content.) Standage traces beer through the ancient Middle East and its majestic empires: Sumer and Egypt.

Wine takes over as the world beverage when Greece rises as a world power. Greece introduced wine to the rest of the world, along with certain patterns of drinking wine. Rome solidified wine’s standing and created the wine snob.

Wine would rule the world for over a millenia–until the tee-totaling Arabs distilled it into spirits. While the Arabian world mostly regarded the spirits as an alchemical ingredient or as a medicine, once imported to Europe, spirits took off as a beverage. Distilled spirits, from a variety of sources, would be the drink of the age of exploration, fueling fleets that colonized far-flung continents. Spirits would also serve a distinct role in the expansion of slavery throughout the world.

The Age of Enlightenment replaced the inebriating spirits with the consciousness-enhancing coffee. Coffee shops became hotbeds for new political, social, philosophical, and scientific thought. Quick on coffee’s heels, tea advanced throughout the world as the British Empire reached its high point in the nineteenth century.

In the twentieth century, a new world power–and a new beverage–would come to dominate the world. America ended its mostly isolationist stance by entering the World Wars–and Coca Cola invaded the globe.

Standage’s A History of the World in 6 Glasses represents one of my favorite sorts of histories–a history that explores how people lived, and which ties social history in with the megolithic historical events like wars. Standage artfully weaves together the daily lives of people and the machinations of nations–all on the threads of six different global beverages.

I don’t know that this is a book that will appeal to everyone–but for those who like this sort of book, this is definitely worth reading. I was impressed with how Standage related information in an interesting yet fair way (for instance, he addresses the use of wine in Christian communion quite nicely). He does a good job of pulling in a variety of disciplines as he writes, talking about the making of each beverage, the various benefits of each (like the aforementioned Vitamin B12 in early beer), the ways in which the beverage was consumed, and the giant world events that led to or resulted from the preparation and trade of the various beverages. I definitely recommend this book (to those who like this sort of thing :-P).

Rating:4 Stars
Category:History
Synopsis:Standage tells the history of the world–through the lens of six beverages that dominated the world stage during different ages.
Recommendation: If you like this sort of book, you’ll like this book. It is an excellent representation of a topical history.

Categories Book Reviews

Book Review: “Only You, Sierra” by Robin Jones Gunn

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Anna got Starry Night by Robin Jones Gunn for Christmas one year–and the two of us were quickly hooked on the adventures of Christy Miller, Midwestern transplant to crazy California.

We *adored* Christy–reading each of those books over and over and over again. We were in love with Todd. We hated Rick. We cracked up over dead hamsters. We started shoebox P.O. Boxes for our future husbands.

And then we reached our teens–and skipped the teen spin-offs to jump directly into Gunn’s adult “Glenbrook” series.

Of course, I’d “met” Sierra Jensen with Christy when she went to Europe in A Promise is Forever–but I’d never actually read any of Sierra’s story until Waterbrook Multnomah offered a free Kindle edition of The Sierra Jensen Collection, Volume 1 containing Only You, Sierra, In Your Dreams and Don’t You Wish.

Only You, Sierra started out in familiar territory–Carnforth Hall in England, during the missions trip Sierra, Christy, Katie, Tracy, and Doug had ended up on together.

Sierra flies home from England–but home isn’t the same place she left. While she was on her trip, her family had moved in with their Granna Mae in Portland. Granna Mae has good days and bad days with her dementia–and Sierra’s family is there to help.

Even though the move had been planned in advance, Sierra finds herself struggling to catch up to her family, who has already settled in–and struggling to find her place in Portland, where her uniqueness isn’t quite so unique.

I devoured Only You, Sierra, reading it in two nights. It’s definitely Robin Jones Gunn, but it’s more realistic than Christy’s drama-filled existence. Unlike Christy, Sierra has no fairy-godmother-like rich aunt ready to introduce her into the high-life. Instead, Sierra has an older sister who she shares a room with, two little brothers, a loving but confused Granna Mae, two parents, and a crush she barely knows. As I said, much more realistic (at least, from my perspective.)

When I finished Only You, Sierra, I was gravely disappointed to find that I couldn’t access the second and third books on my Kindle edition. I realize that my copy was an ARC–and therefore may not be reflective of the final copy–but I worry that fellow Kindle Readers would find themselves getting only one book when they’re promised (and itching for) three.

I’m thinking these books would appeal most to the sort of reader I was when I first started reading the Christy Miller books–in my early adolescence. While I read those when I was ten or so, my guess is that these will probably appeal to the 12-14 crowd best.

For those worried that familiarity with the Christy Miller series is necessary for understanding these books, I think you’ll find that isn’t the case. I’ve framed my review around my childhood memories of Christy–but she certainly isn’t necessary for reading or enjoying the Sierra Jensen series.

Rating:4 Stars
Category:Teen Girls Series Fiction
Synopsis:Sierra struggles to find her place in a new community while wishing she were in SoCal with her “European friends”.
Recommendation: Good, clean, engaging–and not too drama filled–fiction for teenage girls. If you’ve got girls around 12-14 years old, these would be a good option. (Definitely a better option that the “Princess Diaries” franchise or “Gossip Girls”.)

Categories Book Notes, Health

Book Review: “Over-diagnosed” by Dr. H Gilbert Welch and others

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A couple years ago, I wrote about my personal weight loss crisis. I’d lost weight and everyone was noticing it and congratulating me. Problem was, I was arguably at a healthier weight pre-loss than I was after losing (since lowest mortality is at a BMI of around 24).

I described how health promotion watchdogs kept lowering the BMI limit for “overweight”, capturing more and more people under the “overweight” term with little evidence that those people were actually at increased risk.

As a result, all sorts of people who were once considered to be at a healthy weight, were now labeled as overweight. And they were told that overweight puts them at risk for diabetes, heart disease, cancer, etc. Problem is, the newly diagnosed individuals (with BMIs between the new “overweight” limit and the old one) aren’t necessarily at higher risk. They’re just now being lumped with those who are at higher risk.

These people are the “overdiagnosed”. They receive a diagnosis for a “disease” that has not harmed them and perhaps never will.

Over-diagnosedDoctors H Gilbert Welch, Lisa M. Schwartz, and Steven Woloshin address this problem in their book Over-diagnosed: Making People Sick in the Pursuit of Health.

The authors discuss multiple areas of medicine where the pursuit of early detection of disease has led to people being diagnosed with potential problems that haven’t yet caused them real problems (and maybe never will). Then, once a “disease” has been diagnosed, treatment begins.

If the treatment were only beneficial and had no side effects, this might be fine. Everyone would be undergoing treatment for all of their potential problems and their potential problems would never develop into real problems.

But that isn’t the case. Instead, each of these treatments has a variety of side effects-some quite dangerous. If someone actually has a problem (that is causing them a problem), the positives in increased life expectancy or absence of disease symptoms outweigh the negative side effects. But for the overdiagnosed, the people who are diagnosed with a potential problem that is destined to never become an actual problem, the side effects are the only effects–since they will not be helped by the treatment (for a disease they don’t actually have, or don’t actually have a problem with.)

Packed with good scientific explanations, this book makes a strong case for opting out of unnecessary tests–and for asking more questions prior to beginning treatment.

This is not an anti-medicine book. The authors are all Western medical doctors who believe in evidence-based care. But they question whether the ballooning spate of over-diagnosis is really evidenced-based care or whether it’s fear-based care.

This isn’t the easiest book to read (it can get fairly technical at times), but I think it provides some very important perspective that is rarely offered in today’s medical and health-promotion arenas.

I have read a couple of articles which referenced overdiagnosis recently. The first, regarding mammograms and mastectomies stated the following:

“While scientists did not investigate why mastectomy rates climbed in screened groups, study author Pal Suhrke said the main reason is likely “cancer overdiagnosis,” or the detection and subsequent treatment of tumors that might grow very slowly and not pose much of a risk.”

The second, detailing the results of a physician survey, stated that almost half of all doctors in the US feel that their own patients are overtreated.

Rating: 4 Stars
Category:Consumer Health
Synopsis: The authors describe over-diagnosis and the dangers associated with routinely testing healthy individuals.
Recommendation: The health-savvy consumer will definitely want to read this.

Categories Book Reviews

Book Review: “What I saw and how I lied” by Judy Blundell

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Evie is fifteen, her stepfather has returned from the war, and life is good.

Okay, so they still live with her step-father’s mother, who doesn’t quite get along with Evie’s mother. So Evie’s step-father is drinking more. So Evie’s parents are fighting more often.

But Evie’s main concerns are that her mother won’t let her wear grown-up clothes and that she can’t seem to attract the attention of her crush.

Then her stepfather decides to take them on a vacation to Florida–and Evie meets (and falls in love with) the dashing young Peter (who had served with her stepfather in the War.)

Awash with the headiness of a new environment, new clothing (one of her mothers’ new friends insisted), and new love, Evie thinks of little but how she can next see Peter. Then a hurricane hits and Evie’s world comes crashing down.

I added What I saw and How I lied to my TBR list on the basis of Semicolon’s review (I think), but by the time I’d gotten around to picking it up from the library, I’d forgotten the review and had no idea what to expect. (Even if I’d read Semicolon’s review more recently, I’m not sure I’d have known what to expect. Sherry does a good job of not giving spoilers.)

At any rate, I read with only the book’s title to clue me in on what was happening–and that kept me guessing for a good long time.

I knew something was wrong, that something wasn’t adding up in Evie’s idyllic world–but I couldn’t quite put my finger on what it was. What’s more, if Evie (the narrator of the book) had seen something, why wasn’t she telling me? What had she seen? And how had she lied?

I was almost upset with her for not sharing–but I kept reading in the hopes that she would at last reveal.

And reveal she did, with a punch that left me gasping for air.

Other reviewers have called this a coming-of-age novel, and that it is. It’s about a loss of innocence, a loss of trust. It’s also a story about stealing, lying, adultery, and murder. As my grandmother would say, it’s a story of sex and violence.

But a well-told story.

This is definitely not a children’s book. But the sex and violence found in this book is not the gratuitous or experimental raciness of a typical YA novel. It’s tasteful (mostly) and integral, contributing to Evie’s awakening to the world of lies and truth, deception and integrity, lust and love.

I very much enjoyed reading this novel and recommend it for discerning, mature readers.

Rating: 4 stars
Category: YA-Coming of Age Novel
Synopsis:Evie grows up rather quickly after a winter in Florida where she encounters lust, lies, deception, and discrimination.
Recommendation: I think thoughtful readers are likely to enjoy this, while those looking for either escapist or sensational fiction will be disappointed. I personally enjoyed it a great deal.