Audrey wears sunglasses all the time. Night-time. Rainy days. Inside while watching TV. Her sunglasses make her feel safe, and Audrey really needs to feel safe. A very "unpleasant incident" happened earlier in the year and as a result she now has an anxiety disorder. She and Dr. Sarah are making steady progress. Then, Linus comes along offering to "talk" by passing notes to each other through her four-year old brother. Soon, she's feeling safe enough to venture outside for the first time in months. Linus and Audrey's connection push her recovery forward. Is it enough? Or, maybe too much?
Sophie Kinsella's books just make me smile and even giggle. Her characters deal with the crazy world like real people with joy, caution, excitment, and humor. Okay, hiding behind sunglasses doesn't seem that "real," but it's actually ingenious. Audrey discovered a coping strategy that really helped her. Infused with humor, charged with tenderness and deepened by authentic relationships, Finding Audrey is the best young adult book I've read in a long, long time.
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
Thursday, October 1, 2015
All Fall Down, An Embassy Row Novel by Ally Carter
Grace knows she is not crazy; she knows that her mother was murdered before her very eyes, and she knows she is going to catch the killer, the Scarred Man.
Shipped off to live with her grandfather on Embassy Row in Adria and haunted be her mother's life in every room of the Embassy, Grace is certain that she is going to cause trouble because that is what she does. She doesn't mean to, but she does.
The very first night she dives off a cliff and sneaks into the empty and dilapidated embassy of Iran. When she starts to leave she hears voices, and they are talking about killing someone. In a brief passing of light she sees the face of one of those voices, the face of the Scarred Man. For Grace, the hunt has begun.
Grace is troubled and hard to relate to. Her friends have all the talent, wit, and courage. Grace has crazy. She spontaneously acts without regard to consequence, following her convictions. But, what if the things she is so sure of, the Scarred Man and her mother's murder, really aren't based in truth?
The story spins it's wheels for awhile, as Grace works out what to do, who to trust and how to catch a murderer without the aide of the professionals. Action is sporadic and lacks suspense. While the plot is a bit predictable, it has an excellent twist at the end that really caught me off guard.
I'm acutally anxious to read the second novel, and there is definately going to be a second, Grace has plenty of things to work out, and it will be interesting to see if she learns to let her friends in and if she can finally find out why her mother was killed.
Shipped off to live with her grandfather on Embassy Row in Adria and haunted be her mother's life in every room of the Embassy, Grace is certain that she is going to cause trouble because that is what she does. She doesn't mean to, but she does.
The very first night she dives off a cliff and sneaks into the empty and dilapidated embassy of Iran. When she starts to leave she hears voices, and they are talking about killing someone. In a brief passing of light she sees the face of one of those voices, the face of the Scarred Man. For Grace, the hunt has begun.
Grace is troubled and hard to relate to. Her friends have all the talent, wit, and courage. Grace has crazy. She spontaneously acts without regard to consequence, following her convictions. But, what if the things she is so sure of, the Scarred Man and her mother's murder, really aren't based in truth?
The story spins it's wheels for awhile, as Grace works out what to do, who to trust and how to catch a murderer without the aide of the professionals. Action is sporadic and lacks suspense. While the plot is a bit predictable, it has an excellent twist at the end that really caught me off guard.
I'm acutally anxious to read the second novel, and there is definately going to be a second, Grace has plenty of things to work out, and it will be interesting to see if she learns to let her friends in and if she can finally find out why her mother was killed.
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