Tag Archive | memories

U for Undo tradition in Darkbeast, by Morgan Keyes (book review) – to murder or to escape?

Apr24

bookcover of Darkbeast by Morgan Keyes published by Margaret K. McElderry Books Give your bad habits to your darkbeast,
Give your sins to the darkbeast,
They are gone forever…
and soon your magical companion will be gone forever, too.

The ultimate end of childhood, having to kill the magical beast who’s been conversing with you mentally since you were tiny – and Keara just cannot do that to Caw.

Running away with a theatrical troupe who must perform religious plays to the satisfaction of the high priests and ruler may or may not be the escape that the young woman envisioned!

The sequel, Darkbeast Rebellion,  is scheduled for September 2013 publication, when the paperback of Darkbeast  will also be released.

Please share your favorite books where someone defies tradition to do what they know in their heart is right.
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Book info: Darkbeast / Morgan Keyes.  Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2012.  [author site] [publisher site]

My recommendation: Keara wants to be good, tries to give her rebellion over to her darkbeast Caw, to let him take her fault into himself. But she can’t let it go, can’t kill Caw on her twelfth birthday as she becomes a woman, can’t stay in the village where she’s broken custom and her mother’s heart.

It was the tales spun by the Travelers, performed on the village green just before her nameday, stories of the gods and goddesses which entranced Keara and made her twist around Mother’s orders to stay home. Now her world is bigger than Silver Hollow, and her life there will be empty when the troupe leaves.

No one else in her village has ever defied the gods and the law by refusing to sacrifice the darkbeast which contained all their sins and faults of childhood. Keara cannot imagine losing that magical connection of mind and heart which has filled her whole being, so they run away, girl and raven, trying to hide from the Inquisitors.

Catching up with the Travelers, Keara finds a cautious welcome when she shows them an error in their play about the goddess Nuntia. For these plays teach and retell the legends of the Twelve, and if the villagers hear a fact told wrong, they’ll never again trust this company of Travelers for the truth – and the Primate himself could order the company disbanded or worse.

Holy plays about the Twelve gods and goddesses, common plays about funny everyday things – the Travelers of Taggart’s troupe will soon decide which one to perform before the Primate and priests at the great festival three months hence. And Keara means to be with them when they do.

Can she and Caw avoid the Inquisitors while traveling and performing?
Why is every other twelve-year-old so eager to sever the magical bond with their darkbeast?
Can Keara learn the Travelers’ ways quickly enough to become a troupe member?

It’s a dangerous path that Keara has chosen for herself and Caw, a treacherous way that Taggart and his troupe choose as they prepare for the festival in the land of Duodecia where the the gods and goddesses rule over all, disregarding love.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

T for traded – The Day Before, by Lisa Schroeder (book review) – birth-switch discovered years later; now what?

Apr23

book cover of The Day Before by Lisa Schroeder published by Simon PulseFamily is family,
there for you when you need them,
there when they drive you nuts.
But what if you’re not really their flesh and blood at all?

Babies being accidentally switched at birth can happen even in modern hospitals. Sometimes the error is discovered, other times not. Amber’s birth parents uncover the unintentional swap when the girls are young teens and will go to any lengths to be involved in the Oregon teen’s life, even if she’s not interested.

Experience her one perfect day on the beach with Cade, an amazing guy burdened by his own secrets, in this novel-in-verse that reads like the waves on the shore or the beating of an anxious heart.

It’s Novels in Verse Week – what are your favorites?
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Book info:  The Day Before / Lisa Schroeder. Simon Pulse, 2011 hardcover, 2012 paperback.   [author site]  [publisher site]  [book trailer]

My recommendation: Just one day when everything is perfect, that’s all Amber wants – before the journey, before the changes that will leave her different forever. Meeting Cade on the Oregon beach is perfect, but she worries about what he’s running from. So much can change in one day…

When her parents split up, Amber took refuge in drumming with her rock band, dissecting school rumors with best friend Madison, watching sappy late-night movies with Mom. The news took them all by surprise, three years ago. Switched at birth by mistake – sounds like something in the tabloids.

Somehow she’s really the biological daughter of a Texas couple, who discovered the mixup when their same-birthdate daughter died of a rare disorder. Bloodtypes didn’t match, records were back-traced, and suddenly Amber is someone else… and her birth parents long to meet her.

So she’s taking this last day as just Mom and Dad’s daughter to do her favorite Oregon things – walk the beach, toes in the cold Pacific, visit the aquarium. There she meets Cade, a guy her age who’s also taking a personal day off from school, revisiting favorite childhood seaside places. But he’s not just skipping school; like Amber, he’s here as if he might not ever see them again.

What’s Cade running from?
Could he see her as Amber-the-Girl instead of Amber-the-Drummer?
Why, oh why, does she have to leave tomorrow?

This novel-in-verse chronicles Amber’s perfect day with Cade, punctuated with letters from her old and new family, sprinkled with jelly beans, laced through and through with worry about her future, his future, their future. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

R for Radiant Days, by Elizabeth Hand (book review) – words beyond time, art beyond sight

Apr20

book cover of Radiant Days by Elizabeth Hand published by VikingA rising sun centered with an eye,
A jawbone harp, a fishbone key,
Time-switching, century-crossing.

Who knows how a skinny white girl from rural West Virginia becomes the first urban tagger in D.C. in the late ’70s… Who knows why bitter winter and the colder bitterness of family discontent fuel a young poet during war…

And should you ever be looking for a photo of  Arthur, the one on the cover of Radiant Days  will be what you almost always find, as Rimbaud flared and flamed out as a very young man, writing all his poems by age 20, then abandoning it for a vagabond life.

“Early ripe, early rot” or my own phrase “a meteor in a world of candles” – which describes the young, soul-tortured artistic genius to you?
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Book info: Radiant Days / Elizabeth Hand. Viking, 2012.  [author site]  [publisher site]

My recommendation: Merle’s art didn’t fit into any of the neat categories her instructors required; Arthur’s poetry wasn’t pretty or uplifting. This passion for expression brings them together, the girl of 1978 and the boy of 1870, crossing the boundaries of time like a spear of light.

That her unconventional art was her ticket out of rural Appalachia surprised Merle a bit, but the Corcoran School accepted her.  During their affair, elegant instructor Clea attempts to connect her with influential gallery owners and culture beyond her ‘white trash’ origins, but Merle chafes at assignments and deadlines. The act of creating her art to be seen by passing commuter trains is far more important than passing classes, and soon her iconic Radiant Days graffiti appears all over D.C.

As the war closes his school, Arthur is out of a home, out of classmates to get money from, out of paper and ink for his poems. The brash young man heads toward Belgium when all sensible people are fleeing ahead of the Prussian Army, goes after a Paris newspaper job as discharged soldiers flood the city seeking work after the armistice. The turmoil in his spirit erupts in poems reflecting brutal post-war realities, torn relationships, bitter lovers’ quarrels with his mentor Paul.

Somehow, Merle and Arthur (in their separate centuries) meet a gruff man fishing for carp along a canal, are directed by him to an abandoned lockhouse for shelter, awaken in the same century – together! Somehow, they hear the other speak in their language, understand the vibrant images of each other’s work, are separated and reunited in one century and in the other.

How can they both know the same fisherman in different cities, different centuries?
How have they summoned one another across time and distance?
How do they share the same blazing visions, shown in her art, chronicled in his words?

As message, as weapon, as mirror of the soul, their work pleased them even if it satisfied no one else. This tale of early talent recognized by the world only in later years brings French poet Arthur Rimbaud into the life of an unheralded American artist, threaded through with music and mystery.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Q for Quest – Exile, by Rebecca Lim (book review) – amnesiac angel on a mission

Apr19

book cover of Exile by Rebecca Lim published by Hyperion TeenWaking up in a daze, again.
In someone else’s body, again.
Clinging to a thread of her own memory again.

An exiled angel, a desperate man, hints of other powers thwarting Mercy’s attempts to remember Luc or Ryan or why she cared for them – add this to a dead-end coffee shop job and a dying mother… how will Mercy resolve Lela’s situation and give the Melbourne teen her body back?

You’ll understand more of Mercy’s predicament if you read Mercy  first (see my no-spoiler recommendation) and sneak a peek at chapter 1 of Exile here. Hoping that Muse (book 3) and Fury  (book 4) get to the USA from Australia soon!

Can you truly remember love when all other memories are gone?
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Book info: Exile (Mercy, book 2) / Rebecca Lim. Hyperion, 2012. [author info]  [publisher site]

My recommendation:  Slammed awake in yet another body, Mercy now must answer to the name Lela, to care for ‘her’ mother dying of cancer, to work at ‘her’ dead-end job at the rundown café, to discover why she’s been called into this particular body at this exact time.

She has fragmentary memories of inhabiting a young singer’s body in another country, of being loved by a young man even after he realized she was not the real Carmen…why can’t she remember more of her time there? And just a flash of celestial Luc’s searing kisses in her dreams.

Poor Lela has had such a hard-luck life in this dreary Australian city, and now this, her mother withering before her very eyes. Perhaps Mercy was brought into her body to ease the pain of Mum’s passing, or she’s supposed to help Justine escape her terrible boyfriend, maybe turn co-worker Reggie into a decent human being (nah, impossible).

Mercy lets Lela’s muscle-memory take over coffee orders called to the barista, the best ways to ease around her grumpy boss and terrifying Sulaiman the cook. One man uses the café as his mid-morning office and helps her search for Carmen’s name on his computer in exchange for a dinner date. Very twitchy and OCD, this Ranald. Lela has turned him down for dates several times, it seems.

Rushing home when Lela’s mother takes a turn for the worse, Mercy is accosted by a small patch of energy, a being who’s as trapped here as she is, who gives her a tiny clue about who or what she might truly be. But there are larger problems ahead as a crazed customer threatens to kill everyone in the café, Justine’s boyfriend gets abusive, and Mercy’s online search for Carmen and Ryan is attracting unwanted attention in the city and elsewhere.

Could she really love Ryan, or is Luc right about the past she cannot remember?
Who is she? What is she? Why is Mercy right here, right now?
As Mercy journeys from body to body, can she ever find out where she truly belongs?

This second book in the Mercy series by Australian author Rebecca Lim is followed by Muse.  While Exile  can stand alone, read Mercy  first for maximum enjoyment. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher through NetGalley.

M for Mixtape, mystery and mistakes in Wish You Were Here, by Barbara Shoup (book review)

Apr15

book cover of Wish You Were Here by Barbara Shoup published by FluxBest high school pal.
A great girlfriend.
A family that gets along.
Quit dreaming, Jackson!

Senior year of high school is rarely all sunshine and cupcakes for folks, but Jax really does have some odd and difficult things to work through before he graduates in 1994.

His rock band roadie dad is dating a vegetarian aerobics instructor, straight-arrow MBA Ted has asked Jackson if he’s okay with him marrying Mom, and Brady is still gone.

Is his life a mixtape where nothing can change or is it on the shuffle setting, like Ted’s state-of-the-art CD player?

It’s National Library Week, so head over to your  local library and look for this 2008 re-release of Shoup’s award-winning classic.
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Book info: Wish You Were Here / Barbara Shoup. Flux, 2008.   [author site]  [publisher site]

My recommendation: Jackson and his best friend are moving into their own apartment for their senior year of high school! Until Brady runs away the weekend before school begins… Now Jax has to cope with everything by himself: his mom remarrying, his dad going into the hospital, girl-trouble. Maybe he can follow the postcards and bring Brady back.

If he must have a stepdad, Ted is better than most, and now only-child Jax will have part-time little sisters. But a new house, knowing that Mom and Dad will never get together again, no Brady to escape with… and to top it off, the three stepsiblings will be going with Mom and Ted on their honeymoon trip to the tropics over Christmas Break!

At least he got to meet Amanda at the beach – funny, smart, likes Kristin and Amy, really likes Jax. They’ll just have to write letters until graduation (Class of ’94 forever) since they live so far apart. One postcard from Brady, but no real news.

Odd that Jax gets tied up with stoner Steph, Brady’s ex, when he gets back from the island. He doesn’t love her, she doesn’t love him, but it just happens. Keeps him a little bit sane when Dad is injured during a rock concert (yep, he’s a roadie) and Jax winds up staying at his house to help him recover. Another postcard from Brady, less informative than the first.

A road trip to Graceland, spring break in Florida with his classmates…life for Jax is like the random feature on the CD player in Ted’s new van – you never know what song will play next, and the surprise isn’t always a pleasant one.

How does this being a big brother thing work?
Can he find Brady before senior year is over?
Why can’t he figure out what comes after all this drama?

Published in 1994 and named to the American Library Association’s 1995 Best Books for Young Adults list, Wish You Were Here  has been re-issued by Flux Books. Jackson’s musings still ring true, as he deals with divorce, weird relatives, the end of school, and the disappearance of his best friend.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) I won this review copy in the Authors for Henryville auction. Cover image courtesy of the publisher.

L for Lost Crown, by Sarah Miller (book review) – Romanov grand duchesses, sisters, doomed

Apr13

book cover of The Lost Crown by Sarah Miller published by Atheneum Books for Young ReadersOlga and Tatiana,
Maria and Anastasia.
Royal blood unites them,
Royal blood dooms them.

The sisters Romanov truly believed that the Russian people loved them and their ailing young brother, the Crown Prince. But World War I revealed the truth, and their lives went from merriment and joy to grim gratitude for being allowed to stay together under house arrest in Siberia during the Revolution.

And does author Sarah Miller think that Anastasia survived? Read The Lost Crown  at your local library or independent bookstore to find out for yourself!
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Book info:  The Lost Crown / Sarah Miller.  Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2012.  [author site]  [publisher site]  [author interview video]

My recommendation: Sailing on the imperial yacht that 1914 summer day, none of the sisters could imagine that their world would soon erupt in war, that the whole world would go to war, that the people’s love for their papa would turn to hate and “Down with the Tsar!” would sound throughout Russia.

When war is declared, the four grand duchesses – eldest Olga, prim Tatiana, peacemaker Maria, and Anastasia, who wishes she could fight alongside her father – and little Alexei, the Tsarevich, the royal heir, whose hemophilia makes every bruise life-threatening, must stay behind when Nicholas II goes to command the Russian troops.

As their mother, the Tsarina frets over every fever; as Mother of all Russian Children, she agonizes over the waves of wounded soldiers returning from the front. Her increasing reliance on mystic Rasputin and her German heritage condemn her in the eyes of the rebels who overthrow the government in the midst of World War.

The royal guard deserts them, Papa must abdicate the crown, and suddenly the longest family reign in history is broken as the Romanovs are taken from their palace, shifted through different cities secretively, and erased from Russian memory.

Why did the military turn on their Tsar and join the rebel forces?
How long can Alexei endure the rough travel without his doctor?
Will the royal family live through the glory days of the Russian Revolution?

Each chapter tells the fateful story from the viewpoint of a different sister, whose personality shines through, enlivening this pivotal tale of history with everyday customs and Russian endearments whispered by their parents. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

K for Key to the Golden Firebird, by Maureen Johnson (book review) – road trip with their late father

Apr12

book cover of The Key to the Golden Firebird by Maureen Johnson published by HarperTeen K for the key,
Baltimore baseball-loving Dad’s key,
the key to his beloved gold Pontiac Firebird…
but what’s the key to the teen Gold sisters coping with life without him?

Things get interesting when May starts thinking of Pete as more than just the annoying practical-joker boy-next-door during their driving lessons.

Maureen Johnson’s tale of the three sisters’ summer of tough love, rough breaks, and glimmers of new hope holds up well several years after its initial publication in 2004 (with a different cover; this is the 2008 version) and is a great choice for National D.E.A.R. Day as you “Drop Everything And Read” (which I hope you do every day).

Is it always this difficult to pick up the pieces after an unexpected loss?
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Book info:  The Key to the Golden Firebird / Maureen Johnson.  Harper Teen, 2008.  [author site]  [publisher site]

My recommendation: The heart attack that took their dad a year ago also shattered life for the three Gold sisters. No more cheering at their softball games, no more road trips to baseball games, no more of lots of things since Dad’s life insurance didn’t cover much. It’s still up to May to watch out for everyone; maybe she can find some time for herself…someday.

Now Mom works double-shifts at the hospital to keep the family afloat, older sister Brooks is coping by drinking instead of starring on the softball team, 14-year-old Palmer rejects almost anything that she should eat, and middle sister May is going crazy trying to take care of them and keep up her grades. To stop depending on wildly undependable Brooks for a ride to work, May must get her driver’s license, but has failed her first test – ever.

It’s finally come down to this, asking Pete for help – Pete, whose pranks pulled at May’s expense are legendary – desperate times indeed, if she has to get her life-long nemesis to teach her to drive. And so the summer begins, with May stalling out at stop signs, listening to Nell at work chronicle her dates with Pete, telling Palmer to turn down the television over and over, worrying about Brooks, wondering about this new friendship with Pete.

When Palmer discovers something they’d almost forgotten about, the sisters realize that they have to make one more road trip in Dad’s beloved Firebird before they have to sell the classic car.

Can they honor their dad’s love of baseball without tearing themselves apart?
Can they pull off the trip without Mom learning about it?
Can they put their family back together before it’s too late?

Maybe family and friendship can overcome the odds in this story of finding what’s important in the midst of sorrow for this trio of sisters, named after baseball greats by the dad they adored.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Book in my personal collection. Cover image courtesy of the publisher.

J for Jessica Spotswood – Born Wicked (book review) – eccentric sisters, witches in hiding

Apr11

hardback book cover of Born WIcked by Jessica Spotswood published by PutnamDon’t talk about the girls who disappeared,
Pray that the Brotherhood will approve your choice of husband,
Hide any hint of difference or intuition or possible magic skill,
Witches persecuted in New England… how 19th century?

A new alternate history, where New England is the ultra-religious patriarchy and the Middle East is the home of freedom.

The next book in the Cahill Witch Chronicles, Star Cursed,  will be published in June 2013, so grab Born Wicked  now at your  local library  or independent bookstore – and if you buy your copy from Jessica’s favorite indie bookstore, One More Page Books,  she’ll autograph it, too!

Oh, In case you wondered, clicking any link in BooksYALove posts won’t benefit me in any way, shape, or form, just like my Policies page states.

Is Cate right to keep secrets if the truth will put her family in grave danger?
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Book info: Born Wicked (Cahill Witch Chronicles, Book 1) / Jessica Spotswood. Putnam, hardcover 2012; Speak, paperback 2013.  [author site]  [publisher site]  [book trailer]

My recommendation: Magic only in the rose garden, avoid attracting the Brotherhood’s attention, watch over one another – that’s what Mother told Cate before she died. How can a sixteen-year-old keep her younger sisters from spellcasting in this land where suspected witches are sent to Harwood Prison?

Oh, to live in Dubai where women have freedom, can learn more than reading and simple sums, where they can use their magic gifts if they choose! Here in New England, the Brothers preach that magic is “devil-sent” and the Brotherhood Council runs absolutely everything.

Keeping to themselves except to attend Services and piano lessons hasn’t stopped gossip about the Cahill sisters, as Cate had hoped. Now Father has hired a governess for them! Worse yet, she’s from the Sisterhood, where women must go if they do not marry by 18. She will polish their manners and perhaps help them repair their social standing in their small town.

Cate’s own intention ceremony is in just six months, when she’ll announce who she intends to marry – probably Paul, her lifelong friend who’ll return from university soon. But she’s becoming fond of Finn, the bookstore owner’s son who’s had to take on other work as the Brotherhood drives off their customers.

Social calls among Brotherhood wives bring out new information about old situations, and the most influential daughters decide that Cate is worth spending time with after all, to her chagrin. A letter from “Z.R.” tells Cate to search for her mother’s diary and find answers there.

Who is Z.R. and why did she wait so long to contact them?
Is there truly a prophecy about three sisters like Cate, Maura, and Tess?
Will Cate’s intention ceremony begin a life of contentment or close the door on happiness?

This first book in the Cahill Witch Chronicles introduces an alternate world where New England is a place of religious oppression, where truth can be more dangerous than lies, and where Cate must decide how much she’ll sacrifice to protect her sisters from the Brotherhood’s menace.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

I for In the Shadow of Blackbirds, by Cat Winters (book review) – dead man’s worries, live girl’s fears

Apr10

book cover of In the Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat Winters published by AmuletSpirit photography,
Searching for answers,
Trying to find meaning for all those deaths…

Between the ongoing “Great War” (World War I) and the sudden Spanish Influenza epidemic, fall 1918 was a dangerous and desperate time in the USA. Researchers were trying to ascertain the weight of the human soul, wondering yet again what animates life.

Read the wartime poetry of Isaac Rosenberg to imagine what life in the trenches was like for Stephen, consider that scientists are still puzzled about how the Spanish Flu killed so many healthy 20- to 40-year-olds, and you too might wish to see the image of a dead loved one when the photographer’s glass plate negative was developed.

Just published on April 2, 2013 – don’t miss it!
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Book info: In the Shadow of Blackbirds / Cat Winters. Amulet Books, 2013.  [author site]  [book site]  [publisher site]  [book trailer]

My recommendation: When Mary was sent to her aunt’s house in San Diego, her father thought she would be safe from the influenza epidemic, from the authorities who imprisoned him when he spoke out against the war, from fear. He couldn’t know that her sweetheart’s ghost would visit her and cry out for justice.

Schools, theaters, dance halls – all closed to keep the contagion from spreading, but in autumn 1918 the death toll is mounting here and over in Europe where countless soldiers are dying. Aunt Eva lost her husband in the earliest days of the epidemic and is trying to contact him through spirit photography and séances.

Stephen told Mary that his brother Julius used trickery to create the spirit photographs, but after her sweetheart left for the war, she visited the studio with her aunt anyway. An expert who debunks spirit photographers has found nothing fraudulent in Julius’ work where ghostly images appear next to the living.

The letters from Stephen stop arriving, a telegram comes for his family, a funeral for yet another fallen young soldier – then he starts visiting Mary in her dreams and her waking moments, begging her to make the blackbirds quit attacking him. She volunteers her time at the veterans’ center, reading to injured soldiers back from the war. One man tells her that Stephen wasn’t killed over there, and 16-year-old Mary begins to wonder what really happened.

Is she truly talking to Stephen’s spirit?
How could blackbirds have caused his death?
Why does he tell Mary to stay away from his family’s house and studio?

The author ably captures the terror of the Spanish flu epidemic which often killed within hours and the longing of people wanting to believe that death is not the end of everything in this historical novel with a psychic twist. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

H for Heath in Catherine, by April Lindner (book review) – music, mystery, star-crossed lovers

Apr9

book cover of Catherine by April Lindner published by PoppyA legendary punk rock club,
Launching new talent, booking the best bands,
Just home-sweet-home…until she disappears.

It’s easy to see why Chelsea wants to find out more about the mother she thought was dead, to discover what made Catherine leave her behind, to learn why she never communicated with them again. What better place than The Underground, where Catherine grew up?

Based on the classic doomed romance of Wuthering Heights  and transported to the punk music scene of New York City, Catherine features alternating chapters by Chelsea now and Catherine then, threaded throughout with missed cues, misunderstandings, and mystery.

Check out “How I Wrote It” article by Lindner here, then read the first two chapters of Catherine  here – you’ll be hooked!

So, why are we so attracted to stories of romance with unhappy endings?
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Book info: Catherine / April Lindner. Poppy/ Little Brown, 2013.  [author site]  [publisher site]

My recommendation: As a teen Chelsea discovers that her mother didn’t die years ago as Dad told her, but had left to find out something and never returned. What and why are questions that Chelsea vows to answer – now!

Dad never told her much about Mom; it was a letter from her addressed to toddler Chelsea that she finds in a box of old photos that spurs her search. That return address in New York City is her only lead, so away she goes. Turns out that Mom’s family home is a decades-old punk rock club founded by Chelsea’s late grandfather! The Underground launched countless bands in the 70s and now is owned by a moody guy named Hence…who knew Catherine, her mom.

Unwillingly, Hence allows Chelsea to stay in Catherine’s old apartment in The Underground for a few days while she tries to piece together some answers. When Chelsea finds Catherine’s journal among her collection of books, even more questions arise. Now she must locate Mom’s best friend and her brother before it’s time to head home to Dad and school.

Why do folks at the club react so strangely to her mom’s name?
Where did mom’s brother go when he gave up the club after the death of their father?
What exactly is Hence’s connection to Catherine?

As Chelsea discovers more about the mom she never got to know, alternating chapters have Catherine telling her own story of love, music, passion, and betrayal. This updated version of Wuthering Heights,  transplanted from the gloomy moors to New York’s music world, spins through both young women’s lives with all the personal turmoil and drama intact.  (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.