By Estelle Laure
Genre: Realistic YA
"Her dad went crazy. Her mom left town. She has bills to pay and a little sister to look after. Now is not the time for level-headed seventeen-year-old Lucille to fall in love. But love-messy, inconvenient love-is what she's about to experience when she falls for Digby Jones, her best friend's brother."
I don't usually read realistic novels (YA or adult), especially ones that revolved around love, because that kind of story doesn't usually appeal to me. But, I saw this book in the break-room at the library and started reading it. The situation and Lucille hooked me almost right at the start.
Lucille is an intense girl who's practical but also passionate. I didn't necessarily love her as a character, but I did feel for her and was definitely rooting for her to succeed. And although this book does have romantic love, it's not all about the boy. It's more about the love Lucille has for her cute, funny sister, Wren, the love for her messed-up and missing parents, and the love of two best friends.
This novel was heartbreaking and hard, but beautiful. It is very poetic, and the poetic-ness of her writing took me a while to get used to, but once I did, I could hardly put the book down. The subject and characters in this novel are raw and real, just like life, and will remain with long after the last sentence.
I give this novel a 3 out of 5 and recommend it for 16 year olds and up.
What I learned: If Lucille could face everything she did in this novel, I have no reason to complain about the small bumps of difficulties in my life.
Those who enjoyed this book might enjoy the poem by Dylan Thomas, Do Not Go Gentle.
