I’m posting while I hide in the bathroom, because my kitty just wants to sit on my lap whenever I’m in my reading chair. Since I don’t want to miss another week, and this is the only place he won’t follow me, I have no choice, as uncomfortable as it is to type in here. *sigh*
My Volunteer Book Club met last weekend to discuss Rainbow Rowell’s Slow Dance, a love story to put us in the mood for Valentine’s Day. It’s a story about Shiloh and Carey, who met in high school and have been best friends for years, although everyone thinks they’re made for each other, including their other best friend, Mikey. After high school, they go their separate ways, he into the Navy and she into work with a community theatre. Fast forward 15 years and they are reunited at Mikey’s second wedding… but have they grown up enough to weather the obstacles that they will inevitably meet? And do they want the same things? It’s no spoiler to let you know that they do in fact end up together in the end, but my book club members were very frustrated, particularly with Shiloh, as she is a classic over-thinker, sabotaging every opportunity to work things out with Carey. They all thought Carey was incredibly patient, and while they didn’t love the book, they agreed that their relationship had to take this course in order to survive, thus the apt title of Slow Dance. I have to say that I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it at all, but I loved it! If my favourite film, “When Harry Met Sally”, was a book, it would be this one. I agree that Shiloh was frustrating, but that was just the way she was. We actually talked about the fact that the family situations for both Carey and Shiloh were not ones we find explored in books very often, nor do we encounter characters like these frequently. I think this book would have been better suited to readers in their 20s or 30s, but I’m so glad I read it.
I also read Kelley Armstrong’s YA psychological thriller, Someone is Always Watching, about a group of teens who attend an elite school run by the company their parents work for. Blythe, Gabi, Tucker and Tanya feel privileged, until the day Gabi mutters something about the cameras always watching, and that her parents are dead, not at home waiting for her. Soon after, Blythe discovers Gabi in the school office during after-school detention with the principal’s dead body in front of her and his blood all over her. But once she recovers from her “concussion”, she can’t quite remember this episode, and life goes on as usual. But flickers of that scene flit across her memory. Gabi also seems to be going through some kind of psychotic break, and is taken to a hospital to recover. Unable to talk to Gabi or find out where she is, she relies on Tucker and Tanya to help uncover the truth about their school and their parents, and in the process find the truth about themselves. This was a real page-turner, with plenty of plot twists and details to keep you guessing until the finally shocking, yet satisfying, conclusion. It was a great read to bridge the gap between book club book and new Silver Birch contenders.
Oh, Riley just came up looking for me, so I guess I have to go. Stay warm and have a great evening!
Bye for now... Julie
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