Author: Linda Benson
Format: Ebook
Publisher: Musa Publishing
Publish Date: July 15, 2012
Source: I received a copy from the author; however, this did not affect my review.
Why You're Reading This Book:
- You're a fiction fan.
- You're a Young Adult fiction fan.
- You're a Middle Grade fiction fan.
- You're an animal lover.
From Goodreads.com: "Olive’s mother is headed to jail and her brother to join the Army, so thirteen-year-old Olive is uprooted from sunny California and dumped in Washington State like a stray. That's exactly what she feels like surrounded by her aunt’s collection of homeless dogs, cats, and horses.
Fourteen-year-old David’s future is already carved in stone. From a military family with two brothers serving overseas, he’s been pointed towards the Air Force Academy his entire life - but a rafting trip gone awry might ruin his chances.
When a runaway dog is almost hit by a car, the search for its owner leads Olive and David, two teens from entirely different backgrounds, to an unlikely bond. Will their growing attraction to each other be enough to keep Olive from a foolhardy journey to find her mother? Will David risk his family’s plans to save her?"
My Two Cents:
First off, the genre of this book was little fuzzy. It could fall both in the middle grade or young adult genre. The main characters are 13 and 14 years old but sometimes seemed a little on the younger side. That being said, the book deals with some heavier topics (such as having a parent in jail) that may not be ideal for younger readers. This book is probably most appropriate for younger Young Adult readers.
This book is also a great book for animal lovers. After Olive's mom goes to jail, Olive is sent to live with her Aunt Trudy, who takes in all sorts of strays out of the kindness of her heart. It's the sort of thing that I would have loved when I was younger (okay, I'd love to be in a house filled with animals even now!). It's really the animals in the story that first bring Olive and David, the other main character, together in the first place.
The book is told from both the perspective of Olive and David. Their voices narrate alternating chapters. I thought that this was a really good way for the story to be told. You get a little insight into what both characters are thinking. I wish there had been a little more delineation between the voices of the characters. I really had to pay attention to the title space of each chapter to make sure that I knew who was talking.
The story definitely started out a little slow for me at first. Even the incident that David and his friends caused only sped the story up for the tiniest bit. I really got into the book during the end when Olive gets into trouble.
Bottom line: a good, animal oriented YA read!
The first thing I thought of when I read what the story was about was that they seemed a little young for the things they were dealing with. Not sure if I would like this one.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if I would like this one.
ReplyDeleteThat does seem like an interesting bridge between YA and MG. It's kind of hard to find books that appeal to tween girls these days that are age appropriate
ReplyDeleteNot sure about the age range but I do like the alternating point of view. Years ago there was a short story written about a 16 year old girl and a boy who 'jilted' her. Another writer wrote a response - called Seventeen I think - in which he responded to the complaints of the first story. I think I read it in highschool a half a century ago. i wish I remember who those writers were1
ReplyDelete