Pages: 319
Genre: Young Adult, Adult, Mystery
Source: Review copy from author
From Goodreads:
Fourteen year old Willa Burkett has been waiting her whole life to
leave Hoosick Falls—a nowhere place that fails to hold even a single good memory.
But, when a series of vengeful incidents stir Willa’s mother Stella to
impulsively pack-up and go, it is only to find themselves stranded in yet
another ugly, near extinct town, only now, with a broken down car and no ready
way out.
Unable to move on until an alternate plan shows itself, they accept a
job working for Omega Pearl Bodie, proprietress of the Moonglow motel—a long
forgotten, steadily decaying relic, where mostly nothing happens—except now,
when everything does.
It is here in this place of desperate loneliness and restless boredom
that Willa will have her world rocked to the core in ways she doesn't
immediately comprehend. The craziness of the life she’s left behind all but
eclipsed by the dark turn of the here and now, as Willa attempts to keep one
step ahead of the ever-twisting whims of a mother prone to keeping secrets and
telling lies, a murderous arsonist returned to the scene of his earlier crimes
to dole out revenge one fiery victim at a time—and Jesse Truman. A boy with
indigo eyes that Omega Pearl has hired as handyman at the Moonglow—who Willa
longs to save—if only she understood what it is he needs saving from.
My Thoughts:
If you are looking for a feel good book to read then put this down and
find something else. This is one of the
most depressing, dark books I have read in a long time. I loved it.
I have never cared for the syrupy, sweet romances out in the world. Give me a story full of emotion, no matter
how dark and I love it. I want to feel
something when I read a story. I want to
be able to relate. I want to think I
know where the story is going and then have the author surprise me with the
ending. This book is all that and more.
Willa has the most dysfunctional, selfish parents. Her father won a lot of money and left Willa
and her mother with only a thousand dollars.
Her mom Stella is so selfish and disgusting. She is one of those parents you would like to
see locked up. She wakes Willa up in the
middle of the night to leave. Their car
breaks down and they are taken in by the owner of the Moonglow Motel. Stella is given a job cleaning cottages for a
small salary and their room and board. Willa does the cleaning. Add to this a escaped convict seeking revenge
on the town. Fires popping up everywhere
and you have the most depressing town around.
Willa falls hard for the teenage handyman Jesse. But even that doesn’t go the way the reader
thinks it should. I won’t give away any
spoilers. If you are like me and like
those dark novels then this is a must read.
It will keep you turning pages.
This is the second book I’ve read by this author and I am so thrilled to
do it. I love her writing style.
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