Source: Won
Genre: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult
My Rating:
How is it that you suddenly notice a person? How is it that one day Digby was my best friend's admittedly cute twin brother, and then the next he stole air, gave jitters, twisted my insides up?
Lucille has bigger problems than falling for her best friend's unavailable brother. Her mom has gone, leaving her to look after her sister, Wren. With bills mounting up and appearances to keep, Lucille is raging against her life but holding it together - just.
A stunning debut to devour in one sitting, Laure captures completely the agony and ecstasy of first love.
I read a lot. I read a lot of YA. I read a lot of contemporary. I just really like to read. As such I feel like I know quite a bit about the usual YA contemporary reads and what classes as a fun but pretty average read and what counts as a fantastic lyrical read. This book falls into the second category. Now, I will warn you now this has some partial spoilers so please beware from this point forward.
What Made It So Fantastic?
This is a beautifully written book. Not magically written like Daughter of the Forest, but instead the writing feels lyrical. It feels poetic. It’s the kind of beautifully written book which makes you want to get lost in the pages and not come out. Even though there are a lot of real life issues featured in this book which are tense and dark, the delicate writing keeps you reading and makes you enjoy a story which could be a tense read.
I adored the actual story of this book. Lucille’s life has taken a sharp turn from where it was just a few months ago. Her dad is gone and she doesn’t know where he’s gone since his nervous breakdown and her mom went on holiday and hasn’t come back. It’s just her and her little sister Wren and they are struggling to pay the bills and look after one another waiting for either of their parents to return. Add to this Lucille has found herself falling in love with her best friend’s twin brother, Digby, who already has a girlfriend and life is getting quite difficult for her. This is one of those books that has a more dramatic storyline but really works. I enjoyed reading about Lucille and the tough decisions she had to make trying to be an adult whilst still making the stupid decisions any teen does.
One of my absolute favourite part, though? It was the relationship between Wren and Lucille. Wren is Lucille's little sister who she is trying to raise and doing everything she can to hide the disappearance of her parents so no-one will take Wren away from her. I loved every page they were together in this book. Wren was just perfect. Sure, she’s a little kid, but she’s a kid who loves watching the cooking channel and talks about vodka sauce for meatballs and is continually thinking about food. She was fun and you could tell Lucille both wanted her to grow up and protect her innocence at the same time. Everything Lucille does is for Wren and when she tries to act like a normal teen the guilt she feels is not for herself but always for how things affect others.
The Romance Is Complicated
This is no spoiler as it’s on the back cover but Lucille and Digby have a complex relationship. They've known each other forever and Lucille can’t remember when or how but she is finding herself falling in love with him. It’s awkward as Eden, her best friend, is his twin and add into the fact he is in a long-term relationship with a girl who he very much loves and it’s quite complicated. I liked that fact. It made it interesting. I am not a fan of cheating in books or even the prospect of cheating but this book deals with the various relationships so well that you can partially understand how they have gotten onto the path of temptation. Neither party is happy about their feelings for one another. They struggle with the decisions they make and feel guilty and it’s not simple. I like that the book demonstrates how not simple the relationship is.
Crappy Best Friends Suck
I do admit one thing I didn’t like was Lucille and Eden’s friendship. It’s not that I didn’t like it, as such. I did, I just didn’t like some of the decisions Eden made. Sure, Lucille is mean and does take some of her frustration about her situation out on Eden. And Lucille is almost cheating with Eden’s twin (like, the temptation is there) which puts Eden in a crappy position. But Eden’s decisions in the book angered me. I won’t reveal everything but I will say her explanation for why she acted as she did sucked. She made it seem simple and it’s not. Sure, she was put in a terrible position but it wasn’t like she had to choose one over the other. And considering the situation Lucille was in she most certainly acted like the worst best friend. I know they’re teenagers and we all make bad choices but she certainly made one of the worst.
Let’s Get Summarising
Overall, I adored this book. I loved the characters (even when they were making rubbish choices) and I loved the story. This book just worked for me. I loved the relationship between Wren and Lucille and I loved the relationship between Digby and Eden and adored the writing. This is a book I will return to again and again because it’s a quick read filled with excellent writing. I don’t normally consider myself a fan of fanciful writing such as this but I have very much changed my mind.
Have you read this book? What were your thoughts? Do you like books with pretty writing or does it come across as a bit over the top and unnecessary?
Posts
Social Icons