A Christmas gift, asked for and received. :)

When I'd asked for this book for Christmas, I hadn't known that it was a "young adult" novel. I'd only heard that Joan Clark had another book out and, because I liked the last one of hers I'd read, I was quite happy to read another. I enjoy reading YA fiction, but my own kids are not so young any more, nor are they at home. So, I don't have a lot of chances to find their books lying about waiting to be read by me. Ah, those were the days...

I enjoyed reading this book. Fifteen year-old Jim, takes off from Toronto (at least I think it was Toronto) after he gets caught in the subway during a power failure. His parents are separated and he's just fed up with city life. He gets a ride with a friendly trucker who happens to know (of, at least) his father who is also a trucker. Jim ends up in the middle of nowhere on the prairies and takes up squatter's rights in an abandoned farm (which happens to have been named Bliss).

Bliss is right next to Majestic Farm upon which lives and works a religious cult. He strikes up a friendship with Miriam, a member of this cult and whose father rules it. Jim, who needs a job, decides to get himself hired by the cult so that he can see Miriam. Mind you, there are rules prohibiting contact by these two, but they manage to meet in secret. When Miriam decides she wants out, Jim promises to help her escape.

It is an engaging story and I quite enjoyed it. However, I read this book immediately after *Lemon* by Cordelia Strube, a novel that also has a teenaged protagonist. The two books are markedly different. Lemon was raw and powerful and entirely credible as a coming of age story told by one who had lived it. Bliss, on the other hand, was gentler and seemed more likely to have been written by an adult - one who says, "So, young man. You want to be grown up? This is how you do it."

A good book, but I'm not sure its intended audience would relate to it as easily as they might go for something written by a younger author.

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

I'll release this book at this month's meet-up. If no one there takes it home, I'll leave it on the shelf in the loft.

This book is currently sitting on the Winnipeg Official Bookcrossing Zone bookshelf in the loft of The Park Theatre & Movie Café, 698 Osborne Street, Winnipeg MB.

It is waiting there for a new reader to take home, read, and release back into the wild!

Winnipeg bookcrossers meet at my location on the second Tuesday of every month at 7pm to chat about books, swap great reads, and release on the OBCZ shelves. Please join us! We love to see new faces! You will enjoy the comfy atmosphere, the fabulous coffees and teas, and the yummy treats!

*This book has been taken home! Hope to hear from it soon!