Icy Sparks is a young girl growing up in the hills of Kentucky in the 50's. At the age of 10 she develops strange tics, jerks and makes croaking sounds which she cannot control.

Overall I liked the book, but was a bit disappointed with a twist at the end - seemed to too neatly wrap things up and it didn't seem to fit Icy's character. Icy seems to be a bright little girl who wants no more than to fit in and be loved.

(trade paperback)

Released on Tuesday, April 13, 2004 at at a Meetup in Toronto, Ontario Canada.

Taking to the meetup tonight.

This is one of the few books I picked up at tonight's meetup for myself. It sounds really interesting. Judging by the description on the back cover, I'm guessing the protagonist has Tourette's syndrome. Having grown up with epilepsy, I suspect I will be able to relate to her quite a bit.

My prediction was spot on. I found myself relating to Icy quite a lot through her experiences with peoples' reactions to her condition. I had epilepsy throughout my childhood until I was eighteen, and the most difficult part to deal with was not having seizures all the time, or the umpteen different medications and their side effects, but the way people treated me. It's difficult to not become bitter and jaded. You want to yell at people "Why can't you just get over it already?". The author has done an excellent job of capturing that feeling, to the point that it makes me wonder if she's ever been through something like this. Not that many people without first hand experience understand this. On the whole society puts way too much stock in being "normal". Frankly, most "normal" people are pretty darn boring.

I agree with Penhaligon that the ending seemed a little too tidy. When she went to the revival I have to admit wondering if the author was going to be able to resist the temptation to have her find God, *POOF!* she's cured and THE END. Thankfully it wasn't quite that tidy. I liked that Icy was able to find a healthy outlet for some of her pent up emotions and frustrations, though.

By the way, I had a happy ending too.

Arrived this morning.
Many thanks.

not sure how this came to be with redhouse, but it went into my bookbox and looks like a good read - thanks!

A really good book although the ending petered out rather, which was disappointing. The characters were good and it had a good 'feel' to it though, so I've given it 9/10.

This was going to go on an international bookray but no response to pm's and I never got around to reorganising it, so I decided to wild release instead... sorry folks.

RELEASE NOTES:

Left on a chair in the coffee shop - and I saw the couple who sat down after me pick it up, so hopefully they will journal it!

RELEASE NOTES:

Left on a chair in the coffee shop - and I saw the couple who sat down after me pick it up, so hopefully they will journal it!

RELEASE NOTES:

Left on a chair in the coffee shop - and I saw the couple who sat down after me pick it up, so hopefully they will journal it!

RELEASE NOTES:

Left on a chair in the coffee shop - and I saw the couple who sat down after me pick it up, so hopefully they will journal it!