I was talking about BookCrossing with a co-worker on a recent work-related trip, and she mentioned that she knew an author that would appreciate having her book shared here. I was willing to share the book, but expressed reluctance to read it, since romance novels are not really my preferred genre. However, after some figurative arm-twisting, I reluctantly agreed to read the book before passing it along.

This is the book in question, a young-adult romance, which arrived in the mail yesterday. I'll give it a try and then pass it along when I'm finished (my daughter has already expressed an interest in it...).

So...when this book was first described to me by a friend of the author, I heard "romance" and immediately assumed that it was a formulaic trashy romance novel of the sort churned out by Harlequin. Not really my cup of tea, but my arm was twisted and I agreed, however reluctantly, to read this before passing it along. And, overall, I'm glad I did, as it was a refreshingly original story, well written and engaging. The only reason I can't bring myself to give it the fifth star is the ending (which I'll get to in a bit).

This book is clearly aimed for the "young adult" audience and the primary characters are high school aged, so I'm pretty far outside the target demographics for this book. However, I'm finding myself enjoying a lot of YA literature these days. I can't tell if that's because lots of the current YA books are really well written, or if it is my middle age nostalgia for my increasingly distant youth (or maybe some combination of both). In either case, this book should have some broader appeal beyond its target audience.

This book includes some pretty good story telling, with complex characters who felt real to me, complete with all the conflicting and confusing emotions that make adolescence so turbulent. Layer on top of that the cultural details of the characters: Liam's Irish culture comes through in his speech patterns and word choices (I could almost hear his Irish accent), and Laxshmi's Indian roots color her relationships with her mother and friends. And the growing attachment between these two pulls the story along and made me care for both of them.

Which brings me to the end of the book. As it says on the front cover, this is the first book in a series, so I guess I shouldn't have been surprised that the book ends with a cliffhanger. There's a logic to leaving the reader wondering what happens next. But I find myself a bit weary of trying to keep up with book series, and so I personally prefer stories that are self contained, that stand on their own, even when part of a series. And so I'm feeling a bit disappointed with the ending and the issues and questions that were raised but not resolved.

Overall though, this is a well crafted novel that does not feel like the first novel that it is. I expect that this new author is going to continue to thrill her readers with entertaining stories, both in this series, and possibly beyond.

My daughter would like to read this book at some point, but doesn't have time right now, so I'm sharing this among the members of the local BC-in-DC group in the meantime. Once everyone that is interested has had a chance to read it, it can come back to me for my daughter.

Available at today's BC-in-DC get together.

Took this home from the BCinDC meetup yesterday. I love solmate stories as a trope in fanfiction, and the description of this book seemed quite interesting. I have a few books for reading challenges I MUST get through ASAP, but after that, I'll give this one a go.