Review: Girl Unmoored by Jennifer Gooch Hummer

SUMMARY FROM NETGALLEY.COM:

Apron Bramhall has come unmoored. It's 1985 and her mom has passed away, her evil stepmother is pregnant, and her best friend has traded her in for a newer model. Fortunately, she's about to be saved by Jesus. Not that Jesus-the actor who plays him in Jesus Christ, Superstar. Apron is desperate to avoid the look-alike Mike (no one should look that much like Jesus unless they can perform a miracle or two), but suddenly he's everywhere. Until one day, she's stuck in church with him-of all places. And then something happens; Apron's broken teenage heart blinks on for the first time since she's been adrift.
Mike and his grumpy boyfriend, Chad, offer her a summer job in their flower store. With the sweet smells and creative arranging of bouquets, Apron's world seems to calm. But when she uncovers Chad's secret, coming of age becomes almost too much to bear. She's forced to see things the adults around her fail to-like what love really means and who is paying too much for it.

Awards:
Paris Book Festival - Winner, YA
San Francisco Book Festival - Winner, Teenage
Next Generation Indie Book Awards - Winner, YA
Next Generation Indie Book Awards - Finalist, Chick Lit category
Next Generation Indie Book Awards - Finalist, Best Cover Design, Fiction
About the Author:
Jennifer Gooch Hummer has worked as a script analyst for various talent agencies and major film studios. Her short stories have been published in Miranda Magazine, Our Stories and Glimmertrain. She received a Bachelor of Arts in English from Kenyon College and continued graduate studies in the Writer's Program at UCLA, where she was nominated for the Kirkwood Prize in fiction. Currently, Jennifer lives in Southern California and Maine with her husband and their three daughters. http://www.jennifergoochhummer.com/

MY TAKE:

I found this book to be a hard one to rate.

Girl Unmoored follows Apron as she deals with what's happening to her family and friends. Along the way, she meets Mike and Chad, a gay couple who unknowingly teaches her what true love is about.

The book is very well-written. It tugs at your heart strings and has a lot to say without being too preachy. The characters are very well-drawn, particularly Apron who, though clumsy, did not annoy me the way other clumsy characters in other novels tend to. I guess it's because her clumsiness is not a trait that's constantly brought up to show how imperfect she is. The plot is also well thought-out, except I'm not too sure what happened to Apron's stepmom's storyline.

I guess my biggest concern with this book is how dark the subject matter is. From the blurb, you can probably guess what it's about, but I won't spoil it here either way. This book made me tear up a number of times. However, the whole time I was reading it, I felt like there was a dark cloud hovering over me. Now, I do like some books that have heavy subjects, but for some reason, I felt like this book was not for me. I guess it's just not the kind of book that I would read in my spare time. It's more of the kind of book that you would read when you're in a certain mood.

Thanks to NetGalley and BookSparks for the e-copy.

THE GOOD:

1. It's well-written.
2. Most of the characters are well fleshed-out.
3. The story has a good message.

THE BAD:

1. Some people may find the book too dark.

FAVORITE QUOTE/S:

"Love. The opposite of fear is love, and every minute of every day, we choose between the two."

READ IT IF:

1. You like novels that make you think,
2. You want to have a good cry.
3. You grew up in the '80s.

RATING:



SOUNDS INTERESTING?