Author: Bethany Pierce
Rating: Wall Target Practice
I have a funny way of picking books. It’s a mix of half interest, half discernment. When I saw this book on the shelf at Borders, the cover caught my eye. I didn’t read the blurb on the back and touched it every time I saw it, but never bought it. So when I was offered an opportunity to review it, I jumped at the chance and soon found it that my discernment was working. It was trying to tell me that I wouldn’t like the book.
Amy Gallagher is an inspiring writer struggling with the fact that she’s unpublished. She meets Eli, a mysterious man that intrigues her. Through her relationship with him and her other family and friends, she tries to reconcile her dreams with what is going on around her.
My chief complaint, and the one on which all my other complaints hang on, was plot pacing. More than once, I wondered where the plot was going or if it was going anywhere at all. Amy seems to meander through life with no clear direction of what she wants. The book didn’t give the sense of a clear beginning, middle and end. It was more like a string of random events Amy’s life. I think random is the best way to describe this book
The fact that the plot was hard to determine threw everything else in the book off kilter. The characters were engaging enough, but after a while, I stopped caring about them. Especially since I had no way to judge which events in Amy’s and the other character’s lives were significant. And I didn’t really get a sense of Amy’s character arc. She seemed as confused and random at the end of the book as she was at the beginning.
Sadly, I think the thing I enjoyed the most about this book was the setting. Pierce did a good job of describing the college town setting. Other than that, this book was a hard read.
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