Jackie W

The cover photo on Kristina McMorris' book caused me to dive right in, immediately interested in this compelling child and title. Days later I was still struggling to become interested in the story line. It felt sluggish. Halfway through the book, however, I was finally engaged and hopping from one complication to the next. I feel the characters and sub-plots are not fully developed.....Lily's emotional guilt not fully understood, the relationship between Ellis and his father never developed, then resolved in a paragraph, the mafia figure thrown in as an element of danger........too many side stories and thin characters. Finally, while the sale of children from poor families during the Depression is believable, can two journalists really engage in such spy-like behavior?

What a treat it is to read this dramatic debut novel, with each character so well rendered that one can virtually step into this circle of friends and join them as one of the characters in their Shakespearean school performances. The suspense builds toward the end of the book, with expert foreshadowing delivered in the Bard's own words, delivered by each potential murderer. Along with the murder, the reader must figure out the true nature of the relationship between each student......friendship, jealousy, obsession, lust, love, or enabler. I look forward to more from this author!

I started reading this book with great excitement, interested to see how the author would fully render a tale of a minister with both a wife, and a lover. Unfortunately, every chapter written in Marilyn's "voice" was a dirge ... caustic, angry and bitter. Can people truly not find resolution, and move on? I enjoyed the character of Blue, and her growth through this novel. She, however, is the only one who grows and matures. More heartening are some of the author's spot-on musings, such as "You generally triumph in your head more than you do in real life," and "Widow and widower refer to people who have lost their spouses. Orphans are children who have lost their parents. What's the word for parents who have lost their children? There isn't one." This novel, which covers only one day, is too long and convoluted, and very broken up in its formatting. Reading it, for me, was an unsatisfying experience due to its lack of hope.