Author: Alison Ashley Formento
Pages: 272
Publisher: Merit Press
From goodreads.com: One pint-sized girl. Ten supersized crises. And it’s high noon.
They call her “Twigs,” because she’ll never hit five feet tall. Although she was born early, and a stiff breeze could knock her over, Twigs has a mighty spirit. She needs it, as life throws a whole bucket of rotten luck at her: Dad’s an absentee drunk; Mom’s obsessed with her new deaf boyfriend (and Twigs can’t tell what they’re saying to each other). Little sister Marlee is trying to date her way through the entire high school; Twigs’ true love may be a long-distance loser after a single week away at college, and suddenly, older brother Matt is missing in Iraq. It all comes together when a couple of thugs in a drugstore aisle lash out, and Twigs must fight to save the life of the father who denied her.
* * *
Okay, so Twigs is
the story of a girl nicknamed (obviously) Twigs who is desperately
trying to ditch said nickname before college starts. Her journey in this book starts when she
meets Helen, a woman on the verge of a total mental breakdown. Her husband left her and she reacts by
destroying the hair dye aisle of the local pharmacy where Twigs works. The unlikely friendship between these two was
one of my favorite parts of this book.
It was really nice to see that Twigs had a place to run to when things
got overwhelming at home. It made
everything that she had going on feel a little less tragic because she had
someone on her side.
This, I think, is very indicative of where this book’s
strengths lie, which is in the cast of interesting characters. The goodreads description gives you a taste
of some of them that we meet along the way.
I would say this is a solid coming of age story with a high
amount of drama. It almost feels soapy
(and lord knows I used to love the soaps) because of how intense everything
is. At times the amount of plot twists
became a little overwhelming for me. I even think
the story could have benefitted from a little bit less going on at times. But, if you like your reads super dramatic with a
kooky cast of characters, look no further than Twigs.
We are lucky enough to have a signed hardcover copy of Twigs to giveaway this week courtesy of the author. Must be ages 13+ and a US RESIDENT to win. Winner will be notified by email.
No comments:
Post a Comment