Please see my notes at the bottom of the review.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Tina Ann Forkner writes contemporary fiction that challenges and inspires. Originally from Oklahoma, she graduated with honors in English from CSU Sacramento before ultimately settling in the wide-open spaces of Wyoming where she now resides with her husband and their three children. Tina serves on the Laramie County Library Foundation Board of Directors and enjoys gardening, spending time outdoors with her family, and works as a full-time writer.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Sometimes, the key that unlocks your future lies in someone else’s past...In Ruby Among Us, Lucy DiCamillo is safely surrounded by her books, music, and art─but none of these reclusive comforts or even the protective efforts of her grandmother, Kitty can shield her from the memory of the mother she can no longer remember. Lucy senses her grandmother holds the key, but Kitty seems as eager to hide from the past as Lucy is eager to find it.
From the streets of San Francisco and Sacramento, to the lush vineyards of the Sonoma Valley, Lucy follows the thread of memory in search for a heritage that seems long-buried with her mother, Ruby.
What she finds is enigmatic and stirring in this redemptive tale about the power of faith and mother-daughter love.
***
I'm going to try and be very careful how I say this. The premise of this story was really interesting to me. I like the multiple generations and searching for your history theme. That being said, the story was pretty rough.
There was a lot of foreshadowing that there was one BIG secret that Kitty had, yet when it was revealed I already knew it. She had pretty much spelled it out in the first 1/3 of the book. (which was the best 1/3 of the book in terms of the writing)
The narration changes were also pretty rocky. Switching characters and at one point she was changing the narrators point of view (from third to first) within paragraphs and even within sentences. That makes for some pretty confusing reading.
Granted, I had an advance reading copy so there were some grammatical mistakes and typos that I hope were caught before final publishing. But overall I felt like the story needed quite a bit more polishing.
It also needed an epilogue as there were 2 relationships with Lucy that were just left hanging. And I don't get the impression that there's going to be a sequel.
Overall it was a great idea, but the implementation or "story crafting" if you will, was lacking. This is the author's first novel so I'm going to say she just needs more time and feedback. And maybe some more editing help. Definitely a "check out from the library" book rather than a keeper.
There was a lot of foreshadowing that there was one BIG secret that Kitty had, yet when it was revealed I already knew it. She had pretty much spelled it out in the first 1/3 of the book. (which was the best 1/3 of the book in terms of the writing)
The narration changes were also pretty rocky. Switching characters and at one point she was changing the narrators point of view (from third to first) within paragraphs and even within sentences. That makes for some pretty confusing reading.
Granted, I had an advance reading copy so there were some grammatical mistakes and typos that I hope were caught before final publishing. But overall I felt like the story needed quite a bit more polishing.
It also needed an epilogue as there were 2 relationships with Lucy that were just left hanging. And I don't get the impression that there's going to be a sequel.
Overall it was a great idea, but the implementation or "story crafting" if you will, was lacking. This is the author's first novel so I'm going to say she just needs more time and feedback. And maybe some more editing help. Definitely a "check out from the library" book rather than a keeper.
If you would like to read the first chapter go HERE
This was definitely one of the rougher ARCs I've read, and I actually checked some of the errors (like the POV changes) against the final copy and they were fixed.
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