Eleanor by Jason Gurley Review

Eleanor by Jason Gurley was given to me free for review by bloggingforbooks.com. This in no way impacts by opinion on the book itself.

Firstly, let me apologize for my absence. In the past 6 or so months I have been up and down the east coast more times than I can count and in a scramble to find a new job. I'm settled into a new house now, and finally have time to post this review. 

This is the summary of Eleanor on Goodreads so you have an idea what it is about by the author. "1985. The death of Eleanor's twin sister tears her family apart. Her father blames her mother for the accident. When Eleanor's mother looks at her, she sees only the daughter she lost. Their wounded family crumbles under the weight of their shared grief.

1993. Eleanor is fourteen years old when it happens for the first time... when she walks through an ordinary door at school and finds herself in another world. It happens again and again, but it's only a curiosity until that day at the cliffs. The day when Eleanor dives... and something rips her out of time itself. 

And on the other side, someone is waiting for her."

This book started off with some very strong emotions. It was sad and I felt as though I could feel the characters emotions, Jason Gurley really knows how to write some gripping sequences. The story sort of jumps characters a couple times, from a depressed Eleanor to later her grown daughter Agnes, who had twin daughters named Eleanor and Esmeralda. After sort of seeing what plagues Eleanors life, we see similarities in her daughter Agnes. 

Agnes also deals with depression and anxiety and has these young kids that she cannot handle at times. Then again the focus switches on Eleanor, Agnes' daughter. Eleanor tries desperately as a teenager to be there for her ailing mother, not that her father and sister are gone. In this stressful time Eleanor finds these dream-like states sort of like time rifts and the rest of the story is spent figuring out all of these pieces to a giant puzzle. I thought it was a really neat concept, but it did, for me, take the more gripping story and put it on its head. Maybe that was the goal. 

I did really enjoy this book, but i did get lost a little in the end, figuring out everyone's role in everyone elses lives was very interesting but just not as gripping as their regular lives had been.

3/5

If I Fall, If I Die by Michael Christie Review

So whew, this past few months have been wild. I was doing full time classes and working. And then Christmas break - which isn't really that much of a break. I finally returned to this book.

If I Fall, If I Die by Michael Christie follows Will who is a young boy that has never been outside - at least that he can remember. It was a promising plot. I thought the book was a little slow to start which is why it took me a while to get through. However I liked the psychological aspect where his mom is sort of a shut in so he grew up that way. I think in those extreme situations there is a lot to work with with complex characters and layers of story. Sadly, I didn't get the depth I wanted. It was cute and I thought it was pretty whimsical that Will meets the boy outside and they sort of come of age at the skate park; but with such an interesting childhood I thought the book would have more depth than it did. I wish there was more about how Will was thinking and how his mom got that way -if she felt bad leaving him in the house. I didn't feel like there was enough of that depth to meet my expectations. 

Overall I thought the book was okay, If -like me- you were expecting a coming-of-age story with heavy psychological aspects you may be a little disappointed. 

3/5