Author: Ruth Fox
Publisher: Hague Publishing
Rating: WORTHY!
DISCLOSURE: Unlike the majority of reviews in this blog, I've neither bought this book nor borrowed it from the library. This is a review copy kindly sent to me by Hague Publishing. I'm not receiving (nor will I expect to receive or accept) remuneration for this review. The chance to read a new book is often enough reward aplenty!
Erratum:
"Mrs Henders' problem" should be "Mrs Henders's problem" assuming the woman is named Henders. If she's named Hender, then it should be "Mrs Hender's problem". The 'S' apostrophe assumes that we're talking about a possession or quality which belongs to more than one of them!
Don't tell my wife, but I'm in love with Ruth Fox! She blew me away with this story. Normally I don't go on about book covers in my blog, because it's all about writing, and writers rarely have any say in the cover their book gets lumbered with when they go the Big Publishing™ route. In this case, however, I was in love with the cover art, and then I discovered that it's also done by Ruth Fox!
Seriously. I'm simultaneously jealous and in admiration if not adoration! I'm going to print the cover for this and the sequel, which I shall also review, and put them up by my computer as inspiration! They make my covers look a bit crappy, but just this morning I had a great idea for a cover for my Tears in Time, so I'm not down and out yet - not by a long shot!
So, this story! It's very short, so even if you're not a huge fan of it, it's not going to feel like a long slog to finish it. For me, I fell in love with it immediately. I wish I knew the secret of what it is which makes one novel brilliant and totally engrossing, and another novel off-putting from the off, but whatever it is, Ruth Fox has it and this novel does too.
On top of that, it's not YASSITU (yet another story set in the USA)! At first I was thinking it was set in England because so many of the words Americans might find confusing were familiar ot me, but then I noted that someone bought milk for two dollars twenty, and I'm like, "What?" That's when I realized it's set in Australia, so what's not to love?! There's tyres and Malteasers, mate!
This novel starts out with Jake looking out of his window one deeply frosty night when he sees what looks like a meteor come down in the park across the street. Bored, and looking for some sort of a diversion, Jake races over to check it out and he discovers a patch of melted snow, the grass beneath it scorched; lying in the middle of it is a girl who doesn't appear to be even remotely chilled. Indeed, she's the warmest thing which Jake has seen in a long time. She runs away and he doesn't know what to do about it. He sees her again, briefly, at the same spot the next day, but again she leaves quickly.
What's even more weird is that his nosy next-door neighbor, Mrs Henders, tackles him about what he's seen. She seems to know something, but Jake dismisses it until she hands him something which proves that she knows exactly what she's talking about. Now it's Jake's problem. Who is this mysterious girl? He thinks he knows where she comes from - and it's not from Earth, but who is she really? How did she get here? Why is her life apparently so different from his? And what will become of the two of them?
Jake has a younger brother named Daniel, who is a trip, and he has a best friend named Kiera, a soccer-playing school-mate, but he doesn't even tell her about this young woman he's met - not the truth, anyway. Flibbertigibbet that I am, I fell in love with Kiera, too (sorry Ruth - I guess I'm just no good for you!). She's a riot and she reminded me of Kiera Knightly who, before she became famous, portrayed a soccer-playing high-school girl in a British movie titled Bend it like Beckham, which is actually a pretty entertaining movie. Kiera (in the novel) is also a pain though, which makes her a very realistic character. The mysterious new girl is captivating too.
This novel is original, a very fast read (which may not be perceived as a benefit for some readers!) and thoroughly engrossing. The characters are realistic and the story very well told. I often say I'm not a big fan of series because they typically seem excessive to me - like an author is milking a story rather than doing the hard work of coming-up with something new, but some series are good enough to be classed as exceptions and based on this first volume, this one is definitely exceptional. I'm very much looking forward to reading the sequel.
Many thanks to Hague Publishing for a chance to read and review this novel and its companion.
