My review:
I review quite a bit of juvenile fiction, but I don't buy a lot of it for myself. However, this book sounded really good when I ran across it, so I purchased it. For me. I liked it. A lot. It has a really neat plot and has some great characters. Some are likable, and some aren't. The main character, Spencer, isn't what you'd call a good kid, but I assume there will be some changes to his attitudes and actions over the course of the series.
I grew up reading the Hardy Boys books, and this book is somewhat along the lines of a Hardy Boys book, but more exciting and a better read. I could see kids really enjoying this series, and in fact passed the book onto my teenage niece to read. This book is mature enough that teens won't feel it is a dumbed down version of an adult suspense novel. This promises to be the start of a great series that teenagers will love.
Jill was raised in rural Alaska. Alone with her thoughts and the moose, daydreaming was a favorite pastime. As was reading.
She always loved reading. She started out with Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, Little House on the Prairie, the Hobbit, and The Chronicles of Narnia. She loves just about every genre out there, but her all time favorites were fantasy and suspense.
Jill met Brad in college and they married after graduation. Her dreams of becoming a fashion designer dragged the couple to New York City for one year. After that, Brad's dreams of directing movies dragged them to Los Angeles. They both worked really hard for people who weren't very nice.
A few years of torture passed.
Brad started volunteering with teens at their Burbank church. They had their first son, Luke, moved to a house, Jill got out of the fashion industry (woo hoo!), and Brad became an ordained minister and full time youth pastor (double woo hoo!). God is good. All the time.
Jill started writing a book. It seemed like a good idea at the time. She didn't have a clue what she was getting into. All she knew for certain was that it was really fun. With two babies at home, it was a neat way to pass the time.
Writing was something Jill never really did before then. Daydreaming and plotting, however, were familiar old friends. So now Jill writes...everywhere. At home, in the car, at church (only notes, I promises!), in line at the grocery store, at the park, while walking, in the shower... (TMI?) and she loves it. She finds creating characters and taking them on a journey an amazing experience. She never knew what it could be like until she met Spencer, Nauja, Martyr, and Achan. Writing was a whole lot of fun. Plus, she couldn't get in trouble for forgetting to add a rosette onto a K-mart costsheet and costing the company a loss of $5,000. (True story...) And she can't get yelled at when the line of evening gowns she shipped via Fed Ex doesn't reach the showroom in New York in time for Market to open. (Was it really her fault the plane got snowed in?)
No. Jill has no bitter memories of the fashion industry at all. (Can we say The Devil Wears Prada, anyone?)
But yes. Writing is something she loves. Writing is something she could do forever, if God allows it. (Please, God? Pretty please?)
May He do with Jill what He wishes.
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