Where I got it: One ARC ToursRating: 3 stars
Cover Rating: 4 stars (It's a'ight. *laughs*)
Genre: Young Adult
Publication Date: April 16, 2009
Publisher: Viking Juvenile
Page Count: 262 p.
Savannah (named after a "tornada") loves to lie around during the summer and read romance novels. This gives her a break from her hard working school year. This summer becomes different, after she meets Jackson. She senses that something about him might just be different than the way other boys are. He follows her mama's rules and when she has an asthma attack he even stays with her in the hospital. Eventually however, his mom decides she needs help earning money and taking care of her other sons, so she beckons him back. Savannah is heartbroken and feels that now her breathing will get bad again. With him hours away Savannah has to learn that she doesn't need a man in her life to help her breathe, maybe just maybe she can learn to breathe all by herself.
Alright so I feel bad about not liking this book, but it was really hard for me because it was so heavy with Southern Speak. Savannah's brother, Dog, is the only one who sounded right for his age. Savannah sounded like an old biddy, not like a young teenage girl and sometimes Jackson was just as bad. I appreciated the fact that Savannah worked in a library as a page, as I myself work in a library. Another thing that bugged me was the scene where on some train tracks (which for fifteen years no train has come through) Savannah has to save Jackson from being hit by a train. At first I was going to forgive it, because I thought maybe she had drifted off in the weeds and this was a dream. It wasn't, it was so sappy and unrealistic. Also, Jackson doesn't seem to really like Savannah all that much. Maybe it's just me but he seemed to always make offhand remarks to her inside of speaking to her properly. It was a quick read and fairly light and fun. The characters just weren't believable for me and I don't really feel like Savannah and Jackson's relationship was really that special.
First Line:
"Strange feelings come over me sometimes, kind of like déjà vu, only before it happens."
Favorite Line:
"I give up the goat, quit fighting to plow forward through what feels like molasses, and let myself drop to the ground."
Hmm, not really sure if this would be my style. Especially if the characters don't always sound their age (that bugs me!). And a train almost hits a character, when trains haven't run on the track for 15 years? Wtf? Weird...
ReplyDeleteThanks for the review!