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Abandoned by Booklikes

Government drone by day and book lover and geek girl by night!

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Follow the Moon

The Girl Who Chased the Moon - Sarah Addison Allen

This was a fairly short book (280 pages) so I managed to breeze through it. I read this several years ago, and liked it okay, but honestly didn't recall why parts of the book didn't gel with me. Now reading years later, I get it. I really loved "Garden Spells" and "Sugar Queen". In fact I hope I land on a spot that has me re-read those books again. But "The Girl Who Chased the Moon" didn't really work because it tried to tell two stories and only told one of them reasonably well in my opinion. The other story didn't fit, and I just felt annoyed every time we shifted between Emily's story to Julia's story.

 

In "The Girl Who Chased the Moon" Emily Benedict moves to Mullaby, North Carolina, to live with her maternal grandmother after her mother dies. Her mother never spoke of her home or family, and when Emily moves in with her grandfather, she finds out that her mother was not who she seemed to be to her. The small town actually turned on Emily's mother for something she did in her youth, and now Emily is trying to see where she fits in. When she meets teenager Win Coffey,  Emily can't help being pulled towards him. Unfortunately the Coffey family has issues with the two hanging out.

 

Allen jumps between Emily's story and Julia's. I don't want to spoil much, but I didn't care for Julia's story at all. Having a neglectful father and a terrible stepmother caused a teenage Julia no end of pain. She has a secret she's hiding and wants more than anything else to finish up with her deceased father's affairs so she can leave town. But Emily pulls her to her and she starts to get overly (in my opinion) involved in her life and doing what she can to reject the advances of an old school friend, Sawyer.

 

So favorite characters, Emily, her grandfather, Emily's room that changes wallpaper, and honestly that's it. I wish Allen had focused more on Emily and her grandfather. The book shifts abruptly to Julia and her issues and it takes the focus away from her. 

 

I also thought that Juli and Sawyer didn't work. Sorry. When you read the history between the two of them,I didn't buy it as a romance at all. Also even Emily and Win made me bored. 

 

The writing was typical Allen. I love magical realism books and this is a nice showcase for the genre. Just wished I had liked it more. 

 

The flow was off and that's just from the jumping back and forth. When we finally get secrets revealed I just rolled .y eyes at the Coffey family. 

 

The setting of this small town felt real though. I can see at times why it would be a comfort and smothering depending.

 

The ending was a bit too much for me, but Allen makes sure there's a happy ending for all.

 

 

Bank: 
April 15: $20
April 17: $23. I read "The Wangs Vs the World", electronic pages 368.
April 24: $28. I read "Dream Wedding", electronic pages 512.
April 25: $28. Landed on BL and had to post a vacation photo or tell a story about a vacation.
April 29: $31. Read "Whitethorn Woods", 354 pages Kindle edition, $3.00
April 29: $34. Read "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep", 256 pages;$3.00.
May 4: $37. Read "The Ghost Brigades" Paperback, 346 pages; $3.00
May 8: $42. Read "American Gods" Hardcover, 465 pages; $5.00. 
May 8: $45. Read "Moon Called" 298 pages Kindle edition; $3.00.
May 13: $50. Read "Solitude Creek" 434 pages electronic; $5.00. 
May 14: $53. Read "No Country for Old Men" 320 pages Kindle edition; $3.00
May 19: $56. Read "The Witches: Salem, 1692" 384 ebook; $3.00
May 30: $59. Read "The Good Earth" 372 pages ebook: $3.00
June 4: $62. Read "The Wind in the Willows" paperback edition, 256 pages: $3.00
June 27: $67. Read "The Lincoln Lawyer" kindle edition, 528 pages: $5.00.

 

THE BIG SHAKE UP

 

June 28: $75. Read "That Summer" kindle edition, 174 pages: $8.00.

June 30: $84. Read "And Then There Were None", paperback, 247 pages: $9.00. Multiplier due to second time on BL space. 

July 4: $94. Read "The Changeling" Kindle edition 448 pages; $10.00

July 4: $100. Read "The Girl Who Chased the Moon" Kindle edition, 280 pages; $6.00.