Sunday, February 24, 2013

Book review: Girl Unmoored by Jennifer Gooch Hummer




Apron Bramhall has come unmoored. 

Fortunately, she's about to be saved by Jesus. Not that Jesus, the actor who plays him in Jesus Christ Superstar. Apron is desperate to avoid the look-alike Mike, who's suddenly everywhere, until she's stuck in church with him one day. Then something happens: Apron's broken teenage heart blinks on for the first time since she's been adrift. 

Mike and his boyfriend, Chad, offer her a summer job in their flower store, and Apron's world seems to calm. But when she uncovers Chad's secret, stormy seas return. Apron starts to see things the adults around her fail to like what love really means, and who is paying too much for it. 

Apron has come unmoored, but now she ll need to take the helm if she's to get herself and those she loves to safe harbor.


I was a bit hesitant about this book at first.  The first hundred pages just don't seem to match up to the rest.  The story itself is there and goes at a good pace (although the summary on this kind of sucks and doesn't really tell what the book is actually about) but there are quirks in this writing that make it seem a bit amateur.  There are typos and such sprinkled through that should've been picked up in editing, for instance.

Also this book takes place in Maine, and for a lot of the book, the narration is DETERMINED to make sure the reader knows this.  There aren't many books that take place in Maine, especially for young adults, so it is a point towards it as far as I'm concerned (especially since I'm from Maine).  But it seems to be a habit of books that do take place in Maine, or any other state that's uncommon for settings in books.

The part of the book where Apron works for Scent Appeal in an official capacity instead of just helping out when she runs into them is rather brief for having a part in the summary, but again, I think the summary just kind of sucks, and commercially published authors don't really have a say in the back of the book blurb, so I won't call Hummer herself out on that.

There are a lot of things to like about this, though.  It actually takes place in 1985, another thing the summary fails to tell that would be of interest to certain types of readers.  The summary doesn't, however, fail to say that a gay couple is prominent in the novel, the one thing that it doesn't fail at, I suppose.  And the characters themselves are quirky and realistic, from Apron right down to M, the physical antagonist of the novel.  Apron hates her, but there are times when they get along, and while M really is a mean person, she's not put in an evil light.  As Apron says near the end, some people are born gay, some people are born with freckles, and some people are just born mean.

For the shortcomings it has in the beginning, it does manage to tug at your heartstrings when all is said and done.  I found myself putting the book down after finishing it and getting choked up.  So as long as you're not bothered by some typos and gratuitous setting mentions, this is definitely a book to pick up.

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