PEACE LOVE BOOKS : Ramblings of a Book Dork: Waiting for the Storm Review & Giveaway (Tour)

Book Review and Tour

June 17, 2013

by: Marie Landry

★ ★ ★ ★ 4 Stars
Publication date: April 9th 2013
Genre: YA Contemporary

Blurb ~ Seventeen-year-old Charlotte O’Dell knows this summer is going to suck. Her mother just died, her sister hates her, and her dad has completely checked out. Fulfilling her mother’s final wish, the family heads to Angel Island for the summer to stay in a beach house her mother once loved.

After a year of being shut away taking care of her mother, Charlotte is numb and practically afraid of her own shadow; she hopes going to the island will give her the time and space she needs to begin healing, and an opportunity to bring her family back together. When she meets her mysterious neighbor, Ezra, it doesn’t take long for Charlotte to confess the issues she’s developed. Ezra begins giving Charlotte assignments to get over her fears, and although she accepts his tasks, all she really wants is to be with him. When she’s with Ezra, she’s able to forget the hollow ache in her heart and the fact that her family is falling apart. But Ezra has secrets…

Can Charlotte pull what’s left of her family together, mend her broken heart, and allow herself to fall for Ezra? Or is it all just a storm waiting to happen?

~ Goodreads ~ Amazon ~

AUTHOR BIO

Marie Landry is the author of BLUE SKY DAYS (contemporary YA—January 2012), UNDRESSED (a collection of short erotic romance stories—October 2012), THE GAME CHANGER (chick lit—November 2012), and WAITING FOR THE STORM (contemporary YA—April 2013). Marie has always been a daydreamer; since early childhood, she’s had a passion for words and a desire to create imaginary worlds, so it only seemed natural for her to become a writer. She resides in Ontario, Canada, and most days you can find her writing, reading, blogging about writing and reading, listening to U2, or having grand adventures with her two precious nephews. For more on Marie and her books, please visit marielandry.blogspot.ca or check out her book blog Ramblings of a Daydreamer (sweetmarie-83.blogspot.ca).

Author Links

Website: http://sweetmarie-83.blogspot.ca/

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5188180.Marie_Landry

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarieLandryAuthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SweetMarie83

Review

*ARC received from author for Honest Review*

Charlotte has had the year from hell. Her mother was horribly sick and she was left to care for her while her father and sister checked out. Giving up her senior year in high school was a no-brainer and Charlotte has dedicated her every waking moment to making sure her mother’s last moments were the best they could be. Once she passes, Charlotte and her father/sister travel to the island where memories of her mother and her mother’s childhood are all around.

I really really loved this story. Charlotte is such a strong character giving up her life at 17 to care for her mother while everyone else went on with their lives ignoring the fact. Her father has basically given up, simply waking up in the morning and sleeping at night. Her sister has taken being a bitch to the furthest extreme and though she harbors guilt and pain over her mother’s loss, it is extremely difficult to feel anything for her except extreme hatred.

The island offers up a retreat from the clouds of death that hang over their house back home. Charlotte needed so badly to escape from her self-imposed cell and return to a place that held great and wonderful memories from her mother’s childhood that she can now connect with. Parties, drinking and boys are not something high on Charlotte’s list of priorities. Even when other kids her age invite her to late night beach parties, Charlotte is hesitant to attend after being sheltered so long. Instead she prefers to sit on the sidelines and reminisce over the time she was once popular before her mother was ill. She doesn’t miss it at all and watching her sister succumb to the conceit and superiority that comes with popularity does nothing but reaffirm Charlotte’s decision to give it up.

Charlotte strikes up a friendship of her own with her neighbor, Ezra, who is also the islands Mr. Fix It. The two bond over their need for privacy and seclusion finding they share more in common than they imagined. Ezra encourages Charlotte to start living again and slowly she does, still never regretting being able to spend as much time with her mother as she did. The two are so cute together, calling each other their sidekick and just understanding each other without even speaking.

Overall Waiting for the Storm was a great read. Charlotte was a strong, emotional character that was easy to connect to. Sometimes I wish she had a bit more anger in her, specifically directed at her sister, but she never ceases to amaze me after all she’s been through. Even after being the only one to care for her mother, rather than give in to her pain and grief, she continues trying to help others, particularly her father and sister. I loved watching the love between her and Ezra grow. There is no insta-love here and it makes their journey that much stronger. The two bond over shared pain and offer light in spite of each other’s darkness. I would definitely recommend Waiting for the Storm, it is definitely classified as a YA novel and it will not disappoint.