Thank you so much to @indigopress for sending me what turned out to be one of my favourite books of 2018! Isn’t it wonderful when you don’t really have any expectations for a book and it comes along and completely blows you away? I accepted the request to work with Indigo Books reviewing their releases because I liked their mission statement, they are a new company and I wanted to help out, so I didn’t really know what to expect from the authors... And gosh was I happily surprised!
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Ivy Pochoda is blessed with the ability to transport her reader totally to the scene she is describing. I’ve never set foot in America in my life, let alone LA, and yet I felt like I knew the city intimately by the time I finished Wonder Valley. I felt like I could feel the restless energy of downtown, I could smell the dust and the sand of the desert, I could hear the sounds of the well kept suburbs. Every time I picked it up I was immersed instantly!
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Wonder Valley follows the lives of six characters, as their lives begin to intertwine in ways they could have never predicted, all with their own secrets, burdens and anxieties. I LOVE stories with interweaving characters & storylines, so this was like heaven for me! I thought each one was compelling in its own way, but my favourite was Ren, and his struggle to readjust to society after years spent in juvenile detention, find his mother, and then adapt to life on the streets. Such powerful stuff.
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If THAT wasn’t enough, there’s also basically a cult. We all love a good cult, right? I don’t know if this book will be for everybody but I could 100% say that it is for me, and I loved every page!