Sunday, March 21, 2010

Sing With Me (The Danger Theme From "Jaws")

You know how it goes...duh DUHH...duh DUHH.

Right, this means Kinnard is swimming about, fin showing just above the waves, daring to approach...

...with another book review. FTC, I was sent this book without charge, for review, so here goes.

Yes, just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water. Deb's been reading again.

This time it's a real treat. I have few nits to pick with this one, and I'm happy as a hog in slop to say so.

The book in question was written by Lisa Wingate, and its title is NEVER SAY NEVER. The piece departs from Lisa's general narrative style by alternating back and forth between two unforgettable characters: Donetta, a senior with spunk to spare, and Kai, a twentysomething who's security deprived.

A sudden hurricane ties these two strangers together. Donetta yearns to know her husband cares that she's gotten lost with two of her age-mates on the way to the Gulf coast to take a cruise in which he wasn't interested. Kai, rootless and friendless except for two abandoned dogs, evacuates her endangered seacoast town and runs into the lost ladies, a church on the run from the storm, a handsome but enigmatic nephew of Donetta's, and a cat from the Lower Reaches of Hell. And will Donetta ever find out the long-ago story of the mysterious Macerio?

It's a heady, yummy brew. I thought it might dwell too much on the "escape from the hurricane" portion of the story (actually two intertwined stories), but the true crises come when the entire motley mob arrives in Daily, Texas.

It's a fully realized love story in both characters' points of view. Wingate has a flair for local language mannerisms that caught me from the first sentence. More importantly, she layers a story delicately, flavor by flavor, so that at the end she leaves the reader sighing in replete satisfaction.

My grade: A. I'm a picky eater/reader but found nothing that could be improved upon. All three of you blog readers know how rare that is! I heartily recommend it.

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