Gillian FrenchCritiques

The backstory: Joel Dotrice was arrested ten years ago for fracturing his daughter's skull when she was seven years old. Imagine this - he threw her down the stairs. On purpose. Partially deaf ever since, Rochelle "Owl" Dotrice has lived with her uncle and his wife. They own a maple sugaring farm in the mountains of northern New Hampshire and life seems pretty routine...until the Dotrice family gets notice that dad has made parole and Seth hires a teen named Cody to help with the sugaring.
Whether French was intentional or not, in the beginning of Sugaring Off I felt the story of Owl moved slowly, like cold sap moving through the trunk of a maple tree. As the story heated up, like sap to syrup, it began to flow faster with more flavor and intensity. Having said that, I am not a fan of overly dramatic descriptions of characters or plots. I feel they are ploys to get the reader crack open the book. The inside cover of Sugaring Off describes Cody as "magnetic and dangerous." Spoiler alert! For the first two thirds of the book Cody is a sullen and silent cigarette-smoking teen who wants nothing more than to stay away from adults and maybe take Owl's virginity. Oh yeah, she's attracted to him, too. The real threat seemed to be daddy making parole. Would he come back for revenge? It was Owl's testimony that put him away.
As an aside, I understand why the parole of Owl's father was pivotal to the plot, but I felt it was unnecessary trickery in the face of Cody's mystique. More could have been done to build up Cody's "dangerous" character because Seth's outrage about Owl's relationship with the teen was misplaced. If Seth thought Cody was such a threat, why did he let Owl work so closely with him? What happened to big bad dad? He drifted out of the story as more of Cody's dark past was revealed. This was written for teens and so I thought like a teen and questioned everything.

I discovered this book at work while marking up books that had been withdrawn for low circulation. I was intrigued because of the setting in northern NH in maple sugaring country. The story focuses on 17 year old"Owl" who lives with her aunt and uncle on their sugarbush farm. Owl has come to them after a childhood trauma left her partially deaf and parentless. She has a stable, loving family in her aunt and uncle, who adopted her as a child. She loves her home, nature, and the maple sugaring business. Into this setting comes Cody, a young man hired to help with getting the trees tapped and syrup made and bottled, since Owl's uncle is nursing a bad knee in need of replacement. Cody has had his own traumas, but has that bad boy appeal, and Owl falls for him. The story moves pretty slowly for the first two-thirds, and then Cody's problems (that he has brought on himself) catch up with him. In addition, her Dad, who caused Owl's original trauma, is out of jail and wants to see her again, adding to the tension and drama.

Good story, probably appeal to teens living in rural areas who can relate to the setting and to the characters.

Really good. Very reminiscent of [b:Grit|31706530|Grit|Gillian French|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1485342551l/31706530._SY75_.jpg|51273687] in a lot of ways, which is a good thing.

I'm always looking for great YA Mystery writers, and I think I've found one in Gillian French. Her stories are so much more than the actual mystery, and I love the intricacy that feels easy. There are so many things I loved about this book, it's hard to figure out where to start.

First, I'm always going to be a fan of the us vs. them trope. The haves and the have-nots. For whatever reason, I like seeing the way the lines are drawn and what happens when people cross them. I also love having a glance into the world of the rich and the reckless. Pearl enters into this walled-off world in order to see if there's anything to find out, and it's interesting seeing how she handles it.

Second, the setting. I love a small-town, beach-town setting. I haven't read very many books set on the coast of Maine, so Tenney's Harbor (a fictional town on the real island of Mount Desert Island) was a welcome setting for this book. I also really liked the dynamic that these people that Pearl needed to get in with only live in this place for 3-4 months per year. It's like, they blow in and create all this tension and drama, but also they are what sustains the touristy town's economy-- can't live with them, can't live without them.

Finally, the mystery. This family, particularly Cassidy (the daughter), haunted me throughout this book. It was like she was there just below the surface the whole time. But it was so much more than: What happened to the Garrison's? It was friendship and family too. I especially liked the way Pearl had to deal with her father's drinking problem and how that was a factor in the book. Also, the way she crushed on her best friend Reese-- and all the pain that caused her.

Now that I'm officially a Gillian French superfan, I'm running to get her newest book, [b:The Missing Season|39937609|The Missing Season|Gillian French|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1539639276l/39937609._SY75_.jpg|61830251]!

OVERALL: Giant yes!! This is what YA Mysteries should be. I loved the beach-town, the intricate characters, and how it was a mystery with so much more going on. Totally 100% recommend.

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Different than I was expecting, but I still liked it. Darcy was a character I won't be forgetting anytime soon. She was head-strong, tough, and fearless. It wasn't really as thrillery or mysteryful as I wanted, but had a cool atmosphere about it. Definitely will read more from this author!

I've been interested in this book ever since I first heard about it. I mean, it has all the ingredients that make this something I would like: "town slut" issues- CHECK, secrets- CHECK, beauty queen pageant- CHECK, a missing girl/murder mystery- CHECK.

The synopsis mis-led me a little though, because while I was expecting this to be a mystery/suspense book, it was more a coming-of-age/character study book. Which, I'm fine with, but I was hoping the mystery aspect was bigger.

So let's talk about what I liked about this book because I did really like it.

The Atmosphere. I loved reading about this small, dusty, agricultural town in Maine. It was interesting to read about these girls who were farming for the summer!! I'm sure there are lots of people who do this, but I've never really read about any of them, so points for being different!!

Darcy. As main characters go, Darcy ranks up there with some of my very favorites. She's smart and tough and fearless. I loved the relationships that she had with her sister and cousin (they were like the 3 musketeers), and the complicated relationship she had with her mom and aunt. It felt real.

So much of this book was about Darcy dealing with her past. The past she had with the missing girl, the past she's had with guys, and the past her dad left her. I liked that she was a wild card-- you never knew which direction she was going to head in, and I liked that she stuck to her guns. Darcy is not going to change who she is because you don't like her. She's unapologetic about that-- and I loved that about her.

Nell was also a stand-out character. She was portrayed as innocent and sweet-- a girl that has a learning disability and is sheltered and watched over. I knew she had more in her than that, and I was glad I wasn't wrong. I think Nell is going to have a lot of life to live, and I think she's going to live it-- someday...

The romance was my least favorite part. I didn't really "get" the appeal of Jesse. He was just a guy, and was pretty much just there so we could see how bad the other guys talked about Darcy. There wasn't anything wrong with the romance, I just wasn't wowed by it.

OVERALL: It wasn't as mysteryful as I was hoping for, but that turned out to be not a problem. The atmosphere and coming-of-age story was more than enough to hold my interest. I definitely recommend, and I'll definitely be reading more from Gillian French!!

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This is a slow moving story about Owl, a partially deaf seventeen year old that experiences first love with a stranger who comes to help with the tapping the maple trees for sap (sugaring). Owl lives with her aunt and uncle because her deafness was caused by her father who was incarcerated for his abuse but is soon to be released and wants to see his daughter. So many emotions Owl has to deal with in this coming of age story. No real mysteries at all. Still, an interesting read. Enjoyed the vivid imagery of the New England landscape.

Left partially deaf by an early childhood tragedy that ended in her father’s incarceration, seventeen-year-old Owl is now a tracker, an explorer, a wildlife enthusiast, and always her freest self while hiking the steep forested acres surrounding her aunt and uncle’s maple sugar farm, now her home. Owl and her aunt and uncle never speak of the brutal attack that brought her to them. On the day she confronts a stranger trespassing among the maples, Owl’s sheltered existence is blown wide open by Cody—the magnetic, dangerous young man hired to help with the sugaring off. Cody seems to see her, the real her, in a way no one else does. Together, they challenge each other, learn to question their preconceptions, and risk a romance their families are desperate to stop.

But when Owl learns that some part of Cody is compelled toward self-destruction, she must make a difficult decision about their relationship at the same time she’s grappling with her father’s recent release from prison. And when a seemingly motiveless local murder draws attention to Cody, Owl realizes that Cody is in far more serious trouble than anyone knows—and it’s followed him to her mountain.

Sugaring Off will evoke feelings and memories for a lot of teens living in northern New England. While set in New Hampshire, the situations here could as easily take place in much of rural Maine. When she was very young, Owl survived a terrible assault by her dad, one that left her with severe hearing impairment as well as physical scars. She's spent most of her life with her aunt and uncle who adopted her. Her mother vanished very early on and hasn't been heard from since.
There are several plot elements that wind together to make this a most interesting story. There's the sugar maple operation that provides most of the family income, there's Cody, nearly eighteen who has his own demons and has come to live with his hard-edged grandfather. He's been hired by Owl's adoptive father to help with this year's sugaring because of a knee injured in war that's been further damaged by a poorly performed surgery. There's Owl's sensitivity to where she is on the hearing impairment spectrum, as well as her slowly eroding friendship with Aida who lives in a semi-unrealistic world of her own.
All of these come together to create a scary finale that nearly costs Owl her life. They result in her changing in ways she never could have foreseen at the start of the story. It's satisfying in that somewhat grim way that real life often is.

I thought that this was very good. I admit that the cover of this book is what first captured my attention but once I realized that the main character was hearing impaired, I knew that I needed to read this book. This is a slower story that touches on Owl’s day-to-day life and some pretty big events that may have an impact on her life for a very long time.

Owl lives with her aunt and uncle since her father is in prison. They live in a very small rural town and run a maple syrup farm. They have always run the farm on their own so Owl is unhappy to learn that her uncle has hired a boy just a bit older than her to help out this year. They soon warm up to each other and develop a bond. The question is whether he is good for her. In addition to the romance, Owl is trying to decide if she wants to respond to her father’s attempts to communicate and learn how to best utilize the help from her ASL teacher at school.

This book deals with a lot of different things but that is usually the way that life works. I liked that Owl is a character with a disability but that it is just one aspect of who she is and doesn’t take over the whole story. I liked the connection that Owl made with Cody but I can’t say that I was a fan of the romance between them. The pace of the book does pick up at the end and there is a bit of a mystery to solve.

I listened to the audiobook and thought that Caitlin Davies did a fantastic job with the narration. I think that the slower pace of this story worked well on audio for me. I found the narrator's voice to be very pleasant and had no problem listening to the book for hours at a time.

I would recommend this book to others. I loved being in Owl’s head as she dealt with all of the things going on in her life. I thought that the book did an excellent job of illustrating how someone with partial deafness might feel excluded in some situations. I would not hesitate to read more of this author’s work in the future.

I received a review copy of this book from Algonquin Young Readers and I purchased a copy of the audiobook.

I expected it to be scarier and creepier than it was. The end seemed a bit rushed and anticlimactic.

It takes a special writer to 'get' the essence of Maine when writing fiction. Nowhere is this apparent than when creating a story that features natives VS PFAs (People From Away). In this dark and gritty story, Gillian French nails both groups perfectly. Having grown up near the coast and later serving as library director in a wealthy Maine community, I know of what I speak. The characters, setting and slow reveal are all done just right, leaving those still standing at the end, scarred, but with enough hope to keep going. The ending is perfect.

*This Review and more can be found at Love at First Write*


*****CW: RAPE, SEXUAL MANIPULATION BY TEACHER, SLUT-SHAMMING, SUICIDAL THOUGHTS, KIDNAPPING/DISAPPEARANCE*****

I was given a copy of this book by HarperTeen in exchange for honest review.

This book was a disappointment to me. It feels like it barely scratched the surface. I don’t read a lot of contemporary, so it was refreshing in that regard, and I enjoyed Darcy and reading from her perspective. Darcy is slut-shamed throughout the book which isn’t really warranted and was upsetting the whole way through. Even her aunt trash-talks Darcy in her own home. It was disgusting to read those scenes to be honest. I hate her aunt so much. The ‘tragic’ backstory of her aunt does not excuse her present behavior. Though apparently it does to the characters within the novel. All of the characters were flawed in their own way but there was so much going on it was hard to find a main plot or point. Darcy’s ex-best friend is missing, Darcy’s dad is dead, Nell’s father left her family before she was born, there’s rape, and sexual manipulation of a teacher to a student… there’s a pageant thrown in there, it’s a lot going on at once.

I think the slut shaming was done in semi-good taste. Slut-shaming by the main character is so prevalent in books these days that it was fantastic to read about the damage the rest of YA protagonists inflict. Darcy gets so much crap from everyone around her based off of rumors. Nobody ever listens to her truths and she takes the brunt of it to protect those she cares about from getting similar harassment. Hopefully a learning lesson for young readers to just keep an open mind about their peers.

What really disappointed me was that the rest of these issues aren’t actually addressed. Most of the events happen before the start of the novel, and the novel is Darcy living her life harvesting blueberries in Maine as secrets slowly spill out. It felt weird not knowing what all the horrible secrets were until the end of the novel. It didn’t leave any room for doing something about all of the secrets, or moving forward, or opening the discussion up for readers. It mostly felt like these serious issues were just quick plot points- aka my disappointment. The secrets-revealed-the-end sort of thing doesn’t work with stuff this huge.

The author says one of the characters may have been depressed and suicidal in one sentence and then never brings it up again. It needed to be addressed. Similarly, the rape happens and then it’s never brought up again with any sort of resolution. They even have to encounter their rapist multiple times throughout the book pretending like nothing happened. And the rapist is so casual and oblivious about how encountering him makes her feel. This was the biggest issue in the book for me, primarily because the other problems got more ‘screen-time,’ the whole town knew about them, and felt more resolved. This rapist is walking around and nobody knows and it’s implied that nobody will know. It was very uncomfortable to read. The victim doesn’t really take the time to address her situation either because they’re dealing with so many other people’s problems too. Suicide, kidnapping, sex, alcohol, rape, and teacher manipulation are deep and important issues. It felt like the least the author could’ve done is go in a bit more, hash out the problematic stuff, and leave the reader more fulfilled. Not closure per-say, but with more doors opened for discussion about these issues instead of just making them feel like plot points.

The author had the opportunity here to really do some good and bring light and understanding to tough situations, and I was really let down by how it turned out. Sure the book was more complicated and in-depth than I’m making it sound, pretty much all the characters are realistically flawed and have reasons for being problematic. I also don’t think I could really expect the author to do much more while still being under 300 pages, but I’m dismayed that the author created this platform… and then just did nothing with it.

An entertaining summer read about the thrills and horrors of the über rich on their summer vacations.

It was richly developed through the novel until the end. It had an abrupt and unsatisfying ending.

CW: mental/emotional abuse, violence, murder

**spoiler alert**

Overall, I would give the book a 3 out of 5 stars. I liked the premise of the book, but not the way the author told the story. For one, the author didn't use pronouns for a lot of sentences. For instance, instead of saying, "I went to the store" she would say, "Went to the store..." This was a little distracting and along with many very short sentences, it made it feel like I was reading something written by a child. At the very least, the writing definitely took some getting used to.
Additionally, there was very little suspense buildup throughout the book. I never felt super-compelled to keep reading in order to find out the answer to some mystery, and reading of the synopsis of this book, that's what I had expected. I also disliked that the whole book mentioned the Mumbler, but when the reader finally finds out who the Mumbler is, there are maybe 10 pages left in the book. And, the suspense from when the protagonist is taken by Mr. Mac is extremely brief.
Lastly, I'm not sure what the reading level for this book was, but I definitely think it seemed very young, even for a YA book. Now, I'll admit that maybe I felt this way because I'm 22, but I read YA often, and I truly felt like this book is more fitting for a younger audience (middle school maybe?). That being said, since the protagonist is in high school it would be a little awkward for a middle school-aged child to read. I also thought the protagonist's relationship with her friends, Bree and Sage, and her love interest, Kincaid, made her seem very young and immature.
Despite the negatives of this book, I did keep reading because I wanted to find out what was happening to the kids in Pender. However, I was not dying to find out, and I think I would have been if the book had been written better.

This was my first book by Gillian French and I really enjoyed it. The story wasn’t exactly original, but I was deeply involved in helping the main character figure “out who did it”. Some of her choices aren’t the best, but this is an 18-year-old character. Looking forward to reading more by this author.

Just..... innumerable heart-eyes.

RTC

A little lacking in composition and transition, but a nice read. Maine!

Nothing new or surprising here, but a quick fun read.

Good mystery.
I liked Grit a lot, so I'm not surprised this was a good read. I felt bad for Pearl. Her mom moved away, her dad's an alcoholic, and she in unrequited love with her best friend. I had issues with all the boys in this book. Reese had to know how Pearl felt about him, but he continued to date Indigo even though she treated Peark like shit. And as soon as she started spending a little time with Bridges, he abandons her. And then Bridges is using her as entertainment and to forget a girl in his past. Akil was a huge dick and Tristan had a lot of drama. Pearl deserved better. The mystery around who killed the Garrisons and what really happened was interesting and kept me intrigued. Well written and engaging story.

Tenney's Harbor, Maine a place with a large influx of the summer families, those westhy families who live in the big houses. Pearl, seventeen, lives here with her dad who is a caretaker for those big estates. Pearl herself works at the country club serving the wealthy. Then something happens, one of the family's estate starts on fire, a fire that will cause the death of four members of the family, except for the teensge son Tristan who was away at the time. Pearls life changes as her Dad is unofficially blamed for the fire, or at least not stopping whoever set it. It will cost him many of his caretaking jobs as many cancel his services.

Pearl decides to investigate by becoming friends with the son and his friends. I enjoyed Pearls loyalty to her father, loved how she wanted to find her own snswers. Of course she finds things that spurs her on, and this turns into a nice little mystery. Written for the YA audience, no blood no gore, I appreciated this straightforward mystery, something little found in adult thrillers nowadays. Took me back to my Nancy Drew past. The ending a little predictable, but did enjoy the journey to get there.

ARC from Edelweiss.

I actually really wanted to like this more than I did. I was looking for small town mystery and family secrets creating this dark and atmospheric story and I don’t feel like all of that was fulfilled. The story was mostly obvious and underdeveloped. The Lies They Tell follows Pearl Haskins as she tries to find answers about the Garrison tragedy, where a mysterious fire left only one family member alive. As Pearl grows closer to Tristan Garrison she looks to uncover the lies and betrayal surround that night.

Things I Liked
The writing was beautifully atmospheric. It fit perfectly with the setting and the mystery. There was this ethereal air that kept you slightly removed from the story, but in a good way. It was like keeping a secret, there was always more to know.

Things I Didn’t Like
I found the mystery to be relatively weak. This really isn’t a story about Pearl befriending the lone survivor of a tragedy to uncover a mystery, it’s more about her dating outside of her social class and navigating a judgemental best friend. They mystery didn't feel like the focus of the story, it was mroe of a b plot.

The characters mostly just felt there. I didn’t connect with any of them, or any of their relationships. I think the one that hooked me the most was Pearl and her father - because I’m always here for familial relationships, but there wasn’t a lot of it. The characters felt very distinct, not like they were a part of the same story.

I thought the ending was a bit of a letdown. It felt unfinished and unsatisfying and not in a mysterious “anything can happen” way, but in a “nothing at all happened and there’s no resolution way.”

Like I said, I feel like this was just weak overall for me. I was looking for a thrilling mystery that combined family, secrets, and small-town drama, but The Lies They Tell felt very surface level to me. I wanted a deeper, more complex story, but this was incredibly easy to read - even if it did frustrate me at times.

I received a copy of the book from HarperTeen via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

I got caught up in this novel about a teen whose secrets compel her to risky behaviors.½

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my opinion of the book or my review itself.

This book is a bit of an enigma to me. Not much really happens, but yet it's interesting enough to keep me reading.

In Grit, we meet Darcy, who everyone in town loves to spread rumors about and call the "town slut". But she's fine hiding behind the gossip so she doesn't have to think about the truth-what happened to her cousin Nell, her missing best friend, and herself, on the Fourth of July. Then someone nominates Darcy for Bay Festival Princess, and she can't hide anymore.

This book moves around through Darcy's everyday life, raking berries during the summer to try to earn extra cash, spending time with her family, interacting with boys and friends. But while on the surface it seems like a story that is meandering around, knowing that there is so much simmering under the surface kept me turning pages. French drops lots of small, almost hidden, hints that add up to subtle foreshadowing about what is to come, and there's this overarching sense of depressing dread that makes this book so atmospheric.

I don't see myself rushing out to read more of French's work, simply because there are so many other books in this genre that are already demanding my attention. But if you are looking for a quick, highly atmospheric almost haunting read, with a slow build and some real emotional punches, this would be a good one to pick up.

Literary Merit: Alright
Characterization: Good
Recommend: Yes
Level: Upper High School

This book contains adult content so is for upper high school age. Overall quick read. Left several questions unanswered, which is frustrating. Characters are developed.

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