Review: Sweet, easy read
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 10 4, 2013
I was fortunate to receive a free copy of In the Middle of Nowhere as part of an author interview and giveaway on Goodreads.In the Middle of Nowhere tells the story of Willow who, along with her Mother and Brother James, moves to Pike’s Island, a small island in the Gulf of Maine’s Casco Bay. Willow’s father died unexpectedly five years earlier and Willow and her family are forced to move when her mother loses her job, and has to rely on the generosity of her brother for a roof over their heads – hence the move.Willow tends to keep to herself and endures the freezing cold ferry ride to school each day. As the new girl in school she catches the eye of Michael, a ‘mysterious’ fellow student who seems to spend more time out of school than in it. She also forms a loose friendship with Tessa, and In the Middle of Nowhere tells the story about the development of these relationships as well as Willow’s life at home.To be honest, I really didn’t warm to Willow. She made some incredibly poor choices and was extremely selfish a lot of the time – of course, she’s a 15-16 year old, so in that sense she was a great character. The first couple of ‘mistakes’ she made I cut her some slack, but after that I was kind of amazed that she would continue to make really silly choices.Tessa was an interesting character who I actually felt quite sorry for. She was clearly lonely and looking for the attention that she wasn’t getting from her parents.The relationship between Michael and Willow was quite sweet, but I would have liked to have had more direct ‘contact’ with Michael. He was a little bit absent for big chunks of the story, which for me, made the relationship aspect with Willow a little bit vague. He seemed like a genuinely nice guy and I would have liked to have learned a lot more about him.I liked the ending and felt that Willow had actually grown a little bit, particularly in the relationship with her mother. It will be interesting to see what direction the next book in the series takes as there are plenty of opportunities for a great story from where it finished. Overall, In the Middle of Nowhere is an easy, sweet read.