Review: heart warming
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 10 8, 2013
If this is Ms. Meyer's first novel, than she's on her way to becoming a household name.  The Music Box tells the story of a young woman who rents a summer cabin to be finish a book about her father.  Along with her faithful dog Bo, a Rottweiler who loves to swim, Heather tells her story by way of the book she's writing.  She meets a handsome handyman with a gift for song, and his troubled teenage sister, along with the rest of the small town full of more secrets than even Heather carries around with her.This is a love story, a tragedy, and a story of beating the odds to follow your dream.  The writing is very good, and the characters are likable, and very real, especially Heather.The writing moves along fairly smoothly, though there were a few chapters that started off without enough background so I had to reread the chapter before.I hate to say this because I love the length of this book, but I think it needed to be longer.  So many deep and fascinating subjects were introduced which were never fully explored.  Each of these subjects could have filled a book, one which I would have gladly read, but to put them all in such a short book was a disservice to the reader.  I've found this to be a mistake that a lot of new writers make.  Throwing all their great ideas into one book.  I would suggest reading Stephen King's novel Gerald's Game which all takes place in 3 days in one room, in a bed.  I don't remember the details, but it was a 'stay up all night' kind of book.That's not to say that I didn't enjoy this book, because I did.  It had great foreshadowing of a subject that was something I would have loved to know more about.  The characters were real and very intriguing, and the pace was excellent.  My only criticism was that this was written like a Nora Roberts book(light reading) when the author is more Jodi Picoult(subjects that are so intense, they're almost taboo).I'm looking forward to seeing what direction Meyers takes with her career.  I'd love to read her next novel which I hope she's working on now.