Review: Angle of Incidence
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 5, 2012
Review originally posted to Words at Home June 6, 2012: [...]Within the pages of Angle of Incidence you will find a compelling and heartbreaking story of love, loss and the struggle to find understanding and forgiveness. Hayes has masterfully crafted a story that deals with extremely difficult themes such as child loss and betrayal and she did it in a way that allowed the reader a front row view of the characters' lives. This book was so raw and real that I didn't feel as though I was reading about characters, I felt as though I was walking alongside of them, and experiencing their stories first hand. I was immediately and completely immersed in Gwen's story and my heart ached for her as it would for a lifelong friend.I get really happy when a contemporary fiction novel is so raw, true to life and believable that it honestly could be a story drawn from real life events. Hayes sucked me in right from the first page with her absolutely powerful story line, and wonderful attention to detail. The characters were real and so well developed that my heart went out to them as if I knew them in real life. At times it was just excruciating to follow Gwen and Rob's story. The level of loss that they faced, combined with the shock of Rob's past coming to light would have just been too much to bear. I felt as though both of their reactions were both justified and realistic and this is one of the reasons that I loved this book so much. Not once did I find myself questioning Gwen's motives, or shaking my head at someone's behavior, I was too engrossed in their story to do anything but keep my head in this book and find out what comes next. When I wasn't reading I was thinking about these characters and I had to remind myself that this is a work of fiction.I loved, loved, loved that Angle of Incidence was a book that was rooted in photography and it is evident that the author really did her homework. Not just with regards to photography terms and industry lingo but also with regards to how a photographer's passion carries through into most every aspect of their life. Hayes was able to show how the difficult times that Gwen was going through affected her drive and passion as a photographer and that just made this story feel that much more true to life for me. It was all of these details that really made the story for me, there weren't just a few references to a high end camera, or obvious photography terms thrown in to remind the reader that Gwen is a photographer. It was evident from the way that Gwen looked at the world that her passion was photography and showing this side of her helped to make her character three dimensional.Angle of Incidence was a book that I just could not put down. It was emotional, captivating and a story that I highly recommend to fans of contemporary fiction. The main themes at times were heartbreaking to read about, but above all I found this to be an extremely uplifting book that gave me a lot of hope and left me smiling. Christy Hayes has outdone herself and it a contemporary fiction author to watch out for! I will definitely be looking up some of her other titles in the near future!