Review: Outstanding novel by talented author
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 19, 2014
This is the second book by Angela Wolbert I've read and it absolutely blew me away. I'm not sure what I was expecting when I started to read Shield but beyond expecting something on a par with A More Deserving Blackness I was open to anything.I imagine this would be classified as a NA novel but it is head and shoulders above just about everything else I've read in the genre (as is A More Deserving Blackness) that it nearly transcends NA entirely.The characters, Lilly, Miller, Monica, Ann, Chris and rest are well drawn, clearly defined and deeply detailed in description, dialogue, and action. The love scenes are practically chaste in their language and description but some of the most moving and deeply emotional that I've read in a long time. I think this is due, in large part, to the fact that the characters have time to develop deep feelings for each other and have more than begun to build their relationship before they become intimate. The characters and story line are too realistic to have them just fall into bed willy-nilly. That sort of thing works for novels that are so clearly fiction but not here, where it's so real.This is one I'll read again and again.Quick plot recap - Lilly and Miller are part of a crew of volunteers rehabbing a warehouse to turn it into a shelter for homeless families in a Philadelphia suburb. Lilly and Miller are drawn to each other - strongly, drawn to each other; even if they can hardly look each other in the eye at first. It's not just a building that becomes a shelter...