Review: Interesting read that really makes you think..
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 09 2, 2011
Jillian Peery has written a beautiful and confusing debut novel. Confusing?...Well yes, but I believe that it is supposed to be. The whole basis of the story is different planes of time, and other places that I don't want to spoil the book by giving away to much. The book begins right in the middle of a confrontation with our heroine of the story. Clara is fuming because her diary pages were stolen by her friend/maybe boyfriend Erik. Clara writes down her dreams because she does't remember her past. She lives in New Orleans with her Aunt because of an accident that took the lives of her parents and left her without any memories. Erik isn't all he seems though as Clara finds out, and thankfully when her only relative is taken, the quirky Fergus steps in to help Clara. Fergus has been a grandfather figure/story teller to Clara since her accident years earlier only as it turns out nothing is as it seems. Fergus takes Clara to Ireland, where she previously lived with her parents before the accident, only to learn that Fergus is indeed Clara's relative afterall (small spoilers there I know!). Clara learns that she was sent to her aunt for her own safety, but since those she must hide from have found her she's being brought back into that world. Things don't go according to plan in a very Alice in Wonderland sort of way, Clara finds herself in another world. This is where it gets pretty out there on the confusing stuff, but stay with it, it will come together! I will admit, there were times where I was thinking ok, she's dreaming, unconscious, drowned even and that's why she is in some crazy other place. That's the confusing part! Nothing and no one can be taken for by first glance. Pinelight is a mystery and somewhat chaotic to follow because the character herself doesn't know who she really is, or how she's ended up in all the places she's found herself to be in. There isn't a lot of backstory to the characters, but I think this is Jillian Peery's way of making you just as confused as Clara is herself. You find pieces of the puzzle as she does, not really before she does. There are some characters that I really hope we see more of in the next book, and a whole list of questions yet to be answered. By the end of the book a lot of the dynamics are going to change for Clara as she is reunited with a few people from her past, that finally at the end, she begins to remember. One of the most important a childhood friend whom she loved dearly...Read it! You will  be thinking about it afterwards! I look foward to the next book in the series and hope more mysteries are solved and we learn a lot more about who Clara is, and some other characters who have a great story of their own to tell!