Review: Stronger Than Enough
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 1, 2014
Originally posted on The Canon! {http://canireadeverything.blogspot.com/2013/06/title-strong-enough-author-ellen-harger.html}I feel like Strong Enough is one of those books I will read again and again, mostly because the characters are so extraordinarily vibrant. From the first page, each and every one of them stuck in my mind due to the personalities and traits described through Whitney's eyes. Leah is the bitchy friend that pretends to be nice, Sadi is defensive, and Whitney is on the journey from pushover to being "strong enough" <- =]Sorry. I'll stop the corny puns. In all honesty, I found this book engaging and emotional. I easily sank into the setting on Sundown, MI and fitting into Whitney's shoes is something anyone can imagine, not only Midwest girls. I found myself constantly cheering for her to succeed, especially as she began her journey in the radio world.The narration in this novel is a little unusual, but it grew on me as I read. Strong Enough uses a third person limited view (which means we know what Whitney is thinking, but the narrator is outside of her - no "I") and is usually in the present tense, something I'm not quite used to. In the beginning, I kept noticing the tense, but as I read, I slipped so easily into Whitney's world because she was constantly doing instead of showing us what she wanted to do.I loved how Harger slowly presents each plot point in the novel; unlike other works I've read recently, she doesn't lay the entire novel plan out on the table right away. We know Whitney has a history, has something she is running from. I loved the tension Harger creates as she tempts her readers with Whitney's past.Final Thoughts: This book is a new favorite of mine because I truly admire the protagonist. She is in a crossroads in her life, something we all can relate to. Whitney, despite what she sometimes thinks of herself, is a strong, vibrant character that engaged me into her story.