On Thin IcePJ Sharon
Published Dec 12, 2011
Kindle Edition
Author Published
Source: Gifted by Author &
Purchased by Reviewer
Seventeen-year old Ice-Skater, Penny, meets handsome Hockey hunk, Carter McCray, or Mac, and sparks ignite. Those sparks start a fire that burns hot and fast. But like all fires, the aftermath is never pretty.
There are YA books that hit on edgy issues such as, sex, bulimia, teen pregnancy, death of parents, finding out you are not who you thought you were, rape and parental stress to succeed....This book had ALL of these things, it was A LOT to take for just one young girl. Some of the issues could have been drawn out more, and some could have been taken out all together. NOT to say that PJ Sharon didn't do an AMAZING job at making all these issues not just believable, but they WORKED!
For me, as a reader, it was a bit much. As a fellow writer, it was a bit much. There were some unnecessary secondary characters that could have been taken out, and I would have suggested taking out one or two of the conflict issues, maybe drawing out some of the main issues a bit longer. I felt as if the conflict was piled on and forced on the reader.
But as I said, PJ Sharon did an amazing job at making ALL THE CHAOS work. There was some "God" talk, which doesn't bother me in the least, but this is coming from a 13-yr Catholic School Veteran. In my opinion, if I was dealing with all of the things Penny was dealing with, I'd be praying too!!
As for the main characters, Penny was your average girl, I didn't really get too much more out of her, but I liked her. But I think because there was so many issues going on at the same time, we couldn't really get a good read on her feelings about just one thing, or how she would react in just one situation.
As for our Hero, Carter McCray....well....he freaked out after he found out Penny lied to him, then proceeds to do something that didn't fit his character. I thought he was a smart and handsome boy, but I thought he should have tried a little harder. I don't want to give anything away, so I can't explain his reactions to different issues going on, but again, I think there was too much going on with Penny, that everything else just got lost in the shuffle.
Funny thing is, aside from all the craziness, I liked the book. I wasn't sure where it was going, but I liked it. I'd say give it a chance, or if you have an OLDER YA, have them read it. This book touches on many issues that any Young Adult might face, and PJ Sharon "writes" great advice/options to all teens facing these issues.
I will give Ms. Sharon props for mentioning Author, Kristan Higgins in this book!!
1 comment:
Thanks, Lisa, for the honest critique. This book would never have been published traditionally for all the reasons you mentioned. I had many a sleepless night and spent a few months trying to "deconstruct" the plot to take out those secondary characters and subplots to make the story "fit the mold" of your typical YA "bleed all over the page for 250 pages" with one or two main issues, but I just couldn't make it work. Every time I tried to take something out, the whole story unraveled and it felt like I was forcing Penny to get where she needed to be by the end of the story. It was a tough call, but I had to go with my gut and tell her story as is. That was one of the main reasons I decided to indie-pub. Teens often have complicated lives and are forced to handle many tragedies at once. That was very true for me and Penny's experiences mirror my own in many ways.
As for Carter, his actions were characteristic of who he used to be before Penny and are a pretty typical response for a young guy. It also spoke to the "nobody is perfect" lesson and how forgiveness and second chances are sometimes needed by even the "best of us".
Thanks so much for reading and buying the book!
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