{"id":1163,"date":"2018-12-31T15:59:17","date_gmt":"2018-12-31T15:59:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=1163"},"modified":"2018-12-31T15:59:17","modified_gmt":"2018-12-31T15:59:17","slug":"lone-star-book-reviewsby-michelle-newby-nbcccontributing-editor-120","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=1163","title":{"rendered":"Lone Star Book ReviewsBy Michelle Newby, NBCCContributing Editor"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/span>Michelle Newby<\/span> is a reviewer for Kirkus Reviews<\/span> and Foreword Reviews, <\/span>writer, blogger at TexasBookLover.com, member of the Permian Basin Writers’ Workshop advisory committee, and a moderator for the Texas Book Festival. Her reviews appear in Pleiades Magazine, Rain Taxi, Concho River Review, Mosaic Literary Magazine, Atticus Review, The Rumpus, PANK Magazine,<\/span> and The Collagist.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lone Star Book Reviews
of Texas books appear weekly
at LoneStarLiterary.com<\/a><\/span><\/h1>\n
\n

<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/a><\/span>12.17.2017<\/h1>\n

YA SCIENCE FICTION\/FANTASY<\/p>\n

Jennifer Park<\/span><\/p>\n

The Shadows We Know by Heart<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Simon Pulse<\/p>\n

Hardcover, 978-1-4814-6351-9, (also available as an e-book), 304 pgs., $17.99<\/p>\n

March 14, 2017<\/p>\n

Sixteen-year-old Leah Roberts lives in a broken family at the edge of the East Texas piney woods.<\/span> Ten years ago, her family has been shattered in the aftermath of the death, in those woods, of her brother Sam. Leah\u2019s father is Pastor Roberts, and he has a lot of rules (no lip gloss, no bikinis); one of those rules is never, ever go into the woods. But the forest is the only place Leah can let down her emotional walls, be herself. \u201cThis forest is my religion, the towering cathedral of trees my church, and I\u2019m reborn every time I leave,\u201d Leah tells us.<\/p>\n

The forest is Leah\u2019s comfort, both freedom and sanctuary, and holds her biggest secret. \u201cHeavy steps echo through the trees, the surefooted sound of creatures that have nothing to fear in this world,\u201d Leah says. Would that that were true. \u201cI\u2019ve watched something that technically doesn\u2019t exist come and go in the forest behind our home for years.\u201d Leah has never told anyone because she\u2019s pretty sure they\u2019d stop listening at \u201cBigfoot.\u201d But the morning she first sees the human boy with the Sasquatch, she knows she has a difficult decision to make. \u201cThe walls are falling down around me, pushing me closer to the human embodiment of everything I love about the forest. Leah is gone,\u201d she thinks, \u201cand in her place is a girl walking with a boy who feels like home, the way it was before everything fell apart.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Shadows We Know by Heart<\/span> is the debut young-adult novel from Jennifer Park. Published by Simon Pulse, it\u2019s labeled science fiction\/fantasy, solely because of Bigfoot. Sasquatch. A family of them. Some of you will protest this. I take no position on the existence of Bigfoot, but, in an unlikely turn of events, I fell in love with this book.<\/p>\n

Beautifully designed inside and out, The Shadows We Know by Heart<\/span> is both spooky and beguiling, finding a difficult equilibrium of comedy and tragedy. Parks\u2019 rendering of rural Texas teenagers is spot-on. I used to be one of them, and I feel I know these people. The story is told in Leah\u2019s first-person narration, her voice distinctive and authentic. She\u2019s smart and funny; suspicious of, and confused by, the adults in her life; and flustered by boys. Leah is a rebel flirting with mutiny, and totally likeable.<\/p>\n

The Shadows We Know by Heart<\/span> asks tough questions about violence and vengeance, retribution and regret, atonement and forgiveness, justice and mercy, secrets and guilt. What is the meaning of family? What do we owe the living and the dead, and if those obligations appear to conflict\u2014what then? What does it mean to be civilized, and who decides? What does it mean to be human, and are humans intrinsically worthier than other animals? Leah must reconcile freedom and responsibility, and make choices as she struggles with identity, attempting to escape those imposed upon her.<\/p>\n

The quick, steady pace effortlessly holds our attention; flashbacks foreshadow, adding to the escalating sense of dread; and the plot delivers multiple twists before accelerating into a shocking climax. Met by foreboding and adrenaline, then thoroughly charmed, all on the first page, I read The Shadows We Know by Heart<\/span> in one sitting. Park delivers thrilling, mysterious, magical moments; the truly scary; the viscerally creepy; exquisite tension; and sweet first love.<\/p>\n

* * * * *<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michelle Newby is a reviewer for Kirkus Reviews and Foreword Reviews, writer, blogger at TexasBookLover.com, member of the Permian Basin Writers’ Workshop advisory committee, and a moderator for the Texas Book Festival. Her reviews appear in Pleiades Magazine, Rain Taxi, Concho River Review, Mosaic Literary Magazine, Atticus Review, The Rumpus, PANK Magazine, and The Collagist. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1163\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}