Senior year is over, and Lucy has the perfect way to celebrate: tonight, she's going to find Shadow, the mysterious graffiti artist whose work appears all over the city. He's out there somewhere—spraying color, spraying birds and blue sky on the night—and Lucy knows a guy who paints like Shadow is someone she could fall for. Really fall for. Instead, Lucy's stuck at a party with Ed, the guy she's managed to avoid since the most awkward date of her life. But when Ed tells her he knows where to find Shadow, they're suddenly on an all-night search around the city. And what Lucy can't see is the one thing that's right before her eyes.
I don't read very much YA contemporary books. I keep seeing books in this genre that require much drama and not much substance. Now, I know that isn't all that is there in this particular genre, but I've seen enough of it to make me not crave these types of books. However, some of the aussie bloggers I've been reading gave such glowing reviews of this book I knew I had to read it and jumped at the chance when I learned it was going to be published in the US. I must tell you now, I was not disappointed.
The story lines of Shadow, Lucy, Poet, Jazz, Dylan and Daisy captured me. It's mostly about kids bumbling around making mistakes and growing from those mistakes. Learning who they are and what they really want. Things that adults rarely do within a lifetime. Now even though this held my interest it was not because of what was going on and the small adventures they have during one fateful night. What held me at rapt attention was the writing within this book. The writing was visual. It was lyrical. It was magic. Yes, all high praise, but you rarely come across a book that is written this way. When I do, I take notice.
I give this book 5 stars. It is one I know I'll be reading again. I personally loved the visual language Cath Crowley used to tell this story. If you are looking for a contemporary YA, do try this one. You might be surprised of the writing within.
I received this ARC from NetGalley and the publisher and no compensation for my review was given.
The vid is in Italian. I guess they didn't make one in english yet. :)
Oh, I just got this one last week! Now, thanks to your review, I can't wait to read it! Visual, lyrical, magical writing---I love that!
ReplyDeleteI really hope you like it as much as I did!
Deleteit sounds like a nice book. I know the cover but I don't think I've read anything about it. I'm glad it was a nice surprise. I understand, I don't read either a lot of contempory YA, sometimes I have the feeling it's always the same. From time to time it's nice to change a little.
ReplyDeleteFor me, it was the writing that made me love it. If more contemps were written this way, I would be reading more! :)
DeleteVisual, lyrical, magic - wow, that's some recommendation.
ReplyDeleteMagic!! So glad you liked it so much :D
ReplyDeleteAwesome! I love that you loved it!
ReplyDeleteYou're like the fifth blogger that I know who gave this book 5 stars! Although I don't understand a lick of Italian, I thought the book trailer was cute. Even though I'm technically an "adult" age-wise, I still find myself stumbling and trying to figure out what I really want. I have this one on my Nook and I hope to get to it before it expires! SO glad that you enjoyed this one and it sounds awesome. Thanks for the nudge!
ReplyDeleteI do hope you love it as much as I did. I was surprised that the only trailer was in Italian. I do believe this one was published in Australia first.
DeleteYEAH!!! I so enjoyed this one:) I don't read too many contemporary YA books either, I tend to stick to the paranormal stuff, but I adored this book. Shadow and Poet and Lucy were all such fabulous characters!
ReplyDeleteI loved that you got to be so much in their heads as well!
DeleteI was about to say something and now 15 minutes have gone by...I blame facebook ;)
ReplyDeleteWell, I agree... it's always FB's fault. ;D
DeleteYES!!!!! Yay!!!! I'm soooo freaking THRILLED TO DEATH that you loved this one Mel! Seriously!!! :)
ReplyDeleteHow did I know that the artist in you would respond to this story? Visually imaginative writing appeals to me too and every review I’ve read so far has been glowing.
ReplyDeleteI'd be curious as to what you think!
DeleteLoved this book! I thought it was so cool! Loved this review :)
ReplyDeleteAwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! The Italian trailer! Sooo, cute. thanks for including it in your awesome review, Melissa. I hadn't seen it before. I loved the bird!!! It instantly made me think of the book. And the Italian cover is purdy! LOL
ReplyDeleteGlad you gave this contemp a try and liked it! I'm with you, I'll be reading this one again, soon.
Melissa, when I first saw this review pop up on your blog, I knew I had to check it out because I was like I don't think she reviews this genre all that often. Glad to hear that your foray out of your comfort zone paid off!
ReplyDeleteI felt exactly the same way about the writing. It was like poetry but not. It painted images in my mind that were like seeing a painting. I loved this novel. Seems the Aussie's can really pump out the prose. I've read some other's that are great from Aussie writers. Just wish they'd publish more of their works over here.
ReplyDeleteYour review was great. Said it all!
Heather
Glad you liked it so much :), but you are not tempting me with it this time.
ReplyDeleteI think I've read at least 10 amazing reviews for this book just this week alone!
ReplyDeleteI also really enjoyed this one.
ReplyDeleteI'm a paranormal reader typically, but I'm curious about this book now. Nice review. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteSo glad to see you enjoyed this one. And it's the first time I've heard of it. :) Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI've heard nothing but good things about this one. I really must read it soon - it will be good for my Aussie Women Writers challenge.
ReplyDeleteLike you, I don't read much in the way of YA contemporary. But.... I have heard nothing but good things about this book (especially from reviewers such as yourself who I would consider to be quite critical- in a good way ;) ). So I KNOW that this is one I will have to check out!
ReplyDelete