Locus Amoenus: All By My Shelf

This was a very enjoyable read, and the plot twists kept me guessing until the last page; there are several times along the way when a solution to the central dilemma seemed to be at hand... only to have the rug pulled out from under us, and send us back on the road searching for another way out.

I liked the choice of teen characters for a story of greed, sacrifice, and redemption. Ella, true to her young age, wavers between narcissistic selfishness and a growing sense of empathy and social responsibility. The further she moves from catering to her own wishes, the closer she gets to getting herself (and others) out of a terrible mess. That’s not to say that adults can’t be selfish and self-obsessed, of course; but it would have been more frustrating to me to see an adult Ella going through the same ordeal. As she is, she’s still in a stage in life where she tries for easy solutions, but is growing into a sense of adult responsibility. So I was with her all the way, even through some terrible decisions. She learned from her mistakes, and moved on with grace and courage.

More than a “be careful what you wish for” cautionary tale (though it has elements of that), it’s a story about facing the consequences of our choices and actions, instead of burying our heads in the sand and hoping things pass while being grateful we’re not affected. As Ella learns at the end, everything is connected, and the smallest decisions can have huge consequences. She also learns some critical thinking, and to use her words wisely.

I only have a couple of issues with this book. One is the time jumps between some of the early chapters, as Ella starts touring with Jonathan. We don’t get to see the early stages of their relationship, and it felt jarring for me to start one chapter and realize that it took place a couple of years after the ending of the previous one.

There are also a couple of characters and storylines that could have been either elaborated on more, or dropped completely. For example, Ella’s friend Suzanne and her involvement in magic were given short shrift, to the point that I had a hard time accepting her sudden rejection of Ella. The same goes for the themes of peer pressure, social media, and the press. They’re important in Ella’s development, but are treated somewhat superficially. The story would have fared just as well without them.

But overall this was a real page-turner, and made for great weekend reading.

I received this free copy from NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.