#loveozya :: P is for Pearl :: Eliza Henry-Jones
March 02, 20182018 is shaping up to be an amazing year for #loveozya books! P is For Pearl by Eliza Henry-Jones is another fantastic contemporary YA novel released by an Aussie author already this year. I requested a review copy of this one from Harper Collins purely based on the fact that the author was Australian and the Tasmanian setting sounded beautiful. At that stage it didn't even have a cover, (which we all know is often how I pick my books lol) but the cover they have put on it is divine!
Here's a little bit about the book, from the Goodreads page...
Seventeen-year-old Gwendolyn P. Pearson has become very good at not thinking about the awful things that have happened to her family. She has also become used to people talking about her dead mum. Or not talking about her and just looking at Gwen sympathetically. And it's easy not to think about awful things when there are wild beaches to run along, best friends Loretta and Gordon to hang out with - and a stepbrother to take revenge on.
But following a strange disturbance at the cafe where she works, Gwen is forced to confront what happened to her family all those years ago. And she slowly comes to realise that people aren't as they first appear and that like her, everyone has a story to tell.
It took a couple of chapters (only like two or three) for me to 'get into' this book, but then I fell completely head over heels for it.
Seventeen-year-old Gwendolyn P. Pearson has become very good at not thinking about the awful things that have happened to her family. She has also become used to people talking about her dead mum. Or not talking about her and just looking at Gwen sympathetically. And it's easy not to think about awful things when there are wild beaches to run along, best friends Loretta and Gordon to hang out with - and a stepbrother to take revenge on.
But following a strange disturbance at the cafe where she works, Gwen is forced to confront what happened to her family all those years ago. And she slowly comes to realise that people aren't as they first appear and that like her, everyone has a story to tell.
The writing style was pretty much perfectly suited to my reading tastes. It had a literary, dreamy kind of feel that reminded me of the Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater (which I count as one of the most beautiful books I've ever read), and made me feel like we were drifting towards fantasy. The other thing about this that gave me Scorpio Races vibes was the development of the relationship between two of the main characters - my heart hadn't been so invested in a couple since Sean and Puck. So, if you loved the Scorpio Races I'd definitely recommend this as a read-alike.
I felt like the sibling relationships were really well written in this - I'm really loving great sibling pairs in YA at the moment!
Now, aside from the beautiful setting and sweet romance, this book deals with lots of pretty heavy issues that teens might face (but that I don't really feel that I know enough about personally to go into much here) - it is about grief and loss and mental health issues (and a trigger alert for death - look into it a bit more if this is something you would prefer to avoid).
Overall I thought this was a wonderful read, and I'm definitely adding Eliza Henry-Jones' other books to my TBR.
Xo Bron
P is For Pearl is out now - thank you so much to Harper Collins for sending me a review copy in exchange for an honest review (I loved this so much and the finished copy is so beautiful that I'm going to need to buy my own copy anyway!)
1 comments
This one sounds so good, great review. One more to add to the TBR pile ��
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