10.19.2010 | Tuesday

The Girl Who Chased the Moon

category: Book Reviews
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The Girl Who Chased the Moontitle: The Girl Who Chased the Moon
author: Sarah Addison Allen
published: 16 March 2010
publisher: Bantom Books
genre(s): magical realism, romance
pages: 292
source: bought
format: eBook
buy/shelve it: Amazon | B&N | BookBub | Goodreads

rating: five-stars

the blurb

In her latest enchanting novel, New York Times bestselling author Sarah Addison Allen invites you to a quirky little Southern town with more magic than a full Carolina moon. Here two very different women discover how to find their place in the world--no matter how out of place they feel.

Emily Benedict came to Mullaby, North Carolina, hoping to solve at least some of the riddles surrounding her mother's life. Such as, why did Dulcie Shelby leave her hometown so suddenly? And why did she vow never to return? But the moment Emily enters the house where her mother grew up and meets the grandfather she never knew--a reclusive, real-life gentle giant--she realizes that mysteries aren't solved in Mullaby, they're a way of life: Here are rooms where the wallpaper changes to suit your mood. Unexplained lights skip across the yard at midnight. And a neighbor bakes hope in the form of cakes.

Everyone in Mullaby adores Julia Winterson's cakes--which is a good thing, because Julia can't seem to stop baking them. She offers them to satisfy the town's sweet tooth but also in the hope of rekindling the love she fears might be lost forever. Flour, eggs, milk, and sugar . . . Baking is the only language the proud but vulnerable Julia has to communicate what is truly in her heart. But is it enough to call back to her those she's hurt in the past?

Can a hummingbird cake really bring back a lost love? Is there really a ghost dancing in Emily's backyard? The answers are never what you expect. But in this town of lovable misfits, the unexpected fits right in.


my review

The Girl Who Chased the Moon is the third novel from Sarah Addison Allen and it is just as magical as the first two novels.  Emily comes to Mullaby, North Carolina after the death of her mother Dulcie to live with her reclusive grandfather, a man she has never known.  Within moments of being in her real-life giant of a grandfather’s home, the magic begins, from the everchanging wallpaper in her room to the lights bouncing outside at night.  Emily wants to learn more about her mother’s mysterious past, but she soon realizes that Dulcie had left town under a shroud of mystery and not everyone wants to talk to her.  She soon befriends Julia, a woman that lives next door and bakes magical cakes, all with the secret hope of drawing back lost love.  The girl and the woman share a need to find answers and rediscover themselves and they bond over it, creating a story that is light and fanciful, while still touching on the real issues of a troubled life.

Like with her other novels, from the moment I started this book, it was virtually impossible for me to put the book down.  I absolutely love the author’s writing style, light and magical without being “fluffy”.  She draws me into the story and keeps me there, managing to seamlessly blend the surreal with the real.  So many times an author will concentrate on the development of the main characters and the supporting ones often are left feeling unfinished, two-dimensional.  This is definately not the case in this novel, or any of her novels.  The secondary characters are as equally well-developed as the main characters, and are just as intriuging in their storylines.  A fantastic read!

About Sarah Addison Allen

New York Times Bestselling novelist Sarah Addison Allen brings the full flavor of her southern upbringing to bear on her fiction — a captivating blend of magical realism, heartwarming romance, and small-town sensibility.

Born and raised in Asheville, North Carolina, in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Allen grew up with a love of books and an appreciation of good food (she credits her journalist father for the former and her mother, a fabulous cook, for the latter). In college, she majored in literature — because, as she puts it, “I thought it was amazing that I could get a diploma just for reading fiction. It was like being able to major in eating chocolate.”

After graduation, Allen began writing seriously. Her big break occurred in 2007 with the publication of her first mainstream novel, Garden Spells, a modern-day fairy tale about an enchanted apple tree and the family of North Carolina women who tend it. Booklist called Allen’s accomplished debut “spellbindingly charming.” The novel became a Barnes & Noble Recommends selection, and then a New York Times Bestseller.

Allen continues to serve heaping helpings of the fantastic and the familiar in fiction she describes as “Southern-fried magic realism.” Clearly, it’s a recipe readers are happy to eat up as fast as she can dish it out.

::spread the love::

2 responses to “The Girl Who Chased the Moon

  1. This book sounds great! I’ve never heard of this author and I feel like I’ve been living in a bubble because of it! I think I’d love her books :)

  2. Kim

    I absolutely love her books! I love the blend of fanciful magic and reality because she combines it so well with real issues without making the books “fluffy”. She’s one of my faves!

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