Slow Motion - Jennifer Pierce

 

Delighted to be on the Blog Tour today.

Description

Westview belongs on a postcard. Quaint, picture-perfect, a tiny New England town steeped in history and traditions.

 Angela has always been everything people in Westview want her to be. She’s supposed to be happy here, but she’s starting to see all the flaws in her seemingly-perfect life and she’s afraid that everyone else will notice, too. Now, she wants something more than small towns, something bigger than the life planned out for her by a family that has designed and destroyed reputations in Westview for generations.

Owen knows that history can be a lot of lies depending on who tells the story and he’s just discovered the truth about how Westview became a drowned town a century ago. But all he wants is to run away from his own past, from the bad decisions he’s made and the tragedies still haunting him. He’s focused on the future and proving people wrong, even though that means keeping secrets from his friends.

Long before they understood the rumours and grudges that rule their hometown, Angela and Owen were friends for one perfect summer. Now, as they navigate their senior year of high school and Westview celebrates its Tricentennial, they are reunited, discovering truths about themselves, each other, and the ways their community has been shaped by secrets, lies, and a devastating obsession with perfection.

Review

What stood out most for me about this book is the beautiful descriptive writing. Some of the lines I just had to read several times over, they were so evocative and poetic.

Angela has it all, friends, money, popularity and a family that more or less own Westview. Her parents are founders of the town and appearances are everything. It is within this environment that we meet Angela who has become aware of what a life in Westview really means to her, and she wants out of that life - now.

By chapter 5 I too had begun to feel how trapped Angela felt in Westview, the writing really portrayed the overbearing lifestyle and the constant upkeep of appearances. At this point I still had some sympathy with her. However, as the book progressed I liked Angela less and less and my sympathy for her waned. 

Owen is a childhood friend who Angela wasn't allowed to see anymore - we don't know why and the book keeps it from us for a good part of the story. I did like Owen and his determination to get where he wanted to be in life. I began to feel sorry for him when he once again, had Angela in his life. 

This might seem like just a book about two people one privileged, one not, each wanting something more, but what an ending! To say more is difficult without giving too much away. I'm this book 4 out of 5 stars. My thanks to Random Thing Tours for a copy of the book to review.

AUTHOR DETAILS 

Jennifer Pierce is a graduate of Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts, where she earned a degree in Creative Writing & Literature. Upon graduation, she moved to England to obtain her Master’s in Publishing at Oxford Brookes University. Jennifer has worked with lifestyle websites and academic publishers in Ireland, England, and the United States. She is currently an Editorial Project Manager at Elsevier and resides in Boston. Slow Motion is her first novel.