Moonglass by Jessi Kirby

Moonglass by Jessi Kirby

May 3, 2011, Simon & Schuster 

Read for 2011 Debut Author Challenge

Summary from Goodreads:

From Jessi Kirby, a debut novel about confronting the past in order to move ahead. 

I read once that water is a symbol for emotions. And for a while now, I've thought maybe my mother drowned in both.

Anna's life is upended when her father accepts a job transfer the summer before her junior year. It's bad enough that she has to leave her friends and her life behind, but her dad is moving them to the beach where her parents first met and fell in love- a place awash in memories that Anna would just as soon leave under the surface. 

While life on the beach is pretty great, with ocean views and one adorable lifeguard in particular, there are also family secrets that were buried along the shore years ago. And the ebb and flow of the ocean's tide means that nothing- not the sea glass that she collects on the sand and not the truths behind Anna's mother's death- stays buried forever.

I really enjoyed this debut novel. I’m noticing a trend in YA literature of girls-living-with-their-dads-because-mom-died-or-is-otherwise-not-in-the-picture—other recent reads include Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn’t Have) and What Happened to Goodbye. Do 3 novels make a trend? In my book, they do.

Anyway, I really liked this story. Anna is a terrific narrator and an incredible girl overall. She has got to be one of the strongest females, mentally and physically, in contemporary YA fiction in, like, ever. She has no problem saying what’s on her mind, going after what she wants, and digging to get at the (probably uncomfortable) truth about what happened to Mom.

The budding relationship between Anna and Tyler is spicy, but there’s so much more going on in this story. There’s the relationship between Anna and her dad—pretty strong, as far as father-daughter relationships go, but there’s still a gaping hole. There’s Anna’s cross-country running, and all the competition that brings. There’s the stress and awkwardness of starting a new school. And, oh, yeah, what the hell happened to her mom? All this plus hottie lifeguards and the promise of sea glass (which makes me fondly remember my childhood summers at the beach). It’s a wonderful debut from a promising new author. Plus, I think the cover is absolutely stunning, and covers don’t usually impress me that much.

Borrowed book from the library.

Enjoy your reading!

Christi