Amazon.com: A new novel by the Printz Honor author Garret Freymann-Weyr, about a boy who discovers what happens when love fails us—or we fail love.
Maia Morland is pretty, only not pretty-pretty. She’s smart. She’s brave. She’s also a self-proclaimed train wreck.
Leigh Hunter is smart, popular, and extremely polite. He’s also completely and forever in love with Maia Morland.
Their young love starts off like a romance novel—full of hope, strength, and passion. But life is not a romance novel and theirs will never become a true romance. For when Maia needs him the most, Leigh betrays both her trust and her love.
Told with compassion and true understanding, After the Moment is about what happens when a young man discovers that sometimes love fails us, and that, quite often, we fail love.
After the Moment is really hard to describe. In some ways I really really liked it and it shocked me and intrigued me but in a few other ways I'm not sure if I understood everything the author wanted me to.
Right off the bat we know that something has happened, happened between main character Leight (a male, as others have said sometimes his name made me have to remind myself he was a guy) and Maia his sister's friend that he has fallen for, extremely hard. That mystery definitely intrigued me and really drew me into the book.
I loved Leigh's character, an overall nice guy that looks out for his family and friends. I LOVED his relationship with his half-sister Millie (actually having two main female characters with M names sort of disrupted the flow of my reading from time to time to). He really looks out for Millie and she adores him. Through this relationship Leigh meets all of her other friends, including the sweet Franklin, the easy going Preston and Maia who has so many issues I couldn't remember them all.
My main issue with the book was Maia. While she openly admits to all of her problems, I just really didn't connect with her. Usually odd is awesome for me, but I just didn't understand her. Some things I did like, like her connection with her step-father from a marriage or two back but that was it really. I understand the idea of someone wanting to help her as Leigh does but I just didn't fully see why he would care for her so deeply in a romantic way. And also the way that the mystery unfolds was kind of odd.
What I did like, was what happens after the truth is out there in the open. At one point I had my hand to my mouth just shocked and wrapped up in what I was reading (page 267 if you are interested). So it's hard to really put my feelings into words for this book, some things I really really liked others I didn't really understand. Overall, I'd definitely be interested in reading another of the author's books and maybe that one would hit it exactly on the mark for me!
After the Moment was released May 18th.
Genre: Young Adult
3.5/5 Stars
Review copy provided by publisher for blog tour
TLC Book Tours
Oh, I'm so excited! I didn't know she another book out. She's one of my faves! Thanks for the post.
ReplyDeleteI only skimmed this because I'll be reading and reviewing it soon myself. I gathered that it is a good read. I'll be back to a closer look later.
ReplyDeleteWell, now I want to know what happened on page 267!. You have definitely piqued my interest.
ReplyDeleteI could see how Maia would have been a hard character to connect with.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I loved the book, particularly the ending, because I thought it was bittersweet and so true to life.
Anyway, thanks for being on the tour! You always write interesting and insightful reviews. :)
I wrote the book and had to go and look at pg 267.
ReplyDeleteI am interested in how connecting to Maia has been a preoccupation for some. I do think this is a uniquely YA concern. As grown ups, we do not read to "connect" with the characters. We read to travel, to imagine, to learn, and to escape.
It is illuminating to me that so many want kids to read books they can relate to. About people with whom they can connect.
As an aside, Jody, I love the description of your blog. I have a sign over my desk that says, "Fail. Fail again. Fail better."
Haha! That page was just WHOA!
ReplyDeleteI guess it depends for me. If I can almost relate to something I want to, but if it's totally off the wall from where i am then maybe I don't expect it as much? But i do prefer to relate, and I'm 26! I've been reading YA for about a year and a half. It wasn't the same when I was a teen so I'm taking it when I can get it!
I'm reading this in preparation for the tour right now too, and I also have trouble connecting with Maia. I think it's because the story is told from the perspective of an older and theoretically wiser Leigh, which automatically created distance between the characters and the reader. I think adult readers would enjoy this one a lot more than most YA readers I know, but that's just my own two cents!
ReplyDeleteI think it's very important to relate to characters, and I read mostly "adult" fiction, so I know what you mean Alea! Your review of this book has intrigued me, so I may go and check it out.
ReplyDeleteExcellent review. You're so right -- It was difficult book to connect to. Moments of wonderful but not enough.
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