A friend of mine recommended this novel to me. She felt that the prose reminded her of my writing. She said it seemed like something I would write, and she meant it as a compliment! She loved the book! Naturally, I was intrigued and simply had to read it ASAP. Luckily, my little virtual book club, MR BOOK CLUB, selected it as it's March/April Official Selection so I got right on it.
I give A Girl at the Border 4 stars. The writing is gorgeous. All the settings, the dialogue—it was all written so expertly and effortlessly. The pictures painted themselves. Psst, if that’s what my friend meant—I’m over the moon by the comparison! The only thing that made me “deduct” a point was that at times the novel seemed a little cluttered, touching on a few too many subjects—parental absenteeism, 9/11, the war on terror. On the flip side, the author did keep me guessing and I did not see the biggest twist coming. Okay, so maybe half a star deduction there, to be fair. The other half? The many time jumps got a little confusing here and there. All in all, however, I loved this book and look forward to more fiction from Leslie Archer.
Moral of the story? Listen to your friends when they give you book recommendations, people:)