Perpetual Chaos of a Wandering Mind: Kindle

Pages: 279
Format: Kindle/ebook

Publisher: Amazon Digital Services (December 2011)

Category: Young Adult Speculative Fiction

Style: Page-turner

YA speculative fiction isn't usually my thing (I usually go for meatier fare), but I've been devouring a lot of different books lately and the premise of this plot seemed intriguing. I confess, once I got to the action sequences, I couldn't put it down until the climax resolved. Unfortunately, that was 4:30am.

Ms. Huff does a pretty good job of capturing the emotional walls built up by an isolated teenager, as well as his starvation for human contact and blossoming of character when he finally connects with someone he trusts. I also liked the camaraderie between Beau and his twin brother, Bryce, his lifeline to humanity until Rose helps him break out of his shell.

Reading it brought to mind another YA speculative fiction book I read this year, Sting, by B.J. Rowley. I review that book here. The premises are very similar: outsider boy shuns physical contact until "new girl" who doesn't know better, they make a connection, danger and skullduggery ensue. I won't draw further similarities so as not to spoil the plot. Despite the familiar ring, the plot stands well on its own in both originality and execution. Ms. Huff's voice is her own, and she draws out the disparate sensibilities of her various characters with skill.

" . . . but wealth is luxurious and daring, and some of hers found its way to a circulating library. She became a subscriber; amazed at anything in propria persona, amazed at her own doings in every way, to be a renter, a chuser of books!" — Jane Austen, Mansfield Park

I grew up surrounded by books. Love of reading is imprinted on my DNA. As a child, my family moved around a great deal, but ever and always, no matter the house in which we lived, the first thing to go up was the bookcase. We always had a wall in the living room completely covered in books. There was always something to read in my house. Books were as necessary as breathing.

As an adult, we have bookshelves scattered throughout the house. After 32 years, I still haven't talked my husband into building me a bookshelf wall like my dad did for my mom, but I'm certain we have more shelf space and a much wider variety of books. If I had any ambition, I'd institute the Dewey decimal system, but, since I don't, I settle for computer and medical books in the office, non-fiction, biographies and histories in the bedroom, and a bookcase in the living room chock full of all the paperback classics my three sons had to read in high school. The story books overflow from two wicker baskets on the floor beside Nana's reading chair.

I am a keeper of books. I know people who will buy a book, read it, and then pass it on to a friend or trade it in for something new. They don't like to have them laying around collecting dust. But, I can't quite make myself do that. Even the paperbacks have to be coverless and disintegrating before I'll part with them. My books are like old friends. I may not see them or think of them for years, but when I return to them, growing reacquainted is always a pleasure, and gaining new insights a delight.