Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Scarlett Reviews 'Tumbleweeds'

Book Description (per Amazon)

February 5, 2013
Recently orphaned, eleven-year-old Cathy Benson feels she has been dropped into a cultural and intellectual wasteland when she is forced to move from her academically privileged life in California to the small town of Kersey in the Texas Panhandle where the sport of football reigns supreme. She is quickly taken under the unlikely wings of up-and-coming gridiron stars and classmates John Caldwell and Trey Don Hall, orphans like herself, with whom she forms a friendship and eventual love triangle that will determine the course of the rest of their lives. Taking the three friends through their growing up years until their high school graduations when several tragic events uproot and break them apart, the novel expands to follow their careers and futures until they reunite in Kersey at forty years of age. Told with all of Meacham's signature drama, unforgettable characters, and plot twists, readers will be turning the pages, desperate to learn how it all plays out.


Product Details

  • Paperback: 352 pages
  • Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (February 5, 2013)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 145550923X
  • ISBN-13: 978-1455509232

My Review

Tumbleweeds starts out very slowly, to the point that I almost put it down.  I’m glad I didn’t.  After plodding through the dry, obligatory, chapters where Meacham established the adolescent bonds between the three key characters of the story, I finally made it to the interesting parts.  I was hooked!  Oh, the shenanigans those three got themselves in to as true love developed in a triangle complicated enough to give Pythagoras a migraine.  Not me! I knew exactly which stud-muffin Cathy would pick.  Or, so I thought.  I munched on a couple more crackers, turned the page, and, “Huh?” 

Leila Meacham was not following the script I envisioned at all! She must be an admirer of Poe and Bronte: such was the angst she created —the plot twists cleverly wreaking havoc— ruining lives and setting the wheels in motion that led me, like a horse to water, down the herring-strewn path to the ending.  Meacham tossed so many herrings about that I felt I was at a fish market. I’ll be squeezing lemon juice on these hands for days!  Still, the ending was clever, if a bit contrived. Dare I say, fishy?  The convenient ending —and, Cathie’s ridiculous choice of man-candy— just irritated the heck out of me, so Tumbleweeds earned 4 of 5 hearts from this reviewer.

Disclaimer:  This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.  My review reflects my honest opinion of the work.

2 comments:

  1. Hello, hello. I'm officially a new follower.
    This book sounds really good and I'm not even a fan of love triangles, but they sure can be interesting if handled by a good author.

    Great review,
    Ioana. :)

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    Replies
    1. Hi Loana. Glad to get to know you. I think you'll enjoy the book. I did.

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