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 |  An informal group of writers who enjoy reading books & sharing feedback |
What a sweet story! I was mesmerized by this compelling tale of characters who each are scarred from one thing or another. I love imperfect characters and dysfunctional situations. It's the real world with real issues with the added plus of a happy ending, which I know isn't always real, but if I read a book, I want to feel satisfied at the end, and this story pulled it off nicely. I'm almost embarrassed to admit it, but I was hoping Ursa was truly an alien! I actually believed she was, in the beginning, and I did not want to believe she had run away. I wonder what that says about me, wanting her to complete her five miracles and then go back to her planet. I do wish Little Bear had survived. That tugged at my heart, especially for Ursa. It was pretty cool that it hadn't bothered Gabe at all that Jo had had a complete mastectomy. And though I did mention in the first paragraph that I love imperfect characters, it almost seemed like there were too many issues in the mix—abuse, runaway, trauma, jealousy, cancer, affair, depression, death, crime, underage sex attempt, and from so many of the characters (Jo, Ursa, Gabe, Gabe's sister and mother, Ursa's mother and of course the killers!) Oh, and Jo's dad had been killed in a plane crash. I mean, it was nice that everyone ended up more of a complete person in the end, but I'm just saying perhaps the author tried to cover a lot of territory with character issues. This is only my humble opinion though. I absolutely loved the story! The nesting birds weaved in well with this story, especially with the "host eggs" mention. It was also a brief distraction from the main story itself. I enjoyed the growing relationship between Jo and Ursa. I felt the author did an excellent job portraying the child. The dialogue was great! Jo, at first stubborn and reluctant to befriend the girl, and later, protecting her. I also felt the kittens were a great addition to the budding relationship between Gabe and Ursa. I loved it when she named the kittens after Shakespeare's characters. My least favorite part was probably when Ursa was n the hospital and the case worker was so hard on her. So much of that seemed cruel and it made me angry that it had taken so long for Jo to have a chance to adopt her. In my own little world, I'm going to pretend that Ursa really was an alien and chose to stay on earth with Jo and Gabe (and Jo's friend.) And she'd made up everything else and had really hosted a dead girl's body.  I know... I know...  |
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