Title: Prodigal
Author: Rektok Ross
Published: expected January 2013 by Ic13 Books
Genre: Young Adult Romance
Shelf: Review Copy
Rating: ★★★★★
Synopsis from Goodreads:
It was supposed to be Lexy Quinn’s year.
The hard-working wallflower has finally landed the coveted spot as Editor of her school’s newspaper. Then the rug is ripped out from under her when she finds out her mom is sick, and the family is moving half-way across the country to Preston Hills, Texas. Lexy can’t think of a worse place to be than at a school full of snobby rich kids where she’ll have to start all over to get people to notice her writing, or–who is she kidding?—notice her at all.
When the most swoon-worthy boy in town, who also happens to be the jock celebrity quarterback, gives her an exclusive interview, Lexy’s life takes an unexpected turn. Ash Preston is the perfect guy and, even better, he sees Lexy as she wants to be seen. But can she trust him?
PRODIGAL is a different kind of love story, where faith, romance, and God converge . . . and it just might change the way you look at your life.
My Review:
This book was simultaneously both the most heart-warming and most heart-wrenching novel that I have ever read. It is amazingly well written. There are descriptions beyond compare. At times I felt like I was holding the flower spoken of. This story manages to combine a will-they-won’t-they first love with one of the most catastrophic losses imaginable to create a high school experience that you feel you have lived not simply read about. There is a religious undercurrent throughout the entire story. Religion comes to the forefront of the story a few times, but never once does the author preach at the audience.
Ross has an amazingly well developed cast of characters. They talk like real people, they act like real people, and they feel like real people. None of the characters are one sided. They are so real that they literally bubble from the pages. They are individuals who could all hold their own in any novel. They intermingle in an ever changing environment of relationships, while holding on to and reforging budding and growing friendships.
This amazing cast is lead by a main character who is dealing with family issues and moving to a new school during her senior year. My heart goes out to her time and time again. Throughout the novel she has to make some very difficult decisions. She also grows as an individual and ends up doing what she believes in and what is best for her, rather than following the status quo. She simultaneously tries to fit in and to be herself after being transplanted into a whole new environment. While becoming more comfortable in her new situation her family faces one of the greatest losses imaginable: the loss of a loved one. All the while she is blossoming into a fuller, more confident, self sufficient person. She also faces her first love. It is love in its purest form, but it does not come without the trials and tribulations that accompany high school relationships.
This is a love story that I would recommend to anyone who enjoys books that pick them up, make them rethink the status quo, or believe in the things that they have pushed to the side.
Don't forget to buy your copy when it's published in 2013!!!
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