Book Title: Willow
Author: Julia Hoban.
Genre: Young adult fiction
Willow Randall lives with her bother who is a professor and
late at night he can be heard crying in the arms of his wife with the struggle
of life and a new born. She works at the campus library. She isn’t social. She
is seventeen. She is a cutter. And above all else she killed her parents.
Seven months ago during a rainy March night Willow was
driving her parent’s home after they had a couple of drinks. Willow lost
control of the car and lost both of her parents and from then forward changed
schools, changes to an apartment with her brother’s family, and tried to
overcome her pain in silence with a small razor as her escape.
That’s how she functioned until Guy stepped into her life.
They shared a lot of similarities and the day he finds out she is a cutter is
the day he not only throws a huge fit and tries to tell her brother, but it is
also the day is promises to keep it their secret and make it his mission to try
and help her in his own way.
This book is emotional, powerful, uplifting, and filled with
love. It’s about communication between siblings through hard times, overcoming
what feels like the impossible, and above all else finding love and support
when you feel you are alone. That was my interpretation of this book.
I loved the struggle her brother feels about having to have
his sister under his roof as he tries to have a family. He’s young and wants
his life to flourish but knows he has to put her needs first and it drags him
down to feel that way. He loves her so much. And the struggle Guy feels for Willow, the responsibility he feels he has towards her was sweet and heart
wrenching at the same time. When he first learns about what she does he can’t
understand her. It’s hard for anyone to swallow that kind of realization about
another you care for and he instantly feels that he has to look out for her a
bit.
I’ve read it three times front to back and several more
times just my favorite scenes. This is a story I will never forget and if I do
(amnesia or something) then that means I will enjoy it that much more the next
time I read it.
I give Julia Hoban’s Willow 5 out of 5.
Brenda Franklin, author of the Pulse Trilogy.
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