Title: The Accident SeasonAuthor: Moïra Fowley-Doyle
Series: stand-alone
Publisher: Kathy Dawson Books
Publication Date: August 18, 2015
Source: ARC received for review from publisher
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Audible
It's the accident season, the same time every year. Bones break, skin tears, bruises bloom.
The accident season has been part of seventeen-year-old Cara's life for as long as she can remember. Towards the end of October, foreshadowed by the deaths of many relatives before them, Cara's family becomes inexplicably accident-prone. They banish knives to locked drawers, cover sharp table edges with padding, switch off electrical items - but injuries follow wherever they go, and the accident season becomes an ever-growing obsession and fear.
But why are they so cursed? And how can they break free?
This was a strange little book, but in the best possible way. The "is this real or all a dream?" aspect had me captivated. I just love a good psychological thriller, where you're never sure if the narrator is reliable or not...when you don't know if you're dealing with magical realism or something more sinister but wholly of this world.
I wasn't expecting the story to go in the direction that it did, until a comment was made by one of the characters and then I was sure that what I was dreading was coming to fruition...or had already. At that point, I liked the situation less but not the story. The narrative, as a whole, was pretty compelling, and I found it hard to find a good stopping point when reading. And if I'm being completely honest, I didn't stop reading until I reached the end.
The possibility of changelings and ghosts and ghost houses is what really kept me intrigued. I love that those things kind of kept me off-kilter the entire time I was reading, mostly because I was hoping this was that kind of book...that like The Darkest Part of the Forest, it would leave me uncertain for the entirety of the book, wondering if anything was what it seemed.
I'm not going to beat around the bush: this book was confusing as hell most of the time, but that's what I loved about it. Well, besides the characters because they were so vibrant and I couldn't not love them. These kids were just so engaging and they all but leapt off the page at me. Their friendships and relationships, their trials and tribulations, those are what I found so captivating, even without the potential for supernatural goodness.
There is some romance in this story -- actually, a couple of them -- but they are so far from the main focus of this book as to be almost inconsequential. Except that they are important because they are quirky and adorable and not without their problems. It's difficult to talk much about those, though, because SPOILERS but it is worth mentioning that these are not what some might call traditional romances, though that fact bothered me not one iota. I loved them because they were far from easy or typical.
I do wish there had been a little more attention on the Accident Season as a whole and not this one specific Accident Season because I still have questions about the whys and hows of it. It was explained but it was such a small bit at the end that I felt a tad unsatisfied. Still, the writing was stunning and very visual and it more than made up for those teeny, tiny questions I had at the end. And being the over-thinker that I am, I'll probably always have questions when it comes to a story like this, which is partly why I read them...I love it when an author makes me work for it, doesn't spell it all out and leaves me demanding more, even if I know I'll never get it. So, basically, you should read this book so you can be just as confused and full of wonder as I am, and then we can compare notes.
GIF it to me straight:
It's a head-scratcher of the best sort.
About the Author:
Moïra Fowley-Doyle is half-French, half-Irish and lives in Dublin with her husband, their young daughter and their old cat. Moïra's French half likes red wine and dark books in which everybody dies. Her Irish half likes tea and happy endings.
Moïra spent several years at university studying vampires in young adult fiction before concentrating on writing young adult fiction with no vampires in it whatsoever. She wrote her first novel at the age of eight, when she was told that if she wrote a story about spiders she wouldn't be afraid of them any more. Moïra is still afraid of spiders, but has never stopped writing stories.
Find Moïra:
Website | Twitter | Goodreads | Instagram
Ooh I do like a good head scratcher. (Sometimes).
ReplyDeleteConfusing huh. I am hoping to get this book on audio when it comes out. I don't always do well with confusing but the story looks really good. I will definitely try it out. I am really happy to see you enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteThis was such a strange book! I really loved just how weird it was and those characters were amazing. Def looking forward to what the author does next.
ReplyDeleteIt's got an interesting premise. But I don't really do well with this type of books. The drive to Confusion Corner is a short one.
ReplyDeleteThis book is almost perfect. It's lyrical and shot through with magic, and each of the main characters ring true. Cara's family has secrets, lots of them, but it doesn't mean that they're not close, and you can feel that love throughout the entire novel.
ReplyDeleteZia
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