Michele Bacon

I have read hundreds of books that have taken place in lands that I have never visited in my real life, but I have never read a book that so tempted me to pack my bags immediately and just “go”. Seriously. Moments after reading the last sentence of Antipodes, I told my husband that I had to visit Christchurch, NZ. It is now on our bucket list. This is how special Antipodes is – it reached out into my world and shook it up a bit. Fantastic!

You can probably see where I am going with this. I loved this book. Antipodes is about letting go of everything you thought was important and finding your true self. Shed the unnecessary stuff. Toss the baggage. I loved Erin Cerise’s journey and I really felt her struggles to be both believable and relateable, especially in today’s world of high expectations and constant scrutiny.

After a disastrous celebration of her 17th birthday, the loss of her swim team captainship and now a severed relationship with her boyfriend, Erin is desperate to find a way to fix her future. In order to stand out to college prospects and make a good name for herself, she has decided that she will study abroad. Though when she first lands with her host family, she’s not so sure she’s made the right decision. Reading how Erin’s character stumbles, pushes back, grows and reflects on her mistakes was great. But what I enjoyed most was when she reflected on her youngest and truest self, her relationship with her grandparents and seeing how she learns to find herself again.

Michele Bacon writes her characters honestly – flawed, familiar and real. I fell in love with Pippa and Hank right away, Erin frustrated me at times, Hammish grew on me… each character brought something real to the story. That said, what stood out the most is Michele’s obvious love for New Zealand. Exploring Christchurch through the eyes of Erin (Michele) only made me want to visit for myself. Without actual pictures, Michele paints Christchurch and the people there so beautifully and so vividly. I am inspired to find a bit of myself in Christchurch, too.… (más)

Michele Bacon’s contemporary young adult debut, Life Before, is a poignant journey of self discovery and ultimately, healing, for seventeen year old Xander Fife.

With his high school graduation just days away, Xander is looking forward to this final summer with his friends before his “real” life begins. He and his best friend, Jill Bernard, are looking planning a road trip, he is dating his longtime crush, Gretchen Taylor and best of all, a scholarship to Tulane means he can leave his small hometown behind him once and for all. However, a chance encounter with his estranged father’s new girlfriend sets in motion an unforeseen chain of events that ends in tragedy. In order to protect his friends, Xander decides to leave town until the threat is over, but the situation is not resolved as quickly as he thought it would be. Life on the run is not as easy as he assumed and Xander is soon dependent on the kindness of strangers until it is safe to return home.

Xander is a likable character who is genuinely concerned for his friends’ safety. His childhood was absolutely terrifying until his mom finally divorced his father and although they struggled financially for years, things have turned around for them recently. He is close to his mom and when he unwittingly puts her in danger, Xander is absolutely crushed by the weight of guilt after a confrontation goes horribly wrong. With this guilt pressing down on him, he takes matters into his own hands to protect his friends from danger.

With a pocketful of cash, a hefty dose of paranoia and a somewhat ill-conceived plan, Xander’s journey begins on a Greyhound bus. Arriving in a small college town, his goal is stay out of sight until Jill lets him know it is safe to return home. But things go quickly awry when accommodations are scarce and he is forced to find an alternate place to stay. Xander then goes on to make some rather unwise financial choices and he is soon rather desperate when his funds begin to run low. He discovers a handful of places he can go during the day but at night, his options are very limited. Ignoring Jill’s continued pleas to return home, Xander sticks to his plan even as his situation becomes increasingly precarious. An unexpected friendship yields not only a job and a temporary place to stay, but an unanticipated friendship that provides him with a new perspective about himself and his future.

Life Before is a well-written and engaging young adult novel that delves into some very difficult subject matter. Despite the gravity of these topics, Michele Bacon manages to keep the story from becoming overly dark or angst-ridden. Xander’s plight is sympathetic and although his solution is not exactly well thought out, he gains valuable insight about himself and his life through his experiences and the people he meets. All in all, a very touching story that I highly recommend to fans of the genre.

… (más)