Gillian French

The backstory: Joel Dotrice was arrested ten years ago for fracturing his daughter's skull when she was seven years old. Imagine this - he threw her down the stairs. On purpose. Partially deaf ever since, Rochelle "Owl" Dotrice has lived with her uncle and his wife. They own a maple sugaring farm in the mountains of northern New Hampshire and life seems pretty routine...until the Dotrice family gets notice that dad has made parole and Seth hires a teen named Cody to help with the sugaring.
Whether French was intentional or not, in the beginning of Sugaring Off I felt the story of Owl moved slowly, like cold sap moving through the trunk of a maple tree. As the story heated up, like sap to syrup, it began to flow faster with more flavor and intensity. Having said that, I am not a fan of overly dramatic descriptions of characters or plots. I feel they are ploys to get the reader crack open the book. The inside cover of Sugaring Off describes Cody as "magnetic and dangerous." Spoiler alert! For the first two thirds of the book Cody is a sullen and silent cigarette-smoking teen who wants nothing more than to stay away from adults and maybe take Owl's virginity. Oh yeah, she's attracted to him, too. The real threat seemed to be daddy making parole. Would he come back for revenge? It was Owl's testimony that put him away.
As an aside, I understand why the parole of Owl's father was pivotal to the plot, but I felt it was unnecessary trickery in the face of Cody's mystique. More could have been done to build up Cody's "dangerous" character because Seth's outrage about Owl's relationship with the teen was misplaced. If Seth thought Cody was such a threat, why did he let Owl work so closely with him? What happened to big bad dad? He drifted out of the story as more of Cody's dark past was revealed. This was written for teens and so I thought like a teen and questioned everything.… (más)

I discovered this book at work while marking up books that had been withdrawn for low circulation. I was intrigued because of the setting in northern NH in maple sugaring country. The story focuses on 17 year old"Owl" who lives with her aunt and uncle on their sugarbush farm. Owl has come to them after a childhood trauma left her partially deaf and parentless. She has a stable, loving family in her aunt and uncle, who adopted her as a child. She loves her home, nature, and the maple sugaring business. Into this setting comes Cody, a young man hired to help with getting the trees tapped and syrup made and bottled, since Owl's uncle is nursing a bad knee in need of replacement. Cody has had his own traumas, but has that bad boy appeal, and Owl falls for him. The story moves pretty slowly for the first two-thirds, and then Cody's problems (that he has brought on himself) catch up with him. In addition, her Dad, who caused Owl's original trauma, is out of jail and wants to see her again, adding to the tension and drama.

Good story, probably appeal to teens living in rural areas who can relate to the setting and to the characters.… (más)

Really good. Very reminiscent of [b:Grit|31706530|Grit|Gillian French|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1485342551l/31706530._SY75_.jpg|51273687] in a lot of ways, which is a good thing.

I'm always looking for great YA Mystery writers, and I think I've found one in Gillian French. Her stories are so much more than the actual mystery, and I love the intricacy that feels easy. There are so many things I loved about this book, it's hard to figure out where to start.

First, I'm always going to be a fan of the us vs. them trope. The haves and the have-nots. For whatever reason, I like seeing the way the lines are drawn and what happens when people cross them. I also love having a glance into the world of the rich and the reckless. Pearl enters into this walled-off world in order to see if there's anything to find out, and it's interesting seeing how she handles it.

Second, the setting. I love a small-town, beach-town setting. I haven't read very many books set on the coast of Maine, so Tenney's Harbor (a fictional town on the real island of Mount Desert Island) was a welcome setting for this book. I also really liked the dynamic that these people that Pearl needed to get in with only live in this place for 3-4 months per year. It's like, they blow in and create all this tension and drama, but also they are what sustains the touristy town's economy-- can't live with them, can't live without them.

Finally, the mystery. This family, particularly Cassidy (the daughter), haunted me throughout this book. It was like she was there just below the surface the whole time. But it was so much more than: What happened to the Garrison's? It was friendship and family too. I especially liked the way Pearl had to deal with her father's drinking problem and how that was a factor in the book. Also, the way she crushed on her best friend Reese-- and all the pain that caused her.

Now that I'm officially a Gillian French superfan, I'm running to get her newest book, [b:The Missing Season|39937609|The Missing Season|Gillian French|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1539639276l/39937609._SY75_.jpg|61830251]!

OVERALL: Giant yes!! This is what YA Mysteries should be. I loved the beach-town, the intricate characters, and how it was a mystery with so much more going on. Totally 100% recommend.

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Different than I was expecting, but I still liked it. Darcy was a character I won't be forgetting anytime soon. She was head-strong, tough, and fearless. It wasn't really as thrillery or mysteryful as I wanted, but had a cool atmosphere about it. Definitely will read more from this author!

I've been interested in this book ever since I first heard about it. I mean, it has all the ingredients that make this something I would like: "town slut" issues- CHECK, secrets- CHECK, beauty queen pageant- CHECK, a missing girl/murder mystery- CHECK.

The synopsis mis-led me a little though, because while I was expecting this to be a mystery/suspense book, it was more a coming-of-age/character study book. Which, I'm fine with, but I was hoping the mystery aspect was bigger.

So let's talk about what I liked about this book because I did really like it.

The Atmosphere. I loved reading about this small, dusty, agricultural town in Maine. It was interesting to read about these girls who were farming for the summer!! I'm sure there are lots of people who do this, but I've never really read about any of them, so points for being different!!

Darcy. As main characters go, Darcy ranks up there with some of my very favorites. She's smart and tough and fearless. I loved the relationships that she had with her sister and cousin (they were like the 3 musketeers), and the complicated relationship she had with her mom and aunt. It felt real.

So much of this book was about Darcy dealing with her past. The past she had with the missing girl, the past she's had with guys, and the past her dad left her. I liked that she was a wild card-- you never knew which direction she was going to head in, and I liked that she stuck to her guns. Darcy is not going to change who she is because you don't like her. She's unapologetic about that-- and I loved that about her.

Nell was also a stand-out character. She was portrayed as innocent and sweet-- a girl that has a learning disability and is sheltered and watched over. I knew she had more in her than that, and I was glad I wasn't wrong. I think Nell is going to have a lot of life to live, and I think she's going to live it-- someday...

The romance was my least favorite part. I didn't really "get" the appeal of Jesse. He was just a guy, and was pretty much just there so we could see how bad the other guys talked about Darcy. There wasn't anything wrong with the romance, I just wasn't wowed by it.

OVERALL: It wasn't as mysteryful as I was hoping for, but that turned out to be not a problem. The atmosphere and coming-of-age story was more than enough to hold my interest. I definitely recommend, and I'll definitely be reading more from Gillian French!!

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