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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fab New Book, October 27, 2009
This review is from: The Splendor Falls (Hardcover)
I'm a big fan of Rosemary Clement Moore's writing and she doesn't disappoint with her new book The Splendor Falls. The story follows Sylvie, a young dancer who's dreams are crushed when she breaks her leg. She's sent to heal in Alabama, a place where she knows no one. Her cousin is restoring the family home, and as welcoming as she is, Sylvie just wants to go home. But there's a dark and mysterious stranger, who makes her curious. And when strange things start happening, Sylvie can't help but be intrigued, and perhaps a little frightened. It might be a YA, but adults will enjoy this too!
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Splendor Falls? More Like SPLENDID Falls,... it was that great., October 19, 2009
This review is from: The Splendor Falls (Hardcover)
I read this book because I am a huge fan of the author's previous works, and I was not disappointed. It's a little darker and a little more mystical than her Maggie Quinn Series, but the words popped off the page, and the descriptions in the story made you feel like you were living in a creepy old Haunted Mansion! The characters were gritty, and totally imperfect (except when they needed to be too perfect, then they totally were.) This is a book I would recommend to any avid reader of dark, but still totally fun YA. Buy it now!
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful Southern gothic...a new favorite!, December 21, 2009
This review is from: The Splendor Falls (Hardcover)
After a devastatingly embarrassing and crippling accident onstage that handicaps her leg and permanently throws her plans of being a prima ballerina astray (who's ever heard of a one-legged ballerina, anyways?), Sylvie Davis is at a loss in regards to what to make of the rest of her life. When she accidentally gets drunk at a wedding (her mindset being: what the heck, I'm crippled and my life sucks so why not drink a bit and oopsies-) and sees things that shouldn't be there (which, by the way, was a very cool thing that she sees, historical freak that I am!), her mom and stepfather-to-be sends her to the deep South (Alabama, to her dad's family's old plantation-turned-bed & breakfast, to be exact) to "dry out". But dry out she does not. Instead, she is faced with a situation more dire than anything that might have happened had she stayed in New York, one that invokes terrifying chills and things that go bump at night. Once arrived at Bluestone Hill, the old family home, she is faced with a plethora of mysteries. Of what kind, you ask? All kinds! Boys, ghosts, and century-old questions.
THE SPLENDOR FALLS has got to be one of my favorite books ever. It's definitely a slow read at first, but I found it enchanting to read about the workings of a small Southern town and a Manhattan trust-fund girl like Sylvie trying to find her place in such a setting. People, there are food descriptions in this book. Good, mouth-watering Southern dishes that made my stomach rumble in envy as I read. And aside from the delectable foods, Clement-Moore sprinkles in perfect helpings of romance and love-triangle dilemma and bone-chilling ghosties. The chapters alternate between idyllic and heart-pounding--there were several chapters interspersed throughout the story that were downright creepy. I could imagine the ghosts and eerie whispers of things long past as Sylvie experienced them, leaving me jumpy at the slightest noise and nervously checking over my shoulder every so often to assure my paranoid self that no, there were no sinister ghosts lurking in the shadowy corners of my room (unlike Sylvie's room...). Brrr.
The two probable love interests are the right amounts of charming and infuriating; I enjoyed Sylvie's interactions with both of them, in part because thankfully Sylvie does not act like a love-smitten fool in their presence, as a great deal of YA female characters are inclined to do these days. Sylvie, the main character, felt like a truly fleshed-out character- cynical, perhaps, and grumpy at times- but I'd like to think that is the mark of a true teenager. Clement-Moore does such a good job establishing her person that I felt like she was a real human, someone who I could understand and relate to being a teenager myself. Each and every character had a distinctly unique personality, so I had no trouble distinguishing them. Like I previously mentioned, the book starts out at a stately pace, but in the last approximate 25% of the book, the speed picks up and it's nonstop action after confrontation after action!
The only complaint-and a small one at that-that I have with this book is that Clement-Moore puts a little too much emphasis on Sylvie's dog, Gigi, than I'd like. There was an overdose of dog-related occurrences that worked as a plot device and no doubt will appeal to dog lovers, but alas, being a non-dog-owner myself, I found to be a bit tiring after a while. But don't let that detract you from the book- it is a real gem!
Overall, a supremely wonderful, well-researched, and fantastically developed book. I really didn't want it to end, but it did...that was the only bad part of the book.
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