Miles From Ordinary Review

TITLE Miles From Ordinary
AUTHOR Carol Lynch Williams
PUBLICATION March 15th 2011 by St. Martin's Griffin
READ October 13 to 14, 2012
SOURCE Purchased

Thirteen-year-old Lacey wakes to a beautiful summer morning excited to begin her new job at the library, just as her mother is supposed to start work at the grocery store. Lacey hopes that her mother's ghosts have finally been laid to rest; after all, she seems so much better these days, and they really do need the money. But as the hours tick by and memories come flooding back, a day full of hope spins terrifyingly out of control...

Now this award-winning YA author brings us an equally gripping story of a girl who loves her mother, but must face the truth of what life with that mother means for both of them.

This was one of those rare cases where I actually read the blurb for a book. I had loved The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams so I was looking into more of her work and reading up about them. I can now say that even having read the blurb for Miles From Ordinary I still had no idea this story would go where it did. There are so many elements to this story. In the first half we meet Lacey, a fourteen year old girl, who is struggling to take care of her mother whose mind is slowly deteriorating. At about the halfway point this novel takes an almost paranormal turn and shifts into something quite frightening.

I'm beginning to feel as if I need to write my own YA novel because in so many books lately I have been able to tie in aspects from my own life and really connect with the characters. I've grown up with an amazing mother who has been suffering with Multiple Sclerosis for years upon years. Now this disease has a physical aspect which isn't like the novel, but at a point it starts eating away at your brain as well. I have watched my mother go through this change, and have helped out in any way that I can. Through that I can say that I felt Lacey's inner struggle as she tried to care for her mom the best she can. It's hard when the person you love the most in the world is suffering and you just want to do anything you can to make any single moment that much better for them. It was sad to see how much Lacey had to grow and mature at such a young age, the situation she was in was heartbreaking, to put it mildly.

There isn't much romance to be had here, which was something that I was expecting to get more of within the pages. Rather there is an intense paranormal element to it that created a very creepy vibe and I actually found myself frightened at parts. I'm not sure how much if it was truly paranormal or possibly more of Lacey's slow dissent into madness as well, I guess that could be interpreted differently by every reader. It was definitely a welcome addition to the story and it brought out a mix of emotions that I have never had evoked from me before.

I have come to thoroughly enjoy William's writing. Through her concise and to the point style there is not a lot of baggage throughout the story and nothing feels as if it is dragging or not cohesive in the tale. Just like The Chosen One we are treated to flashbacks that serve to intensify the story and once again it was pulled off so well. In a mere 195 pages I have been successfully pulled in and I enjoyed every minute of the ride this novel threw me on.