Book Review: Wintertown by Stephen Emond

Wintertown by Stephen Emond
Release Date: December 5, 2011
Publisher: Little, Brown Books; 336 pages

Every winter, straight-laced, Ivy League bound Evan looks forward to a visit from Lucy, a childhood pal who moved away after her parent's divorce. But when Lucy arrives this year, she's changed. The former "girl next door" now has chopped dyed black hair, a nose stud, and a scowl. But Evan knows that somewhere beneath the Goth, "Old Lucy" still exists, and he's determined to find her... even if it means pissing her off.

WINTERTOWN was a refreshing read, quite literally. I got the chance to read this in the middle of the summer and it really made me long for the winter, the cold and especially the snow. Now that the winter is soon upon us, I’m no longer longing for it. But this book was really quite good and quite interesting.

I highly enjoyed the first half of the book, almost to the point where I would’ve given a 4.5 or 5 star rating but then the author, Stephen Emond, changed POV’s in the middle of the book and that changed my opinion of it. It was told from Evan’s POV for the first half and I really became interested in this character. He’s extremely intelligent, talented with his drawing and just overall a good guy. A teenager I’d imagine all parents would prefer their daughters to end up with. His biggest downfall is his best friend from childhood, Lucy. This year, she’s changed. She comes back all Goth-ed up; black hair, piercings, dark clothing and bad attitude. Evan is determined to find the old Lucy and bring her back. THIS part of the book I enjoyed so much.

Then we get to the intermission…and it changes.

We are now reading the story from Lucy’s POV. I’m glad only half the book was from her POV because I’m not sure I could’ve taken an entire book being told from her. And it was smart having her telling the story in the second half because I’m not sure I would’ve continued. The only good thing I found from this half of the book is we find out why Lucy has changed so drastically in the year since she last saw Evan.

So with the amazing first half and the not so great second half, my overall view of this book is good. I really enjoyed the story, much different from what I normally read. (Which, if you couldn’t tell, is mainly YA Fantasy) It could’ve been better had we not had to read from her POV, or maybe not as much. The drawings in each chapter were definitely a bonus.