I enjoyed reading this book. The story starts of slow but I am glad I kept reading. Cathy is growing up in Rural Maritime Canada. She is an outsider and an artist. A tragedy happens in the town and she befriends a local popular boy. Cathy and Hutch continue their relationship when they leave and go the University. The book is about relationships, between people and their place in the world. The author does a very good job with setting the place. The writing is very good. This is the prefect read for a quiet afternoon. Enjoy

I received a free review copy of Catching the Light through Nimbus Publishing and NetGalley. All opinions are my own!*

I very nearly didn’t finish this book. It’s slow to start and set in winter in Canada, at least at first, and I started it during a road trip south in July. You can see where that went wrong. But it was the second book I’ve received through NetGalley and I was determined to finish it, and then write what I actually thought and felt–even if it wasn’t great. I’m so glad I stuck with it, because around page 100, the story suddenly drew me in and I finished the second half in just two days.

This might, just might, be one of my top five books for this year (we’ll see what else I reading the next five-ish months). It’s a slow, sweet coming of age story. The book is quiet; one dramatic event happens early in the story, and that’s about it. The character development drives the plot; we watch the two protagonists, Cathy and Hutch, grow and heal and change throughout the story. That was ultimately what drew me in–I needed know what would become of the characters.

This isn’t the book for everyone, and it seems like it has a fairly limited release (it’s only available as an e-book at the present, although the paperback is available for preorder), but it was the book for me just now–a quiet story of growing up, healing, and becoming the people we are meant to be.

The cover is inviting and called to me; the setting even more so. The prose and descriptions—at various points—melodic, if not fleeting; I would’ve preferred much more of that lovely setting. The stream of conscious style superfluous (the editor in me wanted to, well, edit); this made my mind stray, which is not so much the author’s fault as my own. I connected with the artist in the protagonist as well as the teenage girl angst on a cursory level, but felt that need for her to wax philosophical and internalize more of her burden: why am I like this, eh?

This is an easy quick read for any person young or old.

I was provided this copy by NetGalley.