Outside The Lines

Fortunately for all of us, Amy Hatvany has a new book coming out February 7th- Outside The Lines.  I wanted to review it now because WE ARE GIVING FIVE COPIES OF IT AWAY ON THURSDAY NIGHT- during #gr8books book club on Twitter.  This Thursday, Amy Hatvany will be discussing Best Kept Secret with us on Twitter and her publisher, Simon & Schuster, thought it would be so fun to give out a few copies of Outside The Lines.  (My review of Best Kept Secret and #Gr8books Book Club details are here.)

Outside the Lines is the story of an adult daughter, Eden,  searching for her father, David, an artist.  She has vivid memories of her father as a larger than life character with super high high’s and very low low’s.  Like in Best Kept Secret when Amy Hatvany so vividly and realistically portrays a mother’s descent into alcoholism, she vividly portrays the father’s mental illness in Outside The Lines.

Eden is a chef by day and plays detective by night, going to homeless shelters looking for her father.  In the process, she meets Jack Baker, who runs a homeless shelter.  As their romance grows, so does her urgency to find her father.  The book details her anguish and anticipation in finding her father.

A few quotes to show why I love Hatvany’s writing so much:

In remembering her father, Eden thinks, “I didn’t understand how he could be Bob Barker that morning and turn into this sad, broken man the same night.  I didn’t understand why he just didn’t take his pills like he was supposed to so he wouldn’t do this anymore.  I didn’t understand why loving me wasn’t enought to make him want to stay.”

Regarding Eden’s gorgeous friend Georgia, Hatvany writes (and I love this quote), “Being attracted to her was a side effect of being a male in her presence.”

In looking at a piece of her father’s artwork, Eden thinks, “He had somehow captured the fragile mask I wore.  Hints of more secretive sadness and fear showed in my eyes and in the small, worried lines of my forehead.  It was the portrait of a young girl trying to look at peace when inside she was waging a war.”

This is a must read as evidenced by Target choosing it as a February book club pick.

Simon and Schuster provided a review copy of this book.  All opinions are my own.

What are you reading and where are you going?