Sunday, 6 January 2013

Less Than Humble Beginnings



I’m back again with another breathless read authored by Chelsea Falin. “Less than Humble Beginnings” is the first book of the many yet to come in the Growing Roots series and surely a book you all will love.

The protagonist is Willamina, a 15 year old girl who hates her name and preferred to be called as Willie. She was not blessed with a fairy tale like childhood, given the facts that her mother is an alcoholic and her father being unknown. But she survives, and makes sure to be a loving and a caring companion to her younger sister Babette in their lonely lives. Her miseries won’t leave her easily, her mother dies in a car accident and Willie and her sister were left to go and live with her maternal aunt whom she had no contacts for five years.  Although she is not happy with the things going on in her life, she really can’t complain, in fact there is nobody to complain but her own fate. She accepts this challenge in her life as she did with the previous ones, not that she was left with any other option. For Willie’s surprise she comes to know that her aunt Jennie is now a mother of five kids and realizes that now she is going to be one of seven. Fortunately the life is not so bad after all. The family welcomes her dearly and her life turns to get better with the time, meeting new friends and belonging to a proper family.

“Less Than Humble Beginnings” is a tale about a young girl coming of age who happens to face many challenges in her life which are not so common compared with her peers. Simple and lucid writing with a charm to tickle your senses and make you wonder “what’s next” with every line your eyes will swim through. It’s a light read with a smooth flow which will keep you engrossed. As in her previous novels, the author has succeeded in making this book too, a real page turn over by her skillful and lively narration and I didn't even realized reaching the very last page of it.

The story is populated with practical characters that are strange and unique in their own ways and also very friendly and caring the same time that you will fall in love with them and find it hard to part with. Just after finishing the story I started missing Willie and her gang of cousins and friends. It’s a book which you will never feel like putting down until the very end. I really look forward in reading the next books to come out in this series. The story not only makes you live in the sweet day today adventures of the teenagers but also discusses the grueling mishaps a child has to face due to drug addict, alcoholic and abusive parents. So, it carries a message for you all to think upon as well.

All in all I can call it’s a story which is “short and sweet”.  If you are a young adult, or anybody who loves to read about loving family bonds and friendship this is definitely a book you don’t want to miss!

You can purchase the book from the following links.

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