As Simple as it Seems: 12/17/13

Sarah Weeks is one of those authors whose books I purchase on impulse. I enjoy her writing, no matter how odd the premise. She writes interesting characters in extraordinary situations.

As Simple as it Seems is a coming of age story about a girl learning that her life story isn't quite what she thinks it is. Verbena Colter, while preparing for a school event (and wishing above all that she and her mother didn't have to wear matching outfits), she discovers a card addressed to a woman she's never heard of. In asking her mother about the card she learns a whopper of a family secret and she doesn't take it well.

It seems that in stories where the protagonist is hit with the fact that his or her childhood memories are essentially lies, that the main character will do one of two things: blithely accept it or go off the rails. Verbena for most of the book, choses the latter.

But this isn't just about teenage angst. It's also about an unusual friendship and some cosplay. OK, cospay might not be the right term. But Verbena, for her own amusement and to prank her new next door neighbor, pretends to be the ghost of drowned girl for a while. As silly as that sounds, Weeks makes it work.

Four stars

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