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3.89 AVERAGE
3.89 AVERAGE
she was good i loved all the diff themes like fantasy-ish, modern type of small old town, mystery ig and romance too
I loved this book! I love a good character-driven book, and these characters are fantastic. Even though the story wraps up well, I’d love a sequel just to be able to spend more time with them. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on whatever comes next from this author.
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
In some ways, this book felt a little like Alice Hoffman meets The Goonies. Magical realism in a southern setting, kids on a treasure hunt, growing up...Unfortunately there are some weird plot holes and the supernatural elements, aside from the talents of those in Cottonwood Hollow, felt somewhat forced. I loved how genuinely southern the setting was; this wasn't an outsider looking in, picking up on the obvious stuff. This is someone who grew up with pickle jars full of nails and barns full of abandoned junk. I also admit I'm weak for southern gothic style fiction, and I'd hoped for more of that.
That doesn't mean this book wasn't enjoyable. It was a fast read, very high emotion without being teen drama, and felt very genuine for the most part. I had some issues with the origin of the talents and a character's origin, which I won't get into because spoilers, but I don't regret reading Deepest Roots.
That doesn't mean this book wasn't enjoyable. It was a fast read, very high emotion without being teen drama, and felt very genuine for the most part. I had some issues with the origin of the talents and a character's origin, which I won't get into because spoilers, but I don't regret reading Deepest Roots.
“We are bound to each other, perhaps not by our brightest moments, but by our darkest.”
I love this book so much!! The magic system in this book is so fun and interesting to me. I want to read even more books in this world. Miranda Asebedo did a wonderful job dealing with heavier topics as well. I really love that at the heart of this story is female friendship. We need more books like that. This is the second book by Miranda Asebedo I’ve read and I think it’s safe to say that she is becoming a favorite author of mine.
I love this book so much!! The magic system in this book is so fun and interesting to me. I want to read even more books in this world. Miranda Asebedo did a wonderful job dealing with heavier topics as well. I really love that at the heart of this story is female friendship. We need more books like that. This is the second book by Miranda Asebedo I’ve read and I think it’s safe to say that she is becoming a favorite author of mine.
The Deepest Roots was... a book. It wasn't bad by any means, but it doesn't really stand out in any particular way. It had a lot of elements that I liked--female friendship, community, the importance of being honest with the people you love--but there were a few things about the way it was written that prevented me from getting totally into it (namely, lots of clunky, awkward expositional dialogue and other bits of the main character's internal monologue that told the reader things that would have been better off shown).
The story followed three girls (Rome, Lux, and Mercy)--although it was told entirely from the first person POV of Rome--from a little town known as Cottonwood Hollow, Kansas. All girls who are born in Cottonwood Hollow have a Talent. These talents come as a result of a curse/girl from Emmeline Remington, an early settler of Cottonwood Hollow whose daughter was stillborn and whose husband left her and she died. How did she have the power to gift/curse all the girls with Talents? Who knows! Anyway, there are 8 types of talents (Fixing, Finding, Enough, Siren, Reading, and three other things I can't remember). Why these eight particular skills? Who knows! Anyway, Rome is a Fixer (meaning she can fix any thing that is broken), Lux is a Siren (when she smiles at men, she becomes irresistible to them), and Mercy is Enough (she always just has enough of things). The powers are sort of irrelevant, but sort of not. Mostly, they just make it so people from the rich town of Evanston, with whom Cottonwood Hollow shares a high school, think Cottonwood Hollow girls are freaks. I guess. Although aside from a few rude mutterings from classmates, this doesn't really come into play.
Anyway, the plot is actually totally unrelated to this whole magic... well, not system exactly, but situation. Both Rome and Lux have significant struggles at home (Rome's mom is behind on the rent and their landlord is a creep; Lux's stepdad is an abusive POS), but they're both too ashamed to be honest with each other and Mercy. When they discover Emmaline's diary, they find out that she left a dowry chest buried somewhere on her property, and they think they can use the gold and silver supposedly left in it to fix things.
I understand that, with magical realism, the magic and the plot don't have to be directly related (in fact, it's better if they're not, because subtlety is great) but in this case, I just didn't really see the point of the magic. It wasn't properly explained, it could have been much better explored, I couldn't tell if it was a thing that is widely known in this world or not? Like, people call girls from CH freaks, but then Jett (the love interest in the small and honestly pointless romance subplot) has to ask whether its real? I just couldn't get a sense for the wider implications of the magic thing.
The biggest problem for me (other than the expositional dialogue) was the fact that the mystery plot kind of moved in starts and stops that were totally unconnected to what the characters were doing. The personal drama stuff was really the more important part of the story (and, as far as I'm concerned, the main point of the book) but then sometimes clues for this Big Mystery would fall in their laps, and then that would kind of happen for a while, and then they'd hit a dead end and that would kind of happen for a while.
Okay. I've been complaining for a while. I feel a bit bad that I don't have anything else good to say, because I can see what people liked about this story. But, personally, the way it was told just didn't work for me. Oh well.
The story followed three girls (Rome, Lux, and Mercy)--although it was told entirely from the first person POV of Rome--from a little town known as Cottonwood Hollow, Kansas. All girls who are born in Cottonwood Hollow have a Talent. These talents come as a result of a curse/girl from Emmeline Remington, an early settler of Cottonwood Hollow whose daughter was stillborn and whose husband left her and she died. How did she have the power to gift/curse all the girls with Talents? Who knows! Anyway, there are 8 types of talents (Fixing, Finding, Enough, Siren, Reading, and three other things I can't remember). Why these eight particular skills? Who knows! Anyway, Rome is a Fixer (meaning she can fix any thing that is broken), Lux is a Siren (when she smiles at men, she becomes irresistible to them), and Mercy is Enough (she always just has enough of things). The powers are sort of irrelevant, but sort of not. Mostly, they just make it so people from the rich town of Evanston, with whom Cottonwood Hollow shares a high school, think Cottonwood Hollow girls are freaks. I guess. Although aside from a few rude mutterings from classmates, this doesn't really come into play.
Anyway, the plot is actually totally unrelated to this whole magic... well, not system exactly, but situation. Both Rome and Lux have significant struggles at home (Rome's mom is behind on the rent and their landlord is a creep; Lux's stepdad is an abusive POS), but they're both too ashamed to be honest with each other and Mercy. When they discover Emmaline's diary, they find out that she left a dowry chest buried somewhere on her property, and they think they can use the gold and silver supposedly left in it to fix things.
I understand that, with magical realism, the magic and the plot don't have to be directly related (in fact, it's better if they're not, because subtlety is great) but in this case, I just didn't really see the point of the magic. It wasn't properly explained, it could have been much better explored, I couldn't tell if it was a thing that is widely known in this world or not? Like, people call girls from CH freaks, but then Jett (the love interest in the small and honestly pointless romance subplot) has to ask whether its real? I just couldn't get a sense for the wider implications of the magic thing.
The biggest problem for me (other than the expositional dialogue) was the fact that the mystery plot kind of moved in starts and stops that were totally unconnected to what the characters were doing. The personal drama stuff was really the more important part of the story (and, as far as I'm concerned, the main point of the book) but then sometimes clues for this Big Mystery would fall in their laps, and then that would kind of happen for a while, and then they'd hit a dead end and that would kind of happen for a while.
Okay. I've been complaining for a while. I feel a bit bad that I don't have anything else good to say, because I can see what people liked about this story. But, personally, the way it was told just didn't work for me. Oh well.
adventurous
inspiring
medium-paced