Title: Don't Let Me Go
Author: Catherine Ryan Hyde
Source: Received from author via Chick Lit Plus Blog Tours
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Review:What a great story. This book grabbed me from the beginning and I couldn't put it down because I just LOVED (and my heart just ached) for the main character, Grace. She's not the perfect character, but you couldn't help but adore her in this story.
This book reminds me a lot of So B. It by Sarah Weeks because both books follow a young girl who is trying to survive life pretty much on her own without the full support of a family, or in Grace and Heidi, they have mothers who can't fully care for them. Grace is a nine-year old girl who's just a little bit too loud and precocious. Her mother is a drug addict.
Grace seeks the help of an agoraphobic neighbor, Billy Shine, who hasn't left his home in years. Billy used to be a Broadway dancer and they form the most unlikely of friendships together. The story switches from Grace's and Billy's perspectives and I enjoyed hearing what was going through both of their points of view.
The book is full of other characters, neighbors, who also get involved and have their own interesting personalities as well. They were all so different in their own way and added their own flair to the story and reluctantly become a makeshift family while they take care of Grace.
The best part of this book is the writing. It's gripping and heart wrenching all at the same time. I can easily see this book as a movie. I hope it will get picked up someday because it's truly a wonderful story. Get the Kleenex's ready!
Rating:
4 out of 5 stars
About the Author: Catherine Ryan Hyde
Her newest releases are When You Were Older, Don’t Let Me Go, Jumpstart the World , When I Found You and Second Hand Heart. Forthcoming is Walk Me Home (Transworld UK, Spring 2012).
Other newer novels are Becoming Chloe, Love in the Present Tense, The Year of My Miraculous Reappearance, Chasing Windmills The Day I Killed James, and Diary of a Witness.
Both Becoming Chloe and Jumpstart the World were included on the ALA’s Rainbow List. Jumpstart the World was chosen as a finalist for two Lambda Literary Awards, received a third place Rainbow Award for Young Adult/Coming of Age Fiction and a tie for first place in Bisexual/Transgender Fiction. Love in the Present Tense enjoyed bestseller status in the UK, where it broke the top ten, spent five weeks on the national bestseller list, was reviewed on a major TV book club, and shortlisted for a Best Read of the Year Award at the British Book Awards.
Older works include the story collection Earthquake Weather, and the novels Funerals for Horses, Pay it Forward, Electric God, and Walter’s Purple Heart.
Pay It Forward was adapted into a major motion picture starring Kevin Spacey and Helen Hunt, chosen by the American Library Association for its Best Books for Young Adults list, and translated into more than 23 languages for distribution in over 30 countries. The mass market paperback was released in October 2000 by Pocket Books and quickly became a national bestseller. It is still in print, and was rereleased in a trade paperback edition in April of 2010.
More than 50 of her short stories have been published in The Antioch Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, The Virginia Quarterly Review, Ploughshares, Glimmer Train, The Sun and many other journals, and in the anthologies Santa Barbara Stories and California Shorts and the bestselling anthology Dog is my Co-Pilot. Her stories have been honored in the Raymond Carver Short Story Contest and the Tobias Wolff Award and nominated for Best American Short Stories, the O'Henry Award, and the Pushcart Prize. Three have been cited in Best American Short Stories.
She is founder and former president (2000-2009) of the Pay It Forward Foundation. As a professional public speaker she has addressed the National Conference on Education, twice spoken at Cornell University, met with Americorps members at the White House and shared a dais with Bill Clinton.
My website: http://www.catherineryanhyde.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/cryanhyde
Facebook profile: https://www.facebook.com/crhyde
Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Catherine-Ryan-Hyde/55974126195
Tumblr blog: http://www.tumblr.com/blog/catherineryanhyde
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/cryanhyde/
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Thanks for being in the tour!
ReplyDeleteGreat review. I love this book! And I agree it would make a fabulous movie.
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