GOLDEN, the debut novel by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, centers around the story of Lissy, a middle-of-the-road teenager with just one special characteristic: Her ability to see auras.
When Lissy moves from California to Oklahoma, her gift of Sight starts to go all crazy, and she has to learn to deal, along with navigating an insane social ladder at the new school.
This book is fun, intriguing, and just won't let go. I LOVE the fantasy element, even though I dont usually read fantasy/paranormals...it works SO well in this novel that you believe every page of it. You also never see the end coming-- and by the time it does, you wish the sequel was already out.
Five stars for Jennifer Lynn Barne's debut, GOLDEN
The trials and tribulations of adolescence have been addressed in song and story but perhaps not as intriguingly as in this debut novel. It was written when the author was 19, thus she had a recent and fresh take on those sometimes acutely painful years. Add a bit of fantasy, and you have a captivating story. Chick lit? Yes, but nonetheless above the expected.
There are many pitfalls for teenagers and moving is surely one of them, so it was quite a shock for Lissy James when she moved from California to Oklahoma - from the Golden State to the Sooner State and Emory High where she knew absolutely no one. Perhaps the worst part of moving from California was leaving Paul, her best friend and "partner in crime." They'd known each other since kindergarten. We hear: "And now, a thousand miles away from home and who knows how far from civilization, all I had left of Paul was the seashell he'd given me on my sixth birthday, his last words to me ("I'll miss you, Weasel"), and a memory of him on the beach. The colored lights around him had stood out, midnight blue against the stark white sand, moving in slow waves as he watched me drive away forever. "
Now, Lissy is not just an ordinary teenager as she has Aura Vision, she sees people by colors. There is one particularly frightening person at her new school - the math teacher who seems to have no color. The colors that Lissy sees are clues to the person's personalities, thus to her that particular teacher is someone to be feared.
Of course, there are cliques at Emory High, the "in" crowd and those who don't seem to matter. More problems for a newcomer.
Fortunately for Lissy she comes from a very stable home, parents who love and support her and a fine younger sister, Lexie. Still, she's alone when she goes to school and she must not only adjust to her new surroundings but also somehow discover what the math teacher might do.
Many may remember stage, screen and television actress Jenna Lamia's superb narrations of The Secret Life of Bees and Girl With a Pearl Earring. She's an articulate narrator who, in this instance, artfully portrays a teenager trying to cope. We hear Lissy's fears, hopes, and determination.
- Gail Cooke
