Bought this for someone special....enjoy!

Oh wow -- looks like I won this round of the Chocolate, Tea & Books drawing! What a great surprise package you've made up, Nattabee! We're certainly "burning" here in desert (102 today, which is actually pretty low for this time of year, it was 112 on Sunday). I recently bought a big iced-tea pitcher so I'm excited to try it out with the box of tea you sent and the cookies were a great way to avoid me getting a boxful of chocolate soup! As for the book, I recently read Hopkins' Crank and have been looking forward to checking out other titles of hers. Thanks again!

Hmmm. This is the third of Hopkins books I've read and the one I finished fastest. I don't know if that's because I've had more free time as of late or because I've adjusted to Hopkins' prose format or what, but I completed it in about a day. I must say, I'm glad I've had the chance to get to know some Mormons so I can say with absolute confidence that not all LDS families are like the one portrayed here. Thankfully.

I'm not a religious person at all, but I have been disappointed in the world at large so, in that respect, I could compare a little to Pattyn's crises of faith. Thankfully, that is the pretty much the only way I could relate to the main character -- my life has never been as difficult. The ending feels like it wants to be a surprise, but it wasn't. Sadly, it is also not as far-fetched and difficult to believe as I wish it was.

On a lighter note, I did like Hopkins' vision of the landscape. I've lived in Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico and know there is much more to the Southwest than scrub and dust. Will release soon, thanks again, Nattabee!

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES: Passed on to Jare at today's meetup. (Counts as part of the "Keep Them Moving" challenge.)

Picked up at our meeting today (in honor of stinalyn being in town for Bubonicon). Looks really interesting, thanks for sharing!

This was a fairly quick, albeit amazingly harsh read. This was my first time reading Hopkins, but definitely won't be my last! I have had quite a few Mormon friends throughout my life, and fortunately for them, none had it quite as bad as Pattyn. Just goes to show that it really doesn't matter how you do or don't worship, the ills of humanity can affect us all.

I'm with Firegirl on the landscape visions. You can tell where Hopkins' heart resides.