Nichole

I laughed. I laughed until I cried.

And then I laughed until I cried so hard that my eyes hurt and I was snorting like an asthmatic hyena. And then I clapped my hands over my mouth because my son was sleeping. But I was still sort of snorting anyway.

Yes, it is that kind of book. It is irreverant and absurd, real and raw, touching and sweet.

It is one of my new favorite books ever and one that I will return to regularly when I need a good laugh, when I need to feel like I'm not crazy, and when I need to feel like there is at least one other human being in this world who can understand me...

Yes, there were parts that were formulaic. Sure, there were bits of a curmudgeonly conspiracy theorist.

But in the end, it was quintessential Koontz. A menagerie of characters brought together by circumstances larger than themselves, the divine war of good and evil with man at its root.

I enjoyed it. Provided with characters like Winny and Bailey Hawks to follow and root for, I was swept up by the story, hanging on the events and on who would make it through. And there were bits of beautiful prose in there, some haunting and some terrifying and some life-affirming that will stay with me long after I put the book back on the shelf.

Part way through this book, I was ready to put it down. I was quite certain that the direction of the plot had grown completely transparent and that I had everything figured out. Mostly out of spite, I kept reading, expecting to prove myself right.

I was deliciously wrong.

While some of what I expected came to fruition, it did so in such unexpected ways that I was completely consumed. The last couple hundred pages flew by as I devoured the story, delighting in the unexpected twists and turns that awaited on each page.

Bravo, Ms. Howe, for surprising me in the best of ways.

I started this book this morning...and I finished it by dinner time.

I was captured within the first lines, driven to find out what would happen to the main characters (and I must admit that Rosie was among my favorites). A solid story, lovely bursts of prose, the pain of star-crossed love, the lump in the throat for the aged man...

...and delight at the conclusion.

I enjoyed this book; I did.

But it followed such a magical book that it fell short of receiving my full accolades.

The story was engaging, the writing lovely.

But it was not as wholly fulfilling as other books that I have read for reasons that I have yet to put my finger on. I think it was just bad timing in the grand scheme of when I chose to read it.