Blues Harp Green
Author: Nicole Schubert
Published on: 2 February 2017
Genre: Young Adult, Romance
Pages: 199
Format: E-book
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★★★★
Synopsis:
Meet Francie Mills. She’s 16. Lives in the boring burbs of L.A. Is super determined and hopeful. And wants one thing: to be an amazing tennis player. Because if something exponentially, brilliantly wonderful like that happened, like winning the U.S. Open or even getting to nationals, everything would be okay. Her life. Her family. Her. She would matter. Be part of something important. And wouldn’t have to feel so unbearably sad and alone every time her dad gets drunk, again.
But the likelihood of amazingness starts to seem impossible when Francie injures her knee…that is, until she meets Chet Jones, lead singer of the band Blues Harp Jones, in Austin, on location for her dad’s movie job. Francie instantly falls for Chet, in his weird blazer and “God Save the Queen” t-shirt, sexy, genuine, funny. And she’s sure something wonderful is finally happening, especially when Chet miraculously falls for her too. But the closer Francie gets to Chet back in L.A. and the more her dad’s drinking tears her apart, the more she realizes the best kind of something wonderful isn’t at all what she expected…
This beloved debut novel from Nicole Schubert brings you an honest and painfully relatable coming of age story about first love, loss, music, sports, alcoholism, family, and friendship that will have you cheering, crying and singing with the quirky, pensive Francie Mills. Compassionate, heartbreaking and hopeful, this novel for teen readers is a favorite of adults of all ages as well! If you like Sherman Alexie, John Green, JD Salinger or books like Perks of Being a Wallflower or movies like Loves of a Blonde, this might just be your cup of tea.
Reading this book allowed me to experience a range of emotions – sadness, happiness, amusement, empathy & frustration. This novel focuses heavily on kinship, friendship, and character development. Honestly, I have no idea whether I should be feeling frustrated or sad for Francie. Her life definitely wasn’t a bed of flowers. She experienced many hardships due to her family circumstances and her knee injury which might spell an end to her tennis career.
At some instances, I felt sad for Francie. Sad that her family wasn’t exactly the supportive and understanding family that she hoped they would be. That she was in a way held back by restraints placed on her by her father because she couldn’t disobey his words. Despite trying her hardest to perform up to her father’s standards, he would still find ways to poke at her sore spots and rile her up. However, something that Francie failed to realized would be that her father was under the influence of alcohol and he probably didn’t mean what he said. Even so, those words that her father said did hit a very sore spot…
At other instances, I felt frustrated at Francie’s actions and choices. I understand that she felt frustrated and angry at her father for holding her back and at her mother for not having the courage to stand up to her husband. Even so, I assumed that she was mature enough to make sound choices. Being able to know what was best for her and what wasn’t. Occasionally, when I look at Francie, I felt like slapping some sense into her and asking her to wake up.
~SPOILERS~
Sometimes, I wondered if Francis had been more persistent and kept persuading her father to seek treatment earlier, would their family be healthier and vibrant? Rather than her trying to escape reality by ‘running away’ from the problems that she faced. Francie’s attitude towards things frustrates me sometimes. Like the time she would get pissed off because she was losing to a 13-year-old and threw a tantrum in the middle of a match. At that point in time, I was frustrated with Francie’s attitude towards sports. A good athlete wouldn’t have done that. She had to remember that she had a knee injury that was pretty serious so she shouldn’t be surprised that she wasn’t able to beat a national player.
All in all, Blues Harp Green have been an amazing read. It pulled my heartstrings and made me fangirl all over Chet and Francie. I would definitely recommend this book to readers who enjoy reading contemporary novels. 🙂
Finally, I would like to thank the author, Nicole, for sending me a copy of the novel in return for an honest review. I really enjoyed this novel. 😀
Written by: Joanne
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