Book review - Wind Catcher, by Jeff and Erynn Altabef

So what do I do with my morning off?  I do laundry, make cupcakes and finish reading a book.  Tonight my son and his best friend will be here, doing what 7 and 8 year old boys do.  ((That's make noise and messes for those of you who are curious)) We are taking them to the movies and for pizza to celebrate another year that I didn't kill the boy. ((He turned 8 this year))

That being said I have actually been itching to finish this book and get this review done.  I got all giddy when I started thinking about this blog and all the reviews I plan to get up.  I should go back and redo all the previous ones I did on Goodreads and Amazon, but alas I am not.

Anyway, on with the show....

Book Title: Wind Catcher
Author: Jeff Altabef and Erynn Altabef

I got this book through a company that e-mailed me to do reviews for them.  I was very excited when I was approached to read things for them.  When I got the e-mail to read this one I jumped on it and requested it right away.  The story seemed very interesting to me when I read the synopsis.  I was not disappointed.  This book is well written and thought out.  I loved the idea of it and how they fleshed out the main points.  I was surprised to see that this books was written by an author and his daughter.  They did a great job with it and I enjoyed it.

The characters are well thought out and you can relate to something from each of them.  From the teenagers all the way to the adults. I personally could relate to the issues that Juliet faced when she talked about how she was treated in school because she was different.  I could even understand the sense of loyalty that her grandfather felt to their heritage and old ways. We all have the things in our lives that we will not let go of that come from our families.  They all move and work well together to weave a beautiful story.

That being said, I do have a few things that bugged me.  When I started the book I struggled to get into it.  It was a very slow starting book.  I am the kind of reader that wants something to grab me and keep from the beginning.  It's harder when you start a book slowly, with little forward movement.  Once I got into it, the book moved better, but I had to make myself trudge forward.  Another issue I had was how fast the main character, Juliet, accepted her role in things.  She went from "No, I will not believe this" to "Yes, I am this person and I will do these things".  I feel like there was no real internal struggle with it and this story moved very fast.  I know that there are things in the book that would make her jump into things, but I still think the whole development of the "big secret" was too much.  They built it up and built it up, but when it was revealed it was accepted to easily.

The ending kind of left me wanting.  I think that the last part of this book would have been better suited to be in the next book.  A cliff hanger is great, but I think that this one left me feeling off.

Pros: The characters were well developed on their own.  The story was well thought out. The lore in the book appeared to well researched and fitting.

Cons: You get from point A to point B too quickly in some places.  The ending was better suited for the next book. The main character, Juliet, left me feeling a little off at some points.

Over all rating: Excellent book and I would recommend it to others.