A Lovely, Must-Read Story
"Will is my favorite Young Adult genre writer! He does it again in this unique tale about Charlene, a young woman who lost not only her loving parents at a young age, but her voice. In her quest to latch onto the only remaining family she has, at nineteen years she finds herself in the strange and cold world of her straight-laced and near-unemotional aunt and two cousins who are doing their best to survive as daughters to the "Ice Queen." Figure skating is the one thing that connects the group, but also brings out each character's strengths, flaws, fears, and desires.
It was a pleasure to tag along with Charlene as she discovers herself and how she fits into this family, while trying to help them heal just as much as she heals within herself. The ultimate, and very well accomplished take-away is that regardless of our strengths and talents, it's the love we have for those close to us and the love they have (or perhaps even had) for us, that makes whatever in life we do meaningful and creates the joy in pursuing life.
The plot was overall well done, though as some have mentioned, I would have liked to have known if Aunt Elizabeth did in fact have Charlene's dad's letters. And even more so, to have read about Doug's backstory - he promised to tell her (us), after all! But, digressing to the letters... As Will had noted in his other story, "The Feud," in which he'd pulled a similar card on the reader at the end, this lack of information was most likely done purposefully to enhance the TRUE message of the story. It really wasn't about 'the letters,' but about family love. Perhaps, this could be considered a bit misleading, as it was a primary focus for our protagonist throughout the story, but understandable/forgivable in the grand scheme of things.
Otherwise, I enjoy his writing style immensely, and his grammar and punctuation are spot on! I highly recommend "The Silent Skater!""
