Wild Roses
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Overview
Seventeen-year-old Cassie Morgan lives with a time bomb (a.k.a. her stepfather, Dino Cavalli). To the public, Dino is a world-renowned violin player and composer. To Cassie, he's an erratic, self-centered bully. And he's getting worse: He no longer sleeps, and he grows increasingly paranoid. Before, Cassie was angry. Now she is afraid.
Enter Ian Waters: a brilliant young violinist, and Dino's first-ever student. The minute Cassie lays eyes on Ian she knows she's doomed. Cassie thought she understood that love could bring pain, but this union will have consequences she could not have imagined.
In the end, only one thing becomes clear: In the world of insanity, nothing is sacred....
Synopsis
Seventeen-year-old Cassie Morgan lives with a time bomb (a.k.a. her stepfather, Dino Cavalli). To the public, Dino is a world-renowned violin player and composer. To Cassie, he’s an erratic, self-centered bully. And he’s getting worse: He no longer sleeps, and he grows increasingly paranoid. Before Cassie was angry. Now she is afraid.
Enter Ian Waters: a brilliant young violinist, and Dino’s first-ever student. The minute Cassie lays eyes on Ian, she knows she’s doomed. Cassie thought she understood that love could bring pain, but this union will have consequences she could not have imagined.
In the end, only one thing becomes clear: In the world of insanity, nothing is sacred. . . .
Publishers Weekly
"Cassie's first-person narrative will sweep up readers," said PW in a starred review, "and her exploration of the fine line between madness and genius alternates between humor and painful truth." Ages 12-up. (Jan.) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.
Editorials
Publishers Weekly
"Cassie's first-person narrative will sweep up readers," said PW in a starred review, "and her exploration of the fine line between madness and genius alternates between humor and painful truth." Ages 12-up. (Jan.) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.KLIATT -
To quote the review of the hardcover in KLIATT, September 2005: The author of The Queen of Everything and Honey, Baby, Sweetheart keeps up her funny, smart banter in this story of an impossible stepfather. The narrator is a 17-year-old named Cassie, who has watched her mother break up her family because of her devotion to a neurotic but genius violinist/composer. For several years, Cassie has been going back and forth between her father's home and her mother's. She loves her mother dearly and can't understand how she can put up with the nearly constant hysterics, paranoia, and verbal abuse emanating from her new husband, Cassie's stepfather. This is all relayed in a tragic-comic voice, with wonderful metaphors tumbling out of Cassie's mind. Cassie's mother rationalizes all by seeing her new husband as a tortured genius who is mentally ill but capable of producing incredible beauty. Enter Ian, a gifted music student who must succeed in an audition to be admitted to a top music school. Cassie's stepfather takes Ian on as a student and that's how the two young people meet; however, the attraction they immediately feel for one another has to be beaten down and ignored because of Ian's upcoming competition and because the stepfather absolutely forbids their romance as a distraction Ian can't afford. Nothing like forbidden love to make a good story line! Entertaining without being shallow, this will have strong appeal as an outrageous family story. There is some swearing here and there, totally appropriate to the occasions described.KLIATT
The author of The Queen of Everything and Honey, Baby, Sweetheart keeps up her funny, smart banter in this story of an impossible stepfather. The narrator is a 17-year-old named Cassie, who has watched her mother break up her family because of her devotion to a neurotic but genius violinist/composer. For several years, Cassie has been going back and forth between her father's home and her mother's. She loves her mother dearly and can't understand how she can put up with the nearly constant hysterics, paranoia, and verbal abuse emanating from her new husband, Cassie's stepfather. This is all relayed in a tragic-comic voice, with wonderful metaphors tumbling out of Cassie's mind. Cassie's mother rationalizes all by seeing her new husband as a tortured genius, who is mentally ill but capable of producing incredible beauty. Enter Ian, a gifted music student who must succeed in an audition to be admitted to a top music school. Cassie's stepfather takes Ian on as a student and that's how the two young people meet; however, the attraction they immediately feel for one another has to be beaten down and ignored because of Ian's upcoming competition and because the stepfather absolutely forbids their romance as a distraction Ian can't afford. Nothing like forbidden love to make a good story line! Entertaining without being shallow, this will have strong appeal as an outrageous family story. There is some swearing here and there, totally appropriate to the occasions described. KLIATT Codes: JS—Recommended for junior and senior high school students. 2005, Simon & Schuster, 298p., Ages 12 to 18.—Claire Rosser