Book Review: Hurricane, by Jenna-Lynne Duncan

So lately I've been wondering about when to set my novel. I'm leaning towards setting it in 2004, the summer before the senior year of the class of 2005. I sorta want some discussion to arise about Green Day's American Idiot album. This would be, of course, an alternative to the ambiguous "now" that many novels seem to float in, especially YA novels. I understand that books need to seem current, but my generation lived history too. Setting a novel seven years in the past lends that feel without dipping into historic research because the author is reminiscing. It's a cozy feeling.

Hurricane, by Jenna-Lynne Duncan, does just that. This novel, set partly in New Orleans, begins in the late summer of 2005, not long before Hurricane Katrina was to strike the Gulf Coast and bring devastation to the area. Yes, it's a paranormal teen romance, but it lacks the moodiness that tends to shadow that genre.

I won't lie to you. I really enjoyed Hurricane. The main character was a normal girl, if fictional characters can be. Sure, she's described as blond and blue-eyed, but unlike other books she doesn't harp on it and talk continuously about her looks. It's a visual reference. The description gives you a solid view of the character and grounds you in the novel so that the real storytelling can begin.

Like many books in the YA genre, it's written in a first-person perspective. I'm not always a fan of the technique, because it can become a crutch for some. But Hurricane had the feel of a friend telling you a cool story. The dates and locations at the beginning of each chapter give the novel a journalish feel, and an abruptly ending paragraph at the end of the epilogue seems indicate that the lead, a writer herself, is indeed journaling her experiences along the way.

As a teen romance, there are, of course, the required hot guys. Though obviously handsome, the two young men aren't described constantly. Duncan instead prefers to focus on their personalities and relationships to the main character. Sarcasm, humor, and snark are comfortable and welcome in this novel's dialogue, and the two boys, Hayden and Luke, are presented as somewhat preppy (in a Southern way) and probably, if they were real, pretty nice guys. A sudden self-sacrificial move by Adriana had me thinking too much of Twilight, but it did prompt me to wonder what I'd do in such a situation.* But even that doesn't detract from Ana's strength as a character. She's likeable enough that the moment comes as more of a brief annoyance, a low note in an otherwise good book.. She's not perfect, and she makes a bad decision. It's real. Ish.

The characters are terribly stock, but the future mom-in-law is a lot like Esme Cullen, and probably no like any real in-law at all.There's a conflict between Adriana and her dad that is solved conveniently at the end by an arrangement that I don't think any father anywhere would be cool with, at all. There is one time when Adriana describes her own hair color swinging around, as in "my blonde hair swished behind me as I ran" or something like that. You'll find out later why stuff like that is a pet peeve of mine.

The late-summer Southern setting is rough and spooky and lends some beauty to the atmosphere of the novel. The descriptions of a post-Katrina New Orleans chill the bones as Duncan so aptly describes a horror more terrifying than any ghosts in the book. But through it all, the tone never loses hope, and the story ties off neatly in the final chapter over a plate of beignets at the Cafe du Monde.

I'd recommend this novel to anyone who wants something that entertains. It doesn't ask much of the reader. The few unlikelihoods, (such as minors moving in with other minors with no problem) that do pop up are annoying, but it really is a well-polished YA novel. And if I'm not mistaken, at least part of the proceeds from this novel are donated to Katrina victims. So go ahead, indulge and give back at the same time.




*I would actually have a gun.**
 **Heck, if I were a superhero, I'd still have a gun. Super-power stunting losses of confidence would totally be nullified with a 9mm. Just sayin'.

So This Whole Hurricane Thing...

All last week, I watched as the news networks and the Weather Channel all about had a collective fit because a hurricane was "headed straight towards New York." They warned the people of the Northeastern United States and feared the absolute worst for poor little old NYC.

Forget the fact that Hurricane Irene was gonna smack directly into a small, nearly unimportant area known as Eastern North Carolina.

And smack it did. I think the New Bern area took the worst of it, but Atlantic Beach, Nags Head, Wrightsville Beach, and a few other places definitely felt Irene.

And still, the entire day on Saturday, they still kept talking about New York. Even as the storm weakened and lost its status as an actual hurricane.

Even though North Carolina absorbed the brunt of it.

But you know, all this took be back a couple of years. Y'all know I went to Bob Jones University if you've read a couple of other posts. Inevitably, at some point during four-and-a-half years of college, it will snow/ice/freeze. Greenville is a close neighbor to Western North Carolina. Asheville North Carolina is an hour up the road. Greenville, however, is not in the mountains. It doesn't snow a whole lot, unless the winter is particularly freakish.

Big shock to y'all up in the Far Reaches, but we don't have a lot of snowplows down here. My town has maybe one or two. They're just not needed very much.Because ice is a smooth surface that greatly reduces friction and is a dangerous (sometimes deadly) surface to drive on, roads aren't exactly navigable. When it ices or snows, school closes for like a day, the town quiets, and people relax. (This rule generally applies throughout the entire Southern region.) Citizens play in the snow, or stay inside and read. They enjoy life. In a few hours, the ice/snow melts and life goes back to normal.

So all that time at college, I heard a lot of something that might have been good-natured ribbing, but sounded a lot like sour-faced griping. "Nobody knows how to drive down here." "I can't believe no one can drive on ice here." "We keep going to school in the snow, I can't believe it here." That's right folks, people actually complained about cancelled classes. (I can only imagine what their parents taught them about Santa Claus....) So, pretty much, for all of college (there's a whole lot of people from Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, and Pennsylvania that wind up at Bob Jones University, just saying...)* statements that should be considered merely factual observations often degrade into personal insults. Insinuations that only Neanderthals and similar primitive people not yet exposed to modern technology are unable to somehow overcome the laws of physics and drive with magical friction force-fields upon their tires abound. "Well, where I live, we know how to drive on ice." Good for you, buddy. Dream big.

See, this all came back to me when I observed that the Northeast was being all but coddled because *sniff* a hurricane's coming. I believe the words "disastrous" and "catastrophic" were thrown around some. Now, as I know hurricanes, catastrophic as a description doesn't usually apply unless you aren't prepared.

So let's put this into a fair perspective. If it never ices/snows in an area, there is little chance that one could learn to drive in those conditions. Southern winters are fairly mild, and unless it's a really cold year, we average about 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Occasionally it will get down into the 20s.** I can remember one year when it was 9 degrees F the week before Christmas. Even with temperatures that drop below 32 F, you have to have perfect conditions and an already cold ground in order to keep the white stuff sticking around. We're not prepared because we really never have to be, and one snow day for schools won't kill our economy.

I'm not a geography expert, but I do have a good idea of what the East Coast looks like. The most obvious feature?


Hang on, 'cause I'ma blow y'alls minds...


It's coastal.


Yeah, all those panicky areas stick out in the ocean. Yeah, I'm talking to you, Maryland, Jersey, New York, Boston, and Bangor. Hurricanes should not be a surprise. Yeah, they're rare, but y'all have a heck of a higher chance of getting a hurricane than we do a whole winter's worth of snow.



I think yeah, y'all deserve a little bit of ridicule. Good times.





*And I cannot begin to describe to you how much I don't really care about the Ohio vs. Michigan thing. I pull for the University of North Carolina. Your mention of the rivalry is likely to earn you a blank face.

**Yep, and that was the time the theater's heater was broken. It was like 20 degrees F outside with a very lovely wind that just made it so fun and bone-chilling. I wore a coat for the whole movie (New Moon, by the way) and huddled together with my boyfriend for warmth. I was also wearing knee socks under my jeans. It was disappointing mostly because I had on a really cute outfit that my otherwise wonderful pea coat hid.