YA Book Tour- Alabama

Alabama is the next stop on the United States of YA with Rosemary Clement-Moore's The Splendor Falls.

Sylvie Davis was at the top of her game in ballet, at seventeen she had become a principle dancer in the American Ballet Company. Then tragedy struck during a routine position, her tibia broken in a compound fracture and thus ending her ballet career. After an incident at her mother's wedding, she is sent to her father's family in Alabama while her mother and new husband are on their honeymoon.

Sylvie arrives in Alabama with her dog, Gigi, and knowing nothing about her family and their life there.  Her father never told her anything about it while he was alive.  Her cousin Paula and her hottie Welsh guest, Rhys, pick her up at the airport.  Rhys, who Sylvie feels an immediate connect to but doesn't understand why, and yet he seems to be deliberately annoying her.

Once at Bluestone Hill, her family's antebellum plantation, she meets the local teens lead by Shawn.  She knows he is cute, but she can tell that his charm is part of a performance.  Addie, who is Paula's business partners daughter, takes an immediately dislike to her.

As Sylvie learns the ins and outs to this small town, and more about the family her father never spoke of, she finds that it might just be more than the living occupying Bluestone Hill, and the past has a way of repeating itself.

I very much enjoyed this book with its vibrant characters and a bit of Southern Gothic feel to the story.  I feel for Sylvie having to re-evaluate her whole life after her accident, and then having everyone be so uptight about her every move. Girl just lost the dream she had been working toward for most of her life, give her a break. I love Sylvie's determination when she sets her mind to something, and watching her decipher her feelings toward Rhys and Shawn.

Speaking of Rhys and Shawn, both are very interesting characters in very different ways.  Rhys is broody and secretive, but when you get the unguarded him, he is quite charming and caring.  Shawn, on the other hand, is extremely charming from the beginning, and he use his to hide his true colors.  Shawn seems likable enough, but I couldn't help but think that he uses his charm as a misdirection so you can't see what he is really up do.

This story really has a way keeping you interested to the very end, and guessing on what exactly is going on at Bluestone Hill.

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