3 out of 4 stars
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Crumbling Walls (The Jack and Emily Series) by Laura Strandt
Crumbling Walls would be categorized as Young Adult Fiction. The story follows Jack and Emily, two 15 year old high school kids. Jack was new to the town and had been trying out new routes during his bike rides, when one day he discovered Emily. Being the shy boy that he was, he did not have the nerve to just outright say hello to Emily. He spent two weeks of his life riding by on his bicycle, trying to come up with a plan to actually speak to her. When one day, he decided he will fake a flat tire and a wreck on her doorstep. Unbeknownst to him, meeting Emily that day may have been a blessing in disguise.
Emily Ward's life has been a complete opposite life than the one Jack has lived. Her life had been rough and at the moment was simple and quiet, were as Jack's life has been loud and crowded. Emily has a lot of hidden scars and secrets, she has lived through things a 15 year old girl should never have to go through. Jack, as well as his family become her saving grace, quite literally in a few ways.
Laura Strandt, the author, did a wonderful job bring the darkness that was Emily's past into the light that is Jack's family. I felt as if the story did flow very well. The two main characters had depth and chemistry. There are times that you will pick up a book and the love interests lack this, so that in itself is very important to me. Jack's family was great. His parents were understanding and helpful when needed. Jack has five brothers, and I understand why the author felt the need to give Jack so many siblings, but really Tim, the oldest and the youngest, Sam are the only ones that stick out in my mind.
Dexter, who was Emily's best friend and who becomes Jack's friend as well once they enter into the school year, was another character that had me confused really. Dexter's role was minuscule.He is described a "tall boy with green spiked hair and a pierced eyebrow". Reading his description had me thinking in the beginning he was going to be rebel or a bad boy and would be a very important person. I thought the other characters in the book kind of go further into the spotlight, therefore pushing Dexter into the shadows, only for him finally grow as a character in the end of the book.
I rated this book a 3 out of 4 stars. I rated it 3 because of those things above as well as there were also grammar issues within the book. I caught them as early as 7% into the book. I found misspelled words as well as issues with dialogue tags. Sometimes the book would switch from one person speaking to another without the ending quotation marks. Now, I know that may not bother a lot of people, but when I am paying for a book I prefer them to be "clean" in a grammar sense.
Overall, I did enjoy the book and will read the next one in the series to see where life will take our characters. I also would even recommend this book to a friend and I, myself, will probably end up reading it again.
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Crumbling Walls
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