Review of Wonders in the Waves

[Nicole Costanza]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Wonders in the Waves" by Jennifer Collins.]

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3 out of 5 stars

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"Wonder in the Waves," written by Jennifer Collins, is about Larissa Whitcomb and her emotional journey through grief and loss of a child. As she navigates through her complex feelings, she discovers letters and postcards within her mother's belongings that set her on a journey to Florida where she slowly learns to cope with loss and embrace her past.
This story resonates with me as I have, unfortunately, lost members of my immediate family in recent years. There were sections of the story where I needed to stop and walk away as I was feeling overwhelmed with emotions.
The author explains the scenery beautifully! It made me feel like I was at the beach myself. I also felt a deep connection with the intricate feelings Larissa was experiencing when it came to grief. There were moments where she would be okay, but then exploded on those around her. Grief is complex and this book shows how to grow around grief instead of get through it.
There were a few issues I had however: first, there are long paragraphs. Whether it's a character speaking or explaining a scene, many of the paragraphs would take up nearly a page. This also did not help during scene shifting, for example; someone is in an office and next sentence, they are in a car. It would throw me off.
Second, many of the characters say "uh" one too many times. Here and there, fine, but sometimes I would see "uh" multiple times on a page. It started to honestly grind my gears after a while.
The ending does leave you wondering what happens next, but it doesn't look like there is another book sadly!
I would rate this a 3 star rating; the long paragraphs and "uhs" just bothered me too much to give it a higher rating.
I would still recommend this story, especially if you are struggling with grief.

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Wonders in the Waves
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