Not as simple as it looked, this meeting, for most young men and women who begin a courtship do not have a forgotten history between them.
I was super excited to read Under the Light by Laura Whitcomb because I loved A Certain Slant of Light. Under the Light picks up where A Certain Slant of Light ends, showing not only the aftermath of Helen and James’s jaunts in Jenny and Billy’s bodies but also exactly where Jenny and Billy went when their bodies were taken over by the two spirits.
I liked the book quite a bit, but I have to say up front that What I Didn’t Like has less to do with execution and more to do with me wanting to read a story the author didn’t write. That’s my long way of saying that I felt like Helen’s story was over and wanted this book to concentrate solely on Jenny and her experience with Billy, but Whitcomb chose to alternate between Helen and Jenny’s points of view. Which is fine since that’s the story she wanted to write. It’s just not necessarily the story I wanted nor expected to read.
After I let go of my expectations of what the book should be and accepted what it actually is, I could focus on What I Did Like.
I loved learning about Jenny and Billy and who they were before the possessions and who they are after. I also liked that the major details of their lives are filled in. Mostly, though, I liked seeing the two of them work together to figure out what happened to them and embark on a new relationship.
All of the characters are so well-developed. Mitch and Jenny’s dad both get limited page time, but I learn SO much about them in that time. And that’s not even mentioning the minor characters like the women in Jenny’s mom’s church group.
Also, Jenny’s dad is the worst. Wow.
I should also mention that like the previous book the epigraph for this one is the Emily Dickinson poem that the title comes from.
In conclusion: Easy, fast read with excellent characters in a complicated situation.
Source: Library
The Englishist 