Two Words - Meet Viola

As in Adriana Trigiani’s new YA book coming out September 1^st ‘Viola In Reel Life’

Without a doubt this is Adriana’s best book yet.

Seriously! Yes my opinion. But yes I Have actually Read ALL her books!

I had the honor of interviewing the lovely, lively and vivacious Adriana at last year’s James River Writers Conference [Thanks Emyl!] and I wasn’t about to not do all the research I could. And of course that meant reading all her books. She does have quite the distinguished list. Most probably noted for her Big Stone Gap series [also to be a movie she has written and is directing, starring Whoopi Goldberg, etc….- and I heard Ashley Judd? ] the books Adriana wrote about a character in Big Stone Gap, Virginia. And where Adriana actually lived growing up.

I know a lot of people love that series, and that a lot of people are crazy about and prefer Adriana’s ‘Lucia, Lucia’ book.

And that is a good book. Deserves their raves. I did enjoy it. I still think my favorite was ‘Queen of the Big Time’ though, although ‘Rococo’ had a certain charm as well.

Then Adriana sent me the arc of her newest series she’d just begun ‘Very Valentine’

[which just came out this year so you can read it too]

And that was her best work to date.

But then she sent me the arc of her newest book – ‘Viola in Reel Life’ her first in her new YA series.

This is Definitely Adriana’s best to date! And you will fall in love with Viola. Or Really Really Like anyway!

And as with a Lot of YA books now – such as Maggie Stiefvater’s ‘Shiver’ – you don’t have to be in that category to enjoy a Great read! And while Maggie’s descriptions are so colorful they drip poetry and music into your head, Adriana’s snarky teenager from Brooklyn is no less descriptive, just uses bit different phrasing.

“I pivot slowly to film the fields around the school. The land is the color of baked pizza crust without the tomato sauce. There are no lush rolling hills similar to the ones that appear on the school website. The babbling brook on the home page gushes crystal water, but when I went to film it, it was a bone-dry creek bed, with gross stones and tangled vines. Besides being marooned, I’ve been had—duped by my own parents, who, up until now, have made fairly intelligent decisions when it comes to me.” ….

Viola does earn that title of ‘Princess Snark’ her father gave her. And after laughing out loud again, and reading yet another passage out loud to my husband, I shook my head and exclaimed ‘I Really Really like this girl so much!”

There is so much to like in this book, there is a Lot of snark [which I Really liked], but there is also a lot of heart, and learning lessons, including about boys, and friends, and best friends that are boys and how that changes when boyfriends and girlfriends enter the picture. Along with ghosts and film competitions and ….. well, you Do need to pick this book up and read for yourself.

The only thing I will say that I thought Viola lost a little too much snark at the end of the book. And I really missed that. I hope when we see Viola again in the next book she’ll have her Princess Snark tiara up high on her head.

Adriana does a great job of keeping you so engaged in the story you don’t want to put it down. I admit I probably got a little snarky when I did have to put it down to run needed errands. But I got back to it as soon as I could and finished up Viola's tale as soon as I could. Definitely a favorite book. Hope it becomes one of yours too. Let me know!

Meet ‘Viola In Reel Life’ – you’ll be glad you did.

[Thank you Adriana, and Kelly, for the arc, so I could post-note and mark and underline the great descriptions to my writer’s heart’s content. It’s very colorful book now in more ways than the ones you intended. ;) Thank you so much!]