...That's What She Said

In about 4 hours total, I read a self-published novel for the first time. I purchased Michael Pierce's "Provex City" on Amazon and frantically downloaded it to my Kindle just hours before departure. I first became interested in this story during a blog hop where writers posted their first fight scenes from a current work, despite the fact that Mr. Pierce is a self-proclaimed YA Author.  You see, now that I've entered my thirties, I feel weird reading books that were written for the teenage audience. I don't want to be the creepy, old lady in the corner at a concert. If I read a line about a girl fretting over what color lip gloss to wear to prom, my eye rolls are involuntary... truly, I can't help it. When I see grown women with a "Twilight book" in their hands, I want to grab it and bop them on the noggin with it like a bad puppy.  "No, bad housewife! Very bad! This is for children!" But I digress. "Provex City" didn't strike me as a high school book due to the writing style I was lucky enough to sample during that blog fest... and I wanted to give the genre another chance.

What Michael Pierce created is a story about a young boy, faced with adult challenges and extraordinarily original supernatural dilemmas... all while awkwardly navigating some of life's firsts. When you're reading it, however, you don't feel that the book is directed at teens... instead, the message is universal and the intrigue has enough substance to capture the attention of minds both young and old. That is how YA should be written. 

I don't want to go into too much detail about the main character, Oliver (who is the type of underdog you can't help but root for), the ghost in his room, the hilarious nick name, or where exactly Provex City is located because I'm one of those people who utterly despises spoilers.  I fully intend to post a full review on Amazon in the very near future, where I'll likely go into specifics for those who hate surprises.  For now, though, I think the best way I can show others why this book resonated with me the way that it did would be to highlight a theme that I not only relate to... but aligns with one of the pillars of my life philosophy.

First, please refer to the third paragraph (come on, just the third paragraph, I'm not even asking you to read the whole thing) of an old post of mine, here:

Come disconnect the dots with me poppet... (April 12, 2007)

Now... how do you feel about that concept? If you are interested even the slightest, then I firmly believe that you will enjoy "Provex City" as much as I did.  Plus, it's the first in a series... so, if you're also like me in that you hate to see a good story end, have no fear; there's more to come!  (Now, we are to the part where I give it 4 stars and tell you to go make your purchase on Amazon... so, what are you waiting for?)