I seem to have read many books lately about lightning stike survivors. The latest being Michele Young-Stone’s The Handbook for Lightning Strike Survivors. The interesting thing about this novel is that it is written by an actual lightning strike survivor.

The story is about Becca and Buckley, two completely different characters in different times and places, whose stories are woven back and forth throughout the novel. Sometimes this worked and sometimes it didn’t. I often felt lost and confused about the time jumps, and the many different characters, and was sometimes having a hard time following along-maybe because some characters were more compelling to me than others. I was waiting forever for their two paths to cross, and they finally did, but for me it was an unsatisfying ending. There are a lot of damaged characters here who mostly find some resolution by the end, but somehow it didn’t exactly work for me.

This is a good debut novel by an interesting author, but I always felt aware that I was reading a first novel.  I did learn a lot about lightning.

I can’t say I loved it or hated it. I would be interested to read more from Young-Stone in the future. I have a feeling she will grow into quite and interesting author.