Book Review: Finding Hope by Colleen Nelson

Finding Hope by Colleen Nelson

(Goodreads)

Hope lives in a small town with nothing to do and nowhere to go. With a drug addict for a brother, she focuses on the only thing that keeps her sane, writing poetry. To escape, she jumps at the chance to attend Ravenhurst Academy as a boarding student. She’ll even put up with the clique-ish Ravens if it means making a fresh start. 

At first, Ravenhurst is better than Hope could have dreamed. She has a boyfriend and a cool roommate, and she might finally have found a place she can fit in. But can she trust her online boyfriend? And what can she do after her brother shows up at the school gates, desperate for help, and the Ravens turn on her? Trapped and unsure, Hope realizes that if she wants to save her brother, she has to save herself first.

Thanks to Dundurn at NetGalley for sending me this eARC! 

I came to work Monday morning only to discover that (groan/gasp!) I had forgotten my current read at home (Dance, Dance, Dance by Haruki Murakami). However, NetGalley has my back, as I remembered I had been approved for a couple of books to read in advance. What drew me to request Finding Hope was initially the cover art. Without a doubt, it catches the eye with its simplistic and well-balanced design. The summary sold me. I was definitely interested in walking into Hope's troubled teenage life filled with poetry, boy troubles, and her addict brother.

Let me tell you why I walked away disappointed.

Finding Hope is told through a dual-pov (point of view) shared between Hope and her brother, Eric. The summary doesn't hint anything towards this, it makes it out to be Hope's story (and after all, the title does have her name on it). However, I think it's this dual-pov that got me through the story. The chapters are incredibly short (I believe the longest might be four pages at most) and make it a quick read (I'd say I finished his in about five to six hours total).

While I liked these micro-chapters, they limited the characters from developing and coming into their own. I didn't find Hope. Or Eric. Or any real character that stood out. I think that since the chapters were so short, each word mattered even more and Nelson didn't really utilize that space to pack a punch. Hope went to a boarding school for a fresh start but it doesn't really feel like she takes advantage of that. Aside from her quick interaction with some mean girls and her roommate on occasion, Hope keeps to herself.

Even when she enters a relationship with her boyfriend, it doesn't feel like she interacts with him at all. We essentially know close to nothing about her boyfriend or how they interact or what they talk about. I think this could have been easily fixed by putting in more conversations between them; Hope texting him about a mean teacher or upcoming test, her boyfriend (Devon) cheering her on, talking about hobbies, etc... We don't get a sense that she's even attending classes or has any homework, little details like this that would have grounded the plot more.

There's so many issues in this novel that make for a great storyline (highlight for spoilers: drug abuse, sexual abuse, bullying, slut shaming, online relationships.) None of these issues were dug any deeper than the surface; in Nelson's own words, "scratch-the-surface-and-you're through" (185). Nelson's writing is clear, there's no doubt about that, it doesn't confuse or bore but could have used more details. For example, Eric gets a dog at one point and all I remember was it having brown eyes? I would have loved to know what kind of fur it had, if it grew throughout the book, or if it smelled or had any habits.

Overall not a bad book, but not memorable.

*

"A meth-head brother. Trailer trash family. A mom who thinks her daughter deserves better than she does. Hope: a liar, a cheat, pretending to be someone she's not. How could I answer these accusations, when they were all true?" (160-161)

.5