Grounded (May Hollow Trilogy, #1)

by Angela Correll

[Lianne]

Grounded is a pretty light, easy read. It’s a bit of a slow read which in a way reflects the way of life that Annie’s grandmother and her community live in. The contrast is definitely stark in comparison to Annie’s New York City, jet-setting life, which only lasted some three chapters. I wished we spent a bit more time in her life before the move back home just to establish where she is in her life, her plans and her desires.

The message about going back to your roots, that less is more and how the world these days is too much based on “wants” to really appreciate what we do already have and the good things in life–family, friends, people who care about you, good food and good times–is very much prominent in this novel. At the same time though I did find it a tad bit preachy at times.

There are however some good themes and stories present in the overall plot that I wished had been more fleshed out. I wasn’t thoroughly convinced by Annie’s turn of heart that led to her change of relationship with her grandmother (I thought it was a little too sudden, too early in the story). I was also under the impression that Annie and Jake’s reconnection would’ve been one of the forefront plots in the novel. Yes, they hung out a few times both before Camille’s arrival and after but the romance element seemed almost like background noise to everything else and popped up at the end, which left me rather unsatisfied.

Overall Grounded was pretty straightforward; there’s nothing too intense or overly emotional about the novel so there’s nothing that’ll stress you out or yank you on a roller coaster ride of emotions. At the same time the character development could have been more fleshed out but otherwise it was a nice novel.

You can read this review in its entirety over at caffeinatedlife.net: http://www.caffeinatedlife.net/blog/2013/11/14/review-grounded/