Walking on Trampolines by Frances Whiting

Walking on Trampolines

by Frances Whiting

"Tallulah de Longland," she said slowly, letting all the Ls in my name loll about lazily in her mouth before passing judgment. "That," she announced, "is a serious glamorgeous name."

From the day Annabelle Andrews sashays into her classroom, Tallulah 'Lulu' de Longland is bewitched: by Annabelle, by her family, and by their sprawling, crumbling house tumbling down to the river.

Their unlikely friendship intensifies through a secret language where they share confidences about their unusual mothers, first loves, and growing up in the small coastal town of Juniper Bay. But the euphoria of youth rarely lasts, and the implosion that destroys their friendship leaves lasting scars and a legacy of self-doubt that haunts Lulu into adulthood.

Years later, Lulu is presented with a choice: remain the perpetual good girl who misses out, or finally step out from the shadows and do something extraordinary. And possibly unforgivable…

It's not how far you fall, but how high you bounce.

Reviewed by Lianne on

3 of 5 stars

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I received an ARC of this novel courtesy of the publishers in exchange for an honest review. This review in its entirety was originally posted at eclectictales.com: http://www.eclectictales.com/blog/2015/02/02/review-walking-on-trampolines/

Walking on Trampolines was an interesting read, following Lulu de Longland over the course of her teenage years and early adulthood. For a while it does leave the reader wondering where the story is headed if it wasn’t for the opening sequence and the chronological order that the novel follows afterwards. What led Lulu to that opening sequence? How did this “nice” girl end up doing what she did? The first half of the novel more or less looks at the events leading up to that decision, and the fallout of that decision in the latter half.

Because the novel covers such a large span of time, there were some slow moments reading the book, but I really enjoyed the charcter of Duncan. He injected some life in the story during Lulu’s transition after high school and later again after the incident. He’s a total cad, but he’s also quite charming and endearing, and I really enjoyed his interaction with Lulu; he had some of the best lines in the book.

The latter half of the novel should read much slower because of where Lulu ends up, but for me it was the most endearing because of all of the people who come in and out of Lulu’s life, helping her out or hanging out with her. Her struggle to come to terms with everything that had happened and with the decisions she had made was really interesting to read (compelling now that I think back on it), and there are a lot of interesting little moments along the way that keeps the story going.

Overall, while Walking on Trampolines wasn’t as heartfelt as I thought it was going to be, it was a very interesting read and over time I think it did leave quite an impression on me.

Rating: 3.5/5

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  • Started reading
  • 17 January, 2015: Finished reading
  • 17 January, 2015: Reviewed