Oh dear, I really wanted to like this book. Lauren Morrill's first novel, Meant to Be, is incredibly witty and laugh-out-loud funny, but Being Sloane Jacobs comes no where close to that level of entertainment.
I was intrigued by the Parent Trap-like set-up, as well as the ice hockey/figure skating crossover, but it never quite fulfilled the potential of either of those stories. It was actually a bit boring. I was never eager to pick up the book to see what would happen next, as it never really hit hard on the emotions or suspense of the story.
The dual perspectives was also confusing at times, as each Sloane's thoughts were not unique enough to feel like you were reading two different girls from two very different backgrounds.
330 pages
Christmas is approaching, and in Québec it's a time of dazzling
snowfalls, bright lights, and gatherings with friends in front of
blazing hearths. But shadows are falling on the usually festive season
for Chief Inspector Armand Gamache. Most of his best agents have left
the Homicide Department, his old friend and lieutenant Jean-Guy Beauvoir
hasn't spoken to him in months, and hostile forces are lining up
against him. When Gamache receives a message from Myrna Landers that a
longtime friend has failed to arrive for Christmas in the village of
Three Pines, he welcomes the chance to get away from the city. Mystified
by Myrna's reluctance to reveal her friend's name, Gamache soon
discovers the missing woman was once one of the most famous people not
just in North America, but in the world, and now goes unrecognized by
virtually everyone except the mad, brilliant poet Ruth Zardo.