Fall Favorite Things Blog Tour: Keep Her by Leora Krygier

Keep Her
Author: Leora Krygier
Genre: YA Fiction
Release Date: September 6, 2016
Publisher: She Writes Press

Description:

Destiny doesn't factor into seventeen-year-old adoptee Maddie's rational world, where numbers and scientific probability have always proven to be the only things she can count on as safe and reliable. Still, Maddie is also an artist who draws on instinct and intuition to create the collages she makes from photographs and the castoff scraps she saves. But when her brother falls in with a Los Angeles street gang, Maddie loses her ability to create art. Then fate deals Maddie a card she can't ignore: Aiden, a young filmmaker she meets when a water main bursts inside a camera store. Aiden is haunted by the death of his younger brother, and a life-changing decision he must now make whether or not to keep his baby daughter. Caught in a whirlpool of love and loss, Maddie and Aiden find that art and numbers, a mission to save endangered whales, and a worn-out copy of Moby Dick all collide to heal and save them both. 

Keep Her is a solid young adult contemporary novel that fans of the genre are sure to love. The book is very well written, with lots of detailed descriptions and imagery. The characters were all rounded with personalities and traits that made them realistic. Contemporary fiction isn't my usual genre of choice, and I think that's part of the reason I couldn't really get into the story or connect with the characters. Maddie was a good main character and I like how the author made her unique with the whole artistic versus analytic parts of her mind. I just couldn't seem to identify with her, which made the rest of the book hard to get into. Again, there's absolutely nothing wrong with the characters or the writing - it's just my personal issues that held me up. I think fans of the genre will enjoy Maddie's story and be able to sympathize with all of the tough situations that the characters must face.

Leora Krygier’s first novel, When She Sleeps (Toby Press), was a New York Public Library selection for “Best Books for the Teen Age.” She currently lives in L.A. with her husband. When she’s not writing, Leora loves to go to the beach, walk the Santa Monica Mountain trails and snap lots of photographs, just like her Keep Her protagonist Maddie!

Leora’s fall favorite thing is Starbucks, and believe it or not, it’s not just because of the return of Pumpkin Spice Lattes. Leora first came up with the idea for Keep Her while she was sitting in a Starbucks, staring absently at that little green mermaid that we all know and love. The mermaid reminded her of Starbucks, but not the coffee place, the character from the Herman Melville classic Moby Dick. So began the inspiration for Keep Her. Don’t know what I am talking about? You’ll just have to read the book to find out how they all connect…