LitPick Review
After her crazy, overprotected mother is kidnapped during a dust storm Kansas, Callie LaRoux notices things that were hidden from her before, like her unknown father’s power that was given to her. As she releases her inherited power for the first time, she unknowingly releases a beacon giving her direct location to unnamed forces. Some of these forces, like the one who calls himself Coyote, are kind, but others wish to eliminate her. Accompanied by the strange but handsome vagrant, Jack Holland, Callie travels to California to rescue her mother and father from a fate worse than death. But Callie is stopped every step of the way by enigmatic beings, all who tell her something new and shocking about her mysterious father. These beings will use every single tool against Callie to defeat her, even her blooming love with kind Jack, who has dark secrets of his own. Will Callie make it to California to save her parents in time? Will she even want to save them after everything she learns?
Opinion:
I enjoyed Dust Girl just as I expected. I chose this book longing for a story of love, adventure, magic and a dash of history. I had very high expectations for Dust Girl, and it delivered.
Although the story was slow in the first few chapters, things quickly boiled. The author quickly captured my attention on the mystery of the true identity of Callie’s parents. Then, Zettel had me worrying over how Callie's parents' past would affect her. Zettel’s other characters, Jack Holland and Shimmy, also gained my love with their each own interesting and heartbreaking stories. I also loved how she mixed in historical descriptions of life back in the years of the Dust bowl and Great Depression. It was magnificently written and I look forward to reading the sequel.
