My Never Ending List

The temptation was just too great. No one explained the reasoning behind their no, it was just a hard no and that wasn’t enough for Lorelei. The urge inside her was just too great and she thought if she just did it once, perhaps once would be enough. I was intrigued as to why Lorelei grew up in a household without any music or hardly any talking.   Her grandmother Oma told Lorelei if she were ever to sing, she must never sing the high notes. Lorelei was told to always sing in low notes and always sing by herself. Lorelei was also informed that singing got her mother in trouble but that was as far as that conversation went. Sneaking out to a concert with her bestie Zoe, Lorelei meets Chris and singing becomes an important topic, a topic that she can’t discuss with anyone at the moment. Frustrated and confused, Lorelei begins to research her family’s history hoping to uncover answers about her past. She believes that if she can uncover the reasons why her family outlawed singing, perhaps she can resolve the issue and singing can become a part of her life.

I felt that the first half of this novel was a bit drawn out for me. Too much story building for me and not enough of Lorelei’s mystery for me. The excitement and the dramatics of the novel don’t occur till the second half of the novel and then I really enjoyed what the author provided. Lorelei had a craving, a desire but she didn’t understand why or where it was coming from. No one was talking so she had to take matters into her own hands.   She was a risk taker, she was responsible and she was brave. As the story gains momentum, I learned about her past, and how her future would be shaped unless she learned to control herself. I liked how she waived between doing what is right and being deceptive, how can you blame her, when you are walking around with such power? I was angry with the other characters in the novel when they pestering her to sing, “Sing Lorelei, sing!” I just wanted to reach inside the novel and smack them, every single one of them! It’s funny how emotional I got during this time in the novel, my head all frustrated as they riled her.  

I received a copy of this novel from NetGalley and Random House Children’s in exchange for an honest review.