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Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley Release Date: February 14, 2012 Source: NetGalley Rating:   Buy It: Amazon |
| Senior year is over, and Lucy has the perfect way to celebrate: tonight, she’s going to find Shadow, the mysterious graffiti artist whose work appears all over the city. He’s out there somewhere—spraying color, spraying birds and blue sky on the night—and Lucy knows a guy who paints like Shadow is someone she could fall for. Really fall for. Instead, Lucy’s stuck at a party with Ed, the guy she’s managed to avoid since the most awkward date of her life. But when Ed tells her he knows where to find Shadow, they’re suddenly on an all-night search around the city. And what Lucy can’t see is the one thing that’s right before her eyes. | |
Review
I heard a ton of buzz about this book before it popped up on NetGalley. Lo and behold the book pretty much lived up to the hype. I won’t summarize the story for you because the summary pretty much covers it. Lucy and Ed are great characters that are extremely well written – Ed is particularly believable even though it is a teenage boy being written by a not-so-teenage woman. They were completely relatable and even though I’ve never been a graffiti artist, I could identify with Ed’s feelings towards it. Much like Dessen and Perkins (and recently Barnholdt), the ability to truly capture the feelings of high school on Crowley’s part is truly remarkable. I was instantly sucked in and could picture myself easily in Lucy’s shoes.
Many of the reviews I read spoke of Crowley’s beautiful language and the like, and while I did enjoy her writing, I didn’t think beautiful was the correct term. It seems she just has a knack for really capturing the setting and feelings. Every place and person seemed believable, while still having that bit of fairy dust that fiction needs to stay intriguing. I read the entirety of the book in one sitting because it was just so addicting. The only reason that this doesn’t get a full five-stars is because, in my mind, it goes up against the likes of The Truth About Forever and Anna and the French Kiss which just has that extra OOMPH to make them stand out.
Graffiti Moon still ranks rather high though and will definitely be worth a re-read when the final edition comes out. This will most certainly have a place in my library and anyone who appreciates a good YA novel should definitely invest in this novel. I’m actually rather upset that Crowley doesn’t have more novels as I’d definitely love to read more from her. I can’t wait to see what else she has up her sleeve!
