Blog Tour: Book Review and Giveaway: Finding What Is by Tabitha Vohn

Title: Finding What Is
Author: Tabitha Vohn
Publication Date: September 29th, 2013
Genre: Contemporary, New Adult

Blurb:

Willie has always lived an unconventional life. Surrounded by the sensual, ethereal images of her artist-mother, she fantasizes about the half-wolf, half-human, but all-gorgeous face that stares out at her from her mother's wall, and drinks in her mother's stories of past lovers and adventures. She shares her home with a man who calls himself "uncle" (who stalks her through the house, naked). Her closest friends are a band of misfits who've forged their own way in life - including Xavier, who has carved his name in her soul - and her heart is torn between him and a college professor, a fellow artist who wants more than a student-teacher relationship.

Willie stands on the brink of womanhood poised to follow in her mother's footsteps, with a gleaming future as an artist looming before her, and a maturity beyond her years that has enabled her to be the protector and caretaker of others, a mender of wounds. But as a devastating illness rips her mother from her life, Willie is left bereft of a home and a sense of self. Guided by only her instincts, Willie wanders from her professor's arms to the home that Xavier shares with his live-in girlfriend Nicole (who insists that they "share"). Her path becomes a search for peace, for family, for a love that's real, and for her place in this world.

Finding What Is chronicles the journey that we all must take - to find ourselves, to reconcile our past, and to get back to that place we once called home.

Kayla's Thoughts:

So...this author has officially ruined me for other writers. Okay, so maybe I'm kidding on that regard (once a reader, always a reader), but on a serious note, this novel is...well...I'm speechless. At first what pulled me in to the book was its cover. It is simple, yet breathtakingly beautiful. The colours just popped out at me and basically screamed for me to take an interest and attempt to read the story behind that picture. Reading the blurb, a spark was born. A spark that I wasn't sure would burst into a full on flame, until I got about a chapter in. Then it turned into a raging inferno that I couldn't put out.

From the beginning, we meet the main character, Willie, and her interest and understanding of literature and poetry is apparent. But, it isn't until between chapters two and four that we begin, or at least that was my case, to care about this main character. She begins to feel real, and not just another character taking yet another class in yet another young adult novel. Her drama, her life, her passions begin to flow out on each page.

Willie's pain and the people around her made me feel something. Her art, the way it is described, the way every single detail of every single situation in this book is written is absolutely exquisite. Purposeful. The rising anticipation in the relationship between her and her professor, and the absolute fall of the tragedies and heartbreak in this novel. Everything is given just the right touch to make it seem real. To make the story come to life. Throughout the story, I can sense Willie growing, I can sense her turning into the butterfly we know her to be. She goes through so much, but learns more about herself in a short time than she ever thought possible.

This book is fearless and indescribably beautiful, and each character brings another element that just makes this story work almost flawlessly in its execution.

Verdict:

This book is a coming-of-age story that basically has surpassed the coming-of-age stories that I have read before. It is lyrical and artistic in itself, and is truly a masterpiece.

Links for Book:

Amazon / Goodreads

Author's Bio:

Tabitha is a pen name. Her creator is a certified bookworm, thanks to the countless fairy tales, Bibile stories, and nursery rhymes she was as a child, and the Gothic, Romantic, and Contemporary novels she enjoys today. She has earned a B.A. in English and a M.A. in Teaching, and currently teaches high school English.

On writing, Tabitha says, "I strive to write the types of stories that I enjoy reading. Ones that question those blurred lines between love and lust, between good and evil. Ones that make us question human nature while simultaneously seeing the beauty in it as well." 

Links for Author:

Goodreads

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Click here to check out the other blogs that have graciously taken part in this blog tour of Finding What Is.