Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Barbara Ashford - Spellcast



Maggie Graham is having a very bad day. First, she loses her job. Then the bathroom ceiling in her Brooklyn apartment collapses. That’s when Maggie decides she needs to get out of town. A weekend in Vermont seems like the perfect getaway.
When she stumbles on the Crossroads Theatre, reviving her acting career is the last thing on her mind, but a week later, she’s back in summer stock at a theatre unlike any she’s ever known.
Director Rowan Mackenzie is even odder than the collection of misfits that comprise the cast. What kind of director casts people in the roles they need? And never leaves the grounds of the theatre? And possesses the power to transform a train wreck of a show into a magical experience for cast and audience alike?
There’s a secret at the Crossroads, and Maggie is determined to uncover it before summer’s end – if she can prevent her mother from discovering her whereabouts, deal with the staff’s efforts to thwart her, and avoid falling prey to Rowan Mackenzie’s charm. She never imagines that she will uncover secrets about her past that will change her life – and Rowan’s – forever.

Comment: This book is, so far, one of the best I've read this year. It has everything to be perfect except one thing but it's something I feel confident we'll see solved int he sequel, coming out in 2012.

Maggie is having a bad day and after a collpased ceiling, she decides to travel while loking for a new job. She arrives Vermont, where an amateur theatre company is starting a show, so she makes an audition, not really knowing what is going on.
And then she starts a vouyage of discovery, of friendship, love ans curiosity. The characters all work together like a well defined and complex machine, and theis actions and what they are and do is..Did I mention this is a great book?

This was the first thing I've read by the author, but I'm happy to have read it, the words sound fluid and easy in her writing style, there's nothing boring or heavy in her words and even though the story is told by Maggie, all the characters arounf her gain live in a way many authors can't do.
Then there's many elements from the world of theatre, the plays, the notions, the proper names, it's clar the author has knowledge of what she's talking about, and the story only gains with it.

I loved the story, the pace, the things happening, the mysterious director of the theatre and his secrets and the end...oh the way it ended...it was very wel suited, but I hope the sequel brings some closure and an HEA for this world.

I totally recommend it, I decided to read it after reading a review in another blog and I'm quite happy to have jumped into it. It's a beautiful tale of love and regrets, with many, many layers of emotion.

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