Heather’s Bookshelf: Bon Echo and The Competition
Author: Colette Bos
Released: 03/11/21
Genre: YA SciFi
“As I look out onto Bon Echo Bay, I can’t help but remember how, even when I was young, everything was tied together as if in some grand master plan. Back then, I remember sitting around the fire pit with Grandma, her voice weaving enchanting tales that danced in the flickering flames.”
“Bon Echo and The Competition” introduces Maven Landry, a young woman trying to find herself by recounting her past through her diary and memories.
While reminiscing, Maven recounts a hologram competition that she narrowly loses to her brother, Merrick, an accidental fire, and her childhood imaginary friend, Owl.
Having lost their mother at a young age to a work-related accident, Merrick and Maven were mostly raised by their beloved grandmother. Merrick knows his path to his future, but Maven’s still trying to figure hers out. Circumstances lead to the siblings purchasing a lighthouse and turning it into their homebase in anticipation of things to come.
Maven also recounts when she first learns the truth about Owl, her family’s inheritance, and their connection to the preservation of the Earth.
Will Maven, Merrick, Owl, and their closest friends be able to fight global warming or will all their hopes and dreams be dashed before they even get started?
Trigger Warning: reference to global warming, parent death
Overall, I enjoyed this story. When it begins, the book has the feel of a literary fiction. It’s told through Maven re-reading her journal and reminiscing about all that’s happened recently in her life. There’s a few time jumps, but if read in the context of a journal, it makes sense. I did not find that the story read like a journal entry, though, which provided for better story telling but kind of pulled away from the journal concept. Maven’s an interesting protagonist- she’s intelligent, a little insecure, and also pragmatic. The author does a nice job in showing Maven’s evolution especially throughout the scholarship competition. There’s elements of sci-fi at the competition, absolutely, but it really kicks in later on with the revelations with Owl. There’s a love story wrapped into the middle of the tale, but it felt like the whole thing progressed really too fast. It seemed like you blinked and they were already saying “I love you.” The quick progression took me a bit out of it and I didn’t feel invested in the relationship. I did really enjoy the comradery between Maven, Merrick and their friends. The siblings relationship with their grandmother was also endearing. I don’t want to give anything away, but I was really surprised by the change in tone in the second half of the book. It clearly set up the world and expectations for future stories in the series.
I received a copy of this story in exchange of a fair and honest review.
OVERALL REVIEW:
A sci-fi that starts out with the feel of a literary fiction but develops with interesting characters and events in the setting of journal entries.
Want to learn more about the author?
Check out my interview with Colette Bos
Interested in checking out the book for yourself?
Find it for purchase here
Interested in submitting your book for review? Visit my review page for guidelines and submission requirements.
