Review: In the Storm by Karen Metcalf

Book: In the Storm  by Karen Metcalf
Pages:  88
Genre: Young Adult / Fantasy
Purchase A Copy: Amazon | Smashwords | Vegabondage Press
Publication Date: February 15th, 2011

Description: Abandoned by the world around her, Carly believes she is fated to a life of torment at the hands of her stepfather and is desperate for an escape. When she can bear the abuse no longer and gives in to a thunderous rage, she suddenly finds herself in an unfamiliar, yet beautiful, storm world. This limbo between dimensions appears to be her private sanctuary, but it may just be her purgatory.

No one escapes fate without sacrifice, but is the price more than Carly is willing to pay?

 

Every once in a while you stumble across a book that literally pulls on your emotions. In The Storm by Karen Metcalf does just that. Carly’s story is a heartbreaking one; you cannot help but get sucked into her desperate attempt to escape her train wreck of a life.

While the book certainly isn’t perfect, it has a lot of things going for it. First of all, the writing is absolutely beautiful. Metcalf’s descriptions bring the story to life and you’ll quickly find yourself lost in Carly’s dream world. Secondly, the plotline is intriguing and exciting enough to keep you eagerly flipping the pages. Carly’s dream world was easily my favorite part of the book. I love how everything about it is directly tied to her as a person – it is constantly changing and evolving with her moods.

However, I have to say, I found parts of the plotline a bit confusing. I love the idea of the story – looking at all of the different variations of a person’s life, but I kept finding myself a bit lost. There is a lot to absorb in this short book and I feel like some of the concepts were skipped over too quickly. I would have liked to see the story drawn out a bit more so that we could have gotten a better handle on what exactly was going on.

As far as the characters go, I am kind of on the fence about Carly. In the beginning of the story, I felt like I had a good sense of her as a person, but as the story progressed she went a bit off course. At first she is presented as a strong character, who had a good head on her shoulders. As the plot continues, she became very erratic and her emotions were all over the place. There were a couple of scenes where she and Morgan were screaming at each other for no apparent reason. 

Speaking of Morgan, can I just say, I adore him. Morgan is a guy that lives in Carly’s dream world. He is incredibly awkward, but in a completely endearing way. I was a bit confused as to where their (Morgan & Carly’s) story was going – I was not sure if he was being presented as an actual love interest or what.

The ending of In the Storm, left me with a number of unanswered questions. There are just too many intricate details and plotlines that need to be explained for an 88 page book. I can only hope for a sequel, where hopefully I can get a better handle on how exactly everything in the dream world works. I enjoyed In the Storm; but unfortunately I was left confused by a lot of the plotlines. 

 Favorite Quote:

"My body suddenly craves this - any - physical contact, and I cling to him. I surrender to the tears and cry against his neck until I regain my composure."