Review: Canary

Title: Canary
Author: Rachele Alpine
Series: n/a

Summary: Staying quiet will destroy her, but speaking up will destroy everyone.

Kate Franklin’s life changes for the better when her dad lands a job at Beacon Prep, an elite private school with one of the best basketball teams in the state. She begins to date a player on the team and quickly gets caught up in a world of idolatry and entitlement, learning that there are perks to being an athlete.

But those perks also come with a price. Another player takes his power too far and Kate is assaulted at a party. Although she knows she should speak out, her dad’s vehemently against it and so, like a canary sent into a mine to test toxicity levels and protect miners, Kate alone breathes the poisonous secrets to protect her dad and the team. The world that Kate was once welcomed into is now her worst enemy, and she must decide whether to stay silent or expose the corruption, destroying her father’s career and bringing down a town’s heroes.

Canary is told in a mix of prose and verse.

My Thoughts: I think I’ve hit a rough patch with reviews. It seems like every book leaves me unsure how to start. So, this is going to be a new approach. Maybe. Let me just start by saying that I really liked the mix of prose and verse.

Canary by Rachele Alpine is about so much more than the summary suggests. And, really, the summary places too much emphasis on the assault, which occurs pretty late in the book. The whole book focuses more on what leads up to that moment, which ends up being a pivotal point in Kate’s life. In many ways, this book reminded me of Smashed by Lisa Luedeke. There’s the assault aspect. There’s the girls’ names: Kate and Katie. Those might really be the only similarities, but they’re enough to bring Smashed to mind while I was reading. Although, honestly, I don’t think Canary quite as well-written.

It’s still good, though. Kate is a character I generally liked and was able to relate to. The poor thing has been through a lot, and she’s doing the best she can to keep going. I get that. There were a couple of moments when I wanted to shake her to make her see things about not just the team, but especially the boyfriend. He has moments when he seems like a great guy, but get him with his friends and he’s not. He’s one of those guys – ladies, you know what I mean. He’s so good at being a nice guy so much that it’s easy to forget that he’s not quite the catch Kate originally thinks he is.

One thing I wasn’t sold on was the response to Kate’s brother enlisting in the Army. It’s a hugely negative response from both Kate and her dad. I get their concern, but it seemed extreme. I’m sure that for some it’s not so extreme, that there are people out there who would react that way. But, it was hard to swallow, especially Kate’s subsequent depression once the papers have been signed. While I get that she’s worried and scared – scared of losing yet another person she loves so much – her response felt melodramatic. I felt bad for her, but in some ways I agreed with her friends (much to my disgust), who perhaps could have had a much better approach.

In the end, I was pleased by how everything played out. I felt that things were resolved in a satisfactory manner on pretty much all fronts. While I can’t say I closed the book with a smile, I did have a feeling of satisfaction. That is a sign of a story that ends well.

Source: Received through Around the World Tours for review.

Read It: Canary is scheduled for release around August 1, 2013. You can pre-order your own copy HERE. (This is a Book Depository link, and purchase through this link will result in my receiving a small commission at no cost to you. Your support is appreciated!)

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FTC Disclosure: All items reviewed were either obtained by me for my own enjoyment or sent (from the author, publisher, publicist, via tour sites, etc.) in exchange for an honest review. I receive no monetary compensation for my posts. All opinions expressed are my own. Any exceptions to this are clearly noted in the appropriate posts.

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