***Review*** Solace of the Road by Siobhan Dowd

On the Back of the Book

I put the wig on and I thought myself into Solace. I was Solace the Unstoppable, the smooth-walking, sharp-talking glamour girl, and I was heading into a red sky, thumb out and fag in hand.

Holly is sick  of being told what to do. She's ditching her old life and she's heading off. She puts on her blonde wig, blows herself a kiss and flutters her eyelashes. And, now she's ready. She's Solace, Solace of the road.

Pre Read Thoughts

I bought this book ages ago but I remember being drawn to it because of its title. I admit that it intrigued me enough to pick it up and read the synopsis. The synopsis also did its job and I found myself walking to the checkout with the book in my hand. At £6.99 it's the price I expect to pay for a YA paperback so it's competitively priced. I quite like the cover, the girl's polka dot skirt is pretty awesome. I also love the line on the front. "If life could take you anywhere, where would you choose to go?" It's another way to draw the reader in.

Post Read Thoughts

I'm not sure what I want to say about Solace of the road so I'm going to apologise in advance just in case this comes out as a jumbled mess. I found it to be an intense book filled with strong emotions and the words just carried this book along beautifully. I loved the way the story was set out, it felt like you were in a room with Holly and she was telling you her story in an intimate fashion. I really want to point out that this has a lot more depth than the blurb suggests, it deals with some serious issues that I can't tell you about in fear of spoiling the story.

I found that I could really relate to Holly and that is what gave this story such an edge. You come across other people in the story but the only one that matters is Holly. She comes across as a really tough girl but deep down you know that she's scared and all she wants in life is to belong. Sometimes you come across a character in a book and they stay with you and refuse to leave you alone. For me Holly is one of those characters. She's left a massive impression on me.

The writing is wonderful, it's written in the style Holly speaks which makes her voice so much more realistic. I think it's one of the reasons I adore the whole style of the book. The only down side is that at points I had trouble focussing and had to step away from the story in order to take it all in, that's my fault and not the author's. Recently I've read quite a few books that have lacked emotional depth and this one was so filled with it that I wasn't prepared and nearly drowned in it. I'm not being over dramatic, I was so close to tears for so much of this book. I really enjoyed the story and it played like a film in my head and that doesn't happen as much as I want it to.

My Rating

4 stars - I can't give this 5 because something stopped me from devoting every single particle of my attention to this book. I think it's because I've been tired over the past couple f days but I can't be entirely sure. Saying that, this is a fantastis read and I don't feel that my review has done it any sort of justice. I'd thoroughly recommend this to fans of YA fiction.

A Final Note

There are a couple of things that I'd like to touch upon before I end this review. I'm going to number them to make it easier (for me).

1. There is a tiny bit of bad language. There's use of the F-word. It's not as bad as it is in some YA novels but parents of younger teenagers need to be aware that it's there.

2. The author of this book, Siiobhan Dowd, tragically died in 2007 but in the final months of her life she created the Siobhan Dowd Trust which enables disadvantaged children access to books. This means that all royalties from her books go toward this great cause because the joy of reading is amazing. I personally think it's a great idea and I just wanted to make you all aware of its existence.