A Stolen Heart - Elena Rodriguez
Our main character is a young woman who is in secondary school. The story begins when she is abit younger, and then jumps ahead afew years till just before graduation, though the specifics of these details are not provided. Misaki is the name of our main girl, a very Japanese name despite all the characters having caucasian hair and skin colouring and the setting of the story being very vague. All the characters, in fact, have Japanese names. The story line goes, Misaki has a very upsetting experience with a young man at the instigation of her friends, she then goes into abit of a social recession, but after putting herself out there again, she faces anxieties and hard decisions and even the threat of death as she fights for what she wants.
The Cons of the book are some of the plot holes and vagunesses of it. The jarring nature of Japanese names on blue eyed characters. The book was weak in the area of exploring how and why complex emotions of anxiety come about in a young person and sort of brushed over the process of getting over them. I also understand that the book was written and self published by a young person, so there are the occasional odd word choices or sentence structures.
The good part of the book is the moral foundation it stands upon. The young people are not quite out of school yet, and are headed off to a yearly ball where they can meet a future partner. No sexual degeneracy in this novel. This book also does not suffer from the plague that possesses writers these days in the area of trying to be so unique to the point it becomes cringe. This story follows a familiar and wholesome path in regards to its romance such as was used by authors like Jane Austin.
Despite being a romance, the story depicts a wholesome friendship between two girls Misaki and her friend Saori, Where they are encouraging and positive towards each other:
“I’m waiting for him to call me,” she said, “but he hasn’t responded. Should I call him?”
“How long have you been waiting?”
“…ten minutes.”
“Wait at least thirty!” Saori exclaimed. “And don’t phone him. Send him a text message instead. Thank him for the date.”
“I’ve already thanked him twice,” Misaki said. “It won’t hurt to thank him again. He’s probably excited as much as you are.”
Overall, this novel is a comforting read, family literature suitable for young teenagers. While the romance is the main focus, other aspects of the story, such as the strict social etiquette between the sexes, and Saori’s quality friendship, make this a good read.
Elena Rodriguez