Wednesday, November 2, 2011

STRING BRIDGE by Jessica Bell


Title: String Bridge
Author: Jessica Bell
Publisher: Lucky Press, LLC (November 1, 2011)
Format: eARC
Source: Author
To Purchase: Amazon

Description: Greek cuisine, smog and domestic drudgery was not the life Australian musician, Melody, was expecting when she married a Greek music promoter and settled in Athens, Greece. Keen to play in her new shoes, though, Melody trades her guitar for a 'proper' career and her music for motherhood. That is, until she can bear it no longer and plots a return to the stage--and the person she used to be. However, the obstacles she faces along the way are nothing compared to the tragedy that awaits, and she realizes she's been seeking fulfillment in the wrong place.

Review: Jessica Bell’s String Bridge is a beautifully tragic tale of desire, music, and love.

Melody, an Australian living in Greece, decides she wants it all: to combine who she used to be with who she is now. She’s ready to pick up her guitar again and play gigs as well as pursue a chance to further her editorial career while being a wife and mother. Yet nothing is life is ever so simple. As she searches for the bridge to secure her two halves, she will have to lose it all to find herself.

String Bridge is edgy musicality. Bell uses every word to spin its poetic prose, and they should be savored. Emotions fill the characters, laughing, crying, anger. The characters seem so real. For me, the pace slows in the middle, but the surprise of what sparks the last part of the book speeds the end to fruition. I love how Melody discovers her strength through tragedy. This literary novel bursts with wonderful imagery, particularly the bridge of a guitar to life.

String Bridge by Jessica Bell sings a raw, tragic song that crescendos into hope and love. I recommend it to readers who love poetic prose and characters driven to the edge and back again.