Book Review: Towering

Author: Alex Flinn
Publication Date: May 14, 2013
Publisher: Harper Teen

At first, I merely saw his face, his hands on the window ledge. Then, his whole body as he swung himself through the window. Only I could not see what he swung on. Until, one day, I told my dream self to look down. And it was then that I saw. He had climbed on a rope. I knew without asking that the rope had been one of my own tying.

Rachel is trapped in a tower, held hostage by a woman she’s always called Mama. Her golden hair is growing rapidly, and to pass the time, she watches the snow fall and sings songs from her childhood, hoping someone, anyone, will hear her.

Wyatt needs time to reflect or, better yet, forget about what happened to his best friend, Tyler. That’s why he’s been shipped off to the Adirondacks in the dead of winter to live with the oldest lady in town. Either that, or no one he knows ever wants to see him again.

Dani disappeared seventeen years ago without a trace, but she left behind a journal that’s never been read, not even by her overbearing mother…until now.

A #1 New York Times bestselling author, Alex Flinn knows her fairy tales, and Towering is her most mind-bending interpretation yet. Dark and mysterious, this reimagining of Rapunzel will have readers on the edge of their seats wondering where Alex will take them next!

“The trees did a skeleton dance in the December wind.”

 

“I laughed, but I liked the idea of it, that I might be special somehow and just not realize it, that the best part of my life wasn’t already over.”

 

“Some people were big on them, but I knew that secrets could kill like handguns and knives.”

A modern fairytale retelling based on the classic tale of Rapunzel, only with twisted and modern flair, and I read it all in one sitting! This story put a dark twist on the fairytale that many people know and love. I have never read a fairytale retelling that I didn’t like and this one will sit forever at the top of my favorites list. There is an amazing mystery behind this retelling and we are introduced to the girl who lives in the tower by a boy named Wyatt. Wyatt has just lost his best friend and the girl he has secretly harbored feelings for for quite some time, and his mother has sent him off on a sort of healing holiday to stay with the mother of her childhood best friend. Once Wyatt arrives in tremendously cold and terrifying mountains, he learns of strange disappearances that have occurred over the vast and chilly mountains for years and years. He quickly learns that one of those disappearances was his mother’s best friend, Danielle, when she was only a teenager. Wyatt goes on a quest to discover what really happened to Dani, and instead he finds a beautiful girl in an old abandoned tower!

 

The mystery of Dani’s disappearance kept me reading this book until I finished it. I just could not put the book down until I learned what happened to Dani all those years ago. I usually don’t care for male perspectives, but Wyatt was an amazing guide! I loved his voice and the way he slowly began to open up to readers and let them in on his haunting past. Wyatt was a truly interesting character and his story blew my mind away. He really introduces readers to the scenery that surrounds him and the way he realizes and perceives things around him sent chills up my spine. He was so involved in Dani’s life and he is the voice that causes readers to become so caught up in this rollercoaster ride of a story.

 

The girl in the tower. The topic that everyone wants to hear about I know, but unfortunately this is not something that I can talk about without including too many spoilers. It is best to find the girl just like Wyatt does, unexpected and bewildered. She is beautiful and her story is just like Dani’s, it grabs you by the hand and won’t let you stop reading until you have all the answers. I feel completely confident in giving this story five cupcakes! This is a story that many readers will find irresistible to put down.

 

***A copy of this book was provided to me by the publishers at Harper Teen in exchange for my honest review***