Eleanor by Jason Gurley

This week I was able to read and review "Eleanor" by Jason Gurley! I was initially drawn to this book because I love the name, and it was in the Sci-fi genre. The book begins with Eleanor in 1962. The decisions that Eleanor makes in 1962 set off a domino effect that will change the path of her children's lives and the lives of her children's children.

Fast forward to 1985. Eleanor and Esmerelda are now 6 years old (although this is not the same Eleanor from the beginning of the story, which was a little confusing to me at first. Eleanor is named after her grandmother, Eleanor from the beginning of the story.) A tragic accident claims the life of Esmerelda and within a span of just a few years, Eleanor's family falls apart. Her mother turns into a drunk, who cannot stand looking at her own daughter Eleanor, because she has the same face as her twin sister who died. Her father is present in her life, but doesn't spend much time with Eleanor because she feels it's her responsibility to care for her mother.

When Eleanor is 14, strange things begin to occur. Readers are introduced to two new characters, Effah and Mea although for most of the book you are wondering who they really are. They in somewhat of a different realm than Eleanor, but Mea feels drawn to Eleanor so she keeps trying to bring Eleanor into her realm. She fails many times and almost accidentally kills Eleanor on many occasions trying to do so. Near the end of the book, it is finally revealed who Effah and Mea are and why they are trying to connect to Eleanor.

I cannot really say much more about the story without giving the plot away so I will end there. For probably the first quarter of the book, I was a little confused about who the characters were and how they were connected. But I do think that mystery adds a fun little element to the story, so I don't think this was necessarily a bad thing. I am not usually a fan of books with a lot of sadness. However, I could not put this book down. There were not distinct chapters, so sections of the book were only separated by the change in character, the year, or a change in realms. This book held a good amount of suspense. I figured out pretty early on who Mea was but not Effah. That one took a little longer to figure out.

I can honestly say I've never read a book quite like "Eleanor", so I applaud the author on making something completely new and different from anything I've ever read. All I can say is Wow. "Eleanor" is quite the book. Beautiful and heartbreaking all at the same time. I rate this book as 5 stars and I would recommend it to others.

I received this book for free from Blogging For Books in exchange for my honest unbiased opinion.