Novel Review: The Decoding of Lana Morris by Laura and Tom McNeal

Rating (Out of 5): ~4

Genre: YA Contemporary (with a taste of paranormal, and a little romance)

Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf (Random House)

Publish Date: May, 2007

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Sixteen-year-old Lana Morris wishes her life were different, that she were somewhere else, someone else. Her foster mother wants her gone, she's stuck taking care of the other kids in the house, she longs to become closer to her foster father, and the only cool people around refuse to acknowledge her. Then Lana stumbles into Miss Hekkity's mysterious shop, and she begins to realize that she might actually have the power to change things—to make some of her wishes come true. But wishing isn't always as harmless as it seems. . . .

Award-winning authors Laura and Tom McNeal weave a warmhearted and suspenseful story about the power—and danger—of a wish.

Something Specific:

Quote:

• "'I don’t run and I don’t hide.” (Paperback, pg. 272)

The Cover:

I like the cover of this book. The one pictured above is pretty, I'm not a huge fan of the model, but the feel of it is fitting. I honestly think the other cover is better, the color is very pretty, and I really like how the dandelion fits the book.

Review:

This book has been on my shelf for a very long time (like, since before Borders closed), and I finally took it off and told myself to read it. I was starting to think it would be pretty meh, a slow read, but I’d had it so long I’d practically forgotten it was there. And it turned out quite a bit better than I thought it would be.

It is a kind of slow read, slow paced, but it’s a very good one. It’s a little eccentric, subtle, quirky, thoughtful. It’s very sweet, with really nice characters that you want to have a happy ending.

It has a paranormal premise, what with the wishes, but it’s very contemporary, actually. Lana is an orphan, and she lives with a bunch of odd orphaned kids, in a house with not-very-nice adults. She wants out, but her wants mature and expand and get better by the end of the book. Her relationships with the kids gets better, grows.

I’m really glad that I picked this book up, forever ago when I did, and that I finally got around to reading it. And I will probably be picking up another book by the McNeal’s in the future.