Fingerprints of You
Kristen-Paige Madonia
August 2012
272 pages
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This is one of my favorite covers of the year, especially since it is totally relevant to the story. And it’s so colorful…I could stare at it for hours.
Luckily, I managed to stop staring long enough to read the book. In a nutshell, this is what it’s about:
Lemon (yes, that’s her real name…it just happened to be her mom’s favorite paint color the month she was born) gets knocked up by the local tattoo artist her mom had the hots for. So her mom packs ‘em up and moves them to another town. There, Lemon finds Emmy, her BFF, and for their Christmas vacation, they decide to take off on an epic road trip (via Greyhound) to San Francisco. Emmy wants to get out of Dodge and take her mind off of her dad’s deployment to Afghanistan. Lemon wants to find her own father, hoping that in doing so she can figure out her mom and dad and better prepare herself for the birth of her own baby.
Lemon and Emmy are quite the pair. The are a mish-mash of brains, hormones, insightfulness, poor decisions (strip poker with your mom’s boyfriend, Lemon? Really?), devotion, and emotion.
And the adults in the book aren’t much better. They’re also smart (for the most part…not sure the tattoo artist was the brightest of bulbs), but also fucked up. Issues, people. Everyone in this book has Serious Issues.
But. They work through them. Mostly. My only complaint is that Lemon and Emmy are a bit too wise at times. But then they go and do something totally stupid so it kind of all balances out.
It’s Natalie‘s fault that I read this, because her review made it sound too good to pass up (and it is too good…so don’t pass it up). The IT-along gang seems to be a bad influence this month, as I also read Amglish, thanks to the Princess, and have Psycho USA waiting on my nook app because of Michelle.
Oh, and I almost forgot. A bookish quote!
“For me reading was the one thing I could never imagine letting go of, the hours of exploring other people’s lives through the rhythms and tempos of well-written stories.” (p. 208)
Love the quote! I do love books with people with Serious Issues.
I love reading books that feature characters with issues, so this one is right up my alley. Thanks for the great review of this one, and for the quote. This is one that I need to read, and soon!
Yay, so glad you enjoyed this, and I’m happy to take the blame! There was a complete bevy of Serious Issues with bad choices (oy, the tattoo artist!) in this one, that’s for sure. I got pretty swept up in the art and music scene of San Francisco as well, looking forward to more from this author!
Yes, definitely sounds like lots of issues.
WordPress hates me .. sorry if this is a duplicate: Yes, sounds like lots of issues!
I’m pretty sure I’d buy this based on the cover alone as I’m shameless that way. But road trips are also a huge pull for me so this sounds like something I needed to read yesterday!
As always, you write the best reviews.
Like some of your other commenters, I’m a reader who likes characters with serious issues, so this is definitely one I’ll be checking out.
I love that cover too! I swear I’ve known some people who sound an awful lot like Lemon and Emmy in my day.
So I had to read this review twice. Seriously. There was a moment where I went, “wait, she got knocked up by the dude her MOM had the hots for, wtf.”
But yeah, this sounds like a princess book.
Funny, as soon as I saw the cover I thought, “This looks like a cover Jill would totally love.”
I agree … that is one special cover!
That, is an awesome cover! I love dysfunctional people as long as they keep the whining to a minimum.
I love this cover! Adding it to my list straight away!
Serious issues can be good. I’d like to read another book but I’m still slogging Through IT!