The Edge of Over There by Shawn Smucker

Wow. Wow. Wow.
There's so much for me to love about this new YA book, The Edge of Over There, by Shawn Smucker. I'd not heard of this author before reading this book, but this reminded me of the works of Travis Thrasher, one of my favorite novelists. This is the second in a series of books that mesh the supernatural world with the human world. I didn't read the first and this read fine as a stand-alone (though I will be purchasing the first, The Day the Angels Fell, as soon as this review is posted!   <--- and="" font="" got="" i="" instead="" it="" just="" nevermind="" now="" went="">
This opens with immediate action and never lets up. I can judge how good a book is by how fast the time goes when I'm reading it while on my exercise bike, and the time flew by while reading this one. I was struck by the powerful wording throughout the book and several times had to put it down to think about what I'd just read. While it doesn't present a gospel message in plain language, it definitely allows the light to be shown in a beautiful way.

About the book:
Before the Tree of Life, everything in Abra Miller's life had been predictable. But after the Tree and the lightning and the angels, everything felt tenuous, like holding a soap bubble in the palm of her hand. She spent years looking for signs of that other world, waiting for it to break through. When it didn't, her friendship with Sam Chambers grew cold and distant, and they both wondered how any of it could actually have happened.

Four years later, 16-year-old Abra's long-delayed quest to find the next manifestation of the Tree of Life is renewed when she sees a woman walking up the road--a woman who looks exactly like Sam's dead mother. The woman directs her to New Orleans where she will find the grave of Marie Laveau, one of seven gateways between this world and Over There. As Abra enters The Edge of Over There and begins her pursuit of the Tree once more, she doesn't know whom to fear or whom to trust. But she's starting to think that some doorways should never be opened.

Shawn Smucker lives with his wife and six children in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. You can find him online at www.shawnsmucker.com

This book was a pleasure to read and was provided for review by Revell.