Book Review: Glimmers by Barbara Brooke

Glimmers begins when Paige tries on a pair of vintage boots and experiences a “glimmer” into the life of the boots’ former owner. As the story progresses, Paige experiences similar glimmers when she touches objects of sentimental value to others. When I first started reading, I thought the people whose stories she experienced were going to be random, helping her to live her own life better. For example, after the first glimmer, Paige uses her experiences to improve her cooking skills. But as the story progresses, I learned that the glimmers were not random—they interconnect in a way that brings richness to the text. I won’t give away any more because the fun for me was discovering how all the stories related.

I enjoyed the style of this book. First of all, it’s a clean read, so there isn’t anything inappropriate, and I could see a young adult reader enjoying it, too. It’s written in first-person point of view in a conversational way. I enjoyed this point of view, and each glimmer kept my interest.

My least favorite was the memory of England (I won’t give away details because it’s important to the plot). I felt like the difference in time period and location (compared to the other glimmers) should have made the narrator’s voice sound drastically different, but it didn’t feel that different to me. I also wanted just a bit more depth in experiencing this important memory.

Still, I greatly enjoyed how the storylines were woven together and how each of Paige’s experiences helped her improve upon or understand her own life in a more meaningful way. My favorite character was Paige’s mother, who brought humor to the novel and offered a bit of comic relief. In the end, all my questions were answered about the characters—even questions that I thought would go unanswered, which brought a nice sense of closure. It is definitely women’s lit (I’m trying to imagine my husband reading the book), and I wanted just a little bit more depth, but it was a pleasure to read. I can see fans of Jane Austen loving this book!

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.