Another Review at MyShelf.Com

Jena's Choice

by Beverly J. Scott



      A Book with Lessons that Linger

A Young Adult Novel Defies Description

Jena's Choice is story that fits well on my bookshelf. I keep only books that do more than entertain, thus some special shelves I had built are full of classics and modern literary novels, poetry and histories. Once in a while I'll place a volume of genre fiction there and it fits proudly. I won't know quite how to classify Jena's Choice by Beverly J. Scott but it will have a permanent spot there as well.

Jena's Choice is a young adult novel, albeit a good, fat one -something one doesn't see often in fiction for that age group. It is also historical fiction and has enough subtle romantic tension to qualify as a romance--well, OK, a near-romance. It is also a western of sorts and a mystery of sorts, an adventure story of sorts. And it would fit nicely on a shelf labeled "books feminists would like." Through all this it manages to explore topics that are pertinent in today's world like independence and tolerance. Does this mean that the novel doesn't know what it is? Not a chance. This is a story that knows exactly where it is going and that it can't be pigeonholed is only to its credit.

In this, the story of a young woman left to care for her younger brother and a ranch threatened by greedy, predatory neighbors, Jena Grant must use all her strength and motivation to fight them and the mores of her culture, as well. It is set firmly in western history and Scott has borrowed liberally from the events and changing geopolitics of the late 1800s to craft her story. This is a book that readers will want to pass on to friends, or to keep safe on their bookshelves for future re-reading.

The Book

Bookman Publishing & Marketing
2004
Trade Paperback
1594533318
Young adult Fiction
More at Amazon.com
Excerpt
NOTE: Rating 5 of 5

The Reviewer

Carolyn Howard Johnson
Reviewed 2006
NOTE: Reviewer Carolyn Howard-Johnson is the award-winning author of This is the Place, Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered, The Frugal Book Promoter: How to Do What Your Publisher Won't -the 2004 winner of USA Book News' Best Professional Book of the Year- and a recently published chapbook of poetry titled Tracings.
© 2006 MyShelf.com