Harmless

Harmless

Harmless, yeah not so much. Amazing. Captivating. Terrifying, maybe. Thought provoking. Keeps you on the edge of your seat. But not Harmless.

Harmless is the story of Rachael, a young woman that is about to graduate from high school. From the first page you know she has dealt with a lot of pain in her young life. And she is trying to deal with it, or maybe she's only looking for a way to learn to deal with it. At the beginning of the book all she has learned to do so far is label the way she feels in a very unique way.

Outlook for the days ahead: cloudy with a chance of rain. 

After experiencing the loss of her brother this is how she has learned to at least identify her feelings, by stating them to herself as a weather forecast.  And her weather forecast makes Seattle look balmy. Practically tropical. But she is trying. Or trying to try depending on her weather. But poor Rachael is rootless. She has no real support. Shortly after her brother died and her mother fell into depression her parents separated. Living with her mother she still wasn't able to put down any roots. Her mother's way of dealing with the loss of her child was to constantly move and look for new things. Which left young Rachael desperately holding onto the past trying to keep that connection to the brother she loved and looked up to.

Another loss sends her packing again when her grandfather dies and her mother moves them back to her old hometown to live with her mother, Rachael's grandmother. Here she is assured repeatedly that they are going to stay. But Rachael doesn't trust it, and she holds onto her past, and all the memories she has packed away and kept hidden.


But she does try, at least a little, to fit in. She makes friends and even has them over for cards and drinks one night. And that is when things start to go wrong. Trying to help the first thing her friend Julie  unpacks in a decorative box her grandmother had given her. A spirit box. A box that even her grandmother doesn't understand or know the history of. And like silly kids tend to do when they are trying to prove that they aren't scared they all take turns making wishes. I'm not going to ruin it by describing this scene, but I would love to see it on the big screen one day. Given how well this story plays out, and the scares and sudden changes that happen, I can see it getting made into a movie if Hollywood is smart enough to do so.

Their wishes cast, and the spirits willing, things begin to change around town. And Rachael is the only one that finds it strange at first. But the changes all can't be explained away by circumstance or blind luck. Powerful forces are at work. Rachael is the only one willing to looking into them and find out what is really happening. Because one other person knows what is happening, and why. He even knows how to stop it. But he's not telling. Not when he has so much to gain.

If you still aren't sure and want a bit of a teaser you can get a free copy of the start of her book HERE.

I will admit I was a bit annoyed with Rachael at first. It seemed that for every step forward she took, or was pushed, she would jump two steps back. She wasn't stuck in her past. She gladly went back to it over and over again, pulling her pain around her like a coat to hide what was going on inside.

But then chapter 10 happened. Admittedly, I was warned. I was warned by the author even. She told me I would get sucked in from that point on and she was right. Silly me, I thought, "Oh hey, then I guess that would be a good time to hop on my bike and getting some riding in." I should have checked the book progress first. Folks, there are 21 chapters. And she was too right. I got a cramp in my left calf that I didn't notice for I don't even know how long. I kept biking and reading. New record for me at 19 miles. I'll be walking funny for a while. My calf is still screaming at me. And I don't even regret it. I might regret it tomorrow when I have to walk somewhere. But the ending of the book, everything coming together, made me forget it all again.

Like good books do, this story did NOT go the way I thought it would. It took its own path. Every time it looked like it would point one way or the other, have this or that ending, it changed. And changed again. Then got into a fight with a bear, because it was so far off the beaten path, and kept going. A truly amazing book. 6//5

And we can take a moment to really look at that cover? Do you see that thing?! It's amazing the depth of detail that went into it. The artist is extraordinary! I loved it so much I reached out to the author for the name of her cover artist. Brianna Schretlen is the woman that did not just the cover but also the video. I think we can all agree that she did awe inspiring work on both.

If you want to find Katherine and her wondrous book you can find her at any of these links.

Facebook Profile: https://www.facebook.com/katherine.dell.7
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/katherine.dell
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35434633-harmless?from_search=true
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B071WKKCRM
Twitter: https://twitter.com/katherine_dell
Website: http://www.katherinedell.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katherine.dell/
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/harmless-10
Amazon (Harmless): https://www.amazon.com/Harmless-Katherine-Dell-ebook/dp/B071FRSDVG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1496681339&sr=8-1&keywords=harmless+katherine+dell
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjraywPgDRY
Chapters/Indigo: https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/contributor/author/katherine-dell/#page=0&pid=978099599890&sortDirection=&sortKey=
Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/reviews/harmless-katherine-dell/1126741737?ean=9780995998902#reviews-header