The Book Chick: Review: "Upcountry" by R.M. Doyon

Jane Schumacher walked out of her childhood home ten days ago and she hasn't looked back since. She hasn't been in touch with her mother or her twin sister, and she is quite happywith her lifetime as a political aide for the Governor of New York. When she receives a life-changing phone call just before Thanksgiving, a serial of events begins that will rapidly spiral out of control.

Jane returns home to see her mother and her baby and to face the demons of her past head-on with surprising results.

Upcountry was fast-paced and engaging. As you may experience from reading my reviews on here, I lean to choose chick lit and women's fiction as my usual reading fare. Upcountry is neither chick lit nor women's fiction, but is insteadthe story of one woman who returns home to try to make restitution for her ten-year absence. I wasn't sure when I first picked it up if it would be too dissimilar from my usual reading choices, but Doyon manages to incorporate action and dramaand romance into the pages of this novel.

I had one small matter with the book, and that was with one particular plot point. In the source of the new we read that Jane hasn't talked to her twin sister for ten years. Jane returns home, there is a little awkwardness with her sister, and so suddenly she is protecting her fiercely. I see that house will ever be family, but if Jane had such strong feelings about protecting her sister, why would she not yet talk to her for ten years? It seemed like a rather abrupt shift to me, which is my personal opinion more than anything.

Aside from that little issue, I really enjoyed Upcountry. There were lots ofplot twists and turns (some predictable, some not), and the last chapters were impossible not to race through.I would certainly recommend this to someone look for a smart novel thathas a little something for everyone.

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5
Challenges: 2011 100 Reading Challenge, The Canadian Book Challenge 4