The Reece Malcolm List by Amy Spalding
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
In all honesty I wasn’t sure what I was going to get with The Reece Malcolm List. The cover makes it kind of look like a cute summer read… which it totally could be, but it could also be a snuggle on the couch under layers of blankets in the middle of winter kind of read, which is exactly what it was for me.
Devan, our main character, knows very little about her birth mother, Reece Malcolm. But at the age of 16, with the death of her father, she finds herself traveling with Reece’s lawyer, from Missouri to California to live with her.
As a theater junkie and aspiring musical actress, she finds herself in a world so different than the one she left behind her. Attending a performing arts school she meets people who like the things she does and manages to make some friends, but the problem is that they are all vying for the same things.
Devan attempts to traverse the waters of high school friendships, fights, relationships and jealousy all while attempting to get to know the woman who is her mother… the woman who she struggles to understand and make sense of.
Devan’s voice in this story is wonderful, she’s modest and kind of sweetly wonderful. The girl who you think has everything she could want, when in fact, she herself feels as though she’s missing the most basic of things… someone to love her. In order to figure out her mother, she starts a list… adding the things she knows about Reece and with each new reveal we learn a bit more about both of them.
A chance meeting with Sai when she first arrives at school for her audition leaves her wondering if maybe he could be someone who’s interested in her.
If it were a musical we would totally be kissing soon, but I’ll probably find out that, despite my instincts, he’s gay.
I really loved the secondary characters in this book… From Sai, the incredibly nerdy but cute, popular boy… to Mira to Travis to Lissa and even Elijah. They were all wonderfully written and had a purpose!
There were times that I disliked Reece…I won’t lie. She’s basically been a recluse her whole life, writing her novels and she doesn’t know how to be a mother…especially to a sixteen year old. BUT her actions and her reactions were written wonderfully when you’re given the full picture of her life. And also… I loved Brad. He was the perfect complement character wise to her.
Ultimately, the story really focuses on finding your ‘home’ and realizing where you’re supposed to be. Oh… and the importance of talking about things!
Fans of theater and quite possibly Glee and Smash might really like this as there is a lot of theater talk and overall this was a fun, sweet, quick read and I would recommend it to anyone!
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