A Song for Julia by Charles Sheehan-Miles
Series: The Thompson Sisters
Published by Cincinnatus Press
Publish Date: December 15, 2012
374 Pages
Source: Author for review – Thank you!
Everyone should have something to rebel against.
Crank Wilson left his South Boston home at sixteen to start a punk band and burn out his rage at the world. Six years later, he’s still at odds with his father, a Boston cop, and doesn’t ever speak to his mother. The only relationship that really matters is with his younger brother, but watching out for Sean can be a full-time job. The one thing Crank wants in life is to be left the hell alone to write his music and drive his band to success.
Julia Thompson left a secret behind in Beijing that exploded into scandal in Washington, DC, threatening her father’s career and dominating her family’s life. Now, in her senior year at Harvard, she’s haunted by a voice from her past and refuses to ever lose control of her emotions again, especially when it comes to a guy.
When Julia and Crank meet at an anti-war protest in Washington in the fall of 2002, the connection between them is so powerful it threatens to tear everything apart. -(from Goodreads)
Julia Thompson and Crank Wilson couldn’t possibly be more different.
Over the course of the book, Julia and Crank begin a shaky relationship – shaky because Julia does not want to become attached to someone. She is completely consumed with fear of trusting someone and getting hurt. It is almost torturous reading the relationship between these two because it is so clear that Crank falls so hard for this girl – which is so different and new for him – and it is clear that Julia has deep feelings for him as well. The problem is that Julia has to work through the problems she faced years ago before she can even begin to learn how to trust and love and be in a relationship, and she has such a hard time with that. Crank suffers because he loves her so much, and Julia constantly wars with herself. Despite the torture of this relationship, the slow-build is wonderful and I enjoyed reading about it so much.
This book has real issues in it.
The book opens in the fall of 2002, which is not long after the 9/11 attacks. At this time in American history, the US military is facing continued deployment to different areas of the world – including Afghanistan, Iraq, and the surrounding regions – in response to those attacks. Julia’s father is an ambassador. Crank’s father is in the National Guard and is facing deployment. This places Julia in the middle, and she has concrete feelings of her own regarding the decisions of our Presidential administration, which are not in line with what her mother and father have told her to think and feel. Speaking of her mother and father, they are basically absentee parents, never really spending time caring for Julia but always planning her life out for her, and she has decided she doesn’t want the life they have decided for her. Julia is finding her own way, and it just might be way off course from the life she is supposed to live.
There are also the issues surrounding Julia’s past – the things that happened to her when she was fourteen and also during her senior year are horrific and tragic, and she has never had the opportunity to heal from those deep wounds. We find out in bits and pieces what happened to her in Beijing and in Bethesda, and how her family actually dealt these issues, and how Julia is currently dealing with them. We find out how these past traumas affect her interaction with every single person she comes in contact with, and it is eye-opening and a brilliant story-line. It is hard to read, but I love the way the author weaved these things into the relationship between Julia and Crank, and I loved how they were weaved into relationships with other secondary characters as well.
In addition, there is the issue surrounding Crank’s family and all of the anger and resentment and brokenness within it. Crank’s brother Sean has Asperger’s, and has difficulties at school with bullying. Crank and his father walk on eggshells at home, always afraid that he’ll have one of his outbursts. Crank and Sean have residual anger from when their mother left home, but there is so much to the story that they just don’t know. And what will happen if Crank’s father actually gets deployed or if Crank actually gets a record deal? Who will take care of Sean? Sean constantly worries, and it seems the only person he can relate to is Julia, which is interesting, considering that Julia rarely allows herself to be close to anyone, ever.
There are so many parts to this book and they are written so well, you guys. So very well. This book is so much more than a romance.
The issues presented by Mr. Sheehan-Miles are emotional and real and give the romance and the story in general so much depth. A Song for Julia feels like such a real story because people actually do have many different facets to their life, and often these parts of their life have flaws and crazy things going on. That is demonstrated so well in this book. Even though I’ve listed some pretty heavy things out for you here in terms of issues, and there are still a few that I haven’t mentioned, I can assure you that this book never feels to heavy at all – it is so well-balanced between good moments and intense moments and romance moments. It is just a well-crafted book.
I wish that Julia had been able to deal with her past before she met Crank so they could have been happier from the beginning. I wish that Crank didn’t have so much pent-up anger from past issues with his family. I wish that some of the things that happened between some of the people in this book didn’t happen – but they did, and this book is about people mending relationships and learning to love again. It is a truly wonderful story and I highly recommend it to fans of New Adult contemporary romance, particularly those that do not mind their stories with some issues.
with Issues
Romance: No triangle. Slowly-Developing.
Stories about Musicians/Music
*Some mature content! Young readers, use caution!*
A Song for Julia by Charles Sheehan-Miles
About Asheley
Asheley is a Southern girl. She loves Carolina blue skies, Ben & Jerry's ice cream, and NC craft beer. She loves all things history but prefers books over everything.
You can find her somewhere in North Carolina, daydreaming about the ocean.
Find Asheley on Litsy @intothehallofbooks!
Well I am definitely intrigued by this book. I love that it is a romance set in a real setting, and that there are lots of social and emotional issues happening. The time period is also really interesting, I'm excited to read more about it. I'm a little nervous about embarking on another book with a difficult female MC, tho. I seem to be reading a lot of them recently – girls dealing with past tragedies, grief and things that happened to them, and sometimes I can have trouble connecting with them. But it sounds like Julia's behavior makes sense for who she is? I'll definitely be checking this one out!
Julia's behavior definitely makes sense for what she has been through, but I have to admit that I was rushing her a little bit on "getting thru" her issues. I kind of felt sorry for Crank after awhile because she seemed to be putting him thru unnecessary stuff – however, it made him seem like a much sturdier character and made his growth as a character seem much more reliable and more meaningful, given that he had such typical rock star behavior in the beginning of the book. In terms of her family, I totally forgave her behavior because they were pretty awful (except for her sisters – love the siblings).
This book is so great. I love New Adult books anyway, but I'm finding that the contemp romances that have real-life "stuff" in them like this one and VAIN by Fisher Amelie are really, really great because they have such plausible plot lines or things that I can visualize so easily in my head. Plus this one was written by an author that has been a soldier before, so I feel like I can trust his writing as far as the soldier thread of the plotline.
AND I REALLY LOVE that this is a companion series about the sisters. This is the first one that I've read (only two are released so far) but it is very evident in just this one that they really love each other and we both love those sibling relationships. When you get a chance, outside of some of Julia's issues, this one is really great. You'll love Crank because there is so much more to him than his stereotypical rock star exterior. He has a great family.
This book hadn't been on my radar before now, but it sounds really, really good. And I'm glad that it's about real issues because that's real life. I'm also intrigued by Julia and Crank's relationship. It sounds like there's so much there. Thanks, Asheley!
Hey, you're welcome, Jess! I think you'll love Crank if you get around to reading this one. He's such a great character. And I'm really loving the NA Contemp romances with the real issues.
I definitely need to read this!! The fact that it has real characters and real issues makes it even more attractive to me. I love a book that makes you really think, and Im also a sucker for a good romance – and this book seems like it will deliver both of those things!! I can't wait to read this!!
Yes, Natalie, this book does deliver on both of those things. I felt like it would be a good one when I started it but I was so pleasantly surprised at HOW good it was. I've already snagged the other book by this author and I'm planning to read the rest of the books he releases about the other sisters as he writes them! I think you'll like this one. 🙂
Wow! I've never actually heard of this book, but after reading your thoughts, I'm COMPLETELY intrigued by it. I definitely want to read this book!
The writing is brilliant too! Even Julia's POV is very well done, you can feel all the emotions pouring out from the page and pulling at your heart strings. They both have unique, but realistic, powerful and easy to relate to voices and personalities. An all around amazing book!
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