The Pacifist by Jenny Holiday – a Review

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Description:
She’s done holding her peace…

Laraline Reynolds has spent her entire life as a certified Good Girl. The perpetual peacemaker in her volatile, conservative family, Laraline promises herself that she’ll spend her last year of grad school getting in touch with her inner rebel before she settles down and marries her family-approved long-distance boyfriend. But Laraline’s Year of Fun quickly turns into something more complicated, and she finds herself at the forefront of a movement to change her college’s sexual assault policy.

It’s the Year of No Fun for Tony Bianchi. A fifth-year senior, he needs to graduate, so he’s put a moratorium on his two favorite distractions: girls and photography. But when Laraline comes calling, needing some photos for her cause–and for her campaign for a seat on the college board of governors–Tony’s resistance comes crashing down.

They both fall hard. But while Tony is ready to give it everything he’s got, Laraline is afraid. She wasn’t prepared for her one-year rebellion to lead her to the life she truly wants. In order to break free from her family, she’ll need to do the scariest thing of all–follow her heart.

Review:

I love the juxtaposition of two college students on very different paths.  Laraline’s “Summer of Fun” is brought to ruination by Tony’s “Summer of No Fun”.  The irony escapes the stymied Laraline, but it sparks conflict that creates dialogue, that flies in the face of expectations, grating Laraline relief from her gilded cage.  This sounds so awesome, tell you, tell you now what I’m reading?!  It’s obviously Jenny Holiday and her fabulous New Wave Newsroom series!  The Pacifist is book 3 out of three, and I couldn’t be more distressed.  🙁  I adore this series and insist that you start it right away.  The writing, it’s engaging and interesting.  Her characters, arresting and delicious.  All three books are available, time to feast!

Tony is on self-imposed sabbatical from fun if he’s to finally graduate after 5 years (slacker, I was on the 6 year plan, lol!)  Being productive and proactive in academia is not as gruesome as Tony imagined, but banning girls does create a different kind of strain.  No one’s gotten to Tony quite like Laraline.  When Tony gets to know Laraline, when she unravels her past and present before him, his resolve weakens.  Tony is hypnotized by Laraline’s approach to life, but she’s tangled up in appearances befitting that of a harmonious family and she’s strangled by a modern-day “arranged marriage” that is too near for her (and Tony’s) comfort.  What fuels Laraline is rallying and lobbying for women’s rights on the Allenhurst campus, but that’s met with friction and displeasure.  Capricious and chaotic though Laraline may be, Tony is smitten and all too willing to rid Laraline of the anchors dragging her down.

Laraline and Tony weren’t looking to change, not in any profound way at any rate, but the ease of their friendship, the unconditional support offered…those things add up, mean something…become everything.

“What was it about this guy?  It was like we were mirroring each other, like we didn’t need words to be tuned into what was happening.”

Ms. Holiday makes you root and swoon for this couple.  She’s done this consistently for every book in the series.  I mentioned this was totally worth reading?!

The Pacifist introduces you to characters that have an immediate, lingering effect.  In just a few pages, Laraline and Tony (Art/Dawn, Jenny/Matthew) get in your head and you don’t want to stop reading; you certainly can’t stop thinking about them.  There’s a quality of light, but I don’t mean that in terms of substance.  It comes with spirit and joy, just like a…Holiday.  😉  A fitting finale for a fabulous series.  Siouxsie Sioux, The Cure, Tab soda, the holes of a rotary phone…you nailed the 80’s.  Don’t go too far, Ms. Holiday — we fans clamor for your return!

Reviewed by Carmen

Copy supplied for review