#BookReview: The Chalk Artist by Allegra Goodman

  Tension arises in the love affair of a young artist for whom nothing is permanent and his girlfriend, a teacher who believes that things are meant to last by the New York Times bestselling author and National Book Award finalist.

This is a compelling love story between two very different young people: Collin, a disarming chalk artist who thinks nothing of erasing his dazzling work, and Nina, an idealistic teacher who struggles every day to make a lasting impact on her students. Wanting Collin to realize his full talent, Nina warily introduces him to her powerful father, who owns the most cutting edge virtual reality game company in the world. Add to this a brilliant but unstable pupil of Nina’s who is gaming obsessed, and you have contemporary life caught in the crosshairs by one of our most charming and socially astute literary voices.

Allegra Goodman’s novels include The Cookbook Collector and Intuition. Her fiction has appeared in The New Yorker and Best American Short Stories. She is a winner of the Whiting Writer’s Award and a fellowship at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. She lives with her family in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

This one was ok. I really didnt connect with any of the characters but I liked the plot about things being temporary.  Things change all the time in our lives and nothing stays the same.  Things are washed away to make room for the new and we grow and learn new things.  I really liked this concept.  However, I wish that the book would have focused on the characters more. I think this book could have been a lot better if it delved totally into the New Adult section vs. trying to do teen.  And I think that it should have cut out the virtual reality section all together. It really pulled away from the story at large and really kind of lost me. 

 Disclaimer: "All opinions are 100% honest and my own."  Thanks to Goodreads and Amazon for the book cover, about the book, and author information. Buying via these links allows my site to get a % of the sale at no cost to you. This money gets used to buy items for giveaways. 

FTC Guidelines: In accordance with FTC guidelines regarding endorsements and testimonials for bloggers, I would like my readers to know that many of the books I review are provided to me for free by the publisher or author of the book in exchange for an honest review. If am compensated for any reviews on this site I will state that post has been sponsored. 

Donations: All donations are to help keep this site running via costs from shipping, .com charges, and other giveaways.

Comments are DELICIOUS! and now that were using this new format for comments the TOP 3 Commenters will all win bookish goodies each month! So that is just one more reason to comment!  This is open to everyone!  So get commenting!  

Don't forget to check out our Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest! 

@CrossroadReview 

Posted in: 3 Stars, Dial Books, Jessica P., Review, Young Adult