Signed by Pamela Todd. ( )

What do you do when life falls apart and you're fourteen? This is the dilemma Zoe faces. Her dad is hooked by the sea. On land, he's moody and sometimes gets very drunk, but when he's on the ocean, usually going after giant crabs up in Alaska, he's completely different. Zoe is very close to him and he's taught her how to read the subtle changes in the natural world. When her parents separate, her mother heads back to the Midwest with Zoe, her older sister, Nelia and her little brother Oliver. It's a road trip that's one mishap after another and Zoe doesn't help because she's miserable and angry. But sometimes what we get from the unknown and unexpected is the perfect medicine. Mom is coming back to the decrepit house she inherited from her grandparents, intent upon making it into a bed and breakfast.
At first, Zoe finds it very easy to hold on to her anger. When she has a moment of horror after looking in the mirror and realizing one breast is growing and the other isn't, she freaks out, especially since she's been invited to a pool party at one of the snotty girls' homes a couple days down the road. Her panicked reaction gets her in minor trouble with the law, resulting in her doing community service at a small prairie preserve near her house. At first, she resents the backbreaking work, but when she starts learning the history of the place from gruff old Hub and noticing the amazing wild boy, Ivy, life does one of those amazing shifts and she starts to really care about Ivy and the preserve.
As she learns more about her family history, the way the preserve really does represent a tiny window into how the world was a hundred years ago and how much she cares for Ivy, her life begins to make sense and she gets that elusive sense of place, so important to everyone. It doesn't come easily, she has to deal with accepting that her family is never going to be like it was when they lived on the west coast and she has to deal with losing people she cares about more than anything, but these make her stronger and more grounded. The book ends on one of those perfect notes that lets your imagination write the next chapter yourself.
While this is an older book (I discovered it while moving it to our storage collection), it's a wonderful story for younger teens who love nature or are struggling with where and how they fit in. ( )

Somewhat mediocre. Dialogue is loaded with metaphors I'd have eaten up with spoons as a teenager, but now find eye-rollingly heavy-handed. This aims for every emotional button without really hitting any of them, though (again) I'd probably have felt differently at 15.

Formal review to come some time from now. ( )

Admittedly, I picked this up without knowing it was a YA book - but that's OK, I read a lot of young adult literature too.

Was it a bad book? No.
Was it a scintillating page turner? No.
So what is it? A decent read with a 14 year old female protagonist facing life (seemingly) alone.

Zoe's father is a fisherman, based in Seattle, with some unfortunate habits. Mom has had enough, and although a "Divorce" is never made clear, she takes the kids to the "Mid-West" (couldn't really figure out where it is based other than east of Chicago) to her childhood home to try to start over.

This is not the family's first move, and Zoe again finds herself struggling with a new school, animosity toward her mother for taking them away, and the "Jan Syndrome" of being the middle child. Through a work program at the nature preserve, she discovers that a love for the prairie can replace the love she once held for the ocean. But is it enough to replace the love she thinks she's lost with her father?

By far, in my opinion, the most notable aspect of this novel is that it is well written for the teen audience, and it successfully lays out an interesting story line without the need of sex, drugs, alcohol or any of the other "stuff" many authors feel books need to attract the attention of teen readers.

However, since, at the point of this writing, only 22 LT members have it on their shelf, maybe its lack of mature subject matter means that no one wants to read it. But if you need a book you can "safely" recommend to a teenager, Blind Faith Hotel would make a good choice. ( )

Reviewed by Sally Kruger aka "Readingjunky" for TeensReadToo.com

Zoe has always had a love affair with nature. Growing up on the Northwest coast and spending all her free time with her father on his fishing boat, practically made her one with the sea. When her mother and father separate and her mother drags her halfway across the country to the Midwestern plains, Zoe thinks her world has come to an end.

Why do they have to move? They've moved a lot in the past several years, but that's been moving to keep up with work. Having her father gone for months at a time on fishing boats is just part of life for Zoe, her older sister, Nelia, and her younger brother, Ollie. They seem to take it in stride. Why can't their mother do the same?

This time is different for some reason. Zoe's mother packs them and all their belongings up in a U-haul and they head east. They're going to the town where their mother grew up. The old family house is now hers and she insists it is just the place for a bed-and-breakfast. Just what does her mother know about running a business, anyway - and how can she take them away from their father?

After a grueling trip where nothing goes right, they finally arrive. The house that supposedly holds so many memories for her mother turns out to be a rundown mess. Just about everything needs replacing, so workmen are soon swarming all over the place. With her mother knee-deep in renovations and her sister and brother busy with newfound friends, Zoe finds herself feeling like she usually does - out of place. She makes one new friend, but that hardly makes up for the fact that she hates school and misses her father more than she could have ever imagined.

Zoe gets more attention than she bargained for when she makes the stupid mistake of shoplifting some bust-enhancing cream. When she tries to return it and right her mistake, she is taken to the police station and later appears in court. Her sentence is a list of strict guidelines and community service work at a nearby nature preserve.

It may not be the saltwater sea she is used to, but the sea of prairie grass where she spends her Saturdays soon becomes a fascinating and magical place. That, along with a mysterious boy named Ivy, might make this new place a home Zoe can learn to love and appreciate.

Author Pamela Todd takes readers on a journey not only across the country, but also into the life of a young girl forced to leave behind the father she loves and the only place she's ever felt at home. Todd gives readers a feeling for Zoe's pain and loneliness, and at the same time, artfully describes the Midwest prairie as nature's ultimate garden.

THE BLIND FAITH HOTEL is not a book filled with rock em' sock em' action, but anyone who appreciates a story with emotion, feeling, and the beauty of nature is sure to enjoy this one. ( )