A review by donttakemybooks
The Carnival at Bray by Jessie Ann Foley

3.0

3.5 stars. This was really well-written and several lines/passages really struck a chord with me, particularly those having to do with Maggie's relationship with her mom. Maggie and Laura have one of the best and most realistic mother and teenage daughter relationships I've seen in YA fiction. Maggie is embarrassed of her mom, gets angry at her mom and says really hurtful things, but at the same time she loves her mom and feels sorry for hurting her, being embarrassed by her, and even for not liking the dress her mom buys her (I actually got really choked up at that part... I could identify so strongly with it as both a mother and a daughter.) I liked that this felt very steeped in grunge culture and music... it felt like Maggie really belonged to a certain time and place and culture and that was nice. My only real hesitation here was that I didn't really feel connected to/invested in Maggie or the romance in the story. I think that's mostly me, though, as most of Maggie's decisions were the exact opposite of what I would have chosen and the best parts of this books for me were when I recognized something of myself or my experience in Maggie's.