I fell in love with Icy AND her grandparents. And beautiful story about a family dealing with tourettes syndrome .

Wow I LOVED this book! I usually am in the zone when reading, but this was next level entrancement. Ok...but WTF was up with the ending? Was this book in the hands of a Christian publishing company or something? It was left a bad taste in my mouth. The rest of the book was amazing though and I highly recommend!

I couldn’t decide between 3 and 4 stars. Some of it was 4 other parts a little slow or disjointed for me.

I have to agree with the negative reviews of this book and am surprised that it is endorsed by Oprah's Book Club. The book was quite repetitive, focusing on the main character, Icy's, isolation and the harsh treatment towards her by others. I only continued reading the book hoping that Icy's diagnosis of Tourettes Syndrome would be given to her but one wasn't revealed - except for a mention in the epilogue. Also, the last 3 chapters filled with religious content was confusing and for these reasons I would not recommend this book on GoodReads.

The main character is interesting, and so is the concept and setting of the book, but the end of the story takes a nosedive into pages and pages of Christian preaching at a revival meeting, to the point where it felt like the author is trying to convert her readers. Made me sick to my stomach and I had to scan to the end. (Until that point the Jesus stuff woven into the plot has felt like a reflection of the culture of 1950s rural Kentucky.)

The other thing that got on my nerves was this author is committed to using as many “action verbs” as possible, including “screamed” - people are screaming thing at each other the entire book and it’s pretty clear they are not actually screaming, the author is just trigger happy with her “exciting” verbs.

Really good depiction of what I imagine Tourettes is like. Not a great book. I don't really care about the characters or look forward to listening to it. (I'm listening to it on CD). (Edit after it was over: Hated it!!!!! I didn't care about the characters, the story went no where, and it was so boring!!!! BLAH and BLAH.)

Icy can be a tough to root for at times but you can't help soften to her.

Granted, I listened to it and the narrator was okay until the end when Icy, the main character, finds God and there is all kinds of singing. Well, the singing just about sent me over the edge. "Amazing Grace" and "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" in a bad hillbilly accented voice was almost more than I could handle. I found myself finishing the book out of anger: "Damnit--I've lasted this long. I have to finish it." So I slogged through and finished the damned thing.

Icy is the main character, growing up in 1950s Kentucky, with Tourettes. (sp?) Great premise. Not a great read because the story is fragmented. It jumps from her childhood to college in a way that lacks flow, and I felt that the illness was not developed as much as it should be. By the end, Icy is a pain in the ass (not that I wasn't as a teenager), and I had no interest in what happened to her.

As you can see from my reading, I would say that this is not a good use of your time--for the beach or anywhere. Sorry Oprah, I don't agree with this one!

This is really hard to review because I felt so many different things while reading. But, regardless of how much I disliked any part of the book, I couldn't wait to read more to find out what happened next.

I love any book that reminds me of my girl Frances Boggs, and this one definitely did. From the Appalachian setting to the protagonist’s schoolyard outbursts, this one was very much in my wheelhouse. I loved Icy’s sarcastic, wise beyond her years tone; and her journey to self love was unique yet heartwarming.

This was very much in the vein of the 90s historical fiction that just tells you the story about a person different from you. Not a lot of action, not a strong conclusion but I still enjoyed it. If you enjoy 90s historical fiction, I think you should definitely add this to your TBR.

Finally finished. This felt like a painful one to get through. An extremely weak plot with no real progress. It took me over 24 hrs to finish the last 10 pages. Overall, it took a turn for the worst in the last 6-7 chapters. I am glad this one is done so I can move on to something better.