Interference
by
Kay Honeyman
***
As 2017 approaches, this blog site
will metamorphose into a book review site. Not that I’ve ever been reluctant to
share space with current authors, especially when, like Kay Honeyman, they’re fellow Texans. The following review of her YA novel, Interference, has
also appeared at Goodreads and Amazon.
***
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| Honeyman and daughter |
Jane Austen fans
can have Elizabeth Bennet – my favorite Austen heroine is Emma Woodhouse. Yes, that
Emma, the insufferable know-it-all who tries to fit her friends into
incongruous romances while blind to her own admirer, her
almost equally know-it-all brother-in-law George Knightley. So I was delighted
to find the Emma-Knightley trope still alive and well on the plains of West
Texas in Kay Honeyman’s YA romance,
Interference. But there are no bonnets or maidenly blushes in Honeyman’s
version. This time around, it’s congressman’s daughter Kate Hamilton who’s
channeling Emma. After a vengeful ex-boyfriend posts disgraceful photos of Kate
online, her family retreats to her father’s hometown of Red Dirt, Texas.
But is the move to
spare Kate the notoriety of scandal at her D.C. school, as she broods, “. .
.what pushed Mom and Dad into this three-day, five-state road trip was that the
pictures made them look bad, like they were neglectful parents,” Kate broods.
“Part of me wished that for once they’d spent some of their political capital
to defend me. . . Instead, we packed up and drove to Texas.”
Or, as she also
suspects – and doesn’t sit well with a teen – is the move really to reboot her
father’s flagging political career, as he is down 15 points in his bid for reelection
in his East Coast district?
Not that her
family’s problems weigh heavily on Kate’s mind. She’s more worried about her
standing at her new high school in the tiny town of Red Dirt, Texas. The
photo-scandal at her former school has ruined any chance for the teachers’
recommendations. She’ll need great photographs in her own portfolio to qualify
for admission to the art college she has her heart set on. Not to mention a
long string of volunteer hour credits
Red Dirt High
School offers no classes in photography and its only darkroom belongs to the
school’s yearbook sponsor. Can Kate take pictures for a yearbook, especially of
the high school football team that is the town’s pride and joy? She swallows
her pride in exchange for a chance to use the darkroom.
And those
volunteer hours? Her only chance to add them to her resume is a local animal
shelter, where Kate is quickly introduced to the realities of ranch life. And
to the other volunteer – enigmatic fellow Red Dirt student Hunter Price, who
scorns Kate’s big city pretensions.
Adding to her
horror, she finds herself immersed in politics both inside and out of high
school, yet another political campaign, when her father files as a surprise
candidate for Congress from Red Dirt’s district – with an opponent whose son
Kyle is the star quarterback of the high school football team. Still, Kate
decides, handsome Kyle would make the perfect boyfriend for her new friend,
fellow yearbook photographer Ana Gomez. Or would the annoying Hunter, who
mysteriously quit the football team himself, make a better match for best
friend Ana?
As Kate’s
matchmaking brings turmoil to all around her, she finds herself actually
beginning to enjoy Red Dirt, enjoy using her political skills to help her
father – and finally realize where her own heart is leading her.
I’ll admit, I had
to let some of the turmoil of this year’s election campaigns cool off before I
could bear to read a story about another election. Honeyman's Texas -- and its politics -- are of a kinder, gentler strain
than those most adults would recognize. But her sprightly dialogue, the gritty,
gutsy teen characters – slightly smoothed over for younger readers -- and the
genuineness of the Texas setting and the state’s mania for football make Interference worth my vote.
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