Author: Laura Resau

ISBN:  978-0-385-73653-4

Click Here To Purchase The Ruby Notebook (Indigo Notebook (Hardback))

This fantastic YA author who released The Indigo Notebook back in August has done it again!  Zeeta is back with her wonderfully “kooky” mother, Layla, and they’re on their way to France for a year.  To bring readers up to speed who missed the first intriguing Notebook story, this is a mother/daughter team who spend one year in a specific location and then move on to the next country in order to live life to its fullest, and “soak up” all atmospheres that are offered out there in the big, bad world.

In the gorgeous small-town of Aix-en-Provence, France, we find Zeeta trying to fit in, once again, with the local populace and make brand new friends.  Most of her time is spent thinking about her beloved boyfriend Wendell.  He’s coming soon to her part of the world to spend a couple of months with a host family, and learn more and more about drawing and photography – which are his favorite things.  Zeeta misses him so much and can’t wait to see him again.

Zeeta has a hard time with all these moves her mother makes her do.  The only things she ever keeps with her on her travels are her notebooks.  Since she was eight years old, she’s purchased a different color notebook to record all the things that have happened in her short lifetime.  In France, she finds the most beautiful ruby-colored notebook with gold sparkles and begins to record her journey in the amazingly romantic French world.  She and her mom have moved into the North African section which is helpful for Zeeta because she learned to speak Arabic during her year in Marrakech.  Once of her first friends in France turns out to be Ahmed, an older man who runs a cybercafé called Nirvana.  Here is where Zeeta goes every day in order to write to her beloved Wendell.

She also spends a great deal of time sitting outside and listening to this fantastic band and mime show – a family who calls themselves Illusion.  Zeeta becomes friends with the young girl named Amandine and the accordionist, Jean-Claude.  She also makes friends with a wonderful man named Vincent (who I just loved) who spends his time standing in the fountain and talking to the pigeons.  His favorite pigeon is Maude, who he’s known for twenty years.  Vincent likes to tie little notes to Maude’s foot and send her across the square to the woman who sits in the small window of her house and looks out over the square every day.

 As Zeeta becomes more and more familiar with this couple, a secret comes to light about an ancient Celtic artifact that could literally change their lives.  In addition, she keeps finding objects placed inside her pocketbook when she’s not looking.  In fact, she begins to believe there’s a ghost following her through France who wants her to have things like an old, tattered t-shirt and a small canister of sand.  When the mysteries begin to unfold, Zeeta uncovers secrets of a father she’s never met, and a boyfriend who seems to be straying from her side.

Every page is filled with wonder and excitement in this fantastic tale of romance, mystery, and happiness.  I have to say I was completely immersed in this YA novel, and a line that this author put forth will stay with me a long, long time, ”…no matter what pain or agony, if we reach deep enough inside our souls, we can survive anything.”  A fantastic sentiment to concentrate on; I commend this author for her beautiful stories about life, and I recommend them highly to all readers.

 

 Click Here To Purchase The Ruby Notebook (Indigo Notebook (Hardback))