Sudden Moves

Sudden Moves (Mira) This book grabs your attention within the first pages. The author is descriptive but not ad nauseum. You feel the emotion as you are reading. You can just about see what is happening like you are there watching or as if you are that person. This is a MUST READ which you won't want to end. You will need a day or so of mourning when it ends because you lived in the book and now you are back in your own reality.

This is one of the best books I have ever read. It makes you forget you are reading a book and makes you become one of the characters in the book. Makes you laugh out loud and cry all on the same page. Lucinda is so loving and caring, it makes you wish she would take you in her arms and never let you go. While reading the book you find yourself actually feeling the hugs, the laughter, the tears. Lucinda loves you no matter what and no matter who you are. Boy wouldn't it be great if everyone had a Lucinda in their lives. I can't say enough great things about this book. A must read. Great job.

This is, arguably, the finest yet of Allen's books. The characters are beautifully drawn, very real. The setting is now familiar after our introduction to the cast in Fresh Air. And the writing is deceptively simple but lyrical and powerfully effective. It is a joy to see Lucinda coming back into the world, her humor and her scrappy integrity intact. Soupboy has grown into an entirely believable boy and his interaction with Lucinda has great authenticity. 9/11 is documented, moment by moment, so that it not only revives our recall of that day but it also personalizes the event as few pieces of writing could. This is a wonderful book, a must-read book. If you haven't read Fresh Air, get it and begin with it, then follow up with this rare thing: a genuinely riveting sequel.

After twenty-seven years of living is isolation in Connecticut, Lucinda Hunter has somewhat come out of her bubble for FRESH AIR thanks to precocious Harlem resident Katanya Taylor. Lucinda has found her lost family on her father's side and has returned to script writing for her best friend under the pseudonym of Ella van Dyne and even won an Oscar. She watches her young pal Soupboy, who helps her critique movies. Lucinda even has a boyfriend Dr. Eli Carter.The world seems perfect though Lucinda remains reticent with strangers and loathes public appearance even avoiding receipt of her Academy Award. Though she lives a few hours to the north, 9/11 hits her as deeply as it hammered most Americans. Especially impacted is Soupboy whose father died in the tragedy. Now she must help her bud cope while his mother acts crazier by the minute.The sequel to FRESH AIR, SUDDEN MOVES continues the saga of Lucinda coming out of her shell though 9/11 is both a setback and an impetus for her. The story line is a delightful character study as the audience observes the crippling shyness that has kept her prisoner still exists, but her courage somewhat overcomes her fears. Though there is not any villains besides her aunt and her neighbor in a minor almost non threatening sense, readers will feel deeply the impact of the 9/11 tragedy on the survivors.Harriet Klausner

This book had me totally engrossed start to finish. Lucinda Hunter truly is amazing and a very strong woman. She connects to so many people, from having a wonderful relationship with her deceased father's family to two younger people and their families, then meets Eli, who becomes very important in her life after 30 years of not being intimate with anyone. As a sequel to "Fresh Air", "Sudden Moves" is one of Ms. Vale-Allen's better writings. I hope she never stops her wonderful gift of writing.