AMELIA UNABRIDGED

A grieving young woman sets out on a quest to meet her favorite reclusive fantasy writer.

As a joint high school graduation gift from Jenna’s parents, narrator Amelia and her best friend, Jenna, fly from their home in Texas to a California book festival so they can meet the reclusive author of the Orman Chronicles books. They leave disappointed, however, when young author N.E. Endsley—only 19—fails to appear. Less than a week later, Jenna dies while studying abroad in Ireland, a last fight between the girls left unresolved. Shortly thereafter, Amelia receives a mysterious limited edition of one of the Orman books, sent from a bookstore in Michigan. Jenna’s parents, who have the financial means and have been treating Amelia for years, pay for her to go investigate; in a somewhat fairy-tale setting on Lake Michigan she meets and befriends Nolan Endsley, who’s grieving losses of his own. Schumacher’s debut meanders through vague fantasylike settings—a fort on the sand dunes, a mysterious room inside the bookstore—and a sort of half-felt emotional landscape of its characters. Nothing’s really at risk for Amelia—at every turn, obstacles are smoothed from her path. Some of her relationships, especially with her parents, who mostly stay off-camera, are shown instead of felt. The timeline of Nolan’s own tragedies and wild successes seems oddly compressed. Main characters are White.

Like a meringue—sweet and decorative but doesn’t really satisfy.