High school senior Emma Lee and her mother have just moved to Pendleton, South Carolina, population 3,084. After an embarassing and awkward first day at her new school, she makes a fool of herself (again) with neighbour and school hottie Shane Michaels.
Emma has a temper. She also comes from an abusive household—that’s why she and her mother have moved, to get away from Emma’s father. Unsurprisingly, this has also left Emma with a distrust of men. So she’s not keen on developing any kind of relationship with Shane, or with Old Will, her neighbour. But Old Will, with the benefit of age and wisdom, manages to break through her barriers.
I will admit that I didn’t really read the book description before I bought the book or before I read it. It was a new book from Amy Matayo. What else did I need to know?
Walking in Circles has similarities to her previous books: great characters in messy relationships, strong writing that pulls the reader in and doesn’t let up (well, this reader anyway), and a subtle faith arc that shows rather than tells God’s truth.
It is a novel about surviving domestic violence and physical abuse, and there are a few other triggers as well (including sibling death). But it’s also a novel about finding hope in the mess and brokenness.
Recommended for Young Adult readers looking for fiction that examines how broken people can find joy in a broken world.
About Amy Matayo
Amy Matayo is an award winning author of The Wedding Game, Love Gone Wild, Sway, In Tune with Love, A Painted Summer, The End of the World, The Thirteenth Chance, The Whys Have It, Christmas at Gate 18, and the upcoming Lies We Tell Ourselves.
She graduated with barely passing grades from John Brown University with a degree in Journalism. But don’t feel sorry for her–she’s super proud of that degree and all the ways she hasn’t put it to good use.
She laughs often, cries easily, feels deeply, and loves hard. She lives in Arkansas with her husband and four kids and is always working on her next novel, whichever one that may be.
Find Amy Matayo online at
About Walking in Circles
“When you’ve been hurt the worst by the one who should love you most, trusting anyone is a dangerous game.”
Emma Lee was four the first time her dad hit her, eight when he left without a word, and nine by the time she’d developed a serious case of Male Trust Issues. So, when her mom moves her from their beloved California city to a small South Carolina town, the last person she wants to get to know is her elderly male neighbor. But the man won’t stop talking to her. And it isn’t like she can avoid him. She passes his house twice a day on her walk to and from school.
Old Will knows a fractured soul when he sees one, and his young new neighbor is certainly that. Emma wears a cautious demeanor like an old sweater, and it tugs at his heartstrings. His late wife would have his hide if he didn’t welcome the girl onto their front porch and treat her like one of their own. And if his grandson Shane happened to come by and meet her…well, that wouldn’t be his fault, would it?
Shane Michaels is the school jock, prom king, all-around popular kid, and miserable. He’s already lost so much in his eighteen years, more than his classmates could ever understand. And he is lonely. So, when Emma moves into the house next to Old Will, Shane makes it his mission to meet her. He invites her on a walk. He joins her on Old Will’s front porch. He asks her to dinner and to prom and eventually spills the secret he’s been keeping for years, the secret only his parents and Old Will know about.
That is, until a tragic accident brings everything into the open and throws their newly formed bond into chaos. A bond Emma hadn’t seen coming until she’d already learned to depend on it. But isn’t that how life works?
Sometimes learning to trust people is only a matter of meeting the right ones.
