The Orange Dragon Bowl

Book 1 in the Julie Tyler series

by Betty P. Notzon

coming of age fiction; family life fiction

Pages: 280

Pub Date: 10/10/2020

Synopsis

Like many teenagers, Julie Tyler suffers from a few insecurities, even though she’s basically a well-adjusted, intelligent, and attractive young woman with a positive outlook on life.

Still, it doesn’t take long for Alexis Cowper, the new girl in town, to have Julie questioning everything she thinks she knows about herself and her family. It turns out that Julie’s father and Alexis’s mother were a couple in college.

And Mrs. Cowper still has her eye on Julie’s dad – she is torn between wanting revenge and wanting to pick up the relationship where the two left off.

When Julie’s mom is diagnosed with breast cancer, Alexandra Cowper moves in for the metaphoric – and possibly literal – kill. Julie is forced to question both her instincts and everything she thinks she knows about her family, her school, and the larger world around her.

Readers will root for this smart and funny 15-year-old as she navigates love, loss, and other challenges. Fans of Anne Rivers Siddons, Elizabeth Berg, Jodi Picoult, Gail Godwin, Maeve Binchy, and Philippa Gregory will find much to adore and nary a dull moment in The Orange Dragon Bowl!

Amazon

Read for free via Kindle Unlimited

Review

This coming of age story is perfect for any teenage girl with the various topics it touches including bullying, monthly cycles, cancer, gossip, racism, gangs, love, and family.

Julie has a good life with parents that love her and is able to attend a private school for a better education. As with any school, there are always those that think they are better than others and treat others as if they do not matter. That is the case with Alexis and her posse but never count the good girl down!

There are multiple storylines woven together to create this enticing tale. I like how they all came together and how they affected Julie and her family in one way or another. Whether it was a situation from her father’s past, to her mother’s illness, to Julie learning how to cope with the stress of everything and come out a better person because of the situations she is exposed to and the people that surround her.

I have to say, I really liked Gloria, a fellow student at her private school and there on scholarship. She does not let her past define who she is and is not afraid to speak up for herself or her family and friends. The headmistress of the school may be a minor character, but she injects realism and integrity into the story.

The story does end with a bit of a surprise and there will be a second book coming soon. I can’t wait to see how the rest of the story continues.

We give this book 5 paws up.

About the Author

Betty P. Notzon, who is originally from New England and now lives in Texas, has been writing and reading all her life. She worked at Little, Brown & Company in Boston and at King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, before moving to Houston and the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Not surprisingly, there is usually a medical thread in her plots. An avid reader with an early penchant for the works of Pearl Buck, Louisa May Alcott, Daphne DuMaurier, and Jane Austen, Notzon doesn’t pull punches in chronicling the raw realities of the 21st century, but she does so with old-fashioned restraint.

Twitter * Amazon