Winter Solstice

Bits and Pieces #2

by Shirley Miranda

Liz and Patrick have survived the winter party being closer than ever. It’s now the holidays and Liz can’t wait to share Christmas and New Year’s Eve with Patrick and the rest of the crew. She has a lot to look forward to – her first kiss and her first boyfriend. It’s exciting and confusing. She likes him, he likes her, and most importantly, her mom is thrilled. Life is good. Or is it? There’s Becca, the auditions for the school musical, Patrick’s basketball games, her growing relationship, and how to balance everything and keep everyone happy. How will the crew react to this new relationship? With Patrick by her side, what else will the winter bring?

Genres: Young Adult

372 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 21, 2012

About the author

For years, Shirley Miranda had an idea, a scene replaying over and over in her head. But the scene never quite ended. Unlike the other stories she started and finished all in her head, this one just paused in the middle of it. Shirley began writing fan-fiction when she was 11 years-old, many years before the term was coined or the internet to post it on. With no place to share it with, she mentally "wrote" many of them out. But one scene with her own original characters never got beyond that paused moment. With the encouragement of her husband, she put pen to paper (and fingers to keyboard), and began writing out the scene. It was clear from that moment on that it wasn't just one scene with two characters, they had a story to tell. This story couldn't be completed in one scene or even two. While her first love had been scriptwriting (as many of her fan-fiction tales were written), it wasn't meant to be told as such, or even a short story. The flood gates opened and her characters had so much to say and do beyond that one original moment.

Shirley Miranda currently teaches high school math and computer science in San Diego - surprised it isn't English? Even during her prior career of software engineering, Shirley volunteered to work with high school students interested in math and science. It was what caused her to switch to education. Falling (Book #1 in The Bits and Pieces Series) is Shirley Miranda's first novel.

Reviews

[Mary (I ♥ Books) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I devoured Falling the first book of the Bits and Pieces series. I could relate to Elizabeth, the heroine, in some ways - she comes from a immigrant family. To my surprise, in this book the writer reveals that Elizabeth is Filipina-American, which is my background as well. I was so excited to read a book that had a Filipina-American lead character.

Overall I enjoyed the book and can't wait for the next book in the series. I love how Patrick and Elizabeth's relationship develops and how Elizabeth slowly gains confidence. I do have some issues though: 1. The writer is great at detailing scenes - loved the crew's adventures - but not so good with describing the appearances of characters. Since Elizabeth's background was vague in the first book, I was surprised that she was Asian. I actually also don't even remember her writing about Patrick's appearances. 2. I came away from the book feeling like Filipinos and the Filipino culture were portrayed negatively here. I don't think that is the writer's intention because she probably is Filipino herself (just guessing from her name). I'm not going to go into detail but all the "bad" characters are Filipino and Elizabeth often times is annoyed by cultural practices. I hope that in the 3rd book in the series Elizabeth appreciates her culture and embraces it as part of her identity. I think it can't happen until she addresses/improves her relationship with her parents. And by doing so she'll grow into her own...and the book will also go beyond romance and be also be about "coming of age."

[Michael Burhans · Rating 5 out of 5]

The second installment in the Bits and Pieces series (after Falling) by Shirley Miranada was every bit as compelling as the first. I ordered this immediately after finishing Falling. I was very sad I could not order the next book immediately after I finished this one and I now eagerly await it being published.

This builds upon the characters and world she created in Falling, a completely believable world of young people figuring out who they are and what they want in life faced by problems that we can identify with. Some large, some small, but all real. Every character in this book you feel something for, Ms. Miranada is a compelling storyteller whose people feel as real as those you grew up with.

In both books I had serious trouble setting them down even to eat or do the daily chores one must do. At one point I found myself doing the dishes as my Kindle read to me through my headphones!

I won't give away any plot point, the blurb tells you enough and other reviews here have covered them well enough so you can see if it interests you, I will just say I find them utterly compelling, and they worked my emotions out seriously. I will pre-order the the next installment in this series as soon as it is on the market and will start reading it the moment it finishes downloading to my Kindle. Then I will hope she writes more.

[Kate Norton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I kind of feel the same way about this book as I did about the first! I liked it, but really would have liked to see more of the personalities of the friends. But hey, at least we learn that Liz is Filipino! I spent a lot of the first book flip-flopping between assumptions on which culture her family came from. This time, there did seem to be less unnecessary fluff, and more happening in the book. Liz's insecurities became grating, and there were times like I kind of wanted to slap her.... but you know, that's just the personality I guess. Our author did do a pretty good job of being sneaky about Alan being such a jerk. I was just as confused as Liz, not knowing if he was to be trusted. I like that, I don't like knowing something that a character should be able to see but can't. Really, my only big beef with this book was its ending. I tried to turn the page, and I couldn't. Because it was just over. I could've used a little bit of resolution, it would have been more appropriate to end the book after Liz confronts Alan, not right after she finds out about it.

[Leann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series is hard for me to review. They aren't perfect from a writer's standpoint, but they made me turn off the editor in my head and I just enjoyed them. But by "enjoy", I don't mean "feel joy".

These books so accurately capture the angsty self-doubt and hard self-criticism and relentless lack of self-confidence of my teen years that I felt like I had been transported back to 1992. This is a high, high compliment for Ms. Miranda, but geez, it was almost painful. It really tapped into latent feelings that I thought long exorcised, but apparently they were just deeply buried beneath my degrees and life successes. I didn't have the same problems as the main character, but still felt all the same emotions of zero self-worth.

I'll be watching for future books in this series, but I may have to clutch my law degree in one hand and my husband in the other so I'm not so efficently transferred back to feeling like a teenager. Life now is so much better.

[Gina's Escape and Reality]

Not finishing a book I started isn't usually an option no matter how bad. But this is the exception, I was way too bored. Falling, the first in series was interesting but I just can't feel this one. It can be difficult to be an adult and get into a YA book because it can be hard to take yourself back in time to when every stupid thing in your life was so important. On the other hand I have read lots of other ya that I could deal with and understand. The insecurities just don't make a lot of sense to be. This is a first for me to not finish a book. I'm at 67% and that's as far as it will go. Very disappointed.

[TKieninger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Liz has led a sheltered life and is scared of her own shadow even more than you would expect from her circumstances. You still can't hope that better things are in store for her.