Catherine

by April Lindner

Reviewed by

Elizabeth Mosolovich

Chelsea Price always thought her mother, Catherine Eversole Price, was dead — until she discovers a letter addressed to her and a series of news articles detailing her mother's disappearance, and she realizes her father has been lying to her for years. Angry and feeling betrayed, she sets out on her own to the place marked as the return address on her letter, and where her mother grew up: the Underground, a famous club in Manhattan. After some initial tension, Chelsea manages to convince the club's new owner (who also has a mysterious past connection to Catherine), Hence, to let her stay and try to unravel her mother's disappearance.

In between the chapters of Chelsea's quest, the reader gets an inside look into the life of Catherine Eversole, daughter of the owner of Manhattan's hottest nightclub, the Underground. In her diary she writes about her relationships with her devoted father, her angry and bitter older brother, and her mysterious crush/friend-turned-passionate boyfriend, Hence. With the twisted romance and far-reaching familial connections of Wuthering Heights, but with a modern and easier to understand twist, Catherine is a riveting story with so many twists and turns you'll never see the ending coming — an ending which, while satisfactory, is almost bittersweet, because  now this wonderful tale is finished.

Chelsea's hunt for her mother and the strained relationship with her father is the main plot, and very fun to read, but there is also a bunch of romance thrown in, mostly between Hence and Catherine 20 years in the past, but also between Chelsea and Hence's employee, Coop. If modern-day twists on great classics are something you're into, then this is definitely for you.