CAPTAIN FIN
based on a screenplay by Kevin James O’Neill
Hannah Gunner, once a carefree child, is faced with secrets, lies, and betrayal. A life-changing event during her adolescent years forces her to confront a past that she no longer recognizes. Now, questioning everything she thought she knew, Hannah struggles with the person she is supposed to be! With the help of her boyfriend and her closest friend, they discover several clues that may hold the missing links to her life.
A tattered box filled with worn-out letters holds some of the answers that she needs, but not all of them. With an assist from her aunt, and a visitor from her past, Hannah manages to track down the only person in the world who can answer her questions—the Captain! But why did those closest to her lie in the first place? Will Hannah ever find the answers that she needs to bring her peace?
Not only should you refrain from judging this book by its cover, I also recommend skipping the summary on the back. While I can see the connection between the cover images and the story, I feel like it misleads you into thinking this book is fantasy, like Hook or something. The font of Captain Fin also perpetuates that misguidance, as well as the tagline, “Treasure is where you find it.” To be honest, if treasure is supposed to be some sort of analogy, I completely missed it.
As beetle brained as I am, I could still tell that a lot of heart went into this book. While their words sometimes contradicted themselves, you could feel the true affection between Hannah and her mother. And it is their genuine bond that makes Hannah’s ability to have a great BFF and wonderful boyfriend more believable. Because, really, who could believe that a teenage girl who has grown up with so much instability in her life would have only vaping as a vice? That little tidbit aside, Thrasher paints a believable portrait of a teenage girl whose world gets even more turned upside down.
If you skipped the synopsis on the back like me, you might have wondered about midway through the book where this was all headed. And there were a few times where I could see the screenplay joists more than the polished literary sheen of Thrasher’s descriptive writing. But a revelation comes, about 3/5 of the way through, that points the story’s trajectory to the future rather than muddling around in the past. While the characters do dig around in the past a bit, the story picks up its pace toward an exciting conclusion. I’m not going to lie, I cried in one of the last few chapters. I didn’t expect to feel so invested in this story, but I was.
Kudos to O’Neill for writing a heartfelt story about loss and forgiveness; I hope to see the short one day. (I looked it up on IMDB and recognized the actress that plays Hannah!) And big props to Thrasher for writing a novel from a screenplay; I’ve read a good number of scripts and know that it takes a lot of time and vision to flesh it out the way she did. These two should definitely collaborate again.
This book is classified as YA, but it’s not silly or melodramatic like many of the genre. I definitely recommend this book to the mature fans of YA.
Amanda M. Thrasher was born in England, moved to Texas, and resides there still. Amanda has authored picture books, middle-grade chapter books, early readers, young adult pieces, and a graphic novel written specifically for the Texas Municipal Courts Education Center.
Amanda is a multiple Gold Recipient of The Mom’s Choice Awards® (MCA) for YA, General Fiction, and early reader chapter books, a Readers’ Favorite International Book Award winner for YA Social Issues, an NTBF winner for YA and General Fiction, and she was awarded a New Apple Literary Award for YA and general fiction.
As Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Progressive Rising Phoenix Press, she assists other authors with their work and shares her writing process and publishing experience with them. Her latest release, CAPTAIN FIN, was based on a contract to adapt a screenplay into a novel for the director, actor, and producer Kevin James O’Neill. Her works-in-progress are the sequel to CAPTAIN FIN and the fourth installment of her Mischief Series.
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THREE WINNERS: Signed Copies of Captain Fin
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missusgonzo 
If a book can make me cry, that’s the mark of good writing! Thanks for the review & recommendation.