by Carol Shaw-Sutton

Created on: February 03, 2009

TWO GIRLS, THOUSANDS OF MILES APART...

Chelsea lives in Los Angeles; Miya lives in Tokyo. Other than the fact they're both half Japanese and obsessed with dressing like Gothic Lolitas, they would seem to have nothing in common. Or do they?

And so begins the description of Gothic Lolita: A Mystical Thriller, by author Dakota Lane.

This elusive story tells the tales of two very unique and seemingly different, but also very parallel lives - that of two young girls intertwined by what first appears to be merely chance or coincidence (and chaos), but then turns into a tale of pure synchronicity.

As the girls' lives begin to interconnect more and more, you can almost feel the pain that each experiences at the seeming "disconnect" that comes between each - a reflection of our own modern-day lives that we don't seem to acknowledge; however, in this story, there is a surprise twist that makes sense of the illusion of the chaos of modern life.

This story is both sweet and dreamlike, with essence of darkness floating just beneath the surface. The author has a good way with writing simply, and the flow of words is smooth and easy to read (I read this book in a few hours but as a book reviewer and writer, I tend to read quickly already). This book is intended for a target age of teen to young adult, but even an "older" adult can enjoy this book.

I have to admit that the happy ending was a little too sugar-coated for me, and that may be because I am not in the target age group for this story - but I still liked the book. I also expected the story to be partially a darker type of thriller or mystery, but it wasn't, not really. Despite this, I did enjoy reading the book and my opinion is that it is a very thoughtful and touching story. I would highly recommend this to anybody who has a love of gothic or gothic lolita, or just enjoys different, alternative cultures in general.

There were also various other small surprises to this book which I enjoyed. One of these included random black and white photographs that were scattered througout the book that reflected the story; I think the photographs really helped to convey a certain aesthetic quality and mirrored the story very well. I also liked the small intimate size of the book, it kind of made the book feel like a real journal of sorts, or like a small secret.

In sum, whether you like the Gothic aesthetic or not doesn't really matter, I highly recommend reading this book.

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