The Girl with the Haunting Smile by Richard Louden   

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3.5 stars

Review by Erin Roth

Synopsis:

Greg Harris has been besotted since he was eight. As soon as the young Scot saw a photo of Ellen Fromm, a gorgeous ten-year-old from Wilmington, North Carolina, he was hooked by her soft, haunting smile. 

He is devastated when, six years later, his beloved pen pal stops writing and vanishes. For years he attempts to contact her but in vain. But he never forgets Ellen and clings to the dream that, one day, they will be together. 
At last, at the age of thirty, he finds a letter Ellen once wrote to his late granddad. When she and Greg eventually meet, it says, she reckons she may fancy him in a big way. As this boost revives his mission in life, Greg flies out to Wilmington and hunts high and low for Ellen. 
But a huge doubt lurks in his mind. He has Tourette's Syndrome and has never told Ellen about it. Even if he finds her, will his secret ruin his chance of happiness?

My Review:

The Girl with the Haunting Smile is fast-paced and funny--there’s nothing I love more than when a book makes me laugh out loud. My absolute favorite one-liner from this book: "I was growing deeply allergic to childhood." Hehe.

Endearing, anxious Greg spends most of the book pining for his pen pal, Ellen, the granddaughter of his grandfather's friend, who lives across the pond in North Carolina. She’s two years older, fabulous, and takes wonderful care of her grandfather. He spends a good part of his day fawning over her pictures and knows they’re meant to be together. To add to it, he’s OCD and has Tourette’s Syndrome, and she doesn’t know. He loves her, but will she feel the same? How will he find her?!

Richard Louden does an amazing job with Greg. His internal monologue is intensely real--when he's rushed and excited and twitchy, I feel the same anxiety, like we're galloping together on this quest. I feel his disgust with parents (seemingly well-meaning whackjobs), his frustration with most every teacher and doctor he meets, and his sense of peace when he’s with his grandfather. I feel the relief that Greg feels when he's being creative--he's a writer himself, and I love a story within a story (Theodore Axelrod is the BOMB!).  Plus, I learned a heck of a lot about Tourette’s Syndrome.

I admit, I have a love/hate relationship with the language. I love a book set somewhere else--especially when it's British, contemporary, and voiced by someone my age...it's like I was growing up in Glasgow with Greg. The only problem? Greg goes to America, and the American people "speak British," too, which was flat-out annoying. I didn’t feel like I was in North Carolina, but maybe that Greg was imagining everything…

I really did love Greg, and was rooting for him throughout the entire story.  I’d like to see what happens with him in the future. 

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