Captain Fin


Young Adult - Coming of Age
432 Pages
Reviewed on 04/25/2019
Buy on Amazon

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Author Biography

Amanda M. Thrasher was born in England, moved to Texas and resides there still. She’s an award-winning author of YA, MG, Early Reader Chapter, and Picture books. She’s the recipient of multiple awards.

Amanda was contracted to write a graphic novel titled What If … A Story of Shattered Lives. The publication is part of the Driving on the Right Side of the Road (DRSR) program, developed by the Law-Related Education Department of the State Bar of Texas Law Focused Education, Inc., and the Texas Municipal Courts Education Center with funding from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and the Texas Department of Transportation. The purpose of the program is to offer a preventive educational program to encourage responsible decision-making when it comes to obeying traffic laws and to follow safe practices.

As the Chief Executive Officer at Progressive Rising Phoenix Press in addition to her regular duties, she assists authors with their work and shares her writing and publishing experience with others through school visits, trade conferences, and writing workshops.

Her latest release, CAPTAIN FIN, was based on a screenplay. She was contracted to adapt the screenplay into a novel for director, actor, and producer Kevin James O’Neill.

Amanda continues to write, speak, and conducts workshops for all ages.

    Book Review

Reviewed by K.C. Finn for Readers' Favorite

Captain Fin is a work of young adult fiction penned by author Amanda M. Thrasher and adapted from a screenplay by Kevin James O’Neill. In this tale, we find our hero Hannah Gunner in a state of turmoil regarding the secrets unveiled about her life. Hannah doesn’t really know the full particulars of who she is, and so she forms a trio of inquirers with her boyfriend Cash and best friend Lindsay to discover the truth about herself. She must distinguish between memories and dreams to uncover reality, coming face to face with the ghosts of her past and the elusive Captain that haunts her still.

This is a fascinating tale that certainly has much to offer its young adult readers, with likeable lead characters, hidden treasure and secrets, as well as important social issues about growing up, learning who you really are and having that sense of self put to the test by the information and people you face in the wider world. Hannah is an endearing lead character whom author Amanda M. Thrasher makes very likable and relatable, and I enjoyed the unreliability of the memories and secrets she has to deal with. This enhances the overall plot with plenty of twists and suspense, making it all the more exciting when moments of real truth do emerge for us to put the pieces of Hannah’s life together. Overall, Captain Fin is a strong work of teen identity, adventure, mystery and plenty of hi-jinks to keep its readers entertained.

Rabia Tanveer

Captain Fin by Amanda M. Thrasher is a perfect young adult fiction where you have a powerful protagonist, trusty friends and a mystery to solve. I loved the storyline and I loved how well the characters meshed together. Hannah, Lindsey, and Cash made a great team together; their chemistry and their ability to work together just made the novel even more interesting. YA fiction can easily go horribly wrong, but Thrasher did something incredibly right with this one.

This is the story of Hannah, a young girl who has no idea what her past is and who she is supposed to be. She struggles with the idea of herself, so when she finds a chest of letters that might give her an inkling of who she is, she grabs it with both hands. However, they are not giving her all the answers she needs so she gets help from her close friend Lindsey and her boyfriend Cash to make sense of her life. The three of them band together to find anything that would give them answers about Hannah’s past.

Hannah is adorable, resilient and very determined. She is definitely one of my favorite female characters. She does not cry at every opportunity, she does not wait for Cash and Lindsey to make the answers appear out of thin air, and she definitely does not wait for someone else to solve her problems for her. I enjoyed her story; I enjoyed how the three of them worked together as a team. They had each other’s back and ensured the others were safe. I loved it!

Ruffina Oserio

Captain Fin by Amanda M. Thrasher is a novel that explores what secrets can do to a young soul. Hannah Gunner knows that she can never be the lovely, free-spirited person she once was and when her identity crisis takes a toll on her, she begins to look for answers. With her boyfriend Cash by her side and Lindsey, her closest friend, she undertakes the journey to unveil the truth about her past. An old box filled with musty letters fills in some of the blanks but leaves her wanting more. Her only hope of getting to the bottom of the lies she has been told is the captain. But can she succeed in tracking him down?

This novel answers the question: Why does the truth matter so much in the life of a young woman? Readers encounter a compelling character in Hannah and she evokes their sympathy by the fact that she is genuinely flawed. The story has a strong premise; a young woman feels deeply that she is not what she has been made to believe she is, and her life experiences a lot of tension and lack of peace because of this doubt. The suspense nags at the reader as they want to know if Hannah can put all the pieces together. Captain Fin is emotionally rich, psychologically disturbing and downright entertaining. A breezy read for fans of young adult literature that deals with social issues. One of those novels I had to read through the entire night.