Title: Your Corner Dark Author: Desmond Hall Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary Publisher: Atheneum Source: Publisher Format: Paperback arc Release Date: January 19, 2021 Rating: ★★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
American Street meets Long Way Down in this searing and gritty debut novel that takes an unflinching look at the harsh realities of gang life in Jamaica and how far a teen is willing to go for family.
Things can change in a second:
The second Frankie Green gets that scholarship letter, he has his ticket out of Jamaica.
The second his longtime crush, Leah, asks him on a date, he’s in trouble.
The second his father gets shot, suddenly nothing else matters.
And the second Frankie joins his uncle’s gang in exchange for paying for his father’s medical bills, there’s no going back…or is there?
As Frankie does things he never thought he’d be capable of, he’s forced to confront the truth of the family and future he was born into—and the ones he wants to build for himself.
Review:
Frankie Green lives with his father in Jamaica. When he gets a scholarship letter from the US, he knows he has his ticket out of Jamaica. To celebrate, Frankie decides to go to a party that is put on by his uncle’s gang. Frankie’s father doesn’t get along with his brother, but he shows up at the party and gets shot. Frankie has to get money quick to save his father from a bad infection, so he joins his uncle’s gang. Frankie’s life takes a sudden turn, changing the future he had planned.
Frankie was an ambitious boy. He had big dreams of studying engineering in the US. He worked so hard all of his life, but one small decision he made derailed all of his plans. This shows that just one moment can change your life, for better or worse.
This story dealt with some serious topics. Frankie had to join a gang in order to get his father medical care. He gave up his dream of becoming an engineer in order to save his father’s life. That’s something I’ve never had to face, and I’m sure many other readers haven’t had to deal with either. It’s so important to read stories like this, with diverse lifestyles, to understand a little of what life could be like in other places in the world.
This was a suspenseful read!
Thank you Simon and Schuster Canada for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
What to read next:
Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds
Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo
Have you read Your Corner Dark? What did you think of it?
Title: Sugar and Spite Author: Gail D. Villanueva Genre: Middle Grade, Contemporary, Fantasy Publisher: Scholastic Press Source: Publisher via Edelweiss Format: Ebook Release Date: April 20, 2021 Rating: ★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
Can a bully be defeated by a magical love potion?
Jolina can’t take Claudine’s bullying any longer! The taunts and teasing are too much. Though Jolina knows she’s still in-training to use her grandfather’s arbularyo magic, she sneaks into his potions lab to get her revenge. Jolina brews a batch of gayuma, a powerful love potion.
And it works. The love potion conquers Claudine’s hateful nature. In fact, Claudine doesn’t just stop bullying Jolina — now she wants to be Jolina’s BFF, and does everything and anything Jolina asks.
But magic comes with a cost, and bad intentions beget bad returns. Controlling another person’s ability to love — or hate — will certainly have consequences. The magic demands payment, and it is about to come for Jolina in the form of a powerful storm…
Magic and reality mingle in this brilliant new middle-grade novel by Gail D. Villanueva that asks whether it’s ever okay to take away someone’s free will.
Review:
Eleven-year-old Jolina has moved with her family from the city of Manila in the Philippines to an island town to live with her grandfather. Her grandfather practices arbularyo magic, and he is teaching it to Jolina. When Jolina is bullied by Claudine, the popular, and rich, girl in her bible study class, she decides to make a love potion to make Claudine like her. Jolina has to be careful because she hasn’t made a potion like that on her own before. However, every spell and potion has consequences that Jolina will have to face during a powerful storm.
This is the first book that I’ve read that is set in the Philippines, though I’ve had many friends from there. This setting really became a character in the story. It had a vibrant description. I love it when the food from different cultures is described in books. There were a particular kind of candy, called yema balls, which played an important role in the story. There was even a recipe to make them at the end of the book, so I may have to try them!
There were some potentially triggering events at the end of the book. There was a typhoon and the death of a pet. These were emotional scenes that could be triggering to some readers, but these events were crucial to the plot.
I really enjoyed this middle grade story!
Thank you Scholastic Press and TBR and Beyond Tours for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
What to read next:
My Fate According to the Butterfly by Gail D. Villanueva
Hurricane Season by Nicole Melleby
About the author:
Gail D. Villanueva is the author of Sugar And Spite (Scholastic, 2021). Her debut novel, My Fate According to the Butterfly (Scholastic, 2019), was named a Best Book of the Year by Kirkus Reviews, an Amazon Best Book of the Month Editor’s Pick, and a NCSS-CBC Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People. Born and based in the Philippines, Gail’s daily routine includes running a web design company with her husband while trying to keep up with the shenanigans of their many pets—dogs, ducks, turtles, cats, and random birds they befriend in the backyard. Learn more at http://www.gaildvillanueva.com.
Title: The Girls Are All So Nice Here Author: Laurie Elizabeth Flynn Genre: Thriller, Contemporary Publisher: Simon and Schuster Canada Source: Purchased Format: Paperback Release Date: March 9, 2021 Rating: ★★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
Two former best friends return to their college reunion to find that they’re being circled by someone who wants revenge for what they did ten years before—and will stop at nothing to get it—in this shocking psychological thriller about ambition, toxic friendship, and deadly desire.
The Girls Are All So Nice Here opens when Ambrosia Wellington receives an invitation to her ten-year college reunion. Only, slipped in with all the expected information about lodging and the weekend’s schedule is an anonymous letter that says: “It’s time to talk about what we did.” Instantly, Ambrosia realizes that the secrets of her past—and the people she thought she’d left there—aren’t as buried as she’d thought. Amb can’t stop fixating on what she did—and who she did it with. Larger-than-life Sloane Sullivan (“Sully”), who could make anyone do anything. The game they played to get a boy who belonged to someone else, and the girl, Amb’s angelic roommate, who paid the price.
Amb had thought that she and Sully had gotten away with what they did their first semester at Wesleyan. But as Amb receives increasingly menacing messages during the reunion, it becomes clear that she’s being circled by someone who wants more than just the truth. Amb discovers that her own memories don’t tell the whole story, and that her actions and friendship with Sully had even more disturbing consequences than she ever imagined.
Told in alternating timelines between the reunion and Ambrosia’s turbulent first months of college, The Girls Are All So Nice Here is a gripping rollercoaster ride of a novel that examines the dark complexities of female friendship and the brutal lengths girls can go to take what they think they are owed.
Review:
Ambrosia Wellington gets an invitation to her ten year college reunion, but she isn’t planning on going until she gets a threatening note that says, “It’s time to talk about what we did.” When Ambrosia was at college, she was roommates with Flora Banning, a sweet and innocent girl with a boyfriend at another college. Ambrosia was interested in getting a more exciting college experience so she became friends with Sloan “Sully” Sullivan, the party girl. Sully liked to play games with girls and boys, and always have a good time. While Ambrosia is at the reunion, she continues to get threatening messages. She has to come to terms with what she did in school, and realize that maybe her memories aren’t as reliable as she thought.
This story was so intense. Throughout the first half of the story, I was certain that I had figured out the ending. However, there was a twist halfway through that showed me that I was completely wrong. The final chapters were so suspenseful that I was holding my breath. This was definitely a wild story.
This story had a very dark tone. There is some potentially triggering content, such as bullying, suicide, overdose, rape, and cheating. This content was quite intense at times and difficult to read. It was discomforting to read, but these are things that do happen on college campuses. These topics made for an uncomfortable read at times, but the story was so intricately plotted, that I had to give it five full stars.
This was a dark and intense thriller.
What to read next:
The Lying Game by Ruth Ware
Good Girls lie by J.T. Ellison
Have you read The Girls Are All So Nice Here? What did you think of it?
Title: Hana Khan Carries On Author: Uzma Jalaluddin Genre: Romance, Contemporary Publisher: HarperCollins Canada, Berkley Romance Source: Publisher via NetGalley Format: Ebook Release Date: April 13, 2021 Rating: ★★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
From the author of Ayesha at Last comes a sparkling new rom-com for fans of “You’ve Got Mail,” set in two competing halal restaurants
Sales are slow at Three Sisters Biryani Poutine, the only halal restaurant in the close-knit Golden Crescent neighbourhood. Hana waitresses there part time, but what she really wants is to tell stories on the radio. If she can just outshine her fellow intern at the city radio station, she may have a chance at landing a job. In the meantime, Hana pours her thoughts and dreams into a podcast, where she forms a lively relationship with one of her listeners. But soon she’ll need all the support she can get: a new competing restaurant, a more upscale halal place, is about to open in the Golden Crescent, threatening Three Sisters.
When her mysterious aunt and her teenage cousin arrive from India for a surprise visit, they draw Hana into a long-buried family secret. A hate-motivated attack on their neighbourhood complicates the situation further, as does Hana’s growing attraction for Aydin, the young owner of the rival restaurant—who might not be a complete stranger after all.
As life on the Golden Crescent unravels, Hana must learn to use her voice, draw on the strength of her community and decide what her future should be.
Review:
Hana Khan works at her mother’s restaurant, Three Sisters Biryani Poutine, in Toronto. She also has an unpaid internship at a Toronto radio station. But what she wants to do is tell her story on the radio. She hosts an anonymous podcast, where she has made a friend out of one of her listeners. Her mother’s restaurant is failing. With her pregnant sister no longer able to work there and a competing restaurant opening on the same street, Hana has to figure out how to save their restaurant. On top of that Hana has to deal with racist attacks and potentially falling for the owner of the rival restaurant. Hana has to learn to use her voice and follow her dreams.
This was a fabulous story set in my hometown, Toronto. Hana was part of a tight knit community in the east end of the city. All of the businesses had a strong relationship with each other, and they felt threatened when the rival restaurant was opening. There were some shocking twists at the end of the story that I didn’t expect. Hana’s family had some secrets that were hinted at throughout the story, but one secret that was revealed close to the end really surprised me. I love it when a story has a shocking reveal that I didn’t predict.
This story addressed anti-Islamic racism. There were multiple attacks, one personally against Hana and another on her community. Hana also had to deal with discrimination at her internship. These racist moments were so upsetting to read because they are things that happen in real life. This is a reality for many people in their daily lives, even in a diverse city like Toronto. I hope that one day stories that have racist events like this will be part of the past and no longer be relevant.
I really enjoyed this story!
Thank you HarperCollins Canada and Berkley Romance for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
What to read next:
Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin
Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev
Have you read Hana Khan Carries On? What did you think of it?
Title: Just My Luck Author: Adele Parks Genre: Thriller, Contemporary Publisher: MIRA Source: Publisher via NetGalley Format: Ebook Release Date: April 6, 2021 Rating: ★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
It was supposed to be the lottery win they’d always dreamed of…
For fifteen years, Lexi and Jake have played the same six numbers with their friends. Over drinks, dinner parties and summer barbecues, the three couples have discussed the important stuff—kids, marriages, careers—and they’ve laughed off their disappointment when they failed to win anything.
But then the unthinkable happens. There’s a rift in the group. Someone is caught in a lie. And soon after, six numbers come up that change everything forever.
Lexi and Jake have a ticket worth millions. And their friends are determined to claim a share.
#1 Sunday Times bestselling author Adele Parks returns with a riveting look at the dark side of wealth in this gripping tale of friendship, money, betrayal and good luck gone bad…
Review:
For fifteen years, a group of six friends have bought a lottery ticket every week using the same numbers. Lexi and Jake always buy them for the group. One night, they have a fight, breaking the group apart. However, the following week, their numbers come up, and Lexi and Jake have the winning ticket. Despite their fight, their four friends want a share of the winnings. This is only the start of a series of devastating events, which they can’t recover from.
Everyone dreams of winning the lottery, but it doesn’t have the dreamy outcome everyone imagines. Once you come into a lot of money, everyone you’ve ever met expects some of it. This happened in this story when Lexi and Jake won the lottery. It was complicated since they had been in a group, buying tickets together for many years. The question is did they really had a fight and dissolve the group or are Lexi and Jake just saying that to keep the money. This prize of 18 million pounds led their lives to spiral out of control, with affairs, a kidnapping, and many betrayals.
This story had some shocking and disturbing scenes. There was some abuse of a teen and a miscarriage. These scenes were intense and made the story suspenseful, but there were many flashback scenes which slowed down the pacing. There was a lot of unnecessary information that gave a full story of all the characters, but wasn’t necessary to understand the whole plot. It would have had much faster pacing if some of the flashback scenes were shortened or cut.
This was an intense thriller that will make you think twice about buying a lottery ticket.
Thank you HarperCollins for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
What to read next:
Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
Lies Lies Lies by Adele Parks
Other books in the series:
Adele Parks is the #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of twenty novels, including Lies Lies Lies and Just My Luck, as well as I Invited Her In. Just My Luck is currently in development to be made into a movie. Her novels have sold 4 million copies in the UK alone, and her work has also been translated into thirty-one languages.
Have you read Just My Luck? What did you think of it?
Title: Lucky Author: Marissa Stapley Genre: Thriller, Contemporary Publisher: Simon and Schuster Canada Source: Publisher via NetGalley Format: Ebook Release Date: April 6, 2021 Rating: ★★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
For fans of The Flight Attendant, a compelling and thrilling road-trip novel about a talented grifter named Lucky whose past comes back to haunt her.
What if you had the winning ticket that would change your life forever, but you couldn’t cash it in?
Lucky Armstrong is a tough, talented grifter who has just pulled off a million-dollar heist with her boyfriend, Cary. She’s ready to start a brand-new life, with a new identity—when things go sideways. Lucky finds herself alone for the first time, navigating the world without the help of either her father or her boyfriend, the two figures from whom she’s learned the art of the scam.
When she discovers that a lottery ticket she bought on a whim is worth millions, her elation is tempered by one big problem: cashing in the winning ticket means the police will arrest her for her crimes. She’ll go to prison, with no chance to redeem her fortune.
As Lucky tries to avoid arrest and make a future for herself, she must confront her past by reconciling with her father; finding her mother, who abandoned her when she just a baby; and coming to terms with the man she thought she loved—whose complicated past is catching up to her, too.
This is a novel about truth, personal redemption, and the complexity of being good. It introduces a singularly gifted, complicated character who must learn what it means to be independent and honest…before her luck runs out.
Review:
Lucky Armstrong is a talented con artist. She’s ready to leave her grifter life behind and move away with her boyfriend, when he disappears and leaves her wanted by the police. Lucky goes on the run. Then she discovers that the lottery ticket she bought has won the jackpot. The problem is that she can’t cash it in since she’s wanted for scamming people out of millions of dollars. To avoid being captured, Lucky has to travel around the country to see her father who raised her, her mother who abandoned her, and other people from her past to figure out her future.
This was a gripping thriller from the start. I started reading it before going to sleep and I was tempted to stay up all night to finish it. There were twists that surprised me. Lucky’s past was full of secrets, which were revealed in flashbacks throughout the story. There were shocking reveals right until the last pages.
I loved the ending of this story. There was a part in the opening of the story that didn’t seem related to the rest of the story. I was hoping it would all come together in the end and it did. It was a great ending that left me satisfied with the whole story.
This is such a great thriller! I highly recommend it!
Thank you Simon and Schuster Canada for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Title: Undercover Bromance (Bromance Book Club #2) Author: Lyssa Kay Adams Genre: Romance, Contemporary Publisher: Berkley Source: Purchased Format: Ebook Release Date: March 10, 2020 Rating: ★★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
Braden Mack thinks reading romance novels makes him an expert in love, but he’ll soon discover that real life is better than fiction.
Liv Papandreas has a dream job as a sous chef at Nashville’s hottest restaurant. Too bad the celebrity chef owner is less than charming behind kitchen doors. After she catches him harassing a young hostess, she confronts him and gets fired. Liv vows revenge, but she’ll need assistance to take on the powerful chef.
Unfortunately, that means turning to Braden Mack. When Liv’s blackballed from the restaurant scene, the charismatic nightclub entrepreneur offers to help expose her ex-boss, but she is suspicious of his motives. He’ll need to call in reinforcements: the Bromance Book Club.
Inspired by the romantic suspense novel they’re reading, the book club assists Liv in setting up a sting operation to take down the chef. But they’re just as eager to help Mack figure out the way to Liv’s heart… even though she’s determined to squelch the sparks between them before she gets burned.
Review:
Braden Mack is an expert on romance novels, and the creator of the Bromance Book Club. Liv Papandreas is a pastry chef at a restaurant owned by a celebrity chef in Nashville. After spilling a thousand dollar cupcake in Braden’s date’s lap, Liv discovers her boss harassing the hostess of the restaurant. Liv is fired and she vows to expose her former boss for the harasser that he is. Since Braden is an owner of new clubs in Nashville, she goes to him for help in bringing down the celebrity chef. Braden enlists the Bromance Book Club to help with Liv’s plan and to help him figure out his love life.
This is such a great series. The Bromance Book Club get together to study romance novels. Braden is the founder of the club, and he uses the novels to guide his romantic life. However, he doesn’t have a girlfriend, so his plan isn’t working. The guys in the club study the romance books, but they don’t always realize when their lives are following a romance novel plot.
Sexual harassment was a prominent topic in this book. Liv’s former boss was known among his female staff for sexually harassing them. Once Liv discovered it, she wanted to expose him right away, but it wasn’t that easy. The women who had experienced his harassment weren’t eager to go after him. Liv thought she knew the answers from where she was standing on the outside of the situation, but she couldn’t see the perspective of the women who had been attacked. Liv had to wait for the appropriate time to reveal her former boss’s secrets.
I really enjoyed this story! I can’t wait to read the next one.
Title: Tigers, Not Daughters Author: Samantha Mabry Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Magical Realism Publisher: Algonquin Young Readers Source: Publisher via NetGalley Format: Ebook Release Date: March 24, 2020 Rating: ★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
The Torres sisters dream of escape. Escape from their needy and despotic widowed father, and from their San Antonio neighborhood, full of old San Antonio families and all the traditions and expectations that go along with them. In the summer after her senior year of high school, Ana, the oldest sister, falls to her death from her bedroom window. A year later, her three younger sisters, Jessica, Iridian, and Rosa, are still consumed by grief and haunted by their sister’s memory. Their dream of leaving Southtown now seems out of reach. But then strange things start happening around the house: mysterious laughter, mysterious shadows, mysterious writing on the walls. The sisters begin to wonder if Ana really is haunting them, trying to send them a message—and what exactly she’s trying to say.
In a stunning follow-up to her National Book Award–longlisted novel All the Wind in the World, Samantha Mabry weaves an aching, magical novel that is one part family drama, one part ghost story, and one part love story.
Review:
A year ago, Ana Torres fell out of her bedroom window to her death. Her younger three sisters, Jessica, Iridian, and Rosa, are dealing with their grief in different ways. Jessica acts out and has a dangerous relationship with her boyfriend. Iridian finds comfort in books and writing. Rosa tries to help animals. Strange things begin to happen in their house, and the girls decide that it must be Ana’s spirit communicating with them. They have to figure out what Ana is trying to tell them.
This was an intense story. The sisters were grieving for their sister, but their dad had other ways of dealing with the pain. He checked out of their lives, so they had to look after themselves. They had to grow up quickly, but they each had their own ways of coping.
I really liked the magical realism aspects of this story. Ana’s ghost appeared to her sisters and to the neighbors next door. She didn’t always appear as a person, but she would do things around the house to let them know she was there. There were also some storms that happened around her appearances, which added to the spooky atmosphere.
This was such a beautiful story!
Thank you Algonquin Young Readers for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
What to read next:
All the Wind in the World by Samantha Mabry
The Marrow Thieves by Cheri Dimaline
Have you read Tigers, Not Daughters? What did you think of it?
Title: A Taste for Love Author: Jennifer Yen Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance Publisher: Razorbill Source: Publisher via NetGalley Format: Ebook Release Date: February 2, 2021 Rating: ★★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
For fans of Jenny Han, Jane Austen, and The Great British Baking Show, A Taste for Love, is a delicious rom com about first love, familial expectations, and making the perfect bao.
To her friends, high school senior Liza Yang is nearly perfect. Smart, kind, and pretty, she dreams big and never shies away from a challenge. But to her mom, Liza is anything but. Compared to her older sister Jeannie, Liza is stubborn, rebellious, and worst of all, determined to push back against all of Mrs. Yang’s traditional values, especially when it comes to dating.
The one thing mother and daughter do agree on is their love of baking. Mrs. Yang is the owner of Houston’s popular Yin & Yang Bakery. With college just around the corner, Liza agrees to help out at the bakery’s annual junior competition to prove to her mom that she’s more than her rebellious tendencies once and for all. But when Liza arrives on the first day of the bake-off, she realizes there’s a catch: all of the contestants are young Asian American men her mother has handpicked for Liza to date.
The bachelorette situation Liza has found herself in is made even worse when she happens to be grudgingly attracted to one of the contestants; the stoic, impenetrable, annoyingly hot James Wong. As she battles against her feelings for James, and for her mother’s approval, Liza begins to realize there’s no tried and true recipe for love.
Review:
Liza Yang helps out at her family’s restaurant and bakery, Yin and Yang. Her mother holds a competition every year for young bakers, with the prize of a scholarship. Mrs. Yang is eager to find husbands for her daughters. Her oldest daughter, Jeannie, is attending school in New York and is working as a fashion model. Liza has always been the rebellious daughter who dated American boys, rather than Asian boys. Liza is given the opportunity to help her mom judge the baking competition for the first time, but as soon as she sees the contestants, she realizes this year’s competition has been set up as a dating competition for her. Each of the contestants is an eligible Asian teen boy. One of the contestants is James, who has already gotten off on the wrong foot with Liza. Despite that, and even though Mrs. Yang approves of him, Liza can’t help but be attracted to James.
I’ve been binge watching the Great British Bake Off in the last few months, so this book was on trend for me. The competition that Mrs. Yang holds in the story is very similar to that baking competition. There was even an episode of the Bake Off that was referenced in the book that I watched a few days ago. The characters made a wide variety of baked goods in this story. I had to look up some that I had never heard of but they all sound delicious so I’ll have to try them!
This book also had me hooked when I realized it was a retelling of Pride and Prejudice. There have been so many retellings that it’s hard to get an original story. This one definitely worked for me. I really enjoyed this story because it wasn’t an exact copy of Pride and Prejudice. Some of the plot points were rearranged, but it followed the general story of the Jane Austen classic.
This was such a fun story. I recommend having sweet treats on hand while reading it!
Thank you Razorbill for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
What to read next:
American Panda by Gloria Chao
The Way You Make Me Feel by Maurene Goo
Have you read A Taste for Love? What did you think of it?
Title: Bruised Author: Tanya Boteju Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, LGBT Publisher: Simon and Schuster Canada Source: Publisher via NetGalley Format: Ebook Release Date: March 23, 2021 Rating: ★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
To Daya Wijesinghe, a bruise is a mixture of comfort and control. Since her parents died in an accident she survived, bruises have become a way to keep her pain on the surface of her skin so she doesn’t need to deal with the ache deep in her heart.
So when chance and circumstances bring her to a roller derby bout, Daya is hooked. Yes, the rules are confusing and the sport seems to require the kind of teamwork and human interaction Daya generally avoids. But the opportunities to bruise are countless, and Daya realizes that if she’s going to keep her emotional pain at bay, she’ll need all the opportunities she can get.
The deeper Daya immerses herself into the world of roller derby, though, the more she realizes it’s not the simple physical pain-fest she was hoping for. Her rough-and-tumble teammates and their fans push her limits in ways she never imagined, bringing Daya to big truths about love, loss, strength, and healing.
Review:
Since Daya’s parents died in a crash that she survived, she has given herself bruises. She keeps bruising herself so she can physically feel the emotional pain from losing her parents. Daya learns about roller derby teams, and she realizes that’s an activity that will give her lots of bruises. The sport is more physically grueling and painful than she expected. She idolizes the star of the team, Kat, and she befriends Kat’s sister, Shani. Roller derby opens up Daya to exploring her own feelings and finding her personal strength.
This was a coming of age story. Daya had to learn to accept the death of her parents, and she also was coming to understand her own romantic feelings. Daya blamed herself for her parents’ death, since she survived their car crash, so she self harms by bruising herself. Daya also discovered her sexual identity. She became vulnerable by beginning a relationship with a girl that she didn’t expect to have. Daya had a lot to discover about herself in this story.
Despite the serious subject matter for most of the book, there were some entertaining characters. Daya’s aunt and uncle who were her guardians were quirky actors. They would dance and play games without worrying about how they looked to the outside world. Daya met some older characters through her roller skating. They were former roller skaters who still liked to get dressed up and help the younger skaters. They were all funny characters who lightened the mood of the story.
This was a great young adult story!
Thank you Simon and Schuster Canada for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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