4.02 AVERAGE

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
emotional hopeful fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: N/A
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

This is the first book I read in verse. I think that it was enjoyable but it's not my type of story. I did really like the writing and comparisons made in this book though. 
emotional hopeful fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

I loved this story. A novel in verse about adoption, self-discovery, family and longing. Rynn just wants to find her birth family, has a terrible relationship with adoptive mother and a close one with her adoptive father. When she finally does some research, she discovers a sister she didn’t know and a way to fill the hole in her heart and a birth mother who left bread crumbs to find her true self and her family. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

I'm learning that I really enjoy books in verse (its so lyrical) and Betty Culley is a great story teller. You feel so much for Rynn (Scheherazade) in a short period. I would absolutely love a second book on when she turns 18, learning about her father and more about her life.

“Defect and perfect are so close, only two letters apart. If you say them fast, defect perfect defect perfect, they almost sound the same.”

✮✮✮✮

Rynn is adopted and her relationship with her adoptive mother isn’t great. The relationship fractures more when her mother finds out that Rynn is looking for her family of blood. After finding out she can’t look until she is 18 due to a closed adoption, she does a search online and finds that she has a sister in a nearby town. This is the story of the challenges of family.

This book broke me. Like physically and mentally broke me. I have never read anything so devastating in my entire life. The family and friendships in this book were so well portrayed. I loved particularly how it shows that friends can be more like family than your own family can, and how they will go to the ends of the earth for you too. The ending wasn’t quite what I was anticipating but the character was happy in her own way.

I’ve never read a fiction book written in verse before so this was a new one for me, and it worked. I was kind of nervous before I started it because I didn’t know what to expect, but it made it so much easier to read, with it all broken into bite size chunks.

Highly recommend for a moving read of familial issues and reconnection!

i really like how this book portrays the adoptive mom, but also other moms. i didn't like that it was in verse at first but it was fine. i like reading the thoughts and feelings of the main character in her narrative voice

I love that Scheherazade and Sorella are happy and safe and surrounded by love.
challenging emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Rynn's birth mother gave her the name "Scheherazade," although her adoptive parents changed it. She was born with a hole in her heart, and she feels the hole in her life from not knowing her birth family. She has an okay relationship with her adoptive father, and a not great one with her adoptive mother. They live on a garlic farm in central Maine (somewhere outside of Pittsfield, if my Maine geography guess is correct), and Rynn has a few friends and gets a job babysitting during the summer. She finds a way to find her birth family, and makes decisions on what to do with that information. 

Things I liked about this book: the complicated look at adoption it provides. It shows both the good sides and the bad sides, and all the complicated feelings around it.
Things I disliked: There's one twist that just felt too easy. To say more is a giant spoiler, but for me, if you don't buy that twist, there's a lot you have to take on faith afterward.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional hopeful inspiring fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated