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stephsz's review against another edition
5.0
Really great story and characters. I hope there's another book that picks up where this one left off! I found myself really caring about Lee and Harmony. Fantastic debut!
portiabturner's review against another edition
4.0
I love when I have to read books for work and end up loving them! (Because when the other direction happens, it is so incredibly heartbreaking.) Satellite, Whalen's first YA novel, is a great piece of realistic YA fiction. She deals with first love, family dynamics, as well as confusion as to what it means to be a person. Her characters sound like real teenagers, smart yet still confused in certain aspects of the world. Quite a few YA novels these days aren't able to do that and it breaks my heart. Thankfully, Whalen has nailed their voices. She also also managed to create a family mystery that kept me hooked from the very beginning. The novel is short but packed full of entertainment. No word or page is wasted. I even read the whole thing on the computer because I needed to know what was going to happen (which isn't a normal thing because I have a hard time reading off computer screens and they hurt my eyes). A well crafted, fun (yet quite sad at times) read.
nikkibd4033's review
5.0
Best friends is too mild a word to describe Levon and Harmony, two Chicago teenagers whose fathers are in love. They’ve been friends since childhood, but there’s always been something more there, both in terms of sibling love and potentially romantic love. Their relationship delicately toes the line between strength and dysfunction. Everything changes when Harmony’s dad leaves Levon’s dad and takes Harmony to Los Angeles with him. Levon copes by losing himself in ballet, while Harmony discovers a surprising new crush. The distance is hard enough for these two, but when a hidden family secret is discovered, they need to figure things out before losing each other forever.
There is a lot to love about this debut novel; The setting of Chicago’s Boystown neighborhood is vibrant and cool, the characters are written with depth and empathy, even when their actions make them hard to empathize with, and the adults in the story are as well-rounded as the two teenagers. The plot is driven by characters, not situations.
All of this makes Satellite a well-written young adult novel that is smart and thought-provoking with a lot of emotional resonance about what defines a family.
(Cross posted to: https://bitesizebookreviews.tumblr.com/post/167751184888/satellite )
There is a lot to love about this debut novel; The setting of Chicago’s Boystown neighborhood is vibrant and cool, the characters are written with depth and empathy, even when their actions make them hard to empathize with, and the adults in the story are as well-rounded as the two teenagers. The plot is driven by characters, not situations.
All of this makes Satellite a well-written young adult novel that is smart and thought-provoking with a lot of emotional resonance about what defines a family.
(Cross posted to: https://bitesizebookreviews.tumblr.com/post/167751184888/satellite )
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