Reviews

a solid 5 star, nothing lesss
As I was reading, it was torning me apart.
It made me speechless, I dunno just how many times I cried while reading this book.
But mentioning flowers' name every now and then sometimes made it annoying.

erinlovestoread's review against another edition

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emotional funny inspiring tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

A moving and emotional story. The writing style was simplistic and easy to read, which is expected for a young adult novel, but I was captivated by the story nonetheless.

Despite the many tragedies Salma has experienced in Syria she remain hopeful after each unfortunate event.

She was struggling with PTSD and hallucinations, when we were introduced to someone she knew she was imagining it set us off. I was surprised when she had been imagining Layla all along.

The story really highlighted the resistance of spirit in terrible situations like a humanitarian disaster. I am glad she got her happy ending and it was not just endless suffering like other stories.

taniemaree's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

emilykathleen32's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful sad 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? Yes

5.0

Heartbreaking, breathtaking, and gut wrenching all at once. This is a book I am already looking forward to reading again, even knowing it will break my heart again.
The writing was beautiful, and I fell in love with the characters and their complexities. I couldn’t put it down, and even when I wasn’t reading, I was thinking about it.

lostcupofstars's review against another edition

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I’m finding the writing juvenile and the ghibli references annoying.

adearajean's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book is good but very sad. It was repetitive and a little too devastating.

I understand why the book was so dark but at a certain point it made it hard to continue reading. Even in the end when they are about to get out, there's more tragedy. I felt like the boat sinking was unnecessary and I wish the author had more memories or scenes that weren't set at the hospital. There's a lot of this child or victim is dying a horrible death. We don't need to see that same scene multiple times.

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