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izzys_internet_bookshelf's review
3.0
3/5
This was better then I thought. At first I Was just like "Meh, another book about grief, I wonder how it deals with the topic." Then I was given a complete turn and driven down the road of plot twists. It made the book so much more then a story about grief and the main characters were both trying to figure out how they could find calm in a hurricane.
This was better then I thought. At first I Was just like "Meh, another book about grief, I wonder how it deals with the topic." Then I was given a complete turn and driven down the road of plot twists. It made the book so much more then a story about grief and the main characters were both trying to figure out how they could find calm in a hurricane.
literatefox76's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
baldmarlin's review
3.0
I'm not always called to write an actual review for a book, but god I truly wish I could have liked this book better. The author has so much potential and if this is their debut, I can't wait to see what they release in the future. The dialog snapped and the story flew by that I didn't want to put it down! Once the revelations came out, it made for a more interesting story between the sisters.
Sabine and Blythe lose their dad to a very sudden illness and there's a mystery man that appears in the hospital room minutes after the fact. Turns out, Sabine, Blythe, and their mom are packing up their lives and moving away to the Bay Area. Turns out (x2), the mystery man and the father were in a relationship that was actually a poly relationship with the mom and the dad died of AIDS.
I feel like all of the storylines could have been handled a little bit better with a little more research. The implication of the dad being a stereotypical bisexual man who fought for a poly relationship against the true wishes of his partners and being promiscuous/contracting HIV wasn't explored in the best way. Hiding everything from the kids until a good portion of the book went by was also A Choice.
My big thing for characters in novels is communication. The mom moves the entire family away from the only life they've lived with no actual explanation. The family moves into a run down mansion in the middle of a renovation with no explanation. The sisters have to deal with someone from the Homeowner's Association handing out fines because the renovations aren't going about the "right way" WITH NO EXPLANATION.
And the insta-love was just cringy. Sabine is the most selfish MC I've read in a long time. That all being said, I truly want to read more from this author.
Sabine and Blythe lose their dad to a very sudden illness and there's a mystery man that appears in the hospital room minutes after the fact. Turns out, Sabine, Blythe, and their mom are packing up their lives and moving away to the Bay Area. Turns out (x2), the mystery man and the father were in a relationship that was actually a poly relationship with the mom and the dad died of AIDS.
I feel like all of the storylines could have been handled a little bit better with a little more research. The implication of the dad being a stereotypical bisexual man who fought for a poly relationship against the true wishes of his partners and being promiscuous/contracting HIV wasn't explored in the best way. Hiding everything from the kids until a good portion of the book went by was also A Choice.
My big thing for characters in novels is communication. The mom moves the entire family away from the only life they've lived with no actual explanation. The family moves into a run down mansion in the middle of a renovation with no explanation. The sisters have to deal with someone from the Homeowner's Association handing out fines because the renovations aren't going about the "right way" WITH NO EXPLANATION.
And the insta-love was just cringy. Sabine is the most selfish MC I've read in a long time. That all being said, I truly want to read more from this author.
paragraphsandpages's review
1.0
First, I would like to thank the author, publisher, and Netgalley for giving me the chance to read and review this book. While an egalley was provided for me, my thoughts and opinions are my own.
This books covers a lot of sensitive topics that don't often make their way into YA (polyamory, HIV/AIDs, bisexuality, homelessness, and other sorts of trauma. However, I don't know if I can say this was well-balanced. While I can't comment on the exact rep for most of these topics (except for perhaps bisexuality, which wasn't really a focus), it generally seemed like the book was trying to do too much, and wasn't able to give any one topic the space it needed. I also don't think Sabine was the sort of character to handle being in this type of story, as she was a very selfish character and the spotlight was mostly focused on her grief and trauma after learning her father had another lover. Her disgust with being lied too wasn't distinctly separated from the fact her father was queer (poly + bi), and it felt uncomfortable sometimes. While I don't think this was the intention, more space could've been given to showing that Sabine didn't have an issue with her father's queerness, but an issue with his lies. This was the general idea, but some comments just felt off. But in general, there was just too much going on and too little room to properly give those topics the space they needed to be discussed.
Unfortunately, the story beyond these issues isn't much better. Sabine is cruel, using harsh methods to get what she wants while acting innocent and kind. She gets a friend forcibly removed from their house and separated from their father, and she also is the reason that her family is evicted from the house they are renovating as a safe haven for LGBTQ+ people (under the pretense of wanting to go back home/have a home to herself/not wanting to stay in that house with her father's lover). She consistently places the needs of herself over those around her, and I don't think the book properly punishes her for those choices. She very quickly makes amends to those she hurt, and all seems fine in the end. (These also characters also all have very strong faults that they often apologize for, only to continue doing. So it's not even that I felt the side characters were compelling). I'm also unsure if Sabine's compulsive poetry was meant to be a representation of compulsions and/or tics, because it was never really truly explained. It may have been a side effect of the trauma of losing her father, but it was half explained that she had been doing for a while. It was only ever named here and there as some 'literary disorder/tic/compulsion', and I just don't know if this is supposed to be more of quirky trait of the character or representation. It felt off to me.
The romance also felt quite toxic, yet seemed to be held up as Sabine's great love. Sabine literally enacted revenge against Kai's best friend because she was trying to 'steal him', and Kai let the best friend be led on/didn't push off her advances even though he was with Sabine and didn't care for his friend like that. It just didn't seem like a good relationship at all, or that there was even any chemistry beyond the fact that he was the only one that didn't mock Sabine's poetry.
Overall, I feel like this book just didn't have the space to fully deal with everything it brought up, and it made the book feel weak and shallow, and possibly even harmful in it's generalizing representation.
This books covers a lot of sensitive topics that don't often make their way into YA (polyamory, HIV/AIDs, bisexuality, homelessness, and other sorts of trauma. However, I don't know if I can say this was well-balanced. While I can't comment on the exact rep for most of these topics (except for perhaps bisexuality, which wasn't really a focus), it generally seemed like the book was trying to do too much, and wasn't able to give any one topic the space it needed. I also don't think Sabine was the sort of character to handle being in this type of story, as she was a very selfish character and the spotlight was mostly focused on her grief and trauma after learning her father had another lover. Her disgust with being lied too wasn't distinctly separated from the fact her father was queer (poly + bi), and it felt uncomfortable sometimes. While I don't think this was the intention, more space could've been given to showing that Sabine didn't have an issue with her father's queerness, but an issue with his lies. This was the general idea, but some comments just felt off. But in general, there was just too much going on and too little room to properly give those topics the space they needed to be discussed.
Unfortunately, the story beyond these issues isn't much better. Sabine is cruel, using harsh methods to get what she wants while acting innocent and kind. She gets a friend forcibly removed from their house and separated from their father, and she also is the reason that her family is evicted from the house they are renovating as a safe haven for LGBTQ+ people (under the pretense of wanting to go back home/have a home to herself/not wanting to stay in that house with her father's lover). She consistently places the needs of herself over those around her, and I don't think the book properly punishes her for those choices. She very quickly makes amends to those she hurt, and all seems fine in the end. (These also characters also all have very strong faults that they often apologize for, only to continue doing. So it's not even that I felt the side characters were compelling). I'm also unsure if Sabine's compulsive poetry was meant to be a representation of compulsions and/or tics, because it was never really truly explained. It may have been a side effect of the trauma of losing her father, but it was half explained that she had been doing for a while. It was only ever named here and there as some 'literary disorder/tic/compulsion', and I just don't know if this is supposed to be more of quirky trait of the character or representation. It felt off to me.
The romance also felt quite toxic, yet seemed to be held up as Sabine's great love. Sabine literally enacted revenge against Kai's best friend because she was trying to 'steal him', and Kai let the best friend be led on/didn't push off her advances even though he was with Sabine and didn't care for his friend like that. It just didn't seem like a good relationship at all, or that there was even any chemistry beyond the fact that he was the only one that didn't mock Sabine's poetry.
Overall, I feel like this book just didn't have the space to fully deal with everything it brought up, and it made the book feel weak and shallow, and possibly even harmful in it's generalizing representation.
100pagesaday's review
4.0
Sixteen year old twins Sabine and Blythe have just lost their father to a brief but intense illness. After their father's death, their mother uproots Sabine and Blythe's life to move to a ramshackle mansion in the small, historic community of Thornewood with a man named Charlie. The girls don't know exactly who Charlie is, but he seems close to their mom and remains a mystery to be solved. Blythe happily settles into their new life and the academic rigors of their new school. Sabine, however, is rolling with anxiety and the mystery of Charlie is not helping. Sabine is determined to get some of her life back, starting with solving the mystery of Charlie.
Wider Than the Sky is an emotional, contemporary, young adult story. From the beginning, I was engaged with the mystery of the death of Sabine and Blythe's father as well as who Charlie was to him. As soon as that becomes apparent, the story turns to an emotional rollercoaster of dealing with grief, family secrets and finding yourself in turbulent times. The story is told mostly through Sabine's point of view and her character stands out with her quirky poeting and finding her footing with new friends and relationships. Sabine reacts to the situation as I would expect any 16 year old girl to react, with shock and push back. Blythe's character seems to react oppositely with blind acceptance of their strange situation. I was more surprised at their mother's approach of just keeping everything a secret and thinking that two sixteen year old girls wouldn't figure things out. I liked Sabine's transition to acceptance of the large change in her life and the meaning of her parent's relationship. Blythe's character highlights the fragility and resilience of the teenage spirit as she comes to find herself.
Wider Than the Sky is an emotional, contemporary, young adult story. From the beginning, I was engaged with the mystery of the death of Sabine and Blythe's father as well as who Charlie was to him. As soon as that becomes apparent, the story turns to an emotional rollercoaster of dealing with grief, family secrets and finding yourself in turbulent times. The story is told mostly through Sabine's point of view and her character stands out with her quirky poeting and finding her footing with new friends and relationships. Sabine reacts to the situation as I would expect any 16 year old girl to react, with shock and push back. Blythe's character seems to react oppositely with blind acceptance of their strange situation. I was more surprised at their mother's approach of just keeping everything a secret and thinking that two sixteen year old girls wouldn't figure things out. I liked Sabine's transition to acceptance of the large change in her life and the meaning of her parent's relationship. Blythe's character highlights the fragility and resilience of the teenage spirit as she comes to find herself.
bookloversofi's review
2.0
I want to thank NetGalley & Soho Press for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I appreciate so much many of the discussions that this book has and tries to have, as well as the amount of diversity since it shows polyamorous relationships and bisexual characters, on the other hand, the execution doesn't seem to be successful, it felt quite messy and the actions of the characters are simply rude and inappropriate. I cannot speak for own-voices readers so I will not, I will just give my opinion as always from my point of view when reading the book, which doesn't represent the whole truth.
2/5 ⭐⭐
You can find more of my reviews & funt content on my blog A Book. A Thought.
In this story, we follow the identical twin sisters Sabine & Blythe, and we see them go through difficult times after the death of their father, each trying to handle the loss as much as possible. But everything begins to change when her mother decides to move into a Bay Area mansion owned by a man named Charlie. The girls embark on this mission to discover who this mysterious man really is, who seems to know everything about them and that's how they discover that Charlie was their father's boyfriend and her mother seems to know everything about it. As the sisters try to assimilate this new information, Sabine decides to learn everything she can about this side of her father that she didn't know and must decide if she decided to embrace the last legacy of her last wish for her family legacy.
I think the idea of this book is SO solid and so interesting, just by reading the synopsis you can realize that there are thousands of paths that the author may have decided to take on such an intense plot, but the one that was taken and how it was executed didn't work for me. I do appreciate the representations even though I feel that there's perhaps a bit of a stereotype regarding bisexuality, I cannot speak for own-voices readers, but I needed to convey this as I wouldn't want any of my beloved bisexual readers to feel hurt when encountering situations inappropriate perhaps in this book. The discussion of polyamory is interesting, yet the last word will always be for those who can really see themselves reflected in the story. There are a couple of twists that didn't quite convince me, as well as the choices the characters took, especially Sabine, didn't resonate with me. I can't give too many details because of spoilers, but I think sometimes her POVs and her pain lead her to say painful things or to make harsh and hasty decisions. It's not my character style at all.
This book discusses HIV, a highly sensitive subject that must be treated with the respect it deserves, so I think it's interesting to note that it's one of the topics to be discussed in the book and that it's discussed due to the weight it has
The romance shown in this book is a complete disaster, I don't want to delve too deeply into this topic, as I don't really have anything positive to share, but basically, I think the characters are both too annoying and pretentious, and I also think that there's no chemistry between any of them, to be honest.
I think that one of the weakest points of the book is that I think I've understood the message that the author wants to convey with it, but at the same time, I don't think it has been successful. In fact, from my point of view, Sabine's character doesn't learn anything, and I think showing growth in the main character is important, so having a character that is literally the same at the end as when it started is tiring and disappointing. One would expect a maturation in her character due to all the situations she has to face, and I understand that she can be somewhat cruel at the beginning because I can come to understand that in her ignorance she doesn't understand when she's being hurtful, and although I see her questioning things, I don't see her learning from her mistakes. If you have a character who must learn from her mistakes because she simply doesn't have good or positive actions towards those things in which she has excelled in the past, it doesn't serve me to have a character that questions things in her mind but doesn't transform them into actions, you know? There's SO MUCH more that could have been done with such a rich plot idea, I'm sad to say, but I think it lost track of the true meaning of this story, or at least what I understood the ending might have been.
I felt absolutely tired of the attitudes of the characters, especially of Sabina, who has a very particular way of showing that something matters to her, her emotions are always transformed into rebellious and selfish actions. I didn't like this character, and you know that when that happens to me in such a strong way, I usually cannot fully enjoy the intensity of the book.
To end with something positive about the book, I can say that the writing style is very beautiful, I don't know if I want to read more of the author, being honest because I don't know if her stories and her creations would resonate with me, but I do believe that her future stories can be recommended since their style has a very special tone.
I'm so sorry to have brought you a more negative than positive review but you know that no matter what I'll always be honest with you regarding my feelings and thoughts. I want to clarify that the fact that I didn't like it, doesn't mean that you cannot like it, but as a reader, I couldn't recommend it, there's a lot to work on in terms of misplaced stereotypes, to work on those characters, especially on their growth and maturation throughout the story & last but not least, needs more work in terms of direction and impact. I was looking for a lot when I get into this book, and I absolutely adore the cover as well as the author's style, but it just didn't work for me.
First Thoughts 01/23/21
In many ways I appreciate what the book tries to do, but on the other hand I couldn't connect with the main character, especially because of her selfish attitudes, don't get me wrong I don't mind having an unlovable character, but there are some moments that can be too rude and pass some lines. I understand the author's point of view and I like the diversity it shows in familiar terms, but the execution of the story didn't quite hit the mark for me.
deethereader's review
4.0
Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for this Arc in return for an honest review.
The life that Sabine and her twin sister Blythe knew and loved changed in the same week that her father suddenly dies, a stranger turns up at the hospital and the up and move to a dilapidated mansion in a new town with the stranger. Trying to make sense of it all both Sabine and Blythe try and fail to find out what is going on but neither their mum or the stranger Charlie are talking.
During the move Sabine meets the local mover Kai and quickly develops more than a crush on him, but he is taken by another local Emma, or is he. Sabine and Emma become fast friends as they share a love of fashion and Emma warns Sabine off Kai but Sabine cannot help her feelings for Kai and cannot help but feel jealous of Emma every time she sees her and Kai together.
There is something happening with the house, their mum and Charlie and because the adults are not talking Sabine and Blythe decide to so their own snooping to find out what is going on. But neither girls are ready to face the secrets that have been kept from them all their lives and just how much of an impact it will have on not only them but those around them.
I really enjoyed this book and went from liking to not liking and back to liking Sabine as she works her way through her fears, emotions and relationships and fixes the chaos she created. Kai annoyed me as he played with both Emma and Sabine's emotions, maybe not intentionally but it still created hurt and angst between the two girls.
Overall a really good story that is a quick and easy read
The life that Sabine and her twin sister Blythe knew and loved changed in the same week that her father suddenly dies, a stranger turns up at the hospital and the up and move to a dilapidated mansion in a new town with the stranger. Trying to make sense of it all both Sabine and Blythe try and fail to find out what is going on but neither their mum or the stranger Charlie are talking.
During the move Sabine meets the local mover Kai and quickly develops more than a crush on him, but he is taken by another local Emma, or is he. Sabine and Emma become fast friends as they share a love of fashion and Emma warns Sabine off Kai but Sabine cannot help her feelings for Kai and cannot help but feel jealous of Emma every time she sees her and Kai together.
There is something happening with the house, their mum and Charlie and because the adults are not talking Sabine and Blythe decide to so their own snooping to find out what is going on. But neither girls are ready to face the secrets that have been kept from them all their lives and just how much of an impact it will have on not only them but those around them.
I really enjoyed this book and went from liking to not liking and back to liking Sabine as she works her way through her fears, emotions and relationships and fixes the chaos she created. Kai annoyed me as he played with both Emma and Sabine's emotions, maybe not intentionally but it still created hurt and angst between the two girls.
Overall a really good story that is a quick and easy read
denaiir's review
2.0
Miscommunication, clichés, unlikeable characters, everything I don't like in a novel. And that poetry mash-up sub-plot was really unrealistic, Sabine's poeting was annoying and the French in that book was horrendous. Don't editors have people who can cross-check that the French teacher actually kind of makes sense and that the narrator is somewhat understandable? Very tiny sub-plot but still quite annoying. The cover was pretty.
bobisthecoolest's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
No thank you:
- The characters (especially the main character) were unlikeable
- The poemting was annoying as fuck (and if this was meant to be some sort of representation, it was awful rep).
- The ending wasn’t satisfying
- The narrator of the audiobook has this incredibly annoying way of pronouncing s
- ect..
The only reason this isn’t rated lower is because I’ve read a colleen hoover book once and that’s even worse. (also because you’ll never meet me. no book deserves to be rated lower than that monstrosity)
- The characters (especially the main character) were unlikeable
- The poemting was annoying as fuck (and if this was meant to be some sort of representation, it was awful rep).
- The ending wasn’t satisfying
- The narrator of the audiobook has this incredibly annoying way of pronouncing s
- ect..
The only reason this isn’t rated lower is because I’ve read a colleen hoover book once and that’s even worse. (also because you’ll never meet me. no book deserves to be rated lower than that monstrosity)