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4.03 AVERAGE

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

Normally when a book is divided in a back-in-time perspective and a now-a-days perspective, I tend to like the back-in-time perspective the most. But in this book I did not care much for the story of Rawiya. I did get more interested in it right at the end, but for most of the book, it was just pages to get trough to get to Nour's story - which I did enjoy, and is the reason why I give the book three stars.
challenging emotional hopeful sad medium-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: No
emotional reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No
adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

This is the most poetic book I've ever read. It was heartwarming and heart wrenching at different times, but I was in love with Nur from page 1 and I already miss reading about her. If I could I would give this 6 stars. Finishing it on Mother's Day was also an extra treat.

I think I liked the concept of this book better than its execution. There were scenes that really stuck with me, more in the modern storyline than the semi-fantastical one that takes place a thousand years ago. The effect of the Syrian civil war on Noor's family and their experience as refugees seemed realistic in its highlights of the horrors of the war and the dangerous life as a refugee. But the twists that gave both stories a happy ending seemed pretty contrived.

Beautifully written, it’s just too much sometimes. I lost interest in parts, until it picked up. It made me feel sad and happy. Overall it was a nice story. 
medium-paced

Very beautiful telling of a families journey. 

I think it is important to read things outside your comfort zone once in a while and this certainly filled the bill for me. Learning how disconcerting being refugee needs to be reinforced on a regular basis in order for us who live mild day to day lives to understand what our fellow human beings go through day after day. And it's a great story too.
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beasleysbooks's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH: 10%

This isn't a bad book, but I was bored by it. The dual timelines were hard for me to follow. I think this is probably a great and informative book, but I don't have the time to dedicate to it. I also saw it lauded as having "beautiful writing," and the writing style wasn't doing it for me.