A review by lisamcdreads
A Soft Place to Land by Janae Marks

4.0

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC of A Soft Place to Land for Janae Marks. While I like From the Desk of Zoe Washington better, A Soft Place to Land was an enjoyable book. Joy Taylor recently moved from her childhood house into a small apartment where she has to share a room with her sister. Her father lost his job, her parents are fighting more regularly and she misses her house tremendously. Because of her father's job loss, they no longer have the money to have her continue piano lessons which impacts her dream of becoming a film score composer. Luckily, she meets Nora, who lives in her building. Nora introduces Joy to other friends as well as The Hideout, a secret room in the building that no adults know about and the first rule is that no adults can ever be told about the space. In this space, Joy starts exchanging messages with an unknown kid in the building who seems in need of a friend. When the kid abruptly stops returning the messages, Joy becomes concerned.

Many kids will relate to the characters in this book in many different ways--those with parents who fight, those with parents who have lost a job, those with friend troubles, those who live in apartments. I think many mg readers will enjoy this book.