A review by smallhawk
Under a Painted Sky by Stacey Lee

4.0

Okay, so first of all I was a little thrown off by this book because I had been led to believe that the two main characters were going to end up in a lesbian relationship. So, let me just start off by saying that is not the case and this is not that kind of book. Once I understood that, I really enjoyed the book. It's a good story about female friendship and traveling the Oregon Trail to freedom. I was thoroughly impressed with all the historical information that went into the novel. The leading "ladies" were decent and I did find myself rooting for them to achieve their goals but they could have been rounded out a bit more. The boys felt pretty flat. My favorite part of the book? When they meet up with a midwife who provides them with better undergarments for riding horses as a female and also supplies to assist with their "monthlies." Thank you for addressing the nagging question of how the heck this two girls were going to successfully pretend to be boys while traveling an open trail Westward with three boys and not have to address bleeding each month, because clearly this trip is going to take longer than a month.