Kiko Himura has always had a hard time saying exactly what she’s thinking. With a mother who makes her feel unremarkable and a half-Japanese heritage she doesn’t quite understand, Kiko prefers to keep her head down, certain that once she makes it into her dream art school, Prism, her real life will begin.
But then Kiko doesn’t get into Prism, at the same time her abusive uncle moves back in with her family. So when she receives an invitation from her childhood friend to leave her small town and tour art schools on the west coast, Kiko jumps at the opportunity in spite of the anxieties and fears that attempt to hold her back. And now that she is finally free to be her own person outside the constricting walls of her home life, Kiko learns life-changing truths about herself, her past, and how to be brave.
From debut author Akemi Dawn Bowman comes a luminous, heartbreaking story of identity, family, and the beauty that emerges when we embrace our true selves.
What I thought:
Wow. Just, wow. This book is everything. Is. Not has. Is. This book IS everything. This is the book I needed, well, let's just say twenty years ago, because that's a nice round number. Kiko Himura. Sigh. I want to hug her.
The writing is gorgeous. The imagery is insanely good. No matter where you're from, what you look like, how you're raised, I think most teenagers suffer the same range of insecurities--to varying degrees, of course. I think a lot of people suffer from the feeling that they're on the outside looking in, and I loved how well this book portrays that emotion.
I finished reading this around midnight and had to stop myself from barging into my daughter's room and waking her up so she could start reading RIGHT NOW.
All the feels. READ this book!
Rating: ***** (five sparkly starfish)
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One moment changed their lives forever.
A band plays, glasses clink, and four teens sneak into the Mexican desert, the hum of celebration receding behind them.
Crack. Crack. Crack.
Not fireworks―gunshots. The music stops. And Pato, Arbo, Marcos, and Gladys are powerless as the lives they once knew are taken from them.
Then they are seen by the gunmen. They run. Except they have nowhere to go. The narcos responsible for their families' murders have put out a reward for the teens' capture. Staying in Mexico is certain death, but attempting to cross the border through an unforgiving desert may be as deadly as the secrets they are trying to escape...
What I thought:
This isn't a title I would've picked up on my own. That said, there were parts of it that I really enjoyed and parts that I found just meh. The pacing is strong and the story moved forward at a good rate, which is probably what kept me reading until the end.
Lots of action. Even where the story slows, things are still happening and the tension is there. I think the biggest thing that held me back on this one was that I never really felt a connection. I kept turning pages to find out what happened next, but not because I cared specifically for the fate of any particular character, but in that train-wreck sort of way where you just stare at the carnage. There was an emotional distance here and, while the characters were well-drawn, for me, they remained mostly flat.
The story is well-written and fast-paced and, even though it's fiction, I think it helps paint a face on current immigration issues and what some have to sacrifice in order to survive. Overall a good read.
Rating: **** (3.5 stars)
*I received an eARC of this title from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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Running into your one-night stand is a special kind of awkward. Competing against him in a wine tasting contest is delicious torment…On Rachel’s twenty-seventh birthday, she wishes to finally find a rewarding job. What she doesn’t wish is to drink a boatload of wine, sleep with a tattooed bad boy, and drunk email her boss in one glorious, career-ending move. But the fiasco pushes her to pursue a career inspired by her late father’s love of wine: sommelier.
Unfortunately, she’s competing against her infuriating one-night stand, a man as intoxicating as a Pinot Noir.
Two years ago, Jimmy was set to inherit his family winery. Then it got ripped from his grasp. To close that dark chapter of his life, he plans to win a local sommelier contest and use the press to expose his family’s tainted wines.
Jimmy loves studying the streaks of alcohol that cling to a wineglass, known as the wine’s “legs,” but other shapely legs are stealing his focus. Tantalizing legs. Legs that had wrapped around his waist for one wild night. Jimmy, sadly, has a weakness for legs.
He also hates to lose.
What I thought:
Yes. Just yes. Yes to Rachel. Yes to Jimmy. And the two of them together... wow! Hot! I didn't really need a plot. I mean, yes, there is one, and it's great, but I'd have been content with 250 pages of them banging away. The chemistry here is off-the-charts. So, just yes.
Rating: ***** (4 1/2 stars)
*I received an eARC of this title from the author in exchange for an honest review.
Happy reading. If you liked my reviews, please leave me a comment or find me on twitter @chellypike.
