// Thanks to Candlewick Press and Netgalley for the ARC to review //

“I suppose if we forgot stuff we’ll never know we forgot it, because we won’t remember.”

⟹ MY BLOG ⟸
⟹ SUPPORT ME ON KO-FI ⟸
*All of my reviews are as spoiler-free as possible unless states otherwise*

a general problem with fantasy books is capturing the attention of readers, but this book did not have that problem. This book is surprisingly deep for a middle grade book. It is complex and intricate with themes deeply woven into the story.

I like how certain middle grades books have the special talent of being so much deeper than they are meant to be.

As this is in the Fantasy genre, it dealt with topics that were more on the supernatural level but I was still able to heavily relate to it in a more philosophical way.


plot:

~ though it had a slow start for me, it picked up fairly quickly. The beginning was already enough to capture my attention. The timeline was spread out enough that it was able to show the development and change with the characters.

stuey and elly are so innocently cute that it makes the whole story seem innocent even though it dealt with sort of serious and heavy topics. The developments were slow but it hit me really hard and I couldn't help tearing up at some parts. And even though the structural flow did not appeal to me as much because it is a middle grade novel, I enjoyed it very much due to the topics that it tackled and how much it just hits you everytime.


“hatred combined with lies and secrets can break the world.”

characters:

~ the characters were written with so much passion that reading their relationships made my heart swell. I felt all the emotions they were feeling on a magnified level. Their connections just felt so real to me.

“Do You know what ghosts are, Stuey? I’ll tell you. They’re secrets haunting the memories of the living. So long as we carry their secrets, they refuse to leave. They wait.” “Wait for what?” “To be forgotten. My father has been gone for sixty years, but” — he tapped the side of his head — “he’s still here. He never left.”

this made me think of my own dad and i must be lying if i said that i didn’t shed a tear. The characters had diversity. Even though the style makes it seem like a very kiddish read, I was glad to have read it because the characters felt alive and they did start growing up towards the end.

Their families were very much present throughout the whole book and I appreciated how their actions played a part in the plot.


“we live in different worlds, different realities.”

themes:

~ it revolved around a lot of themes: ghosts, memories, dreams, friendship, family, growing up but most importantly, realities and what we choose to believe. Is there more than one reality? Are there different worlds? It provided a lot of philosophical ideas to ponder on and it always left me thinking.

what hit me the most was how in the end, Stuey forgot a significant part of his past with Elly, it signified how he has grown up. It showed that we change as we grow older and it made me realize that we won't even remember the things that we forget. But as long as it stays with us, it will stay alive though us.

~ In this story, it isn't important whose side of 'reality' is true and which is not. What is important is that you understand that each of us can have our own versions of realities, and that's okay. . . because we will always choose to believe our own reality.

“the dead live in our memories.”

Blog | Goodreads

FULL REVIEW: to be posted on my blog about a week before September 11