”But I’m here today to tell you that the journey forward always seems impossible. Anything we set out to do in life looks impossible at first, and yet we must keep going, listening only to the small voice inside that tells us to press on, to keep reaching and prove them all wrong.”

This book was really powerful and moving. I’ll admit that I had a bit of trouble towards the beginning getting into the story and the magical aspect, but once I got to the middle I just zoomed through the rest in one sitting. This is a really touching story about so many wonderful things: friendship, family, positivity, feminism, forgiveness and community. It’s also interspersed with so many dark and evil things: addiction, rape, molestation, depression, and suicide. But despite all of the darkness, Brown demonstrates the ways that light can truly be victorious.

I loved reading about Echo’s journey— there are many obstacles and truly awful things that happen that make her ending even more uplifting. I especially loved her relationship to her brothers, her friendship with Elena, Jessie and Davante, and also her relationship with Mr and Mrs Delaney. All of them were written in such a great way and they all brought something different to the table. In the end though, this book seems to be focused most on Echo’s fraught and loving connection to her mother. Their growth throughout the book was amazing and really heartwarming to see the strength of care and forgiveness.

Overall, this is just a really beautiful book. There’s so many powerful messages within, most importantly about finding the light in the darkness. I would definitely recommend it, though please make sure to read up about trigger warnings beforehand! I’ve listed most of them (I hope) below.

Trigger warnings: death, suicide, sexual abuse (rape, molestation), addiction/overdose, violence