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Seeing as I was adopted myself, I was particularly interested in this book, and I nearly fell off my bed when I saw that the egalley was offered at netgalley.com. Like the main character, Jenna, I too was thrown a curve ball when my biological family suddenly showed up out of nowhere. With a lot of personal experience on the subject, I can say that Mallery nails the turmoil of the situation. The warring emotions displayed in the writing are engaging, relatable, and impressively dead on. In this kind of situation there are so many emotions it’s like a web of confusion. I was pleasantly surprised at how well Mallery expressed them through this story. Even though the biological parents are universe-talking, vegan people, there isn’t some mystical bond between Jenna and them. At least not on Jenna’s end. Jenna doesn’t feel a bond, and quite frankly doesn’t want one. I loved this aspect, because in truth it really doesn’t work that way in the real world. By rule of thumb, most of these situations are not an Oprah show moment. Usually they are awkward and miserable. Fortunately for us readers, Mallery is a clever writer who takes Jenna’s awkward misery and turns it into a a comedic triangle between her and both her mothers. Beyond Jenna, there is a wonderful secondary character, Violet. Thank goodness Mallery gave Violet a lot of page time! It saved me the time of having to petition for Violet to have her own book. Violet has a story all on her own. A well-written one that doesn’t take over, but has it’s own spotlight. In a different way Violet is looking for the same thing Jenna is. Jenna just doesn’t realizes what she’s looking for, where as Violet knows but doesn’t think she deserves it. Then there are the parents, the biological parents, new brothers, and love interests for Jenna and Violet. It’s a large cast of the normal, the damaged, and the weird. All of which make for a great tear jerker mixed with humor, a bit of danger, a pinch of heat, and a lesson in opening up to all the possibilities. P.S. There’s a swoon worthy Dragon in the story… be on the look out!

2022-10-21 05:39