Review: Summer Bird Blue by Akemi Dawn Bowman (#Ad)

07:00 Jo 1 comment

I received this eProof for free from Ink Road Books via NetGalley for the purposes of providing an honest review.

Summer Bird Blue by Akemi Dawn Bowman

Published: 4th April 2019 | Publisher: Ink Road Books | Source: Publisher
Akemi Dawn Bowman's Website

Rumi Seto spends a lot of time worrying. What to eat, where to go, who to love. But there's one thing she is sure of: she wants to spend her life writing music with her younger sister, Lea.

Then Lea dies in a car accident, and Rumi is sent to live with her aunt in Hawaii. Now, miles from home, Rumi struggles to navigate the loss of her sister, feeling abandoned by her mother, and the aching absence of music. With the help of the "boys next door", teenage surfer Kai, who doesn't take anything too seriously, and old George Watanabe, who succumbed to grief years ago, Rumi seeks her way back to music, and to write the song she and Lea never had the chance to finish.

With unflinching honesty, Summer Bird Blue explores big truths about insurmountable grief, unconditional love, and how to forgive even when it feels impossible. From Goodreads

Trigger Warnings: This book features death by car accident, familial death, grief, a panic attack, a heart attack, blood.

Monday, 2 July 2018

#ownvoices, 2018 YA debut, akemi dawn bowman, contemporary, mental illness, mental illness in YA month, poc, poc - biracial, review, romance, social anxiety, starfish, ukya, YA

Mental Illness in YA Month Review: Starfish by Akemi Dawn Bowman (#Ad)

07:00 Jo 2 comments

Starfish by Akemi Dawn Bowman

I received this eProof for free from Ink Road via NetGalley for the purpose of providing an honest review.

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. From Goodreads.

I received this eProof for free from Ink Road via NetGalley for the purposes of providing an honest review.

Trigger Warning: This book features child abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, a suicide attempt, racism and gaslighting. This review also includes quotes of sexual abuse being discussed.

Warning: This review contains minor spoilers, so I'm able to talk about Kiko's social anxiety in depth.