Apple and Rain

by Sarah Crossan

[Kelly]

http://www.divabooknerd.com/2014/09/apple-and-rain-by-sarah-crossan.html
When a review copy arrives with included tissues, you know you're in for an emotional read and Apple and Rain didn't disappoint. Apple is an intelligent young lady, but she's never been able to overcome her mother leaving. Although she loves her grandmother dearly, she so desperately pines for a relationship with the woman who left and never looked back. It was only then did I realise how incredibly young Apple is emotionally, and that is also reflected in new sister Rain as well. Both girls are seemingly well adjusted, but as the storyline progresses, it's apparent that their mother has neglected each girl resulting in Rain's inability to to function without Jenny, and Apple needing to please her mother for her approval. It was incredibly sad to see Apple, who is still a child herself, taking care of her younger sibling both mentally and physically. Apple had no one to turn to, not wanting her grandmother to know that her mother was unfit to care for both girls. She was forced from school, with the only alternative being leaving Rain at home alone and before long, Apple herself became the mothering figure in Rain's life.

The only brightness in Apple's world had become the journal given to her by her English teacher, and encouraged to continue her love of poetry. Apple's life is falling apart, she had lost her best friend to the token malicious popular girl, her first kiss was at the insistence of her mother's drunken idea and now she's left alone to cope with Rain while her mother avoids coming home. It felt as though the words had seeped through the pages and tore through my heart, I was emotionally invested in the lives of these two girls and wanted nothing more than to rescue them from the situation their neglectful and self absorbed mother had inflicted.

Beautifully written. This is my second Sarah Crossan novel, after attempting to read the first installment in her young adult dystopian series, Breathe. But where I couldn't immerse myself in the series, Apple and Rain was phenomenal. So incredibly emotional, where the reader will find themselves invested in Apple and Rain's plight. Tragically beautiful.