•Pro: First and foremost - this book was beautifully written. Pan's prose was vivid and gorgeous. She painted the characters' emotions with sweeping brushstrokes, and I was right there with them, fully immersed in their fear, joy, and pain.
•Pro: Magical realism is one of my favorite genres, and those magical elements were used so wonderfully in this story. The Smoke and Memories sequence was such a brilliant way to give the reader different points of view.
•Pro: Pan took us on an awesome trip to Taiwan. She showed us so many special sites, but my favorite thing was all the food. It was a virtual feast!
•Pro: I loved the way the story bounced back and forth from past to present, from happy to sad. It was interesting that Pan chose to explore Leigh's relationship with her best friend, Axel, in addition to those with her mother and father, but I think it was a good way to alleviate some of the sadness and inject some hope into this story.
•Pro: This was Leigh's healing journey, but it was also her journey of self discovery. She struggled with her ethnic identity, her belief in herself as an artist, her place in Axel's life, her inability to get all the answers, and her guilt over not being there for her mother. Pan did such an amazing job getting us inside Leigh's head and taking us along with her on this path to self discovery.
•Con: I think the book was a tad too long. It could have been edited down a little.
•Pro: Leigh learns a lot about her mother and all the family secrets. This insight opens her eyes and has her re-examining things with a new perspective. I really appreciated this growth, and also the awesome twist Pan threw in there.
•Pro: I thought the mental health part of the story was handled in a respectful and sensitive way. Pan addressed how everyone was affected by Leigh's mother's mental illness and her suicide, and it is important that it was approached in this stigma-free way.
Believing is a type of magic. It can make something true.
Overall: A gorgeously written tale, which took me on a magical journey from the throes of grief to a place of healing, understanding, self discovery, and finding beauty in the pain.
*ARC received in exchange for an honest review.
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