Thank you NetGalley and Algonquin Young Readersfor the chance to read and review If I Promise you Wings by A. K. Small.
If I Promise You Wings is a young adult coming of age novel that comes out on the 16th of January! It is the authors’ second novel, with her first being Bright Burning Stars which was turned into the movie Birds of Paradise. A. K. Small is French American and we defiantly get that in this book with loads of French words thrown in!
I was made fun of by my 12 year old cousin who can speak French fluently (product of French school). Apparently I can’t do the Rs right!
If I Promise You Wings is 336 pages long and, like Bright Burning Stars is published by Algonquin Young Readers which is a Hachette imprint!
I do really appreciate that A. K. Small set this in the world of feather artistry which was completely new to me! It felt like being in a fantasy! Like feather artistry does feel completely unreal even now! The inclusion of Emily Dickinson’s poem was also a lovely touch!
The book is sweet. There is no other way to put it. It’s great to see Alix grow and deal with her grief and meet new people and branch out, but aside from that a lot of the stuff with her father was really anti-climatic (even though I understand that life can be that way) and even stuff at Mille etc Une Plume was very everyone wins and is happy at the end of it all.
But again, I am 28, I am absolutely not the target audience for this book, which may love it a lot more than I do! I suspect that a younger audience may appreciate the book a lot more and relate to Alix, as well as appreciate how she ended things with Raven when she knew it wasn't for her.