Book Review

Lisa reviews this powerful “Coming of Age” story about grief, loss, and so much more.

Petals (Release Date: February 22, 2017)

On Christmas Eve, a horrific car accident leaves Carly Perez without a mom. After a year of surgeries and counseling, Carly’s life is nearly back to normal—except for the monsters—vague, twisted images from the accident that plague her dreams. When her father insists on spending their first Christmas alone in Guatemala with a slew of relatives Carly has never met, she is far from thrilled, but she reluctantly boards the plane anyway.

That’s where she first spots the man with the scarred face. She could swear she has seen him before. But when? Where?

In Reu, the Guatemalan town where her father grew up, Carly meets Miguel, her attractive step-cousin, and thinks maybe vacation won’t be a total waste after all. Though she is drawn to him, Carly’s past holds her back—memories that refuse to be forgotten, and a secret about the accident that remains buried in her subconscious. And everywhere she turns, the man with the scarred face is there, driving that unwelcome secret to the surface.

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Review…

As someone who doesn’t read YA, I was actually pleasantly surprised when I read this book. It is about a young girl from California, whose mother dies on Christmas Eve. The following Christmas her father takes her to Guatemala to be with her family, whom she has never met. Naturally, she is not happy about this decision her father has made and makes it obvious at every turn.

Her family makes her as welcome as they can, but due to the language barrier she struggles at the start. Her father never taught her Spanish as he had been estranged from his family for many years. She learns a lot about her Hispanic background and finds love for a family she never knew existed.

Throughout the story she is struggling with the loss of her mother, feelings for a guy she shouldn’t care for and being tormented by a man following her. On Christmas Eve she sees the man and decides to follow him and ends up making a shocking discovery.

This is a really beautifully written story and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it

Rating… B-