The Girl Who Could Silence The Wind by Meg Medina

A very unique and powerful story, I have definitely never read anything like Meg Medina's debut novel, The Girl Who Could Silence the Wind.

The Girl Who Could Silence the Wind is the story of sixteen-year-old Sonia, a girl who spends her time praying for the sick and the missing in her small village– not thinking about boys or even her own future. It's all because of when she was born, on the night of a terrible storm that stopped after her birth. Now everyone thinks she has magical powers, but Sonia knows the truth: she's a fake. Desperate to escape the guilt of her conscience and the knowledge that she has no special powers, Sonia travels to the city to work for a wealthy woman. At first, the difficult job is the escape she's always dreamed of, but then her brother goes missing while looking for work himself. Now, magical powers or not, Sonia has to do everything she can to save him.

One of my favourite things about The Girl Who Could Silence the Wind was Sonia, I just really connected with her. Even though I've never even been to the type of village she was from, let alone lived there, I think that most people have felt the kind of pressure she is under– the fear that everyone has faith in you for a false reason, the doubt that you can live up to their exceptions, that feeling of not being what you are supposed to be (and what everyone else thinks you are). That kind of emotion is universal, and Medina captures it with perfect clarity. Still, despite her fears, or maybe because of them– Sonia is a strong woman facing incredible odds and it is really emotional to read about her journey.

It's not just Sonia's story that is emotional though, it's the whole book. The Girl Who Could Silence the Wind is rich and developed even though it's not that long I felt like it was just full of story and life. Each of the characters is struggling in their own way, and the end result is absolutely heart-breaking. I especially loved the relationships between Sonia and her brother, and Sonia and her friend from school, Pancho. Medina's writing was just perfect for this story, and the ending was so realistic it hurt. Overall, The Girl Who Could Silence the Wind is a story of hope and love, one that is beautifully written and richly rewarding that in the end Medina leaves the reader emotionally changed by her words in the way that the best authors do. 

Release Date: March 13th 2012  Pages: 256  Format: Hardcover
Source: Publisher  Publisher: Candlewick  Buy It: Book Depository

All These Lives by Sarah Wylie

All These Lives by Sarah Wylie

Release Date: June 5th 2012
Pages: 245
Format: Hardcover
Source: D&M Publishers
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Buy It: Book Depository

Sixteen-year-old Dani is convinced she has nine lives. As a child she twice walked away from situations where she should have died. But Dani’s twin, Jena, isn’t so lucky. She has cancer and might not even be able to keep her one life. Dani’s father is in denial. Her mother is trying to hold it together and prove everything’s normal. And Jena is wasting away. To cope, Dani sets out to rid herself of all her extra lives. Maybe they’ll be released into the universe and someone who wants to live more than she does will get one. Someone like Jena.

The first thing I must mention about All These Lives is how incredibly, breathtakingly, beautifully written Sarah Wylie's debut is. It's in the voice of the characters and the perfect little moments. It's in statements likes this:

 “Most people think the biggest sacrifice, the greatest act of love you can give is to die for someone. And probably it is. But sometimes it is the opposite. The biggest thing you can do for someone is to live.”

That just perfectly capture what the story is about.

Dani's voice is full of sarcasm and bite and heartbreak. She's funny and mean. She's real. And as a main character, as a narrator, I just loved her. However, while she is only sixteen, sometimes Dani came across as even younger, childish even. Part of it was the huge personality change she has apparently undergone in response to her sister's disease, but mostly it was in the way she whines and sometimes speaks. One example is:

"It's an icky word. Why couldn't whoever was in charge of naming things call cancer "sugar" and sugar, "cancer"? People might not eat so much of the stuff then. And it's so much more pleasant to die of sugar."

It just sounded like the kind of comment I'd expect to hear from a kid, not a teenager.

On the surface, All These Lives is a "cancer book", but what makes it so remarkable is the fact that it's not really about cancer. It's about love and family and those moments when somebody is hurting and you feel totally helpless. It's about sisters, in the same powerful and beautifully written way that Imaginary Girls by Nova Ren Suma is.

My biggest problem with the novel was how muddled it got near the ending. The result was that the ending felt pretty abrupt, and I was confused about what had actually happened which was kinda annoying. Despite the lack of resolution it provided, what made me fall in love with  All These Lives was the snarky and strong voice of Dani and the lyrical beauty of Wylie's writing. I'll definitely be picking up her second novel.

As a completely irrelevant but interesting to me sidenote: Wylie actually graduated from the same University I did my biology masters at the year before me in neuroscience. Yay for science-loving Canadian writers.

The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen

The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen is a love story with a touch of magic, taking place in the Walls of Water, North Carolina, it centres around the stories of thirty-year-old Willa Jackson and her former highschool classmate Paxton Osgood. Both Willa and Paxton are still living the town they grew up in, and neither of them has had much luck in love. From opposite ends of society- Willa's family met with financial ruin generations ago, while Paxton's replaced them as the Southern royalty- the two woman are brought together when Paxton's family restores the Blue Ridge Madam, a home built by Willa's great-grandfather. However, as the restoration nears completion it uncovers a skeleton buried beneath the property's peach tree, and it is only the first sign of things that are about to change for Willa and Paxton, and Walls of Water will never be the same.

Last year I read a Southern romance novel, Salting Roses by Lorelle Marinello, which I didn't really enjoy and I suggested that it would have been better suited for somebody willing to suspend belief and enjoy a little magic. Although this is still true, after reading The Peach Keeper I realize that when it is done right, and Allen does it perfectly, I am definitely able to enjoy a Southern love story with a little magic. Allen reminded me that although readers may have genres they prefer, and I certainly do, when a writer is extremely talented then it doesn't matter if you don't usually read their kind of books. I completely well in love with The Peach Keeper, an easy to read and lovely to devour kind of novel.

Although first of all a love story, The Peach Keeper also deals with other universal themes like friendship and family. Also, despite being centred around romance, the relationships that Allen writes about are not completely conventional and expected, these are slightly older women who have been unlucky in love and find it when they have mostly given up, and it is was comforting and heart-warming to read about. In addition to Paxton and Willa, there is a strong and authentic secondary cast of characters that were enjoyable to read about, including the love interests.

Sarah Addison Allen is clearly a talented and lovely writer, and I was absolutely enamoured with her words in The Peach Keeper. I am excited to know that she has three previous books that have also had positive feedback and I definitely plan to pick up all of those in the future. Overall, The Peach Keeper is a perfect light and lovely read and it was a great reminder that everyone in awhile, we all love a little romance.

Release Date: March 22nd, 2011
Pages: 288
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This review was a part of TLC Book Tours. Click here to read what other tour hosts thought. For the purpose of this review I was provided with a copy of the book which did not require a positive review. The opinions expressed in this post are completely my own.