There will probably be spoilers in this but I figure that since it’s been out for a while that should be ok.
I love the two parallel stories running through this, when we meet Marilyn at 17 years old she is a model- sort of, her mother aspires for her to be a model whereas Marilyn wants more for herself but she just goes along with what her mum wants.
When she meets James he eventually becomes her escape, he encourages her to make decisions for herself and start living the life she wants.
They very quickly fell in love, and I fell in love with their love it was so beautifully written.
Unfortunately as you saw above, James was killed before he knew Marilyn was pregnant.
Which brings us to Angie, Marilyn always led Angie to believe that James had died in a car accident, and when Angie finds proof of an uncle Marilyn tells her he died in the car accident too.
I know it’s so tempting to almost dislike Marilyn for her decision, but by the end of the story I can almost understand why she did it.
I don’t want to give any major spoilers as to what happened to James but I had tears in my eyes as I read it, it was so heart breaking.
I loved Angie as a character- and I know people may be sat there thinking “but why did she go away with her ex-boyfriend? that’s just asking for trouble” their breakup isn’t what you may think.
For Angie this whole trip to find her uncle and maybe her dad is about finding herself, she knows she loves Sam but she couldn’t tell him.
One thing that is mentioned quite a lot is the fact that Angie is mixed-race and her mum is white, and how people would often mistake her blonde, white friends as being Marilyn’s daughter. And I think this is so important to bring up because you still see people now asking “how can they have a child that’s a different colour?” (I mean it’s not exactly hard to work out how, but there are still people who question)
By the end of the novel Angie meets her uncle and finds out the truth about her dad, not only that she gets to meet her great grandma, Marilyn is reunited with Jame’s family after running away 17 years ago worried that they would blame her for what happened to him.
While Marilyn and Jame’s love story is a big part of the plot, this book to me is also about finding your family and yourself, bot
h Marilyn and Angie spend quite a lot of time not really knowing what THEY want to do with their lives but somehow this one particular family, and a hummingbird are there to help them.
If you want a book that makes you “feel all the feels” then this is definitely one of those books, there were bits that made me smile, bits that made me cry, bits that made me happy cry.
It was all so beautifully written. And I may have to purchase the physical copy because I feel like I need to own it.
I love the two parallel stories running through this, when we meet Marilyn at 17 years old she is a model- sort of, her mother aspires for her to be a model whereas Marilyn wants more for herself but she just goes along with what her mum wants.
When she meets James he eventually becomes her escape, he encourages her to make decisions for herself and start living the life she wants.
They very quickly fell in love, and I fell in love with their love it was so beautifully written.
Unfortunately as you saw above, James was killed before he knew Marilyn was pregnant.
Which brings us to Angie, Marilyn always led Angie to believe that James had died in a car accident, and when Angie finds proof of an uncle Marilyn tells her he died in the car accident too.
I know it’s so tempting to almost dislike Marilyn for her decision, but by the end of the story I can almost understand why she did it.
I don’t want to give any major spoilers as to what happened to James but I had tears in my eyes as I read it, it was so heart breaking.
I loved Angie as a character- and I know people may be sat there thinking “but why did she go away with her ex-boyfriend? that’s just asking for trouble” their breakup isn’t what you may think.
For Angie this whole trip to find her uncle and maybe her dad is about finding herself, she knows she loves Sam but she couldn’t tell him.
One thing that is mentioned quite a lot is the fact that Angie is mixed-race and her mum is white, and how people would often mistake her blonde, white friends as being Marilyn’s daughter. And I think this is so important to bring up because you still see people now asking “how can they have a child that’s a different colour?” (I mean it’s not exactly hard to work out how, but there are still people who question)
By the end of the novel Angie meets her uncle and finds out the truth about her dad, not only that she gets to meet her great grandma, Marilyn is reunited with Jame’s family after running away 17 years ago worried that they would blame her for what happened to him.
While Marilyn and Jame’s love story is a big part of the plot, this book to me is also about finding your family and yourself, bot
h Marilyn and Angie spend quite a lot of time not really knowing what THEY want to do with their lives but somehow this one particular family, and a hummingbird are there to help them.
If you want a book that makes you “feel all the feels” then this is definitely one of those books, there were bits that made me smile, bits that made me cry, bits that made me happy cry.
It was all so beautifully written. And I may have to purchase the physical copy because I feel like I need to own it.