Scan barcode
nerp's review against another edition
5.0
Note: NetGalley provided an ARC of this book in exchange for a review.
Friends, this book is an utter delight that made me laugh and cry throughout.
I understand the critiques in the other reviews, that there wasn't a lot of character development/growth, that the villain was two dimensional. None of that bothered me. This book gives me fuzzy feelings of pure joy.
I'm not adopted, but I'm planning on adopting, so reading a tale of an adopted kids and her feelings around that—the what-ifs of her biological parents, learning to adjust to the security of another family, the emotional (and physical) violence of the foster system—were so deeply important for me, a non-adoptee, to read. I can't imagine how much that would mean to someone who is in the system, someone who experiences those feelings on a daily basis. If nothing else, this book is worth reading for that.
But I appreciate so much about the representation in this book, and what I especially liked was that this wasn't an "issues" book. This wasn't a book about a Black teen being adopted by a Black woman and her white husband; this wasn't a book about a teen with SAD coping with it. This was an adventure story—more magical realism than straight fantasy—about a girl adjusting to her family in the backdrop of saving something she loves. (I also am really glad that there was a flavoring of romance instead of the book being focused on romance—I'm not one for YA contemporaries in general, but YA contemporary romances make me shrug.) We need more stories where marginalized people are doing things that privileged characters get to do all the time without the focus being on their identities. This book is an example of that.
The characters are an utter delight. Leila is a badass, level-headed protagonist, and Sarika is the best friend everyone wants, full of charm and snark and wit. I love their little bits of characterization coming across via text or message boards or tweets. I love how frank Leila is about the conversations she does and doesn't want to have. This isn't some sort of inspiration porn story; it's feel-good while being authentic to itself.
I devoured this book in one sitting. It's an easy, fast read. I'm not kidding when I said that I both laughed and cried throughout. I cannot recommend this enough!!
Friends, this book is an utter delight that made me laugh and cry throughout.
I understand the critiques in the other reviews, that there wasn't a lot of character development/growth, that the villain was two dimensional. None of that bothered me. This book gives me fuzzy feelings of pure joy.
I'm not adopted, but I'm planning on adopting, so reading a tale of an adopted kids and her feelings around that—the what-ifs of her biological parents, learning to adjust to the security of another family, the emotional (and physical) violence of the foster system—were so deeply important for me, a non-adoptee, to read. I can't imagine how much that would mean to someone who is in the system, someone who experiences those feelings on a daily basis. If nothing else, this book is worth reading for that.
But I appreciate so much about the representation in this book, and what I especially liked was that this wasn't an "issues" book. This wasn't a book about a Black teen being adopted by a Black woman and her white husband; this wasn't a book about a teen with SAD coping with it. This was an adventure story—more magical realism than straight fantasy—about a girl adjusting to her family in the backdrop of saving something she loves. (I also am really glad that there was a flavoring of romance instead of the book being focused on romance—I'm not one for YA contemporaries in general, but YA contemporary romances make me shrug.) We need more stories where marginalized people are doing things that privileged characters get to do all the time without the focus being on their identities. This book is an example of that.
The characters are an utter delight. Leila is a badass, level-headed protagonist, and Sarika is the best friend everyone wants, full of charm and snark and wit. I love their little bits of characterization coming across via text or message boards or tweets. I love how frank Leila is about the conversations she does and doesn't want to have. This isn't some sort of inspiration porn story; it's feel-good while being authentic to itself.
I devoured this book in one sitting. It's an easy, fast read. I'm not kidding when I said that I both laughed and cried throughout. I cannot recommend this enough!!
faeriexprincette's review against another edition
4.0
4/16/2018: GUESS WHO JUST GOT APPROVED FOR AN E-ARC?! *sunglasses emoji*
Thank you, NetGalley, for giving me the opportunity to read this book!
I really enjoyed Eric Smith’s “The Girl and the Grove.” The main character was likable and complex and watching her grow over the course of the novel was great. Seeing her relationship with her adoptive parents, mental health, and even plants was also just...magical (heh, get it?)
I did like the fantasy aspect but felt like it could’ve been a little more fleshed out. The cover made it seem like this novel would be filled with magic and mystical creatures but it wasn’t really that at all.
Another thing I wasn’t the biggest fan of was the conclusion. It felt like the story was coming up to this huge boil and then...it was just done. So quick and easy. It was disruptive almost.
Also, you could sometimes tell that the female dialogue had been written by a male. I don’t know how to explain this really, it’s just something you know.
I loved the pop culture references, characters, relationships, COFFEE, and Sarika most of all. The people in this novel were very believable humans. They had flaws, they used foul language, they made mistakes. I really loved that about this story.
Thank you, NetGalley, for giving me the opportunity to read this book!
I really enjoyed Eric Smith’s “The Girl and the Grove.” The main character was likable and complex and watching her grow over the course of the novel was great. Seeing her relationship with her adoptive parents, mental health, and even plants was also just...magical (heh, get it?)
I did like the fantasy aspect but felt like it could’ve been a little more fleshed out. The cover made it seem like this novel would be filled with magic and mystical creatures but it wasn’t really that at all.
Another thing I wasn’t the biggest fan of was the conclusion. It felt like the story was coming up to this huge boil and then...it was just done. So quick and easy. It was disruptive almost.
Also, you could sometimes tell that the female dialogue had been written by a male. I don’t know how to explain this really, it’s just something you know.
I loved the pop culture references, characters, relationships, COFFEE, and Sarika most of all. The people in this novel were very believable humans. They had flaws, they used foul language, they made mistakes. I really loved that about this story.
pagesofmilkandhoney's review against another edition
3.0
Teenager Leila’s life is full of challenges. From bouncing around the foster care system to living with seasonal affective disorder, she’s never had an easy road. Leila keeps herself busy with her passion for environmental advocacy, monitoring the Urban Ecovists message board and joining a local environmental club with her best friend Sarika. And now that Leila has finally been adopted, she dares to hope her life will improve.
But the voices in Leila’s head are growing louder by the day. Ignoring them isn’t working anymore. Something calls out to her from the grove at Fairmount Park.
This book starts off pretty strong, but kind of goes downhill a bit and plateaus from there. I felt that it read like an early draft (which, seeing as it's an ARC, it kind of is) and that there are a lot of things I feel could benefit from changing before it's published. The story, however, I absolutely LOVED, for many reasons: 1) that Leila was a foster kid and is dealing with the emotions of being adopted, 2) that she's somehow telepathically connected to trees, or tree-spirits, 3) that she's super into the environment, 4) this takes place in Philadelphia, which provides no specific additive to the story other than I thought it nice to imagine, and 5) the main plot of the story involves saving a park and an old mansion from destruction. The carry-out of the story, however, felt a little forced, as if the author hadn’t quite figured out where he was going or which parts of the story were going to be important. There were quite a few references to modern day obsessions, like Tumblr, which I personally am not a fan of because they immediately date a book. Also, as someone who has since grown out of Tumblr, it immediately made me feel more disconnected with the characters. Most of the dialogue was okay, but there were definitely some times that I was cringing pretty bad. It felt like the author really had no idea how anyone would actually act in certain situations (especially the teenagers) so he just made it up and left it there (kind of like an awkward adult trying to fit in with young people). The plot points were good to move the story along, but felt badly connected. The underlying plot of Leila calling her adopted parents Mom and Dad felt unnecessary. I understand that for a kid like her, it would be a big deal, but had nothing to do with the main plot and was more of a distraction. I detected a little bit of 'special snowflake' syndrome in some of the characters - before we realise how awful of a person Jessica is, there is a pretty obvious passage where it's clear we aren't supposed to like her simply because she's carrying a makeup clutch and Leila isn't about that. I did like the idea of Leila and Sarika joining the environmental club, but that brings up my next point. I cannot, for the life of me, figure out the point of the existence of Shawn, ESPECIALLY because he was introduced as a love interest. His story goes nowhere. It makes it incredibly confusing when we meet Landon, the real love interest, because you can't figure out who is supposed to be who. Not only that, but Shawn is an AWFUL character. He is the one who suffers from being a special snowflake most of all. That scene where he threatens to not give credit to the kids who are just in the club to get credit? Where the hell does that authority come from? He's immensely inconsiderate to Leila and does not suit her at all, so the concept of them having “tension” (when believe me, they did not) is baffling. Landon, while definitely not perfect either, makes WAY more sense as Leila's love interest, so I cannot understand why Shawn cannot be ditched and Landon introduced earlier in the story. I definitely called Landon being Toothless (I have the Kindle notes to prove it), but it felt awkward a bit just because it didn't feel like it was him when you considered how he and Leila interacted IRL and online. The characters of Jon and Lisabeth were pretty poorly created, and given way too much influence on Leila considering how poorly they were written. I was so upset with Jon when he tried to convince Leila to not protest against the amphitheatre just because it would be awkward for him at board meetings. For crying out loud, isn't he an environmentalist? Isn't he supposed to care about endangered species?! The owl was cute and clearly brought Leila and Landon together, but there's this whole idea that he would hate being called Milly because his name is Milford and “all owls must have old man names”. No, he wouldn't. He is an owl. The reveal that Jessica was the source of the decay was sooooo obvious I can't believe I didn't see it coming, but I think that's because I simply expected more. She's such a poor antagonist anyways, and the hallway scene where she admits to poisoning the grove is so cheesy it feels like she's a super villain who is like "I'll get you next time children!"
I haven't mentioned the whole dryad thing yet because I really wanted to get all that out of the way first. This part of the plotline was the bit that I was most disappointed in. First of all, the voices in Leila's head just don't seem right. I know that in the summary they are described as the grove calling to her, so it really should be no surprise, but they were written as if they were a mental health thing, which made me believe that they were going to tackle that topic, which I am on board for because it still isn't talked about enough. But nope, it's the trees. The reveal that the tree is Leila's mother is approached so poorly. It comes as a surprise not because she's a tree, but because there was really no build-up that Leila's birth parents were something she was hugely concerned about. It would have been better if there was no parental connection at all, or maybe just that Leila had an affinity for nature and that's why she could hear the voices. Not only that but the fact that Leila started fading away when the grove did was also kind of awkward and didn't serve too much of a point other than to illustrate that she's connected to it. The part about the grove being responsible for all life in Philadelphia wasn't really explained that well either, it was explained more like a fact that we were simply supposed to accept, with no concern that it might be weird at all. I just cannot believe that there is this super cool story line about dryads and tree spirits that has so much potential, but the majority of the second half of the book focuses on them finding a freaking mouse in order to save the grove. The dryad plot is super cool, but simply was not given the attention it deserved.
Despite all of these points I have laid out, I still think this book deserves three stars, and probably closer to three and a half. Even though I was disappointed in the way the plot went, I still think it was pretty good. It was definitely unique (in terms of what I have read, anyway) in many many ways and I think that deserves some brownie points. That being said, the interactions between the characters sometimes did not reflect how people interact in real life at all, and at times felt like the author was trying too hard to emulate teenagers and their thoughts and mannerisms. It also felt like the book introduced way too many subplots that didn't have that much of an overall effect on the main plot. That being said, I really did like the addition of the chatboards that Leila and her friends interacted on and felt that was a unique addition. A lot of the things I have pointed out can be fixed pretty simply, and I wish this book was longer because I think that would really benefit the story and round it out more, and would especially give the characters some room to breathe and develop. Still, after ALL THAT (and I really am sorry for picking it apart like I did), I did like this book, and I would still recommend it to others because it does some pretty cool things.
Still. The world needs more dryads.
I received an ARC from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
But the voices in Leila’s head are growing louder by the day. Ignoring them isn’t working anymore. Something calls out to her from the grove at Fairmount Park.
This book starts off pretty strong, but kind of goes downhill a bit and plateaus from there. I felt that it read like an early draft (which, seeing as it's an ARC, it kind of is) and that there are a lot of things I feel could benefit from changing before it's published. The story, however, I absolutely LOVED, for many reasons: 1) that Leila was a foster kid and is dealing with the emotions of being adopted, 2) that she's somehow telepathically connected to trees, or tree-spirits, 3) that she's super into the environment, 4) this takes place in Philadelphia, which provides no specific additive to the story other than I thought it nice to imagine, and 5) the main plot of the story involves saving a park and an old mansion from destruction. The carry-out of the story, however, felt a little forced, as if the author hadn’t quite figured out where he was going or which parts of the story were going to be important. There were quite a few references to modern day obsessions, like Tumblr, which I personally am not a fan of because they immediately date a book. Also, as someone who has since grown out of Tumblr, it immediately made me feel more disconnected with the characters. Most of the dialogue was okay, but there were definitely some times that I was cringing pretty bad. It felt like the author really had no idea how anyone would actually act in certain situations (especially the teenagers) so he just made it up and left it there (kind of like an awkward adult trying to fit in with young people). The plot points were good to move the story along, but felt badly connected. The underlying plot of Leila calling her adopted parents Mom and Dad felt unnecessary. I understand that for a kid like her, it would be a big deal, but had nothing to do with the main plot and was more of a distraction. I detected a little bit of 'special snowflake' syndrome in some of the characters - before we realise how awful of a person Jessica is, there is a pretty obvious passage where it's clear we aren't supposed to like her simply because she's carrying a makeup clutch and Leila isn't about that. I did like the idea of Leila and Sarika joining the environmental club, but that brings up my next point. I cannot, for the life of me, figure out the point of the existence of Shawn, ESPECIALLY because he was introduced as a love interest. His story goes nowhere. It makes it incredibly confusing when we meet Landon, the real love interest, because you can't figure out who is supposed to be who. Not only that, but Shawn is an AWFUL character. He is the one who suffers from being a special snowflake most of all. That scene where he threatens to not give credit to the kids who are just in the club to get credit? Where the hell does that authority come from? He's immensely inconsiderate to Leila and does not suit her at all, so the concept of them having “tension” (when believe me, they did not) is baffling. Landon, while definitely not perfect either, makes WAY more sense as Leila's love interest, so I cannot understand why Shawn cannot be ditched and Landon introduced earlier in the story. I definitely called Landon being Toothless (I have the Kindle notes to prove it), but it felt awkward a bit just because it didn't feel like it was him when you considered how he and Leila interacted IRL and online. The characters of Jon and Lisabeth were pretty poorly created, and given way too much influence on Leila considering how poorly they were written. I was so upset with Jon when he tried to convince Leila to not protest against the amphitheatre just because it would be awkward for him at board meetings. For crying out loud, isn't he an environmentalist? Isn't he supposed to care about endangered species?! The owl was cute and clearly brought Leila and Landon together, but there's this whole idea that he would hate being called Milly because his name is Milford and “all owls must have old man names”. No, he wouldn't. He is an owl. The reveal that Jessica was the source of the decay was sooooo obvious I can't believe I didn't see it coming, but I think that's because I simply expected more. She's such a poor antagonist anyways, and the hallway scene where she admits to poisoning the grove is so cheesy it feels like she's a super villain who is like "I'll get you next time children!"
I haven't mentioned the whole dryad thing yet because I really wanted to get all that out of the way first. This part of the plotline was the bit that I was most disappointed in. First of all, the voices in Leila's head just don't seem right. I know that in the summary they are described as the grove calling to her, so it really should be no surprise, but they were written as if they were a mental health thing, which made me believe that they were going to tackle that topic, which I am on board for because it still isn't talked about enough. But nope, it's the trees. The reveal that the tree is Leila's mother is approached so poorly. It comes as a surprise not because she's a tree, but because there was really no build-up that Leila's birth parents were something she was hugely concerned about. It would have been better if there was no parental connection at all, or maybe just that Leila had an affinity for nature and that's why she could hear the voices. Not only that but the fact that Leila started fading away when the grove did was also kind of awkward and didn't serve too much of a point other than to illustrate that she's connected to it. The part about the grove being responsible for all life in Philadelphia wasn't really explained that well either, it was explained more like a fact that we were simply supposed to accept, with no concern that it might be weird at all. I just cannot believe that there is this super cool story line about dryads and tree spirits that has so much potential, but the majority of the second half of the book focuses on them finding a freaking mouse in order to save the grove. The dryad plot is super cool, but simply was not given the attention it deserved.
Despite all of these points I have laid out, I still think this book deserves three stars, and probably closer to three and a half. Even though I was disappointed in the way the plot went, I still think it was pretty good. It was definitely unique (in terms of what I have read, anyway) in many many ways and I think that deserves some brownie points. That being said, the interactions between the characters sometimes did not reflect how people interact in real life at all, and at times felt like the author was trying too hard to emulate teenagers and their thoughts and mannerisms. It also felt like the book introduced way too many subplots that didn't have that much of an overall effect on the main plot. That being said, I really did like the addition of the chatboards that Leila and her friends interacted on and felt that was a unique addition. A lot of the things I have pointed out can be fixed pretty simply, and I wish this book was longer because I think that would really benefit the story and round it out more, and would especially give the characters some room to breathe and develop. Still, after ALL THAT (and I really am sorry for picking it apart like I did), I did like this book, and I would still recommend it to others because it does some pretty cool things.
Still. The world needs more dryads.
I received an ARC from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
hmfogel's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars. Man did this book make me miss Philly. (And the author, who I’m also lucky enough to know 🙂)
joinreallife's review against another edition
4.0
Originally posted at Musings of an Incurable Bookworm.
Sixteen-year-old Leila has recently been adopted. But one thing she hasn't told her new parents about: the whispering on the breeze that she occasionally hears, the nagging feeling that someone is trying to talk to her. The only person she's told is her old friend from the group home, Sarika. While attending summer school, Leila and Sarika join an environmental club. Leila has always felt a special affinity with plants and trees. While out on what becomes a disastrous date in a local park, the voices Leila hears become louder and more clear. She discovers a grove, and the key to the mysteries of her biological parents. But she may have discovered it all too late, as the grove is about to be demolished and developed, and the poison that is leaching into the grove seems to be affecting all of the local wildlife, and Leila herself. Leila must work with her new parents, her friend Sarika, and a young park ranger (and love interest?) named Landon to stop the demolition of the grove before she loses everything.
So I first encountered Eric Smith via BookRiot, and especially since I've been listening to their new podcast Hey YA! (Which I really enjoy and highly recommend.) I also started following him on Twitter at about the time I decided to pay more attention to the publishing world and especially follow some writers/editors/agents, not only because I'm a bibliophile, but also so I could be forewarned about books that were getting critical acclaim but didn't stand up to scrutiny from bookland people I trusted. So I was excited to be given the opportunity to read an early ARC from NetGalley of this new book. Can we just admire the cover art for a second, because it's flipping gorgeous.
I felt a lot of feelings while reading this book, because Smith packs a lot of feelings into it: Leila's struggle between wanting to be loyal in a way to her biological parents, and wanting to fall all the way in and belong with her new parents. Her growing feelings for a boy who seems to understand her, and especially to be more sensitive to her past and her birthmark. Jon and Liz's love for Leila and their desire to be good parents and enough for her. The pain that Leila's bio-mom feels at not being able to care for her and having to send her away when she was so young. When Leila gets very ill towards the end, the heartwrenching scene where she collapses into Jon's arms as she calls him "Dad" for the first time? Yeah, there were some good, fat teardrops rolling down my face.
I think this is one of the most nuanced and realistic portrayals of fostering and adoption that I've seen, and it makes a lot of sense, as Smith talks seems to be pretty open about his own experiences being adopted. (He even edited a collection of adoption-themed stories in a book called Welcome Home, which I haven't read yet but about which I've heard really good things.) The fact that Leila has a visible birthmark on her face created an external reason for her to not feel accepted, that paralleled well with her internal reasons for not feeling accepted. It also came back into play when they discover how she is connected to the grove, as the birthmark becomes something of a harbinger of impending ill for Leila. Leila is eminently relatable, not necessarily because of anything specific that happens to her (and there are definitely some weird, otherworldly things), but because she often feels so uncomfortable and out of place, and sometimes angry. Who hasn't felt that way?
Her relationship with Sarika was also well developed. The sarcastic way they communicate with each other is the way I am with every girlfriend I've ever had, and it made me feel like they would've been girls I hung out with when I was a teenager. Leila's relationship with Landon felt natural and adorable, and the conflict didn't seem contrived and didn't last excessively long, both of which seem to be a hard balance to find for many YA books.
I did feel like there could have been a bit more explanation about the connection between the grove and the impact of its destruction on the park's and Philadelphia's ecosystem, as that seemed a bit cobbled together and unclear. I think part of it may have to do with the mythological nature of the grove, but it wasn't obvious what Smith was going for there. Some of the prose was a bit clunky, but honestly, the visceral feelings that are portrayed and the magic of the story counteracted any frustration at specific phrases that seemed unnatural.
The mean girls were a little one-dimensional, but that's pretty typical of mean girls. And though I think that it would be easy to discount Shawn (Leila's one-time love interest) as just a dick of a character, I actually think his arc in this book made him one of the more human. He's well-meaning, but doesn't get the execution quite right. He's insensitive, but he genuinely seems apologetic and interested in learning from his mistakes. I know a lot of humans in real life like that.
In general, this book has a lot of feels, a mostly happy ending, some elements of otherworldliness, and a relatable and awesome protagonist.
The book won't be released until May, but you can find out more information and preorder it here.
Sixteen-year-old Leila has recently been adopted. But one thing she hasn't told her new parents about: the whispering on the breeze that she occasionally hears, the nagging feeling that someone is trying to talk to her. The only person she's told is her old friend from the group home, Sarika. While attending summer school, Leila and Sarika join an environmental club. Leila has always felt a special affinity with plants and trees. While out on what becomes a disastrous date in a local park, the voices Leila hears become louder and more clear. She discovers a grove, and the key to the mysteries of her biological parents. But she may have discovered it all too late, as the grove is about to be demolished and developed, and the poison that is leaching into the grove seems to be affecting all of the local wildlife, and Leila herself. Leila must work with her new parents, her friend Sarika, and a young park ranger (and love interest?) named Landon to stop the demolition of the grove before she loses everything.
So I first encountered Eric Smith via BookRiot, and especially since I've been listening to their new podcast Hey YA! (Which I really enjoy and highly recommend.) I also started following him on Twitter at about the time I decided to pay more attention to the publishing world and especially follow some writers/editors/agents, not only because I'm a bibliophile, but also so I could be forewarned about books that were getting critical acclaim but didn't stand up to scrutiny from bookland people I trusted. So I was excited to be given the opportunity to read an early ARC from NetGalley of this new book. Can we just admire the cover art for a second, because it's flipping gorgeous.
I felt a lot of feelings while reading this book, because Smith packs a lot of feelings into it: Leila's struggle between wanting to be loyal in a way to her biological parents, and wanting to fall all the way in and belong with her new parents. Her growing feelings for a boy who seems to understand her, and especially to be more sensitive to her past and her birthmark. Jon and Liz's love for Leila and their desire to be good parents and enough for her. The pain that Leila's bio-mom feels at not being able to care for her and having to send her away when she was so young. When Leila gets very ill towards the end, the heartwrenching scene where she collapses into Jon's arms as she calls him "Dad" for the first time? Yeah, there were some good, fat teardrops rolling down my face.
I think this is one of the most nuanced and realistic portrayals of fostering and adoption that I've seen, and it makes a lot of sense, as Smith talks seems to be pretty open about his own experiences being adopted. (He even edited a collection of adoption-themed stories in a book called Welcome Home, which I haven't read yet but about which I've heard really good things.) The fact that Leila has a visible birthmark on her face created an external reason for her to not feel accepted, that paralleled well with her internal reasons for not feeling accepted. It also came back into play when they discover how she is connected to the grove, as the birthmark becomes something of a harbinger of impending ill for Leila. Leila is eminently relatable, not necessarily because of anything specific that happens to her (and there are definitely some weird, otherworldly things), but because she often feels so uncomfortable and out of place, and sometimes angry. Who hasn't felt that way?
Her relationship with Sarika was also well developed. The sarcastic way they communicate with each other is the way I am with every girlfriend I've ever had, and it made me feel like they would've been girls I hung out with when I was a teenager. Leila's relationship with Landon felt natural and adorable, and the conflict didn't seem contrived and didn't last excessively long, both of which seem to be a hard balance to find for many YA books.
I did feel like there could have been a bit more explanation about the connection between the grove and the impact of its destruction on the park's and Philadelphia's ecosystem, as that seemed a bit cobbled together and unclear. I think part of it may have to do with the mythological nature of the grove, but it wasn't obvious what Smith was going for there. Some of the prose was a bit clunky, but honestly, the visceral feelings that are portrayed and the magic of the story counteracted any frustration at specific phrases that seemed unnatural.
The mean girls were a little one-dimensional, but that's pretty typical of mean girls. And though I think that it would be easy to discount Shawn (Leila's one-time love interest) as just a dick of a character, I actually think his arc in this book made him one of the more human. He's well-meaning, but doesn't get the execution quite right. He's insensitive, but he genuinely seems apologetic and interested in learning from his mistakes. I know a lot of humans in real life like that.
In general, this book has a lot of feels, a mostly happy ending, some elements of otherworldliness, and a relatable and awesome protagonist.
The book won't be released until May, but you can find out more information and preorder it here.
onceuponabookcase's review against another edition
3.0
Originally posted on Once Upon a Bookcase.
Trigger Warning: This book features racism.
When I read that the main character from The Girl and the Grove by Eric Smith, Leila, has seasonal affective disorder, I desperately wanted to read it. But sadly, this book just wasn't for me.
Leila has recently been adopted, and is struggling to come to believe that this is her life now, that she won't end up back in the group home. She also has seasonal affective disorder (SAD), a mental illness that has been too difficult for previous foster parents to deal with. And then there are the voices she's heard in her head all her life, that no-one but her best friend Sarika knows about, which have been growing louder and clearer. To distract herself from her worries, she throws herself into her passion for saving the environment. She and her best friend Sarika join the local environment club, and during a field trip to Fairmount Park, and she's drawn to a certain area. After exploring with Park Ranger Langdon, and following the voices only she can hear, Leila discovers something in the grove of Fairmount Park, days before everything in the grove is meant to be flattened; the trees, the nearby derelict mansion, and the mansion's gardens that lead to the grove. Leila quickly becomes determined to save the grove, and save what she's found their - because if the grove is torn apart, then Philadelphia will be in jeopardy.
The Girl and the Grove is by no means a bad book. The problem is me rather than the book; it heavily focuses on saving the planet, which is important and something I'm interested in, in general, but not something I enjoy reading about in fiction, I have now discovered. So it's just down to personal taste here. The description above clearly states that Leila is into environmental advocacy, that she monitors message boards and joins and environmental club, but I thought they were just hobbies, things we would read about, sure, but I didn't realise the whole point of the book was going to be based around environmental activism.
This is a fantasy book, but the fantasy elements are quite small. It's difficult to talk about without spoiling the story. However, we don't really see that The Girl and the Grove is a fantasy until just before 50% into the book. I felt it was quite slow to get going, and, considering the title, quite a while before Leila discovered the grove. Despite being slow, and being about something I now know is not my cup of tea, the writing kept me reading. It's written in such a way that I was interested in the story, even though I wasn't interested in the topic. Most chapters end on mini cliffhangers, and I always wanted to know where the story was going next, and the more I read, the more questions I had. But once we discovered what was in the grove, the focus switched to saving the grove, rather than on what was in the grove itself. We get very few answers to the questions that pile up. In the great scheme of things, not much time is spent with what's in the grove, so we find out very little. This looks to be a stand alone novel, so I don't think I'm going to find out any of the answers, which is a little frustrating.
I loved how the story dealt with adoption and fostering. It should also be noted that Smith was himself adopted, which I knew before reading having previously read the article, and so this part of Leila's story felt especially poignant. Leila really struggles with accepting she's now been adopted. Time and time again, she's been let down by foster carers and potential adoptive parents who always sent her back to the group home, partly down to her having SAD. So, understandably, despite actually being adopted now, she's worried it's going to happen again. She calls her parents by their names, Jon and Liz, rather than mom and dad, and she tries not be too much trouble. At one point, during a conversation about a willow tree in their garden that has been struck by lightning - damaged beyond repair, needing to be torn down - Leila feels they're giving up on the tree, and gets anxious that that's how they'll feel about her, and because of the emotional turmoil, accidentally cuts her hand badly enough to need stitches. Her parents want to take her to the hospital, but she misunderstands and thinks they want to take her back to the home, and panics. It's a heartbreaking scene, as, in tears, she practically begs to stay at home, saying it won't happen again, saying she'll just bandage it and will be fine. It's so upsetting. It's really emotional but also so beautiful to see her realise, over the course of the story, that Jon and Liz don't want her to go anywhere, that this is it for her now. They are her parents, and this is her home.
I also loved how it covered the stupid questions people would ask about her being adopted and her biological parents. I was completely dumbfounded that anyone would be that ignorant not to know you just don't ask. My Nan was a foster carer, so I grew up knowing lots of foster children, so perhaps that's why it seems so obvious to me, as I was brought up not to ask. But come on; you don't know anything about the past of a person in foster care, or who has been adopted. In Leila's case, she doesn't know her biological parents, but no-one asking the questions knows that, they have no idea what she may have been through that led to her going into foster care. You don't ask about things that could be painful and upsetting, or even triggering. You just don't. You wait to be told, or you never know. It's none of your business. So it just made me so mad whenever it happened.
The Girl and the Grove is the first book I've ever come across that features a character with seasonal affective disorder, which is why I wanted to read it so much. What's great about it is, it's not about Leila having SAD - this isn't a book about mental illness, it's about a girl who's trying to save a grove, who has a mental illness. We don't find out too much about it; we know Leila can feel depressed, she takes medication, and has to use a therapeutic light box for fifteen minutes each morning - which we see each morning at breakfast. We know foster parents in the past didn't really get it, and would ask questions about how she was feeling depending on what the weather was like, even though the weather had nothing to do with it. But we're not really told what it means. We see Leila experience anxiety and at least one panic attack, and she mentions that she has depression, but there's never a "I have SAD, and this is what that means," moment. But that seems realistic for me, because she's already adopted, so her parents already know, as does her best mate, and it's no-one else's business, so there's no reason to explain it to a person, and she's not going to randomly "think" about what SAD is as part of her narration to explain it to the reader. And as it's not a story about Leila having SAD, I think it would seem weird and clunky, to have her explain it when it's not a major part of the story. If the reader doesn't know what SAD is, the reader just has to look it up. Yes, that means more work for the reader, and that may be frustrating, but it's not Leila's job - or any real person with a mental illness's job - to explain and educate about their mental illness. And those with SAD who are reading this book? They don't need an explanation, they know what it is. This is about representation, so teens with SAD can see themselves in a book, not about educating everyone else.
And speaking of representation, it was great to see the various marginalised characters in this book. As well as having SAD, Leila is also black, which is important as I've found only a few YA novels featuring mental illness where the protagonist is also a person of colour. It's not just white people who have mental illnesses, but from looking at YA books, you would think it was - or at least rarer for people of colour to have mental illnesses. Leila has also been adopted by interracial parents, with Liz being black and Jon being white. Sarika is South Asian - and, sadly, experiences racist bullying, and has a racist slur used against South Asian people hurled at her.
As I said, The Girl and the Grove isn't for me, but that doesn't mean it's a bad book. The writing is captivating, and the adoption side of things is so beautiful. It was just a mismatch with me on the environment/conservation side of things. Do read more reviews before deciding whether or not you'll read this book.
Thank you to Flux via NetGalley for the eProof.
Trigger Warning: This book features racism.
When I read that the main character from The Girl and the Grove by Eric Smith, Leila, has seasonal affective disorder, I desperately wanted to read it. But sadly, this book just wasn't for me.
Leila has recently been adopted, and is struggling to come to believe that this is her life now, that she won't end up back in the group home. She also has seasonal affective disorder (SAD), a mental illness that has been too difficult for previous foster parents to deal with. And then there are the voices she's heard in her head all her life, that no-one but her best friend Sarika knows about, which have been growing louder and clearer. To distract herself from her worries, she throws herself into her passion for saving the environment. She and her best friend Sarika join the local environment club, and during a field trip to Fairmount Park, and she's drawn to a certain area. After exploring with Park Ranger Langdon, and following the voices only she can hear, Leila discovers something in the grove of Fairmount Park, days before everything in the grove is meant to be flattened; the trees, the nearby derelict mansion, and the mansion's gardens that lead to the grove. Leila quickly becomes determined to save the grove, and save what she's found their - because if the grove is torn apart, then Philadelphia will be in jeopardy.
The Girl and the Grove is by no means a bad book. The problem is me rather than the book; it heavily focuses on saving the planet, which is important and something I'm interested in, in general, but not something I enjoy reading about in fiction, I have now discovered. So it's just down to personal taste here. The description above clearly states that Leila is into environmental advocacy, that she monitors message boards and joins and environmental club, but I thought they were just hobbies, things we would read about, sure, but I didn't realise the whole point of the book was going to be based around environmental activism.
This is a fantasy book, but the fantasy elements are quite small. It's difficult to talk about without spoiling the story. However, we don't really see that The Girl and the Grove is a fantasy until just before 50% into the book. I felt it was quite slow to get going, and, considering the title, quite a while before Leila discovered the grove. Despite being slow, and being about something I now know is not my cup of tea, the writing kept me reading. It's written in such a way that I was interested in the story, even though I wasn't interested in the topic. Most chapters end on mini cliffhangers, and I always wanted to know where the story was going next, and the more I read, the more questions I had. But once we discovered what was in the grove, the focus switched to saving the grove, rather than on what was in the grove itself. We get very few answers to the questions that pile up. In the great scheme of things, not much time is spent with what's in the grove, so we find out very little. This looks to be a stand alone novel, so I don't think I'm going to find out any of the answers, which is a little frustrating.
I loved how the story dealt with adoption and fostering. It should also be noted that Smith was himself adopted, which I knew before reading having previously read the article, and so this part of Leila's story felt especially poignant. Leila really struggles with accepting she's now been adopted. Time and time again, she's been let down by foster carers and potential adoptive parents who always sent her back to the group home, partly down to her having SAD. So, understandably, despite actually being adopted now, she's worried it's going to happen again. She calls her parents by their names, Jon and Liz, rather than mom and dad, and she tries not be too much trouble. At one point, during a conversation about a willow tree in their garden that has been struck by lightning - damaged beyond repair, needing to be torn down - Leila feels they're giving up on the tree, and gets anxious that that's how they'll feel about her, and because of the emotional turmoil, accidentally cuts her hand badly enough to need stitches. Her parents want to take her to the hospital, but she misunderstands and thinks they want to take her back to the home, and panics. It's a heartbreaking scene, as, in tears, she practically begs to stay at home, saying it won't happen again, saying she'll just bandage it and will be fine. It's so upsetting. It's really emotional but also so beautiful to see her realise, over the course of the story, that Jon and Liz don't want her to go anywhere, that this is it for her now. They are her parents, and this is her home.
I also loved how it covered the stupid questions people would ask about her being adopted and her biological parents. I was completely dumbfounded that anyone would be that ignorant not to know you just don't ask. My Nan was a foster carer, so I grew up knowing lots of foster children, so perhaps that's why it seems so obvious to me, as I was brought up not to ask. But come on; you don't know anything about the past of a person in foster care, or who has been adopted. In Leila's case, she doesn't know her biological parents, but no-one asking the questions knows that, they have no idea what she may have been through that led to her going into foster care. You don't ask about things that could be painful and upsetting, or even triggering. You just don't. You wait to be told, or you never know. It's none of your business. So it just made me so mad whenever it happened.
The Girl and the Grove is the first book I've ever come across that features a character with seasonal affective disorder, which is why I wanted to read it so much. What's great about it is, it's not about Leila having SAD - this isn't a book about mental illness, it's about a girl who's trying to save a grove, who has a mental illness. We don't find out too much about it; we know Leila can feel depressed, she takes medication, and has to use a therapeutic light box for fifteen minutes each morning - which we see each morning at breakfast. We know foster parents in the past didn't really get it, and would ask questions about how she was feeling depending on what the weather was like, even though the weather had nothing to do with it. But we're not really told what it means. We see Leila experience anxiety and at least one panic attack, and she mentions that she has depression, but there's never a "I have SAD, and this is what that means," moment. But that seems realistic for me, because she's already adopted, so her parents already know, as does her best mate, and it's no-one else's business, so there's no reason to explain it to a person, and she's not going to randomly "think" about what SAD is as part of her narration to explain it to the reader. And as it's not a story about Leila having SAD, I think it would seem weird and clunky, to have her explain it when it's not a major part of the story. If the reader doesn't know what SAD is, the reader just has to look it up. Yes, that means more work for the reader, and that may be frustrating, but it's not Leila's job - or any real person with a mental illness's job - to explain and educate about their mental illness. And those with SAD who are reading this book? They don't need an explanation, they know what it is. This is about representation, so teens with SAD can see themselves in a book, not about educating everyone else.
And speaking of representation, it was great to see the various marginalised characters in this book. As well as having SAD, Leila is also black, which is important as I've found only a few YA novels featuring mental illness where the protagonist is also a person of colour. It's not just white people who have mental illnesses, but from looking at YA books, you would think it was - or at least rarer for people of colour to have mental illnesses. Leila has also been adopted by interracial parents, with Liz being black and Jon being white. Sarika is South Asian - and, sadly, experiences racist bullying, and has a racist slur used against South Asian people hurled at her.
As I said, The Girl and the Grove isn't for me, but that doesn't mean it's a bad book. The writing is captivating, and the adoption side of things is so beautiful. It was just a mismatch with me on the environment/conservation side of things. Do read more reviews before deciding whether or not you'll read this book.
Thank you to Flux via NetGalley for the eProof.
misssleepless's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
iamrainbou's review against another edition
3.0
The Girl and the Grove is so wonderful, one of the best YA had read this year. I love the story, I love the writing, I love the characters (so so much), I love the messages about the environment, I love the magical elements, I love the friendship. I love the diversity, the respect, and love that it’s so clear Eric put in the story.
Leila has been moving from foster care to foster care and living with seasonal affective disorder. She has been adopted by a lovely couple, who welcomes her with open arms, but it’s not so easy to let herself trust, to open the barriers she has lived with all her life. It doesn’t help that the voices in her head are louder than ever and she feels like there’s something in Fairmount Park, something she needs to do.
The story is so full of magic, hope and love. It’s a perfect balance between contemporary YA and the chosen one trope. There’s magic, schemes to save the world and adventures. And there’s also the struggle of Leila to open up, to feel comfortable in her new home. Between the fantasy and the contemporary we go; there’s despair and fear, but also so much hope for a better world. Yes, Leila has seasonal affective disorder and yes, it’s something we see through the story, but it's never considered as unreal or an exaggeration. Leila’s parents are very understanding and respectful of her mental health and her boundaries. They never push her, never question her. And I love it. I’m so here for supportive parents of mentally ill children.
The friendship between Leila and Sarika is heartwarming; she’s always there for Leila, always, she provides unconditional support and confidence. But Sarika is also her own character, with her own personality and conflicts.
Yes, there is romance and it was very sweet. Perfect for the story because it doesn’t eclipse the plot, doesn't solve everything, but gives Leila unconditional support. He listens to her, he tries to understand and respects what she wants. I mean, I wasn’t completely on board with romance (I felt kinda meh about Landon), but there were some cute moments that I enjoyed a lot.
There are so many things to see about this wonderful book, about the story and the characters, but at the end, everything sums up with a "THE GIRL AND THE GROVE IS SO GOOD, PLEASE READ IT", so I'm going to go with that for now.
Leila has been moving from foster care to foster care and living with seasonal affective disorder. She has been adopted by a lovely couple, who welcomes her with open arms, but it’s not so easy to let herself trust, to open the barriers she has lived with all her life. It doesn’t help that the voices in her head are louder than ever and she feels like there’s something in Fairmount Park, something she needs to do.
The story is so full of magic, hope and love. It’s a perfect balance between contemporary YA and the chosen one trope. There’s magic, schemes to save the world and adventures. And there’s also the struggle of Leila to open up, to feel comfortable in her new home. Between the fantasy and the contemporary we go; there’s despair and fear, but also so much hope for a better world. Yes, Leila has seasonal affective disorder and yes, it’s something we see through the story, but it's never considered as unreal or an exaggeration. Leila’s parents are very understanding and respectful of her mental health and her boundaries. They never push her, never question her. And I love it. I’m so here for supportive parents of mentally ill children.
The friendship between Leila and Sarika is heartwarming; she’s always there for Leila, always, she provides unconditional support and confidence. But Sarika is also her own character, with her own personality and conflicts.
Yes, there is romance and it was very sweet. Perfect for the story because it doesn’t eclipse the plot, doesn't solve everything, but gives Leila unconditional support. He listens to her, he tries to understand and respects what she wants. I mean, I wasn’t completely on board with romance (I felt kinda meh about Landon), but there were some cute moments that I enjoyed a lot.
There are so many things to see about this wonderful book, about the story and the characters, but at the end, everything sums up with a "THE GIRL AND THE GROVE IS SO GOOD, PLEASE READ IT", so I'm going to go with that for now.
bredmgz214's review against another edition
3.0
I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I had a bit of trouble getting into the book in the beginning. I did enjoy it and think it was a good book but it just wasn't my cup of tea. The book was pretty predictable in my opinion. I did like the adoptive aspect of the story as well as the high school drama. I thought Shawn was unnecessary and felt like Leila (I know I spelled that wrong ) was super sensitive . I just didn't connect. I loved Sarika though. I feel like it was a easy read and depending on the readers taste , I would recommend it .
I had a bit of trouble getting into the book in the beginning. I did enjoy it and think it was a good book but it just wasn't my cup of tea. The book was pretty predictable in my opinion. I did like the adoptive aspect of the story as well as the high school drama. I thought Shawn was unnecessary and felt like Leila (I know I spelled that wrong ) was super sensitive . I just didn't connect. I loved Sarika though. I feel like it was a easy read and depending on the readers taste , I would recommend it .