Syrah Cheng's world happens to be a bit upside down lately, ever since she was kid she wanted to be a professional snowboarder but, thanks to an accident a few months before, at fifteen she's not even sure she'll snowboard again, let alone go pro. It's not that her knee doesn't work, her doctor assures her it does but a lot more than her knee got screwed up the day of the accident.Of course, no one would believe how bad Syrah feels, not when her father is billionaire Ethan Cheng - with a telecommunications empire - and her mother is super sophisticated and super skinny Betty Cheng, she lives in a huge house, has everything a kid could want.
But the truth is her parents are never home, her half-siblings hate her and she has only one true friend, Age, who is currently not returning her calls thanks to his girlfriend's insecurities and Syrah's own fears.
When she becomes friends with Lillian, a classmate in her elite high school, almost by chance and meets Lillian's little sister Amanda - who has leukemia - Syrah finally finds the focus she was missing since the accident, and that, almost like the avalanche that trashed her dreams six months before, starts a snowball effect that leads Syrah to find a family she never knew she had, to finally understand that her parents do love her, to gain a sister and a new friend and, most importantly, to find herself.
For a couple of years I had heard this book was amazing, let me tell you something: It Is. My only regret is that work kept me from reading it for the longest time (it took me almost a month to read the first ten chapters, and just one day to read the thirty-plus left). Syrah's voice is engaging and she manages to feel bad, sad and depressed without once sounding whiny.
Her love for snowboard, manga and her family leaps from the page and grabs to your heart.
I'll admit there were parts where I cried but through it all, I loved the book.
Grade:
But the truth is her parents are never home, her half-siblings hate her and she has only one true friend, Age, who is currently not returning her calls thanks to his girlfriend's insecurities and Syrah's own fears.
When she becomes friends with Lillian, a classmate in her elite high school, almost by chance and meets Lillian's little sister Amanda - who has leukemia - Syrah finally finds the focus she was missing since the accident, and that, almost like the avalanche that trashed her dreams six months before, starts a snowball effect that leads Syrah to find a family she never knew she had, to finally understand that her parents do love her, to gain a sister and a new friend and, most importantly, to find herself.
For a couple of years I had heard this book was amazing, let me tell you something: It Is. My only regret is that work kept me from reading it for the longest time (it took me almost a month to read the first ten chapters, and just one day to read the thirty-plus left). Syrah's voice is engaging and she manages to feel bad, sad and depressed without once sounding whiny.
Her love for snowboard, manga and her family leaps from the page and grabs to your heart.
I'll admit there were parts where I cried but through it all, I loved the book.
Grade:
