Normally, when writing reviews, I use an abundance of “amazing” and “fantastic”, but this book deserves a better word. Maybe by the end of the review, I’ll find it.
****Thank you to Edelweiss and the publisher for a chance to review this title ahead of its release date.
Gut-wrenching, magnificent…familiar. Just a few words to describe Kyrie McCauley’s IF THESE WINGS COULD FLY. This book follows Leighton and her two younger sisters as they live through an abusive father and their complacent mother. It’s Leighton’s last year of high school, so she grapples with escaping her house for college, as well as the guilt of leaving her two sisters behind in a house that seems to fall apart around them. Amidst all of this, a strange influx of crows begins to appear in the town. As the boiling pot of her home begins to pour over, the population of crows soars, almost coincidentally. Woven together, we see a small town that turns a blind eye to those in need; children caught in the realization that their father could finally tip past the breaking point at any moment and destroy their lives forever.
To touch upon a few things…
The theme of domestic violence in the home was all too real, especially having lived through some of it myself so some scenes struck such a chord with me. It’s true that, as children, to cope with such scary things we turn to fantasy and our imaginations and hoping that something outside the realm of the real world would come and save us, and sometimes realizing that maybe nobody was coming at all.
When coming to the love interest part of the story, I was afraid he’d come in as the savior, as most books tend to make the male character’s. But Liam was not a savior. He was no even the rock that held Leighton up. He was just there for her, which is a good place to be.
MAGICAL REALISM. That is all.
Oh, did I mention I read this book in one sitting?
This is one of those books that every teen should read that may be in a situation of crisis. It’s so real and so gorgeously written. This book is a lullaby for hope. I still didn’t find that one word to describe IF THESE WINGS COULD FLY, but I don’t know, maybe the five-star rating and my glowing review will speak for itself.
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