“Again
Once I whittle that number on the scale down
Which wont be hard since I haven’t been hungry lately
It won’t be hard now that I have a goal
Smaller
Lighter
Leaner
In the saddle
It won’t be hard
Because I’m willing to do whatever
It takes
To win.” -Rae from ‘The Sky Between You and Me’
Hello people of the internet!!! On today’s ‘Monday Memos’ we’re going to review a new book that you should definitely add to your Goodreads reading challenge (yeah, yeah, I know that your TBR is already insane, but this book is worth the room. Trust me). So what is this amazing book you ask? I’m glad you asked people of the internet! Today we’re reviewing ‘The Sky Between You and Me’ by Catherine Alene. Not only is the story interesting, but will definitely leave a lasting impact on you once you finish it. I will try to make this review as spoiler free as possible, so if you’re ready let’s get to the review. Ready? Ok, let’s go!!!
Our story revolves around high school junior Raesha (aka Rae), a rodeo rider who dreams of winning Nationals just like her mother did when she was in high school. We are then introduced to Rae’s best friend Asia, Asia’s boyfriend Micah, and Rae’s boyfriend Cody. Everything in Rae’s life seems to be going well until a new girl named Kierra moves into town and begins to disrupt all of the order in Rae’s life. Throughout the story we learn that Rae’s mother died from cancer when she was a little girl and Rae always carried the guilt due to the circumstances of her mother’s death. Due to Rae’s growing loneliness because of Kierra’s presence in her life, as well as Rae’s father’s constant absence due to his job, Rae quickly falls into the grip of an eating disorder. She begins by just telling herself that she will lose a little weight in order to fit into her mother’s old riding saddle, however things get bad VERY quickly. Throughout the rest of the novel we see how Rae’s eating disorder affects her life, and the lives of those around her in both expected and unexpected ways. This is truly a powerful story with an amazing message of hope that doesn’t sugar coat the dark side of eating disorders.
I not only really enjoyed the plot of this story, but also the relationship between Rae and her father. You could really see the love that they had for each other, as well as his need to try to fill the void that her mother’s death has left in her life, and his terror when he feels as if he failed this task. I also really enjoyed the fact that Rae and her friends were from a small country town and enjoyed completing in rodeos. This was definitely a fresh change of pace from your typical YA setting. Lastly I personally really loved the fact that the entire story was written in verse, which added a unique vibe to the story. Although there was SOOOO much I loved about this book, there were some problems. Firstly I HATED Rae’s boyfriend Cody! He was a completely unlikeable character who made me want to slap Rae for even dealing with him. Cody openly flirts with Kierra every chance he gets, and is completely unsupportive of Rae, even when he finds out about her eating disorder. Also, the story definitely had sections that were very slow and boring, although this didn’t happen often, it definitely lost the book half a smiley face on it’s overall score. Lastly, I really wish that we had spent more time on the obvious connection between Rae’s mother’s death and Rae’s eating disorder. I know that eating disorders are very complicated matters and there is never a necessary “cause” of this disease however, I really feel that this event had a lasting impact on Rae and thus it would’ve been nice to dive more into that. In conclusion I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a great story and doesn’t mind books written in free verse. If you don’t typically enjoy this style of writing then this maybe a hard story for you to get through however, I definitely suggest that you give it a chance. Because of all of this, I give ‘The Sky Between You and Me’ 4 1/2 smiley faces (due to the slow parts of the story). This is definitely worth your time, and I suggest you pick it up right away!
Keep up with everything Catherine is doing:
- All photos and information used in this blog belong to Catherine Alene, Sourcebooks Fire, Twitter, catherinealene.com, Goodreads, Amazon, netgallery.net, all companies, individuals, corporations, managers, writers, producers, authors, publishers, and/or businesses that should receive credit for any book(s), mentioned in this blog post, all of the and all companies, individuals, corporations, managers, writers, producers, and/or businesses that should receive credit for anything mentioned in this blog post, and all original owners. I do not own anything in this blog. If any people, corporations, businesses, companies, etc, were not previously given credit for their work, they are given credit now and their previous absence was unintentional. All opinions expressed in this blog are my own. I wrote this blog for entertainment purposes and no copyright infringement is intended.
Hello people of the Internet!!! On today’s ‘Monday Memos’ we’re going to discuss an AMAZING new book that y’all should all check out! If you’ve 
never heard of Dana Burkey then please keep reading because this is an up and coming author that you HAVE to check out. Dana has just released her new book ‘Learning To Fly’ and trust me when I say it’s a MUST HAVE for your summer TBR. Ready? Ok, let’s go!!!
‘Learning To Fly’ is about a 12 year girl named Max. She is a tomboy who enjoys hunting, fishing, playing sports, and just generally having fun with her next door neighbors Peter and Kyle. Max’s world is turned upside down when she discovers the world of competitive cheerleading. At first Max decides that the glitter and bows are too girly for her, but through some persuasion from her dad, Max decides to give cheerleading a try. Throughout the course of the story Max finds friends, enemies, and possibly two potential love interests (let the shipping wars begin!). I don’t want to spoil the rest of the book for you, but if you like sports, YA fiction, and stories with a great plot and characters that you will absolutely fall in love with then this is the book for you. Personally I couldn’t put this book down, so I HIGHLY recommend that everyone check out ‘Learning To Fly’ for themselves.
Also keep an eye out for book 2 of this trilogy entitled ‘Reaching The Summit’ which should come out in October of this year, and please keep checking back here and on all of my social media sites for a special giveaway coming soon (trust me you won’t want to miss it!).
Keep up with everything Dana is doing!:
Website: danacburkey.wix.com/yaauthor
Goodreads:Dana Burkey
Twitter: DanaCBurkey
YouTube: Dana Burkey
Instagram: danacburkey
- All photos and information used in this blog belong to Dana Burkey, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, all companies, individuals, corporations, managers, writers, producers, authors, publishers, and/or businesses that should receive credit for any book(s), mentioned in this blog post, all of the and all companies, individuals, corporations, managers, writers, producers, and/or businesses that should receive credit for anything mentioned in this blog post, and all original owners. I do not own anything in this blog. If any people, corporations, businesses, companies, etc, were not previously given credit for their work, they are given credit now and their previous absence was unintentional. All opinions expressed in this blog are my own. I wrote this blog for entertainment purposes and no copyright infringement is intended.
