There was much to enjoy here, but I found I couldn't connect with it. I'd read more from this author in the future though.

I haven’t gotten around to read this yet, my TBR is so long, sadly this got pushed back, but I’m hoping to get to it soon!

I an not a fan of historical fiction unless it has some sort of fantasy element or focuses on a period in history I am interested in and because of this I didn't enjoy Not the Only Sky but I have a feeling that fans of historical fiction will really enjoy this novel.

After an iffy start, this story really grew on me. I found myself tuning in once the story progressed to a teen protagonist, rather than as the excessively quirky child. What starts as bleak and depressing becomes hopeful.

I can relate to characters who feel alone and broken and this story really spoke to me. I loved how the story moves and intersects and the characters become developed. It shows how a family is complicated and that forgiveness is important. I loved that the story has so much compassion in it. It is a skill that many YA readers should be exposed to in today's world. It's a story I highly recommend.

Beautifully written—but not in an overly precious, "literary" way—Not the Only Sky bowled me over. The characters are so well rounded, and the way they evolve (and in some ways fail to) is realistic without being predictable. The depiction of eight-year-old Tiny Mite in particular is a marvel; she's one of the truest fictional kids I've come across. The hope, anger, acceptance, and regret that the characters face feel true too, as does the ending.

“People warn you not to stare at the sun, she thinks, but it’s so much sky that hurts.”

Tiny Mite is an imaginative 8 year old girl, living with her mother and grandmother in rural South Dakota. She is rambunctious and clever and lives in her own world. Her teacher thinks her imagination is a problem. Truth be told, so does her mother. But her grandmother and great Aunt see things differently.

Velvet, or Mimi, as Tiny Mite calls her, is living a life not entirely her own. Tiny Mite’s father left, after she had broken up with her high school sweetheart. And being a single mother in a small town was never the life she imagined living. She had dreams. Big, beautiful dreams. Dreams that always seem just out of reach.

So Velvet makes a choice. A choice that we see unfold from the beginning, but aren’t quite sure what it means. A choice that reveals itself from the end, showing us the moment of collision in the present tense narration.

I loved how moving the story forward from one perspective but backwards from another, only to have them intersect was brilliant. We were able to simultaneously watch the consequences while also understanding the thought process leading up to that momentous decision. Which, I think gave Velvet more sympathy than she would have otherwise gained. It is a choice that from the beginning is impossible to understand, but Warren gives us as much understanding as possible.

There is a lot of empathy in this narration. It is a book about family, and how complicated that can be. But it is also a book about forgiveness. Not simply if Clea, who refuses to use the name Tiny Mite since the morning of Velvet’s monumental decision, will forgive Velvet, but if they all can forgive themselves.

The entire first half of the novel is this alternating narration. But the second half is where we get into the aftermath. We fast forward in time, to a now 14 year old Clea. A girl who hates her mother. Who refuses to accept anything tied to her mother, and chooses instead to wear her dead grandfathers clothing. She is an outcast at school and surrounded by memories she hates at home.

Her one refuge becomes Jared, a boy at school even more dejected and rejected than she is.

Clea works her way through school. Forging a friendship with Jared that gives her a new perspective on her family, on her life. He helps her see that maybe there is a road to freedom, through forgiving Velvet.

I love complicated stories where decisions are more complex than right and wrong. Where apologies only go so far, and emotions run deep throughout the narration. Warren does a fantastic job giving us just enough perspective from the eyes and minds of those surrounding Clea and Velvet, that we can see a more holistic picture. We can see the pain and heartache that comes with love. Any sort of love.

It is easy to be empathetic to Clea. She goes from a confident child, who lives in a richly inventive world. She is funny and reading her explanation of things, or how she rationalizes the world to makes sense around her is a delight. It’s probably one of my favorite things about this novel.

So, it is even more heartbreaking when she breaks entirely away from that rich world. When her heart literally breaks and she tries to piece it back together by discarding everything from before. Warren does an impressive job with this in her dividing of the novel. There is clearly a before and an after.

But even more worth noting, is how Warren actually persuades you to feel empathy for Velvet as well. It isn’t as much, and it isn’t as easy, but it is there all the same. She is a victim of her choices as well as Clea, and because of that, probably feels the consequences more deeply than Clea. Which, I know, sounds unreasonable and unbelievable, but still true.

For a debut novel, hell, for any novel, managing all the moving pieces and pulling off this complicated narration is impressive. It would be very easy to lose track of a plot point, or leave a character underdeveloped. It would be very easy to confuse the reader if each sentence, each chapter, and each section wasn’t tightly woven and executed with precision. Yet, Warren does execute her narration and you aren’t lost in the alternating perspectives, or confused by a change in time or narration. If anything you are left wanting to know more, wanting to understand more with each page turned.

There is a profound understanding of how complicated our lives can become, and how we can become defined by our decisions in that life. It’s an interesting question, do our decisions define who we are, or do we define those decisions?

Family is complicated. And complex. People within these families are flawed and don’t always make the best decisions. This is life. Warren has given us an honest look at that inner dynamic, and makes us think about what we have, and what we think we want. At the core of this book is the question, do you have to sacrifice yourself for love? The answer is surprisingly complex, and I’m sure will change for everyone.

This book is fantastic for a book club. Each character, each choice, each pivotal moment of plot sets the stage for interesting discussion and dialogue. I think complex characters are always good for discussion, and Warren gives us complex characters in spades.

I immensely enjoyed reading Not the Only Sky. My heart broke, and was woven back together again. I laughed, and cried, smiled and frowned. I fell in love with Clea, and Jared, and Luvie and Bee. I even came to understand and forgive Velvet. A remarkable book. I cannot wait to read what Warren writes next!

Thank you to NetGalley and Black & White Publishing for the opportunity to read this amazing book! I received this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

DNF (Did Not Finish)
I really couldn’t get into this book. I tired a couple of times to read it but I never made it past 30%. I just didn’t find myself interested in either the story or the characters, so I decided not to carry on trying.

Did not finish. The writing was often a barrier to understanding. The story had promise but the prose focused too much on its own internal logic at the expense of my reading of it.

I really enjoyed the characters and the story itself. I just couldn't find myself really getting into it. At times I would have to re read a page because I simply wasnt that interested. I kept checking to see if i was almost done the novel/ page count.

Overall, good characterization, good storytelling and well written. I just found I was not that interested in the premise or the setting of the book - so my connection was minimal.

Thank you netgalley for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

What an exciting little gem. I found this browsing in Netgalley and was immediately drawn by the cover. It's just gorgeous. But beyond the beautiful cover, the story was fleshed out with rich character development. Always drawn to broken characters, this walk through adolescence with TinyMite/Clea was a bittersweet journey. The scenery and location descriptions felt real and transports the reader. It would be a beautiful summer read and I recommend it.

I enjoyed this. The premise of this book was intriguing. I liked the romance

I wanted to like this book but it just did not click for me. Set in Dakota, it tells the story of eight year old Tiny Mite, growing up without a dad. The book deals with the mother and daughter relationship and the monotony of growing up in a small town. Overall, good characterisation, well written and very descriptive. Thank you Net Galley for my copy. I reviewed on Goodreads and Amazon.

This is probably the hardest review for me to write. I didn't like this book nor can I really say that I disliked it either. I liked the quirky characters but that's probably all that I did like. I didn't necessarily enjoy the overall story but not because it wasn't written well. I thought the relationships between mothers and daughters was represented well, which is essentially what this book is about. I don't think that anything about this story is memorable and its not something that I would recommend.

**Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get into this one at all. The writing was great, but I wasn't able to connect with the story, it didn't have "flow". Might get back to it in the future, as the author writes beautifully!

“I want to meet him.” When neither Bee nor Luvie respond, Tiny Mite kicks the leg of her TV tray. “I want a dad.”

Bee lays down her fork. “Most kids only have two parents, but you’ve got me, Luvie, your mother and Jiggs, which makes double what they got, and don’t forget Henniker, our free legal counsel.”

“Luvie says he’s a pervert.”

Bee nods. “True, but you never know when you’ll get sued for breathing in this country.”

This novel was such a blast for me. The first half when Tiny Mite is little, before she grows up becoming Clea and no longer goes by her nickname, we run around with this peculiar, sometimes savage other times tender fatherless child as she tries to get her mother’s affection. Velvet’s plans didn’t include being stuck in Big Bend, she didn’t sacrifice her first love for someone untamed to abandon her and their unborn child. It’s a hardscrabble life, and her future is a dark, monotonous, shriveled thing. Her mother’s pious acceptance of mediocrity is torture, she can’t bond with her odd little girl who spends more time running around half naked and seems stuck in the same time warp as her Aunt Luvie and mother Bee. Velvet and her mother can’t seem to agree on anything and her constant reminders of how hard she had it in life sets Velvet’s teeth on edge. “Why do you have to make everything better, mother? If your life was as bad as you brag, why didn’t you just shoot yourself?” Bee herself suffers the verbal attacks with optimism but still feels every biting rebuke as a laceration. “Bee’s bones feel like they are disintegrating when she and Velvet argue, and it’s no wonder, she thinks, when Velvet’s never-ending misery rattles every nut and bolt loose in her body.” What mother doesn’t want happiness for their children, regardless of the situation she got her self stuck in? What mother doesn’t ache over the disharmony between her and her child. But Velvet will never be able to survive if she remains under her childhood roof. Time doesn’t stand still in Big Bend, it stops altogether. Working meaningless job, making minimum wage is no life for anyone and at this rate she won’t have enough to make sure he daughter Tiny Mite can escape the dead weight of Big Bend.

Tiny Mite is just fine, thank you. Sure, she hungers for a dad, she is a born misfit among misfits but she finds pleasure in her strange interests and loves to eavesdrop on all the adults around her. When she isn’t snooping, she is taking photos with her homemade camera, which may well become a future passion. She can be found hoarding others treasures like old family photos. Some of her curiosities lean towards the macabre but it comes from an artistic mind. How could her family not rub off on her? Bee is prepared for the end of times, and knows the devil is everywhere- in tattooed bikers her daughter is drawn to, in other’s thoughts and actions- but Aunt Luvie’s only evil spirits are brewing ‘in her cups’. Velvet hides and cries when no one is awake, only in the dark cloak of night can she release the flood of her pain where unbeknownst to her, Tiny Mite is witness. Where she goes for her nightly raid of the food pantry, she has the best seat in the house to Velvet’s grief. When Tiny Mite is running late for an important day of school, Velvet makes a rash decision that will change the trajectory of Tiny Mite’s life, and sour the already strained relationship between mother and daughter.

Now, Tiny Mite has shed her name and goes by Clea. Bee is aging and her health is on the decline, Aunt Luvie stops drinking and Clea, dressed in her granddad’s old clothes is shunned by her peers at school. Abandoned cruelly by her mother in a moment frozen in her psyche, Clea is just barely surviving, alternating between rage and self-blame about her mother’s departure. “Clea’s tireless rat heart couldn’t stop scratching, searching, burrowing, wondering.” It is the wonder and fire inside of Clea that drives the novel. Times have gotten even harder, money and food at home are scarce and her heart is a pocket full of holes. She makes a connection with a boy, Jerod who is far more misunderstood than her. Through him she learns not to take her ragtag remaining family for granted, and the little she has grows in volumes. A love blossoms out of the ruins of different tragedies Clea and Jerod have been through. It is one of the most realistic love stories about young teenagers I’ve ever read, their coming together is gorgeous.

The readers get snippets of Velvet’s life, minus Tiny Mite (Clea), but it doesn’t make the story any softer. There is so much pain and yet, hope. These are extremely flawed characters, and it makes for perfection. Some run away from their pain, others towards it. It is a dissection of the life we are given in opposition to the one we think we should have. While it’s about a willful, strong, unique girl it is also a beautiful story about family and love; love that abandons and love that steps in. Jiggs relationship with Tiny Mite is beautiful, a reminder love and loyalty can be found in the least likely places. While Velvet is gone, she is a living haunt from the wall of a hallway where her portraits watch over or mock Clea. Velvet’s heart is a mystery, and maybe it is never too late to be a mother.

The beginning made me feel like a child, I loved it- Tiny Mite is genuine, silly, curious, naughty at times (a bit like I remember being) and the way it’s written sets the perfect atmosphere.Tiny Mite doesn’t really seem aware of herself in the presence of others, and most children are exactly like this. Running around half nude isn’t anything shocking to them, she represents the freedom of youth. Then when she grows up, the novel feels different but just as moving. The perspective transitions seamlessly to that of a more mature, angry voice. I hope everyone enjoys this as much as I did. Yes, it deals with mother/daughter complexities but it is so much more than that. Lovely and you, dear readers, are in luck. It’s coming out this month, April 27! I can’t wait to hear your thoughts. This is an author I will be watching!

Available April 27, 2017

Black & White Publishing