*Book received through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

This book was honestly just very confusing. It was very difficult to figure out what was real and what was a figment of Wren's imagination. I had trouble following along with Wren's thought processes and I'm really not sure what the purpose of some characters was. Overall, it wasn't terrible but it really wasn't good either. The writing style was not for me.

As always, it's her characters that draw me in. No matter how different from me, I find a piece of myself and a sense of connection. I appreciate the inclusion of LGBTQ characters without fanfare. Wonderful story with unexpected things *no spoilers) that slowly revealed to me. Beautiful.

Such a beautiful book. The prose and the metaphors were right on my alley. I happen to like confusing things (hehe). It’s written in such a magical way. The cover is gorgeous too.

Postcards for a Songbird is a beautifully written coming of age story. It follows our main character, Wren after she is abandoned by both her mother and sister. Rebekah Crane's writing style is beautiful, however at times I found it a bit TOO poetic. Lizzie, especially, was a very difficult character for me to understand.

You know that sensation when you are reading a poetry book and you can stop at any page because the poems are not connected, each one of them is a story in itself? That is what reading this book feels like.
This is perfect for people that like short chapters that can be picked up at any time without making the reader feel lost.
All the characters are incredibly complex and nuanced, I loved the transitions from one scene to the other and the writing is absolutely beautiful. Shout out to Lucas that has the best pick up line in history and to Baby Girl who has one of the best names in literature.
Thank you to Net Galley and Skyscane for this ARC and Rebekah Crane for this amazing story.

Thanks Net Galley for the preview!

This book was remarkable! I loved Wren's voice as the narrator. She did have some confusing tangents and it was hard to know what was real and what was imagined at times but I felt like that made the book more interesting. I adored the meet-cute with Luca and the evolution of their relationship. I was glad he was an artsy and like minded person that understood Wren. He also gave off this rebel vibe when really he was a safe space for Wren to begin living her life again. I thought the book was well written, kept my attention and had richly developed characters. I would gladly read a sequel and will recommend this book once it is published!

Sometimes love does that- it presents itself cloaked in something darker, in odd shapes, in tears and groans and messes, because just like the rest of us, love is afraid to be itself.
-Rebekah Crane

First of all, I want to thank Skyscape Publishing Group and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of Postcards for a Songbird in exchange for an honest review!

Let me say that I honestly really wanted to love this book. The cover alone is absolutely gorgeous, and the synopsis had me hooked. I am an absolute sucker for books dealing with grief, and the romance sounded great. Plus, I thought that looking at a character who is afraid to get attached to anyone was a reasonably exciting concept. So, when I saw this for review on NetGalley, I knew I absolutely had to give it a shot!

Postcards for a Songbird by Rebekah Crane is the story of Wren Plumley, a teenager who is deathly terrified of anyone leaving her after her mom mysteriously vanishes when she is two years old. Together with her sister Lizzie, and their father they call the Chief, Wren has faced the consequences of being the child that everyone forgets. That is until one-night Lizzie leaves Wren without notice and Wren is shattered. After a month of mourning her older sister, the Chief forces Wren to take Driver’s Education so she can get her licence. It is there she meets Luca, a mysterious boy whom she can’t seem to get rid of. Wren is then forced to make the choice of whether she wants to remain hidden and safe, or if she wants to risk it with another person who could just leave her in the end.

No matter what I tried, I could not seem to get into this book. Right from the start, I felt that the author was working way too hard to incorporate these #deep moments into the text. It seemed that every five seconds Lizzie was spouting some philosophical nonsense that no person would have ever said in real life. I swear she must have had some sort of poetry, a self-help book with her at all times because no one on this planet ever talks like that. So, right from the beginning, I felt myself struggling to keep afloat.

And then there’s Wren.

I did not like Wren. She was continually acting like a five-year-old and honestly, you could tell that this book was written by an adult that has completely forgotten what it means to be a teenager.

I was envious of the cat Lizzie was holding. I didn’t want her to have it either. She held me like that sometimes, and I didn’t want competition.

Like what person ever thinks like that? Jealous of a cat? To be honest, I found it impossible to take anything that came out of Wren’s mouth seriously. Plus, I couldn’t stand the part where Wren could see people’s auras? Like that part really had no need to be in the book and honestly made me more confused than I already was.

As well, I found that the book completely lacked any diversity, though I can’t really say that because none of the characters were ever described all that well. I remember something about Wren having black hair or something along that line. To be honest, I felt like the author was keeping the reader at arm’s length away at all times, which seemed to be one of my biggest beef with it. Plus, the ending was really predictable and anticlimactic at the same time if that’s possible. I feel like the story just kinda…ended, like the author finished the story the night before her draft was due and just called it a day.

Plus, my other big beef with the story was its complicated view on mental illnesses. There was one part of the story where a character was swearing off depression medicine because she didn’t want to be controlled by doctors? Like, excuse me? I honestly was so pissed off I had to put the book down and think long and hard for a second.

Really, the only saviour in this book was Luca, and I didn’t even like him that much. Like in what universe do kids ride skateboards on the job? I’ve worked at retail for four years, and nothing like that has ever happened. People need to stop making their characters quirky for the sake of being quirky.

In the end, I gave this book two stars on Goodreads. Overall, this author’s writing style just wasn’t for me, and I felt that this book should maybe be targeted for a younger audience than it was advertised for.

I want to once again thank Netgalley and Skyscape Publishing Group for giving me the opportunity to review this book honestly. All opinions said are my own.

*****

My review can be found at https://akareaders.wordpress.com and will be published this Friday. As well, this review will be available on my Goodreads.

I usually love Rebekah Crane's books. I am a fan of hers, and I was so excited to get this latest title. Unfortunately, I don't think this lives up to her usually compelling YA writing. This book suffers from the "no-one-talks-like-that" disease. Our protagonist, Wren, is a teenager dealing with abandonment by her mother and sister. Her father, a police officer who works all night and sleeps all day, is not really good at dealing with his daughter's feelings. I had a hard time getting far into the story because the flighty language and poetic ideas from teenagers are just truly far-fetched. Even the enticing boy that Wren meets at the market (and then again at driver's ed) speaks like he's Jack Kerouac. It just took me right out of the story. It felt over-wrought and unbelievable.

I recommend all of Crane's other books, but not this one.

"I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review"

Everyone eventually leaves Wren Plumley. First it was her mother, then her best friend, and then her sister. Now living with only her cop father and her upended dreams, Wren feels stranded, like a songbird falling in a storm.
When Wilder, a sickly housebound teen, moves in next door, Wren finally finds what she’s always wanted—a person who can’t leave. But a chance meeting with Luca, the talkative, crush-worthy boy in her driver’s ed class, has Wren wondering if maybe she’s too quick to push people away. Soon, Wren finds herself caught between the safety of a friendship and a love worth fighting for.
Wren starts to dream again. But when postcards begin arriving from her sister, Wren must ultimately confront why her mother left fourteen years before and why her sister followed in her footsteps. For her new life to take flight, Wren will have to reconcile the heartbreaking beauty of lost dreams and the beautiful heartbreak of her new reality.

This book was really hard for me to follow. I found it hard to know who was real and who was not and that made me have a hard time get into the book. I did enjoy it when I could follow on but I am not sure why I was so confused with the book. I think the other issue I had was I just didn’t connect with any of the characters.

I did enjoy Wren and seeing her grow within her self. I also enjoyed her friendships when I figured out they where real people not her imagination. There so twists I didn’t see coming in the end and that was fun also.

I gave this book 3 out of 5 stars and I think I will try reading this book again (I started this when I was in a massive book slump so that could be another issue in why I had trouble getting the story).

Wren is devastated after her older sister, Lizzie, runs away from home and leaves her behind. They had always been inseparable, and Wren felt her job was to tether Lizzie to the world. Who is Wren, if not her sister's keeper? With the help of some new friends (who, frankly, are far more interesting than Wren herself), Wren discovers her own identity and solves a few mysteries about her family's past along the way.

This book is written with in a very lyrical, poetic style with lots of imagery and figurative language. Unfortunately, I just couldn't connect with it at all....the style basically keeps the reader at arm's length throughout the story. It was terribly confusing, and I had a hard time telling what was really happening and what was only in Wren's head. Who was real and who was she just imagining? A lot of it just didn't make much sense. The end, especially, just left me scratching my head.

Other readers might enjoy the dreamy, blurred-reality more than I did, but I just found myself lost throughout.

**Thanks to NetGalley and Skyscape for the ARC!**

This was only mediocre to me. Perhaps I’ve read too many YA coming of age books, but I can’t help but feel that this is just a recycled story I’ve read countless times.

I had such high hopes for this book (How could I not, the cover is gorgeous!!!!!!!!!!) But unfortunately, it just didn't work for me.

Idek what it was, the overall storyline and characters were just confusing.

Lizzie was so confusing... She is the sister who left, and first of all I thought she was imaginary but then I was like wait no, she's an actual person??

I'm still not sure how I got that idea into my head, maybe I'm just an idiot ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ But it made the whole reading experience quite confusing.

Also Wilder, not sure what his purpose was? I just felt like he kinda existed for the duration of the story and did nothing????

But Luca was a gorgeous human being, and big picture-wise it was a very cute story.

The side characters are pretty adorable, and it's just overall really sweet!!

It was really cute, but too much purple prose and confusing metaphors for my liking.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley for an honest review. In general I thoroughly enjoyed Postcards for a Songbird! I was drawn to the book by the cover and the plot. I loved being able to follow Wren and read about her transformation from someone that is quite forgettable, to a person that knows herself better than anyone. The writing is poetic and unforgettable.

I initially fell in love with Rebekah Crane's books with "The Upside of Falling Down". This one as well did not disappoint. Immediately, you are sucked into Wren's life and are engaged. I found myself reading this late into the night, as I couldn't put it down. I was rooting for Wren all the way until the end. Would highly recommend this book!

Postcards for a Songbird is a poetic read about coming out of your shell, growing into the real world, and understanding yourself. Wren has been seemingly abandoned by her mother and her sister. We see her come to life throughout the course of the book; making wonderful friendships that make you reminiscent of your school days, and a romance that reminds you what it's like to be young. This story is full of metaphors and the way Rebekah Crane writes is quite mesmerising, reminding me a little bit of We Were Liars by E. Lockhart.

However, there were a few downfalls to this book, like how after 150 pages these metaphors got a tad boring and predictable. I wanted to find out what happened next, not hear Wren complain about how her mother leaving has shaped her life for the 50th time - but it wasn't bad enough to stop reading, so don't be too put off. I also completely didn't understand who Wilder was. In the acknowledgements, it says (SPOILER) that Crane wanted to write about a songbird with an imaginary friend. Is Wilder imaginary? Is that why the house is empty at the end? Is that why he pops up in random places? (SPOILER END) I don't know the answer, and wish it had been a bit more clear! I also thought the romance was rushed and underdeveloped, but I find that a lot with contemporary books.

Besides this, I did enjoy it, so if you're interested in contemporary reads with a fresh twist then definitely pick this up in August.

Postcards for a Songbird is about a girl named Wren and her journey to find out the truth about why her mom left 14 years prior. Now her sister left in the middle of the night as well. She feels everyone leaves her so she has a hard time doing anything socially. Eventually a sick housebound teen named Wilder moves in next door so Wren feels she finally has someone that won't and can't leave her. As I progressed further through the story, I discover the surprising and shocking truth about Wilder and how his friendship with Wren gives her strength and courage, especially when meeting new people. We eventually find the truth on why Wren’s mom left, though I was a bit confused on why Lizzie left. Through all of Wren's metaphors I could guess on why but more so confused on Chief's understanding of it. Even with those two things being said, I still couldn't put the book down, it had me wanting to know more. I give it 3.5 stars

I want to thank Netgalley for providing me an Arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Again this is a case of, it’s not me, it’s you. I’m just not a fan of YA novels anymore and I’m learning that that is okay!! I’m sure that this will be great for anyone going through this. And you should totally read it!

This was a very "floaty" book in that it's filled with the MC's thoughts and fantasies while still carrying the reader through the story. Lots of imagery and similes. The teenage MC is well portrayed, and her relationship with her dad is done well too, with a clever twist on it all near the end. Nice bit of writing.

I want to thank Netgalley for providing me an Arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book was so amazing!
I adored the writing style of this book.
The way the author describes everything is so beautifully vivid and unique way.
I adored wren she is such a relatable character and I really enjoyed reading her story.
The side characters were some of the best I’ve ever read about I wanted to know more about all their lives.
I honestly can’t tell you how much I loved this book it was a reading experience that will stay with me forever!
I gave it 5 fully deserved stars.

I’m not going to beat around the bush here. I LOVED this book. It is one of the most beautiful novels I’ve read, and there are so many reasons. Now I’m going to tell you all the fabulous reasons why.

The cover:
How adorable is the cover?! I love the bright yellow, and the idea of the two characters balancing on a wire, like a pair of birds. The colours make me think happy thoughts, and so that’s what I had going into the book. I initially clicked on it due to the cover, so though I know you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, I totally did, and have zero regrets.

The plot:
Wren Plumley is alone. Her mother left when she was little, her best friend has a boyfriend, and her sister Lizzie has disappeared into the night. Her father, Chief, a police officer, works night shifts and quite often Wren is alone with her babysitter that never speaks to her. Then a boy moves in next door. A sickly, pale boy named Wilder who cannot leave his house. As awful as that is, at least Wren knows he can’t leave her.

Then into Wren’s life come a colourful collection of people – Leia, Baby Girl, and bright, chatty Luca, who is determined to get to know her despite her objections. As unmarked postcards arrive from Lizzie, and questions arise about the mother that left her, Wren begins to realise that perhaps she has been living too cautiously and colourlessly. Perhaps these people in her life, and Luca in particular, are worth opening her heart to.

The characters:
A gorgeous array of fascinating characters! Firstly there’s Wren, the ‘Songbird’ in the cover title. Initially she is a small person, living a small life. Her life is lived in the shadow of others, namely her older sister Lizzie.

She interested me straight away. I wish I was as well spoken as Wren as a teenager! She speaks in metaphor and simile as a way of understanding the world, and though it was unusual to read, I loved it.

Not only does she speak in imagery, she also has a gift with colour. She paints, but she also sees people in colour – every person has a different coloured aura, depicting their personality and characteristics. Her sister Lizzie is cadmium-yellow, as bright as the sun. The only person she knows that is cadmium-yellow, until she meets Luca.

Watching Wren grow from that invisible, forgettable girl into her own person, discovering what makes her her, is a heartwarming experiencing, because yes, by the end of the book I had fallen for this gloriously bizarre character.

The other characters are just as colourful and fascinating. Each one plays a vital role in Wren’s growth, and there wasn’t a single one that I didn’t enjoy.

The writing:
This is what really struck me with Postcards for a Songbird. I adored the language. A lyrical prose, it reads so beautifully, and I felt such happiness reading it. I didn’t want to stop reading it.

Rebekah Crane has taken such ordinary things and transformed them into poetry. It’s beautiful, and I greedily read it, wanting more.

To conclude:
Oh my goodness, I just loved Postcards for a Songbird. I feel like Wren and her friends will be staying beside me for a while. Everything from the very lovable characters, to the colourful auras, and the singing prose, this book shines cadmium-yellow. It’s bright and glorious, demanding attention, and I adored it.