When Life Gives You Mangos is one of those gems written for children but reads well for adults too. I enjoyed reading about Clara and her days on the island, and I pleasantly surprised at the end! I love books that make me question my understanding of everything I've read, and this did just that.

I received an advance copy. All thoughts are my own.

When Life Gives You Mangos follows Clara, a 12 year old girl who lives in a small village. She is sort of an outcast and is teased a lot, especially by her best friend Gaynah, because she has no memory of the previous summer. Most people, even her parents, believe that she is faking her memory loss for "attention".

I enjoyed reading this book in Clara's perspective and how she deals with the different obstacles she faces. The plot twist at the end actually surprised me lol. I had a lot of ideas of where this book could have gone, but the twist was completely unexpected.

When Life Gives You Mangos is great story about friendship. I very much love the main character, as well as the atmosphere of the island. I wish there was a bit more about the side characters, which are very important to the plot. The plot twist is impeccable- I truly did not see it coming from a million miles...my jaw fell to the floor. I love how it normalizes what Clara goes through. The shock of the plot twist was because nothing was hyperbolized, which was expertly done. Once again, my biggest critique is there was a lack of side character development, which for this story I desperately wanted!

When Life Gives you Mangos follows Clara, a girl who cant remember what happened last summer. When the new girl shows up in town, and they go on imaginative adventures, Clara starts to come fave to face with the events of the past.

This book is a great middle grade book about friendship, acceptance, community and dealing with trauma. I adored Clara and Rudy. I also loved the sense of community that you got when it talks about everyone taking turns to care for the village matriarch and everyone coming together at Clara's house every night.

I appreciated the twist. Even though I saw it coming, I believe most middle graders would not and would be floored by the revelation.

All in all, I thought this was a great story and not something that I would expect from a mid grade read.

When Life Gives You Mangos is a story that works through the typical adolescent themes of navigating family relationships and friendships while also working through heavier themes such as loss and grief. I feel like young readers will really relate to the wide range of emotions that Clare expresses through the course of the story. We see her feel fear, anger, sadness, joy, and many other emotions. I appreciated that even as she navigated through the hard stuff of life there was always hope and connection as her community really supported each other and held each other up. I liked the character of Clare. She had a complicated life and was trying to sort through what to believe and who to trust. I enjoyed reading this book.

Absolutely wonderful midddlegrade contemporary! This was fun and atmospheric from page one! You follow twelve year old Clara in her life on a beautiful tropical island. But for Clara not everything is as bright as the island she lives on, because you see she is missing large chunks of her memory from the previous summer. This short book absolutely blew me away at parts!! This would be a perfect summer read with a nice could glass of sweet tea.

(I was kindly given this book for my honest review)

This was a quick read about a Jamaican girl who can’t remember what happened last summer and no longer feels like she fits in to her community. As she befriends a girl visiting from New York and defies her parents to reunite with an estranged uncle, she works through her recent fear of the water and faces hard memories and truths.

Clara lives on an island where not much happens. She and her friends are desperate for any new adventure. Sadly Clara’s need for adventure seems to be driven by a desire to forget something from her past.

This is a sweet story of friendship, family, and healing. The book conveys two very important messages: (1) the healing process for each person is very personal and (2) it’s never too late for a new beginning. Fans of Hurricane Child and The Thing About Jellyfish will really enjoy this book.

Thank you to Random House for sharing an eArc with #BookAllies in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an early e-ARC of this book.

The story of a young girl, Clara, who lives on the island of Jamaica enjoying days filled with ripe mangos and adventures with her friends. But a dark cloud of missing memories from last summer hangs over her, impacting every thing Clara does and at times filling her with an anger she doesn’t understand. A beautiful middle grade novel with a surprising twist, When Life Gives You Mangos is a story of friendship, loss and the love that helps to navigate both.

This book surprised me in many ways! Clara has lost part of her memory, and while we know that is a fact, why is still in question. I love the dynamics between Clara and her friends and family. I feel like I was a visitor on their island and wanted to get to know them even better. Bonus - the twist that comes when you least expect it.

This book took me by surprise...but in a good way! What I thought was going to be a typical, middle-grade, contemporary novel turned into something so much more. "When Life Give You Mangos" tackled some pretty deep, emotional topics, but Getten did it so well. Clara was such a beautiful and misunderstood main character that I was constantly rooting for her. I look forward to reading more books by Kereen Getten and her Jamaican stories.

When Life Gives You Mangoes is one of the best books I have read this year. The story, the wholeness of it, the absolute balance of this beautiful novel should not be missed.
Clara is caught in a mystery that - as she struggles to unravel it - turns out to contain other mysteries, and this novel folds into itself neatly again and again as the reader gets deeper in. Kereen Getten has created something perfect and pleasurable, and better even than that, she has written a unique and evocative story.
The island, the people in Clara’s village, Clara and her family, everyone we meet in this book is true, and this makes the central mystery - what is Clara reckoning with? - so perfect in its resolution. To share more would give too much away.
I won’t spoil anything here by saying that Eldorath is as interesting and enjoyable a grown-up character as any I’ve found in my favorite childhood stories. I wish this book contained the seeds for a sequel, because I liked him so much. Given the fine crafting of Claras story, a sequel seems both unlikely and unnecessary: instead, I will be waiting impatiently for another book by Getten.
Buy this book - share it with middle grade readers, but read it yourself. It is no usual thing to find a novel written for a child audience that succeeds as a novel for grown ups without feeling slightly off kilter in some way, but this one does it flawlessly.

I received an advance copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

4/5

When I started reading this I thought this would be a good, solid 3 star read but as I read on and after more was revealed throughout the story, it became a definite 4 stars for me.

This book follows 12-year-old Clara who lives in a small town in Jamaica where there are only a few other children and everyone knows each other. Something happened last year that's made Clara forget what happened last summer, but other than that she's a typical 12-year-old - hanging out with her best-friend-who's-not-been-acting-like-a-best-friend-recently Gaynah, playing games of pick leaf with the other kids, and curious about the new girl who's arrived in town.

Getten has written a book that poignantly deals with friendship, loss, trauma, love, and community in a way that's accessible and understandable (and an enjoyable read) for middle graders. I cried a few times because of how deeply it touched me. In her acknowledgements, Getten writes that "Clara's story became part of me. Her town is where I was born. Pick leaf is a game I played as a child. Her story will always be special to me." And I could really feel that throughout the book, Clara's town and her family and community is written about so lovingly. Though I cried at points, the main feelings I take away from this book are warmth and love. The way the storyline progressed was done very well, as well and there's no real way to talk about it without spoiling it, so I won't. Just know that it's really well done.

There are some heavy topics in this book, but as I mentioned earlier, I think it's dealt with in a way that's understandable for middle grade students. But some content warnings to keep in mind are: death, trauma, and PTSD.

I received When Life Gives you Mangos as an eARC. Thank you to Netgalley and Delacorte Books for the opportunity to read and review this book!

I received a free eARC in exchange for an honest review of this book.

Twelve-year-old Clara faces a lot of the usual troubles: bickering with friends, being irritated with her parents treating her like a little kid, and wanting more independence. She also has some that are not so usual, she can't remember a period of time from last summer when hurricane hit her island village and she now fears going into the ocean water she loved to surf in.

No one seems to want to tell Clara why she can't remember, other than small details from the days she can't remember, but the adults in the village seem to be losing their patience with the outbursts she sometimes as now--especially when she's frustrated about people treating her differently or her cousin, Gaynah, is getting on her nerves. The local preacher is pushing her parents to take her to a nearby city to be counseled by a bishop in their faith community.

In trying to assert some independence, Clara and her friends got to the home of her uncle -- a place they are forbidden to go because her uncle is rumored to be some sort of witch doctor. But, once there, after getting over their initial fright, the kids come to realize he is eccentric and reclusive, but not a danger to anyone. Clara tries urging her parents to get her uncle to engage with the community, but they tell her the effort is futile due to a long-standing dispute between her uncle and the reverend.

After one of her more dramatic "episodes" her extended family and the reverend insist her parents take her to see the counselor. Things do not go well, but in the end Clara and her parents come to an understanding that she'll get where she needs to be in in her own time and in her own way.

As they're getting ready to head home, they learn another hurricane is headed toward her village. They hurry home and start readying their house for the storm blast to come. Clara is worried about her uncle alone in his house, so she convinces Gaynah to go with her to convince him to come to her parents' house.

They arrive too late to make it back to the house and have to ride out the storm with her uncle. While she's there, her uncle helps her realize what happened last summer and make her peace with it. Her memory returns, the weight on her is lifted, and she's able to return to her love of the ocean. Her uncle's reputation is restored (and the reverend has to eat some crow for spreading the rumors) and begins engaging in the community again. Life isn't perfect, but it is good.

When Life Gives You Mangos is a bright and lively debut from author Kereen Getten. Clara is a spirited character who you can really empathize with and the other characters are as colorful as the island surroundings.

#WhenLifeGivesYouMangos #NetGalley

What a completely surprising read! I definitely didn't see the twist coming. I also loved the setting and the way that Clara's culture was made very clear without being exoticized or overdramatized or portrayed as something "different."

I really enjoyed reading this middle grade novel. The themes revolving around friendship, family, and self-acceptance are so important for children to read about. Clara doesn’t have it easy, but she works through her past, and her parents come around to supporting her in her own way. This was a wonderful debut novel!

This was a cute story with a twist in the middle. I was very shocked when I got to that part.

This book teaches many things and I think middle grade kids will love it.

Gaynah has seen a new girl and the whole village is buzzing. I liked the characters. I liked the dialogue. I wanted to find out more about the new girl.

When Life Gives You Mangos is a quick read with a lasting impact. You feel for the protagonist right away given her fear of the water and her lack of memory as to why. Great read with surprising twists.

Absolutely beautiful and breathtaking. As not to give much away, the main character, Clara, does not remember anything that happened last summer but she feels anxious and upset easily. She lives on an island that many would call “exotic” yet Clara feels is ordinary. It’s what she knows best. Suddenly a new girl shows up, from America, and makes for a very different summer on the island.
This book may rock and shake you, but you must keep reading to experience all of its beauty.