I had high expectations for Wider than the Sky because of the description, some positive reviews and the gorgeous cover (yes, I know, don't judge a book by its cover- but you cannot tell me that this one isn't stunning.) Unfortunately it was quite disappointing and let me down on almost all fronts.

Before we get into that, here is a quick summary of the story. Wider than the Sky follows Sabine and her twin Blythe, who have to move to a new town after their father mysteriously dies. It goes through their transition to a new school, discovering the truth about the father, and subsequently, themselves.

One of the things I was most excited with this book was its discussion of complex themes and diversity typically neglected in YA. It talks about polyamory, HIV/AIDS and queerness. I have admittedly read very few books covering such themes, so was interested to see what this book had to say. Unfortunately, particularly for the HIV aspect, the themes were not dissected to the level I would have liked. Instead, I thought the representation was overly simplistic and slightly generalising. It is not my place to say whether it was good or not, but I definitely felt that the book barely skimmed the surface and possibly even dances the line of being harmful.

Even if the themes of a book are lacking, the plot and characters often have the potential to make up for that. However, I also found both of those aspects to be wanting. The plot, aka the romance, was a case of severe insta love, fuelled by many conveniences and not much chemistry. I honestly think it would have been better as a friendship- and would definitely have caused less drama. But what would a YA contemporary be without a love triangle, right? The dynamics between all three in the triangle felt dysfunctional and messy, and made it really hard for me to root for the main romance.

As for the characters, I had conflicted emotions. At times I liked our protagonist, but at others she was completely insufferable. I understand that characters are meant to be flawed, but she was just straight up selfish, mean and unsympathetic that it made it difficult to enjoy the process of reading her perspective.

I almost wish I had DNF'ed this book because my enjoyment pretty steadily decreased after the midpoint, but felt that since I was sent this for review I was obligated to finish it. Unhealthy? maybe but let's not linger on that.

For some positives, the writing was well done! Especially for a debut I was impressed with the skill of the dialogue, descriptions and general structure. If you think you can get past unlikeable characters and a weaker romance, and appreciate this for what it is, I would recommend it! However, I think that unfortunately that might be the minority in this case.

Thank you to Soho Teen for this ARC

Release Date: 19 January 2021

3.5/5 stars

I'm really struggling with this review because I genuinely liked the book overall. But I think the description did a disservice to the story. I know authors don't always have control over that, so I'm doing my best to not let that affect my overall judgement of the content.

The description made the book seem like family was the main / only focus. And yes, this was the source of Sabine's struggles, but the book was definitely a YA romance and I would not have got that anywhere in the description. The romance between Sabine and Kai was a major driving force in her actions too, and I think the description could be amended to let readers know that it's not all about family but also about romance.

That all being said, this was an easy read and I really liked the character development of all of the characters. I didn't love Sabine or her "poeting", but she definitely grew on me as we neared the end of the story. (Side note: I thought the "poeting" was dumb and I also think I would have appreciated it more if I spent time reading Dickinson.)

Overall, an enjoyable read. The first half was slow moving but the second half went by fast. This wouldn't be my go-to YA recommendation, but it's something different.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book!

The gorgeous cover is what tricked me into requesting and reading this book. Going into this I expected a story of grief, hope, and acceptance. I thought I would get poignancy and a new favorite book. I hate to write such a poor review because this book touches on the LQBTQ community and polyamorous representation and I feel like that is rarely touched in YA novels.

Our main character Sabine is the worst. Her father dies and she and her family moves from Southern California to the Bay Area. At her new school, she only cares about Kai, the cute boy in school. Keep in mind her father JUST died. Keep in mind her new friend Emma already told her she is actually already into Kai. She finds out her father was in a polyamorous relationship - married to her mother and dating Charlie. Instead of trying to understand her father and get to know Charlie, she is homophobic and judgmental and annoying. She makes Charlie’s life miserable and thinks she is so quirky and cute. Like I said, this is targeted towards YA so I think that this plays into harmful stereotypes and doesn’t give solutions on how to oppose or fight this.

Sabine also quotes poetry randomly and I think it came off as pretentious because she thinks that only she knows who Emily Dickinson is. If anyone else expresses interest in poetry, she is shook to the core. I feel like her quoting was some sort of compulsion and that should have been addressed correctly if it was supposed to be a mental health representation. It was a little unclear to me but it just rubbed me the wrong way. Also, Blythe is Sabine’s twin sister and she barely played a role in the book. I thought their sisterhood relationship would be explored and how they come to terms with their dads death. Blythe was a much better person than Sabine. I unfortunately did not enjoy this book even a little bit.

Thank you to both Netgalley and Edelweiss for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book managed to make me cry the whole way through, my little heart was shattered.

It dealt with loss, grief, family, relationships and so much more. The characters weren't perfect, but they found their way in the end. And what a beautiful message it had: family is often so imperfect and so nontraditional, but you can make it what you want it to be.

I have to admit, though, I was quite frustrated with some decisions at times. I get that they're portrayed as imperfect humans, and I loved that, but some decisions were just very irksome. I get that miscommunication is a thing, but maybe it was too much at some points.

Other than that, I really enjoyed this ride. The focus on family dynamics and LGBTQ+ themes was such a very necessary conversation.

Wider than the Sky is a fascinating novel surrounding the journey of acceptance to not only yourself, but further to others. For a debut novel I would say that the authors intentions were carried out beautifully and I have an endless appreciation towards them.

Furthermore, I quite enjoyed the character dynamics as they were not only amusing but also quite entertaining

However, on the down side I find that the plot was not as coherent and that many events occurred merely for the sake of it? If the plot had flowed smoother than it would definitely have tied and brought this book together in a much more beloved way.

I make it a point to always remember my age when I review a YA novel. At 22-years-old, I am decidedly not the target audience for Young Adult novels, and age is something that I believe should be at the forefront of reviewers’ and bloggers’ minds when they read, assess, and critically engage with Young Adult novels. As a result, I’m pretty forgiving. When I find a character overdramatic, selfish, ignorant, etc., I try to remember their age and how I acted at 15/16/17. But sometimes, the problem extends far beyond a reality factor and seeps over into issues of character development. And one of my major issues with Wider than the Sky, I believe, lies with development.

Over the course of Wider than the Sky, I saw little to no change in Sabine’s character. Her “poeting” (in which she randomly bursts into verbal recitations of poetry when overwhelmed, and which she more than once refers to as a type of disease or abnormality rather than, say, a tic) became very old very quickly, and she was clearly meant to be a “quirky” girl with her fascination for nice boots and the staunch belief that she was not like the other girls she went to school with, and neither were her friends. And for about 240/280 pages, she didn’t change her tune at all. She made decisions that were selfish and harmful, and even when other characters pointed out that she was being selfish and harmful, I never got the sense that she truly understood that she had been doing something wrong. And on top of that, way too much girl-on-girl hate for me to feel comfortable with seeing, even in a sixteen-year-old character. Her actions had serious repercussions, and rather than face them, every character forgave her time and again and almost immediately, completely unrealistically.

And while this book appeared to be about Sabine’s healing process on the surface, her personal development, grief, hurt, forgiveness, and healing took up very little textual space. This book was far more concerned about Sabine’s developing romantic relationship, and there were times it was easy to completely forget that the basis of this novel had been her father’s death in the first place. She was so caught up in schemes, destruction, and her own self that you forgot you weren’t just supposed to be reading a contemporary romance novel with a splash of sisterly love—and then a brief mention of her father, his life, and his death would re-appear. Which brings me to my major, massive criticism: the HIV/AIDS and polyamory representation.

I’ve read numerous books, YA and non-YA, that deal with the AIDS crisis or HIV/AIDS; I’ve consumed a lot of media about it. Even those works that simply touched on it handled it better than Wider than the Sky, in my opinion. Not only did it take a surprisingly long time to come into play, considering the synopsis mentions it, but I was so disappointed by its use here. Sabine and Blythe’s father’s death from an HIV-related infection became the backdrop for an average, standard YA contemporary romance. HIV/AIDS became just a thing present in this book, and I don’t believe this was appropriate within this specific text, seeing as Sabine and Blythe had no idea about their father’s HIV status, his bisexuality, or his polyamorous relationship prior to his death. It should have been comprehensively dealt with, and it just simply was not. And up until the end, every time that it was touched on, it was met with an outright refusal from Sabine not just to understand her father, but to understand the general issues that LGBTQ+ communities and especially HIV+ individuals face. It got under my skin and bordered on cruel.

I don’t think I’ve ever read about polyamorous relationships. They’re certainly not often the subject matter of YA novels. But the way polyamory was portrayed here, even to my limited knowledge, stood out as harmful. At one point, Sabine calls her father a “lothario,” a word I had to look up and then was promptly shocked to see had any real estate here. She saw her father as promiscuous, as not a real or true father because of his relationship; her mother played the part of victim, not willing participant in this marriage. When Sabine did begin to turn a corner, then, I had a hard time believing she had really come to her senses about her father’s life. I didn’t want to extend understanding to her because I didn’t see that she was truly reaching an understanding. She just suddenly decided to accept monumental change in her life, and suddenly decided to forgive her father, despite how consistently and swiftly she refused to do so previously. It felt disingenuous, like she just changed for the sake of sudden and final growth. It was absurdly frustrating and did a complete disservice to the real issues on display.

Despite this being a smooth read and fairly well-written in terms of style and voice, the issues of representation here were too egregious for me to move past. It impacted my entire reading experience, lingered at the back of my every thought. I don’t think this book sent a responsible message about HIV/AIDS and polyamory, not one that reflected real understanding, and it would be irresponsible of me not to denounce it. While I don’t relish going in on a book like this, especially a debut, I cannot in good conscience choose to overlook the extent of these issues to praise a sweet romance, the bits I enjoyed, or the love of poetry that this story was infused with.

DNF @ 35%

When tragedy strikes in the form of their father's sudden passing, twin sisters, Sabine and Blythe are thrusts into a world turned upside down. When they move into an old mansion owned by a mysterious stranger, Charlie, they discover secrets of their late father, threatening to overturn their already shaky lives. Wider Than the Sky is a story of family, grief and finding your footing again.

First off, it's not the book; it's me. Last year, I came to terms that I'm not into YA contemporaries anymore and this is just proof of it. There was nothing wrong with the story but the book is filled with the quintessential YA tropes; quirky protagonist, moving to a new town, falling in love with a hot guy, family drama, etc. And given that I've read many YA contemporaries that follow a similar formula, I quickly lost interest. Some of the aspects that this book tries to subvert are its inclusion of LGBT+ and polyamory themes. But other than that, it feels like a typical YA contemporary that I would like to move on to books more suited to my current taste. 2021 is the year of DNFing books that don't captivate or intrigue me enough to continue.

Polyamory, HIV and discussions about safe sex with a positive partner, wrapped up in an emotional storyline.

This had a lot of things I really liked, but just didn’t catch me how I’d hoped.

Sabine has dealt with the unexpected loss of her father, a move to a new town, and things seem to be going downhill from there. She’s made a cool friend and found a new crush, only to realize he’s her new BFF’s crush too. The man her mother has moved them in with is suspicious to her, and Sabine is determined to find out who he really is. She’s also dealing with “poeting”, when she’s anxious she spouts off lines of poetry compulsively. The town doesn’t want to put through the permit on their house, and Sabine doesn’t blame them - she’s convinced if she can sabotage her mother & Charlie’s efforts, she won’t need to live there anymore.

This reminded me a little of Hot Dog Girl, in that Sabine takes questionable action to try to get something done herself, and she doesn’t seem to get many consequences. She’s obviously confused and scared, and I can see why, but she doesn’t treat the people around her (family, friends) very nicely at all.

I loved the diverse characters, and I’d definitely read more from this author in the future.

Thank you so much, Soho Press and Soho Teen, for granting me this wish!

Sabine and her twin Blythe don't have much in common with one other. Blythe loves hoodies and jeans, she's more practical, while Sabine prefers poetry and design and when their father suddenly dies from an unexpected illness, each copes in her own way. Blythe by obsessing over getting into MIT, their father alma mater and Sabine by "poeting", a quirk of bursting into poetry at inappropriate moments.
Their world is ripped open again when their mother moves them all to a ramsackle mansion with a stranged named Charlie. Soon the sisters discover the truth about Charlie, who was their father's lover and that their father died of an HIV-related infection. Everything changes.
While Blythe seems to react reasonably well with these changes, moving into another school, into another house renovating it to fulfill their father's dream of a healing place for the LGBTQIA+ community, Sabine struggles and tries to know more about the father she thought she knew, uncovering truths and secrets. And maybe finding the way to accept another person in her family and forgive.

Wider than the sky is a moving and intense debut novel by Katherine Rothschild. The story is skillfully written, told by Sabine's POV and the reader gets into her feelings and struggles right away. It's impossible not to be moved by her sudden tragedy, Sabine's pain and changes. Uprooted, angry, upset, Sabine struggles with a new house, new school, an emotionally detatched mother, a stranger, new friends and maybe love, too.
Sabine and Blythe are very different from one other and, after their father's death not only they react differently, but seems to grow apart, following different plans and ideas about their house and home.

The way the author dealt with delicate themes like a loss of a parent, grief and changes is brilliant. Sabine's wonderful and moving journey into understanding her father, uncovering her family's secret and finding the truth and forgiveness is the novel's cornerstone and it's really inspiring. Sabine's passion for Emily Dickinson is captivating and I loved how each chapter is named after a bit of a poem.
I enjoyed reading this book and I loved the characterization and the way the author talked about moving on, love, friendship and future..

Stories about family have always drawn me in. I am very close to my own family and enjoy reading about all types of family, whether that be blood or found families. This had a little bit of both.

In Wider Than the Sky, we follow Sabine, a sixteen-year-old who is trying to navigate life without her father who just passed away. Her mother has uprooted her and her twin sister, Blythe, and moved them in with a stranger named Charlie, who has some kind of connection with their father. Along the way, we learn along with the girls more about their father. We follow the girls as they make new friends, learn about themselves, and Sabine as she falls in love for the first time.

Each of the girls has their own quirks, especially Sabine. Her "poeting" was an important part of the story that drew me in instantly. Poetry has always been an important part of my life, being an English major myself. When I was in high school and college, I was always thinking up poems in different situations that I would have to jot down as soon as possible. I do the same thing with writing to this day. The fact that she shared this love of poetry with her father just makes it even more poignant to the story as a whole.

I enjoyed the instant connection that Sabine and Kai had with the poetry and lyrics. He understood her in a way that was beautiful and she needed that at the moment.

Sabine is not a likable character at times but I don't go into books especially with such heavy topics hoping for a likable character. This book is a hard read that I have been waiting to read at the right time and I think that I found that. I related to Sabine in some ways and also not in others. She is going through a lot after her father's death and then having to move suddenly. She feels that no one is on her side. And maybe she does not handle it the best throughout the story but she's sixteen-years-old. Her voice felt so authentic and fit the story well.

Sabine grows as a person as she learns about acceptance of the loved ones in her life and also herself. I enjoyed watching her growth throughout.

This was a beautiful book that really hit me hard at times. I enjoyed Katherine's beautiful writing so much and would love to read more from her.

*Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.*

After their dad dies, twins Blythe and Sabine are whisked with their mother to move in with a friend of their dad's, Charlie, in a dilapidated mansion in a small town. They don't know why their mother and Charlie keep having secret conversations, but something is going on. Why are they here? The twins are going to find out. Along the way, they make some friends and develop some crushes.

They soon learn that they may not have known their dad as well as they thought. Not only was their dad having a relationship with Charlie, he passed away from HIV—and their mother knew the entire time. While Blythe throws herself into her schoolwork, Sabine feels like she's been lied to all her life and now wishes to get out of this town by making selfish decisions and hurting her loved ones.

This made me super emotional—I cried a lot. It was really well written and explored different examples of grief really well. I loved all the characters and felt they were super authentic. Sabine was going through so much with not only her family, but with a budding relationship that she was trying to avoid in order to keep a new friend. The story is all from Sabine's perspective and I wished the reader could have followed Blythe's journey as well. The twins were two very different and distinct characters. Whereas Sabine is overtly emotional with a way with words, Blythe seemed to be more quiet and introspective with a heavy focus on tech and academics. It would have been interesting to hear her side of the events.

I also wanted to dig deeper into their relationship with their mother. Her and Sabine butt heads often, with Sabine remembering a fight between her parents where her father accuses her mother of favoring Blythe because her stellar grades. There wasn't much of a resolution to the big blowup between Sabine and her mother.

While this debut wasn't perfect, I really enjoyed it and found myself being absorbed into the story instantly.

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I received an ARC of Wider Than The Sky by Katherine Rothschild thanks to the publisher through NetGalley for free for an honest review.

The summary gives a lot away so read it at your own risk. I will be including a short summary that I wrote to still give you an idea of what the book is about without the spoilers.

Sabine and Blythe, twin sisters, are devastated by the sudden death of their father which is compounded with an equally sudden move. On top of that, a strange man keeps showing up. Convinced that their mother was cheating on their father, the twins begin looking into him and why they are now living with him. Despite being immensely close, the differences between the twin begin to tear them apart and pushing them toward new people: friends and those who may end up being more than friends.

Wider Than The Sky is very good. I think I would have given it a better rating if I didn’t read the summary. I want those twists to be a surprise! They aren’t even twists really. More like I want to learn with the character rather than know what they are about to discover. That is definitely a preference of mine, which is why I still provided the summary below if you want those story details.

Now to the actual review part.

This story broke me a bit. I identify with the characters’ need for perfection while struggling to hold themselves together during an emotionally trying time. There are so many feels in this story that I can’t even describe it. Parent loss is hard. Moving to a new house and school that same week is unthinkable. Sabine’s method of coping is not the healthiest but I think it is an extremely accurate depiction.

Blythe I honestly didn’t care much for but that was not due to anything specific at least not that I can say without spoilers. Every other character I enjoyed. They all did have excellent development throughout the story as well.

The mysteries were excellent and the path to discover the answers was really interesting.

I can’t imagine living in a town like this. It reminds me so much of the town in Hot Fuzz where everything is perfect so obviously there is something wrong with it.

There is so much I want to talk about, like the friends/’friends’, but I feel like everything I would say would give something away! So I’m going to wrap this short review up with a “please read” recommendation, especially if you or someone you know is struggling with a major life change (which to be honest is nearly everyone right now).

A really interesting book that deals with death and grief and loss. It also has a number of other themes that it covers, such as homelessness, trauma, secrets, sexuality, HIV/AIDS, among others.
I didn't really gel that well with many of the characters, and I found Sabine a bit annoying, but overall, the characters felt realistic and well developed, which is what I look for in a book, generally.
The polyamorous relationship of the main girls' parents didn't really seem like it was dealt with very well? I've read other books that include a polyamorous relationship, and it's treated kindly and that each member of the relationship wants to be there, but this one fell a bit short? The girls' mother didn't really seem like she wanted to be a part of it at all.
Also the way the book dealt with HIV/AIDS was uncomfortable. It felt very shameful and especially the way it described the girls' dad being bisexual and therefore promiscuous and that's how he got the virus, made me feel really uncomfortable.
Overall, it was an interesting and well-paced book, but maybe not for anyone looking for good queer representation.

This book hooked me with its synopsis and I knew I was in for a great read within the first minute because it begins with a PUNCH.
I loved all the queer references and the Hill House vibes from the beginning: the description of the setting alone made me feel as if I was there. I loved the chapter titles, the writing style, the diversity, and the sister's relationship with each other.
I didn't immediately get along with Bean. She felt "muted", just going along without thought or active protest, but then again, she was in shock over her loss. Grief with all its stages and the different ways people deal with them is a big theme throughout the book.
She did conquer me with how she showed the reader it was possible to be a thinking being and a girl that loved fashion and never, ever, let herself feel inadequate over her looks.
I also loved how much this book was about poetry but I wish that the way the main character "poeted", had been clearly shown to be "stimming" instead of something weird that several people used as a pretext to insult her and berate her over.
For most of the book I really disliked how this family worked, how the mother didn't really offer any emotional support to her daughters, and just started working on a new project, even if it was clear that she herself was dealing not only with her husband dead but keeping his secrets and memory intact. I resented how the twins were just an afterthought, something that had to be fed and dealt with, just another problem, mainly Bean. The children don't need to know or understand, only quietly obey - Waspy upbringing at its best.
After finishing the book though, I did find some sympathy for the adults in this story: being queer for them was not the same as for their children, being open for them was never an option, and when they were out(ed) they always lost things: family, safety, jobs, rights, housing,…and still they persisted in trying to change the world for the best, if not for them, for the ones that came after, at their own expense.
I both loved and disliked the romantic pairing in this book: I loved all people involved and their storylines but a part of me just wishes that instead of a straight couple at the end, we could have had three people in love. I would have loved reading all the parallels between that relationship out in the open and the twin's father that was forced to choose and how that ultimately killed not only him but the person he could have been if he had been able to live openly and honestly.
I applaud how none of these characters were perfect, absolutely everyone made mistakes and knowingly hurt someone else and then had to live with the aftermath of their actions. The main romantic pairing was not always on the same page but the way they solved their problems was by talking about what made them insecure and hurt and acknowledged that whatever the other person was feeling mattered and deserved to be addressed even if it was only in their heads. I'm pretty sure this book has the only scene I ever read in which a girl apologizes to her boyfriend for hurting his feelings and is the one to make the big romantic gesture.
Lastly, I only wish the person who was found to have committed crimes, had not gotten away with it by being a rich white woman to be pitied over her grief. She abused political power, committed crimes, threatened, blackmailed, and faced no consequences at the end other than being found out. If I wanted to see white people getting away with crimes I would have just turned on the TV.
Other than that, I'm really looking forward to whatever this author comes up with next because I know it will be great
Thank you to NetGalley and Soho Teen for this DRC.

CW: This book has homophobia and death

This book explores polyamorus and bisexual relationships, as well as HIV-positive issues - both I haven't come across as much in literature, and is rather unique. Although I really wanted to like this book, it fell short for me.

The main character to me felt rather whingey and at the beginning, rather homophobic towards her (deceased) dad and the other person who comes into the picture. I also didn't like the grandmother who was super conservative and knocked back applications for a HIV+ safe place in her neighbourhood. I also wanted to hear more about Blythe.

Some redeeming qualities in this book involve the fast-pacedness of the book, as well as the concept within the book. I just wished I enjoyed this one more.

Rating: 2.5/5

(review active 5th Jan)

Thank you, NetGalley for the e-arc.

After the death of their father, twins Sabine and Blythe find themselves transplanted into an old mansion with their mom and their dad's friend, Charlie. Hoping to solve the mystery of why Charlie is living with them and why their mom won't give them the whole truth of their dad's death and why they're living with a stranger in a house, Sabine delves into the history of a dad she thought she knew.

There was a lot to process in this book with some heavy topics: Homelessness, AIDS/HIV/ polyamorous relationships, bisexuality, and trauma. Now, putting that many sensitive themes in a book can be tricky, and even though I feel like some of them were glossed over and handled "too quickly" I think this book did a great job of representation.

BUT

I wasn't connecting well with Sabine. She has a character arc that spells growth for her character, but after I finished it, I tried to justify the things that she did, but I had a very hard time. She was mean and just as much of a liar as her mother and Charlie. She almost ruined a person's life, broke into an apartment, and was downright horrible to a man she hardly knew. Now, I understand that grief can do horrible things to a person, but she seemed entirely selfish about the entire thing and almost devoid of emotion. Even after finding out how her dad died, she did not take the time to educate herself on the cause, and did not try to understand much about who her dad was, and come to terms with it in a realistic way.

Lots of other things bothered me. Sabine's mom and the way she talked about the poly relationship felt weird. She made it sound like she did not like it at all, and was almost forced to deal with it for the sake of being with Sabine's dad. Let's not get started on the way the book portrayed the twins' dad. It felt so much like he did not care for his daughters at all, and couldn't wait until they went away to college to leave his wife of seventeen odd years to be with his boyfriend. It all sounded really really really awful. If I were Sabine, I would be crushed with no amount of convincing me otherwise.

The small portion of the book where they discuss AIDS/HIV really made me turn my head. Charlie hints that Sabine's dad contracted the virus before he was with him, and got the virus from sleeping with multiple partners. The entire thing felt cringy and hinted that bisexual people slept around to experiment with their sexuality and that only queer people contracted HIV. I may be reading too much into it, but just a few one-liners contradicting my feelings would have helped the station. In the end, it felt very harmful.

Overall, it was a fast and well-paced read, but not one for readers looking for realistic poly and queer reps.

First of all thanks to Netgalley for providing me with this ARC, in exchange for an honest review.

I have decided to give this book 2.5/3 stars.

Now as the synopsis states this book follows Sabine’s story. Sabine and her identical twin, Blythe, are going through a hard situation as her lives change drastically after their father’s death. They have to move, new house, now school, they now live with a man named Charlie who they simply don’t know.

So, at the beginning I was pretty much liking the book. In fact the only problem I had was that I could sense too much drama related to the teenage-highschool part of the plot, although I still found other issues.
Starting with the good things I truly think, that the whole basis of the idea are pretty original and to be honest I think this book had SO MUCH POTENTIAL, just not used correctly. I loved how Sabine’s interest in poetry line up with the prose, and how this was her way of expression too, still at the end this got lost and she didn’t do poetry at all…
I loved the topics that are treated in the story, because I know the author really tried to give us a wonderful story based in diversity, family, mourning, coping with change, etc. How the different characters cope with their lost, specially the twins and how they are supported (or not) by their family is a pretty amazing topic. I did empathize with their feelings and truly the moment I picked the book I couldn’t put it down even if I wanted.

To my perspective the problems begin to appear when Sabine and Blythe find out the truth about their father, his death, the house and confront Charlie and their mother. I didn’t like Sabine’s reaction, however this didn’t particularly bother me, because I can see how all humans don’t all react the same way to certain situations. What did bother me is how selfish Sabine is regarding all this, how she doesn’t stop to think a single second before doing things that are going to have a huge impact in many people. I initially attributed this to how she is struggling with her mental health and she doesn’t really have anyone being truly supportive of her or just even trying to help her. Nonetheless we do have to remark that our own problems don’t justify our terrible actions and how they may hurt others. Sabine makes very poor decisions, and she doesn’t really suffer the consequences of her actions, at least not in the severity she should.
The main problem to me in this aspect is that Sabine didn’t have a good support mechanism, characters such as her mother, Charlie or even Blythe didn’t have the development to help makes this happen or to portray correctly that this wasn’t happening. This point in particular shows how mental health topics weren’t developed as much, never is maybe therapy mentioned (and knowing all the change and stuff they are going through it probably should have).

On the other side even if this book is shelved as LGBTQIA+ this topic isn’t as important as it should’ve been. I do think that the way bisexuality is portrayed isn’t really accurate and may even reinforced hurtful stereotypes. The same happens regarding polyamorous relationships, since Sabine’s mother mentions more than once that she apparently didn’t want to be in one at all. Again this ends up not being accurate enough and reproducing harmful stereotypes about this communities, instead of raising awareness to wards normalizing them.

Also I personally think that the whole drama building up related to Kai, Emma and also Nate is unnecessary. I think the relationships, specially Sabine and Kai’s, progress to fast. Most of this characters development lacked a little bit for my liking really, specially Nate’s, but Kai didn’t have any really memorable traits either. I do appreciate that Emma didn’t end up simply being the characters opponent in getting the love interest.
Anyhow I do think this drama may be attractive to most readers.

So all in all, I do think this book had so much potential, it’s basis is wonderful, just wasn’t well executed.

How well can we ever really know a person? And what happens when secrets only surface after that person is gone?

I haven't been this conflicted about a book in a long time. WIDER THAN THE SKY is essentially about Sabine, who discovers her late father was bisexual, polyamorous, and died of HIV .... also, that he had plans to turn their home into a halfway house for the LGBTQIA community. Sabine is left feeling betrayed and angry at her father's "double life," feelings made even more complicated by school drama involving a gorgeous boy named Kai.

SO. On the positive side, Katherine Rothschild's writing is absolutely stunning. This book is a lyrical masterpiece, full of attention to detail that made the whole world jump off the page. Sabine's "poeting" (random bursts of Emily Dickinson whenever she felt overwhelmed) was a particularly quirky detail, and I loved the overall arc of acceptance.

However (HOWEVER) I felt super uncomfortable about the queer rep. There are so many harmful stereotypes about bisexuality being tied to deceptiveness/indecisiveness; HIV being tied to promiscuity; polyamory being destructive to relationships etc and NONE OF THESE stereotypes were challenged. They were UPHELD. Sabine views her father's identity as proof that he was living a lie, and instead of attempting to understand, she throws herself behind trying to undo his legacy. Now, I'm usually all for unlikeable characters! But how, how, how am I supposed to root for a girl who tries to sabotage a halfway house because she ... wants a room to return to during college?? I am????? Without delving into spoiler territory, Sabine ALMOST MAKES HER FAMILY HOMELESS BECAUSE SHE CAN'T STAND THE IDEA OF SHARING HER HOUSE WITH QUEER PEOPLE IN NEED. And to compound this, she also ALMOST RUINS A GIRL'S LIFE BECAUSE SHE DELETED A PHONE PIC OF SABINE AND KAI. For me, the "almost" was not enough to make me forgive Sabine. She faces no real consequences for her actions (in fact, several times she is framed as being partially correct and people apologize TO HER, even though she is frequently motivated by pure pettiness). As a result, reading the book often felt exhausting; like, even if things turn out okay in the end, do I really want to spend 90% of the time actively hoping the protagonist will fail? Do I really want to listen to Sabine complain about how complicated her romantic life is, then immediately go home and refuse to understand the complexities of her father's own romantic life?

I just ... urgh. I was so excited to see a YA with bi/poly rep, but it felt like a huge mess. I respect that the author's intentions came from a good place, and again, she is an amazingly talented writer. However, there is a danger in the perpetuation of stereotypes. Especially since poly rep is almost nonexistent, it felt harmful to center a book around how it can ruin a family (Sabine's dad loved both her mom and a man named Charlie, but because neither Mom nor Charlie were poly, he lived a double life with each of them separately. And while it was consensual, WIDER THAN THE SKY is dedicated to exploring the [negative] fallout).

tl;dr: While others will certainly feel differently, and I did enjoy reading this book, it is not one I can easily recommend. 2/5.

I struggled with this story, in honesty.

And not because of the writing, which I thought was competent, for the most part. The narrator, parental dynamic, and setting were what I snagged on most. This review contains some spoilers so please skip if you don't want the plot revealed.

First the stuff I enjoyed: The first third of the book really sucked me in. I felt for the characters and empathized with their grief, plus Sabine's confusion about being thrust into a completely new environment with a mom who wasn't being straightforward about who Charlie was. The new school setting also drew me in, as did the couple of references to socio-economic disparities in Thornwood.

What I struggle with:

1. Narrator: Sabine is unlikeable but I don't think this was intentional on the author's part? She was selfish and mean, and her feelings about her father were problematic, in my view. While I could sympathize with wanting to feel like you have a place in the world where you belong, the lengths to which she went to sabotage a nonprofit housing project that would do a lot of good for the lgbtqia+ community were appalling and would have been more easily solved by just talking about her feelings. The poeting didn't necessarily bother me, but it read heavily like OCD to me, and it felt as though it was negatively impacting Sabine's life so it would've been nice to have that component of mental illness addressed. This felt like it went way beyond teenage quirkiness and into the land of compulsion, but by the end she just was able to make herself stop? That didn't ring true to me.

2. Parental dynamic: It's revealed that Sabine's father died of an HIV-related infection and that he was, in fact, polyamorous. Awesome. This is a part of the lgbtqia+ community is too often overlooked. The only problem? Sabine's mother made it clear she wasn't comfortable being in a polyamorous relationship but was too in love not to marry her father regardless of this revelation. So she was essentially not consenting to this part of her husband's life. Could this happen IRL? I imagine so. But it feels like the poly community has enough bad stereotypes about it already that this type of portrayal is more harmful than good queer rep. It also was only a surface-level exploration so my feelings might have been different if this had been developed further.

3. Setting: This is maybe just a pet peeve of mine as a long-time San Francisco resident, but a city-within-a-city like Thornwood doesn't exist and I had a hard time reconciling it with what I know of SF. I don't even necessarily take issue with its portrayal, just that with a beautiful cover like this book has, my expectations for a SF-centric story weren't at all met. There were a couple of scenes that took place in SF proper but everything felt so generic it honestly could've been set anywhere.

This, of course, is all subjective and other readers might enjoy the story. But because I snagged on a few too many things, it feels like this hovers between a 2 to 2.5 star rating for me. Maybe 2.25?

The Quick Cut: Twin sisters find different ways of coping with their father's sudden death after moving into a house with their mom and a mysterious man who appeared at their father's death bed.

A Real Review:
Thank you to Soho Press for providing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Growing up, we often forget that our parents are people just like us. Rather than see them as people with lives, relationships, and secrets, we typically see them as nothing more than our forebears. When twin sisters Sabine and Blythe start revealing secrets about their parents, they see their parents as people in this drama filled novel.

Sabine and Blythe are identical twin sisters dealing with the sudden loss of their father when they move into a large house with their mom and mysterious man claiming to be a best friend of their late dad. Partway through renovation, they find their lives nothing like they expected. Will their need to find out the secret behind their new home turn for the disastrous?

I wanted to like this book so much because it discusses many topics often not seen in YA books. Polyamory is an often misunderstood relationship style and seeing it normalized through the written word could be a good thing. Instead, this story almost hurt that cause by making it seem like a dirty lifestyle choice that needs to be hidden.

To make this read even more frustrating, a big component of the story's twist about the father is openly unveiled in the book's synopsis. However, said twist (to be unspoilery, the reason why the father died) is mentioned but never really taken advantage of as a plot point. It's a huge missed opportunity.

The narrator throughout the book is Sabine, who I found completely unlikable. She is selfish, mean, and her vain attempt to correct her bad behavior comes too late in the book. If I had someone like this in my life, I would not have forgiven her as quickly as the other characters do. She justifies her behavior instead of admitting she was wrong and it only made things worse.

A book of wasted opportunities.

My rating: 2 out of 5