I love this beautiful story that Joan He has crafted, with its unforgettable bond between two sisters, important environmental themes, and a captivating sense of mystery. The Ones We're Meant to Find jumps right into the deep end and allows the reader to put the pieces together little by little. Overwhelming curiosity had me turning page after page. I loved seeing the details of the futuristic world, the eco-city and the new technology. The vivid atmosphere somehow feels both dreamy and realistic. What a lovely concept that Joan He has brought to life.

THE ONES WE'RE MEANT TO FIND isn't a book I typically lean toward, mainly because it's a pretty heavy sci-fi, but it did up being an enjoyable read. I really enjoyed Cee's perspective primarily, it was told in first person and I really got to know her and her motives and history (though there mysteriously isn't much to know) while Kasey's perspective, told in third person, was less engaging and set in the sci-fi portion of the story. I was interested in this futuristic world where humans have essentially screwed over the world and people are living extremely isolated lives and experience most of their social events through holo projections in order to keep the world going for as long as possible. I also enjoyed the sisterhood element that was present in both characters' narratives, but there was one major thing that really brought the book down for me. About 50% of the way through there was a bit of a switch in focus for one of the characters and for the rest of the book my mind was absolutely blown and I couldn't follow that character's motives or happenings for the rest of the book. I probably was just distracted and if I went back and reread it I may understand it, but I would recommend reading pretty carefully and paying attention instead of letting your mind wander like me, whoops. This was a very interesting book, though, and if you're a fan of sci-fi and sisterhood this is the one for you:)

3.5/5 stars

this was one of my most anticipated reads for 2021 and it didn't disappoint! i often find myself feeling bored while reading sci-fi but the twists and turns kept this book interesting. my mind is still reeling from the plot twist at the end.

Thank you Netgalley for the arc! This was a beautifully written story that will stay with me! Had to order my own physical copy!

<em>The Ones We're Meant to Find</em> isn't the kind of book that I would normally be interested in but after browsing Goodreads and reading the blurb, I was curious enough to get it for review. It took me three tries to finish this book. I kept putting it down because the first part, through the middle of the story moved super slow for me. Like, at a snail's pace and I had trouble trying to keep paying attention because I just didn't care. I almost gave up completely on the third try but I am glad that I finished it because the second half of the book is much better and moves much faster than the first.

This book is about two sisters. Cee is stuck on a deserted island, trying her damndest to get back and find her sister, Kasey. Kasey lives in a dystopian world, in these eco-cities that keeps them safe from living on actual land where there is a number of climate damage and is probably where our earth is headed if we don't get our shit together. There's a mystery that is woven throughout the story and I'll admit that a lot of that shit was lost on me in the first half of the book.

Of the two sisters, I connected more with Cee on that deserted island. Kasey wasn't a bad character but there was something that kept me from completely loving her as much as I did Cee. Kasey is smart as hell and I did eventually warm up to her character but yeah, I was still Team Cee.

I will also say that there's a huge twist that I didn't see coming but when it started coming together, I stood up and took notice. I won't say what it is but I will say that it surprised me and I was delighted with the twist. There's an open ending to this book as well that might rub some folks the wrong way but I was surprised, that I was okay with it. I did wonder a bit over Kasey's last words to Celia in her dreams but I let it go as I was ready to move on.

Overall, this was a solid story. If you make it past the first half then the author rewards you with a very strong second half. Things come together, other things are revealed and both Kasey and Cee's stories reel the reader in and I'm glad that I finished it. The story highlighted some stuff that I already think about climate change and made me take notice of what I'm doing for my part in trying to clean up our planet. The story really does come together in a satisfying and meaningful way but the slowness of the first half kept this book from getting rated higher. Still, I'm not mad that I read this.

<strong>3.25 out of 5</strong>

I don’t think I really knew what to expect when reading The Ones We’re Meant To Find even though I was familiar with the novel’s synopsis. On one hand, I knew it would be a story about a shipwreck and a tale of two sisters but I had no idea what awaited me in the story and how it would all pan out in the end.

The novel falls to sisters Cecilia and Kasey who are very close to one another and they share a very special bond but are complete opposites. As the reader weaves through each sister’s narrative through flashbacks and their own descriptions of themselves it seems that Cecilia is the more social of the two while Kasey would rather be left alone to research new science.

It is definitely an interesting narrative surrounding two sisters that are trying to find their way back to each other but also grapple with the torrent of emotions and the past that haunts them inside. Cece (Cecilia) is trying to regain her memories and figure out why exactly she’s on this island and Kasey is desperately grasping being for any hints as to whether her sister is alive or dead. The futuristic aspect of the world that they live in with holograms and the different kinds of futuristic technology is a unique setting for the story. There is also the bigger mystery of trying to figure out what happened to the sisters to end up where they are now.

My only complaint about the book is that it was slow-moving for me personally and it made it really hard for me to keep reading the story and want to figure out what was happening. The second half of the book picks up which helped and the switching pov between Cecilia and Kasey’s viewpoints becomes a lot clearer. My favorite aspect of the story was the concept of a high-tech eco world that is crafted due to the state of climate change and the themes of making choices which can best be summed up in this quote from the book:

“None of us live without consequence. Our personal preferences are not truly personal. One person’s needs will deny another’s. Our privileges can harm ourselves and others.”

I thought the social commentary on society, hierarchies, and our ecosystem to be really interesting in relatable to a lot of the conversations that we’re having in today’s world. I enjoyed the use of technology and especially how it goes into discussing AIs and bots. I don’t want to say too much more about this novel because it’ll be a lot of spoiler material, but the direction it went completely caught me off guard. I love a good plot twist!

This was a case where this particular book wasn’t for me since it was too slow-moving for my tastes personally. It was beautifully written and detailed to create a defined picture of the bubble of the world our main characters reside in.

This story is about sisters and is told in two different POVs; one by Cee who has been trapped on an island for three years and is trying to find a way off to find her sister Kay. The other is by Kasey who is a STEM prodigy and lives in an eco-city and whose sister Celia has been missing for three months.

I found the eco-city to be really interesting and I wanted to explore it more with Kasey. It was believable that years down the line we could be living like this if things weren’t changed and climate change wasn’t taken more seriously.

Unfortunately I was confused at times and couldn’t fully understand the world which would take me out of the story. It was beautifully written but sometimes with all the science terms I would be lost. Also the ending was a bit confusing but I think I understood it and enjoyed it.

And of course, this has the most beautiful cover ever!

Thank you to BooksForwardFriends for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Ones We're Meant to Find was...not the book for me. But I definitely see why some people completely adored it!

It is full of beautiful description.. It follows two sisters and, I can't help it, sibling storylines always get to me so easily. The science-fiction part is what I wasn't sold on because I am somehow very picky when it comes to sci-fi. It inherently comes with a lot of description and a slow pacing at the beginning, while the world is set up and properly described. That hinders my reading experience, because I prefer when we start with a fast pace succession of events, the world being described as we read rather than in the first few chapters.

This was well executed, and I think it shows that the author will go on to write great stories. Also, with the beautiful cover it has, I know that those that will pick it up by its looks will not be disappointed. It will keep you on your toes and, if you're a big sci-fi fan, you'll be incredibly interested in this post-natural disasters world.

While not particularly a sad book, I noticed a lot of triggering content so please take a second to read these

Trigger warnings: terminal illness, violence, suicide, death, death of a loved one, drowning, vomiting, casualties, gore, death of a parent (off-page)

This book is so gorgeous inside and out, and I loved every second of it. It's also an instant New York Times best seller, and I could not be happier! This story begins with two sisters separated by the sea and looking for each other, but quickly reveals itself to be much more than that. This book is full of twists and turns so my review will be a little bare bones so that I don't spoil anything!

It’s been three years since Cee washed up on the shore of a deserted island, her only company an android. The only memory she has is of her sister, who she is desperate to get back to. Kasey lives in an eco-city, a floating city meant to shelter those who have been proven protectors of the earth. It’s been years since the quiet disappearance of her sister, though Kasey is convinced that she isn’t really dead like everyone says..

CW: death, depictions of grief, loss of a parent, physical violence, suicidal thoughts, suicide, terminal illness

This book has two different perspectives: Cee and Kasey. Cee has been trapped on an island for three years, and spends her time building boats to try and escape to find her sister Kay. Cee's chapters are in first person, and Kasey's are in third, which adds an interesting element to an already well done story. Kasey is a STEM prodigy who lives in one of the eight floating Eco-cities around the world. Kacey's sister Celia has been missing for three months. The way that these two characters chapters' build and flow off of one another is so interesting and well done.

The plot of this book is really unique and completely different from anything I've ever read before. I don't want to go into any detail here really because it is so interesting, but what I will say is that every single plot twist was well executed and unexpected. At its heart this book is all about Cee and Kasey coming together, and watching as all of the events leading up to this hopeful moment was so interesting.

I loved the writing in this book. I read Descendant of the Crane in July of 2019 and loved Joan He's writing then, and this was better than that. The world building was kind of confusing at times, but it felt like that was on purpose in all honesty. There's definitely a point of no return in this book, and once you reach that you just cannot put this down. The twists and turns in this are harrowing, intense, and incredibly well done. With this book focusing heavily on climate change, and the state of the earth as we know it, it felt very easy to see this as a future for the planet.

This book was incredible from page one, and everything about it just worked. The characters were interesting and well written, and the world was built in such an interesting way. This book so so needs to be on your tbr if it isn't already!

Thanks to Books Forward for giving me the ARC of this book.


“The ones we’re meant to find” is a really unique - and actually pretty weird in a good way - well written book.
I’m not usually into science fiction, but there are some books of the genre that I like and this is one of them.
Plus, the cover is stunning.
I would recommend.

The Ones We’re Meant to Find | Did it Live Up to the Hype?

Joan He’s sophomore novel gained a lot of buzz online when the cover dropped, and I have to say I bought into all the hype and rushed to preorder my own copy. I have two copies at the moment, and whether you buy the Barnes and Noble sparkly edition or the standard edition, you are definitely going to “oooo” and “ahhh” at the beautiful packaging to go along with the stunning text. So, to answer the question I’ve posed…yes, yes it totally lived up to the hype.

I almost never read the synopsis of books before I read them because I love going into a book with no expectations and no idea who is who until we meet them, and boy did that hit me hard. I was not expecting such wonderful commentary on the bleak future that awaits if we don’t protect our planet. In this book, there are two sisters, Celia and Kasey Mizuhara, who are separated. Celia is working to get back to her sister from an abandoned island, and Kasey is a stem prodigy who might be able to save humanity. In their world, natural disasters are at an all-time high due to climate change. People had to abandon life as they knew it to live in what is known as an ‘eco-city’, which protects those who protected the planet. However, these people have to live their lives in pods and mainly interact virtually.

The way that the population is split among the rich people who can afford to only live virtually and the people who cannot is so real. I don’t doubt that if there was a time to abandon Earth, most of the population would be left behind. I love that He has the Mizuhara girls deal with the environmental issues from different levels of comfortability because it shows how both corporations and individuals can be affected very differently so accountability is important. The Ones We’re Meant to Find really asks its readers to put themselves in this world that is not far off from our future and to consider how we can incite change because no one’s future is predetermined. There are also interesting relationship dynamics explored here, and I must say I really liked Actinium and Hero as companions for Celia and Kasey, respectively, because it was nice to read about them opening up while still sticking to their goals.

The novel is told in alternating first and third points of view, and it keeps you on your toes because of its fragmented nature. The conversations about environmentalism, being complicit, survival, hope, individual accountability, sacrifice, and the deep longing for one’s sister combined made for an intense read for sure. I especially love how Celia talks about her sister—she’s holding on to so few memories and yet that’s all she needs to keep herself motivated for three years. Although her time alone is filled with a lot of emotional, mental, and physical struggles, Celia’s narration is beautiful and heartbreaking. The whole book is written in such a lovely manner that I found myself noting entire paragraphs in my annotations and rereading lines because I loved them so much. While the sisterhood is at the heart of the story, it’s also paired with how humanity must adjust to this new way of life while still dealing with the ramifications of their own faults. The book has also been compared to Studio Ghibli films and resonates with similar themes. The technology in The Ones We’re Meant to Find is so interesting, and I find the world-building super cool because I’ve only ever read like 3 other sci-fi books, and as a newbie to the genre, I really like it! This is a slower book for good reason, and I urge fellow readers to give this book the time it needs to unveil all of its twists and turns, of which there are many!

As someone who is working on my own consciousness for the planet, I think this is an important read.

I've been chewing on this read for several days and still find myself struggling to review it. This book has so many strengths, but somehow still didn't quite do it for me?? There was so much to like and yet...?

Let's start with the strong points. The worldbuilding and the lore in this book are incredible. He creates a really amazing, futuristic world that beautifully balances that fine line of feeling super sci-fi, yet super believable and realistic. This is a world that could easily exist in a not-so-distant future where humans have had to adapt and flee following severe fallout from climate change. It's immersive without being overbearing and I loved that. I constantly wanted to know more about what happened and how these people were managing to thrive despite it all.

He's writing is incredibly visual and atmospheric and it was truly a joy to experience. Her descriptions of the sea and the beaches, of the gritty city streets were all so crisp that I could picture it, smell it, feel it as if I were there myself in that moment. She has this way of emphasizing all the tiny details she knows the reader will connect with and making them the focus of your senses for such a brief, delicate moment that you're completely transported without feeling like you're reading endless descriptive passages. It's positively magical.

But despite all of that beauty and clever wordcraft, I still somehow struggled with this story. One of my biggest complaints is the pacing. I spent the first half of the story waiting for something to happen. It felt like there was a lot of set up and I just kept waiting and waiting and waiting... Many scenes felt somewhat repetitive and I couldn't quite tell if the author was doing this on purpose to make a statement about how time was progressing within the story or if it was just plain repetitive.

Once things finally picked up, the plot was intense and twisty and I found myself genuinely surprised several times. My interest was fully restored and I was very nearly sure that the wait was finally going to pay off in a big way. But then the pacing fell off again... I felt like we were crawling across the finish line rather than racing through with any sense of urgency or excitement. Don't get me wrong - those plot twists and big reveals were incredible! I was so deeply invested and eager about what I was reading. But that twenty percent of engagement around the third quarter of the book wasn't enough to make up for the rest of it, I don't think. I just... wanted more?

All in all, this was a cool read, but I wanted it better paced or shorter or...something? The slower pace whittled away at my interest and the big reveals later on, as exciting as they were, weren't quite enough to pull me back in and keep me engaged when the pace lulled again towards the end. A reader looking for something quiet and character-driven, thoughtful and emotional would probably really like this story. I'm just not usually that kind of reader.

TOWMTF is a standalone book about science fiction book.

To me, science fiction is rarely my cup of tea. This book is an addition to the list of books that don't intrigue me.

I had higher hopes for this book, Joan He has beautiful writing and this book had a lot of hype and a beautiful cover.

- THE ONES WE'RE MEANT TO FIND is a beautiful, big sci-fi story about family and humanity that went places I didn't expect and took turns I didn't see coming.
- I can't discuss too many details without giving things away, but it's one of those books where when the perspective switches you're both not ready to leave the character you're with and excited to get back to the other one. Cee and Kay are both so compelling in diametrically opposed ways.
- The author wrote such an incredible sense of unease into every page, and yet I could not stop reading.
- Basically, I need everyone to read this and to report back to me when things get twisty.

Sadly I had to DNF this, the writing was all over the place and the plot too. I got maybe halfway through the book and I still had no clue what was going on plus, I was so little invested in the story that I dreaded picked up the book.

I really enjoyed this book! From the first look to the actual story itself. Everything was well written and you really got to know and love the characters.

The world is definitely in the future after pollution has caused even more damage. The way they try to cope with the pollution is different from what I've seen before in books.

I love how it goes between the two sisters stories and slowly brings out what really happened. You get a good sense of who everyone is and where they stand.

I also love the imagery. We go from this extremely technologically advanced world to trying to survive on an island in the middle of nowhere.

However, my favorite thing about the story, is the direction it started to go about halfway through completely blindsided me!! I always love being surprised in a book! This author definitely succeeded and it made even more invested! Everything I thought I knew was completely wrong! (Well, kind of, but not completely. Loa).

The genre would fall under Young Adult, Science Fiction, and Adventure. A decent amount of cursing and definitely some kissing. I don't recall much more other than hinting.

Also, for those who love them, there are robots!

I really wanted to love this book! It has a gorgeous cover and a very promising plot. But I was lost for the most part. Probably because it's different from the usual sci-fi fantasy that I read. It's also possible that my brain cells couldn't handle it. The beginning was really slow for me. It did pick up towards the end and I tried to focus on what's really happening but it still left me confused. The world-building is really intriguing but it felt lacking. It's my first time reading He's book and I'm still willing to give her other books a try.

This is the first book that I've read by Joan He and I am impressed! This YA tale alternates perspectives between Cee and Kasey. Cee has been trapped on an island by herself for 3 years. She has no idea how she got there and the only thing she can remember about her previous life is that she had a sister. Meanwhile, Kasey lives in an ec0-city, a place meant to protect its citizens from natural disasters and extreme weather that are a result of human's abusing the planet. Kasey is a science wiz and is desperate to find her missing sister.

This was quite the ride. There were so may loops and twists that it was like being on a coaster. The book pretty much gripped me from the start because I wanted to see what was going to happen next. I preferred the portions of the book narrated by Cee but both parts were strong. The writing was both lovely and gripping. JH did a great job establishing distinctive personalities for her characters and the world building was fantastic. This is a good book for fans of books with lots of WTF moments.

What to listen to while reading...
Oh, What a World by Kacey Musgrave
Alone by Miso
Breezeblocks by alt-J
ocean eyes by Billie Eilish
Missing Piece by Vance Joy
Somebody Else by The 1975
Ghost by Halsey
Modern Loneliness by Lauv
Saw You in a Dream by The Japanese House

Cee is alone. She's been alone for three years with nothing but an annoying robot to keep her company on an island in the middle of the ocean. But something's nagging at the back of her mind. She may not remember much, but she knows she has a sister, Kasey, and she knows that she has to get back to her.

Kasey is a scientific genius in a world where climate change and human destruction has created havoc. But not even all of her smarts put together are helping her find her sister, Cee, who went out on the ocean weeks ago and still hasn't come back.

This book sounds thrilling, right? And it is. The mystery of Cee and Kasey is a real head-scratcher and it's fun to ride the waves through the twists and turns. Still, there's something off about Kasey and, despite Joan He's explanations of the character, I was never quite convinced that Kasey was someone real. (For the record, I never liked Katniss either, so I don't really buy into the fact that Joan He is creating a character that's the foil to "likable" characters like her.) What was missing from Kasey wasn't her extroversion or her go-get-'em attitude. It was her almost complete and utter lack of emotion. She wasn't likable, not because she wasn't an extravert, but because she didn't seem to have any humanity. I never saw into her heart. In fact, she didn't seem to have one. Half the book was about a character that I felt zero connection with.

Still, the book was interesting to read and ending was hopeful enough for closure. Plus, Joan He's writing style is descriptive and her plot was wholly original. This writer has potential. I'll be keeping Joan He on my radar.

Thanks to NetGalley and Roaring Brook for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

absolutely loved the authors first book and was excited to read this one. It was possibly even better. The twists are ones you really don't see coming and you have to reread the pages to make sure you read it right. It's so beautifully written.
We have a story of two sisters in a climate destroyed world just trying to find each other. They each have their own paths to follow and follow they do