Actual rating 3.5 stars

This is the first book I read by this author. This spoke on many themes such as grief, self acceptance, self discovery, friendship and family ties. That made it raw and dark, but realistic. I didn't really like Indigo and couldn't connect with her. It was kind of hard to feel something for someone who talks so negatively about themselves. However, I did start to feel something for her towards the end. The beginning was a bit confusing, but still worth the read.

This is one that I felt, maybe if I was in a different mood I would be more apt to finish? It has a lot of the angst that I usually like in YAs, so I'll probably come back to it, but for now it's a DNF.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

This was requested when I first found out about NetGalley and I had requested so many ARCs that I could not get to all of them before they were archived. I really wanted to get to this one, as it seemed interesting. If I can find this somewhere for a reasonable price, I will try to get it! I am giving this book three stars, as I don't want to give it a good or bad rating, since I did not get to it.

- thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an arc to review!

- a powerful story of friendship, the exploration of grief, and the power of reclaiming yourself, with raw, unflinchingly realistic characters, and strong writing that makes the struggles and triumphs even more impactful.

a powerful novel, greatly enjoyable

Thank you to the author, publisher, and netgalley for this review copy.

An interesting take on mental health, and how a teen girl deals with that. With her life uprooted back to where her grandmother lived and died, Ebony needs to find her way without self-destructing, which she tries to do through her paintings. She falls down a deep hole, only to come out on the other side and sees the light with the help of her parents and her childhood best friend, who is actually the love of her life. This book gets pretty deep into Ebony‘s despair. I would’ve like to read more of how she overcame her issues.

A powerful YA book where the 16-year old main character, Ebony Jones, deals with grief and love during the time in her life when she is engaged in profound emotional growth. Not a likeable character as the story begins, the reader grows with Ebony. This is a definite purchase for our school library. Thank you HarperCollins Children's Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this novel.

From the first page Ebony comes to life. Liara Tamani manages to write a grieving teenager, but one who has clearly been loved and given the space to be loved and be herself. All of the internal monologue, and the details of Ebony's life prior to her grandma's passing, are clear insights to who Ebony is. I could not stop being amazed at just how real she felt. Even in her most reckless moments, there was a freedom in Ebony that I couldn't help but admire, it's wonderful to see a teenager written in that way.

I was truly caught off-guard by how amazing this was. I look forward to reading more books by this author.

I'd like to thank Netgalley and HarperCollins Children's Books, Greenwillow Books for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Such a great coming of age story. When I started out I wasn't sure if I'd like this story or not but I'm glad I stuck with it.

Sixteen-year-old Ebony/Indigo is uprooted from her home and life in Houston to move to her late grandmother's house in the country. She's not happy to be back in Alula Lake, Texas, where her grandmother drowned 6 years ago and struggles being there. Her life is spiraling out of control and she's going down a troubling path. I think this book is relatable to so many girls out there and how just one choice can change everything. Ebony can be unlikable at times and you just want to yell at her to straighten up but being a mother of two teenage girls and was once a teen myself I can see how she makes the mistakes she does and the turmoil she is going through.

Such a perfect story about self-discovery, grief and love.

This book did not hook me right away, but once it did, about 1/3 of the way in, I was fully engaged in Ebony's tale. Ebony, whose parents recently moved from a large town where her friends and arts high school are located, is not happy to be back in the small town she visited every summer to stay with her grandmother. At first this seemed like your typical big city girl moves and has angst about it story, but Ebony is dealing with grief, depression, and identity issues that make this a much heavier read. Tamani gives Ebony a lot to deal with, and a lot of her feelings of anger with no outlet that splashes onto too many people around her felt well described, like what I remember being a teenager is like at its worst. The interspersed chapters of describing what Ebony missed in some of her interactions/experiences were a welcome glimpse beyond the third person narration centered on Ebony.

Thanks to NetGalley for this advanced copy.

Thanks to HarperCollins Children's Books, Greenwillow Books, Netgalley and Liara Tamani for this ARC.

The YA story follows sixteen year old Ebony Jones after learning that her family will be leaving Houston and moving into the home of her late grandmother in Alula, Texas. Her grandmother's death causes her to question so many things about herself.

Ebony/Indigo is not a likeable character initially. However, as the book unfolds we are provided with glimpses on into her mind via the "what she missed" inserts. I liked Jalen, her childhood friend that she reconnects with during this time. As their friendship begins to evolve so does her self destructive actions. Their budding romance unfolds throughout the book.

Indigo's journey to self-discovery is a trainwreck of low self esteem, sadness, impulsively, teenage emotions and repressed feelings that all to a collision during this summer at Alula Lake. She'll also discover that there is light in the darkness that surrounds her, if she is willing to allow it to take hold.

This was a wonderfully written story about self-discovery, grief and love.

Rating: 5/5

Sixteen-year-old Ebony Jones is devastated when her family moves from Houston to her grandmother’s house in the country. There’s absolutely nothing for Ebony in Alula Lake, Texas. So she thinks.

I love how this novel transported me to Alula Lake. It made me remember summers spent with my grandma, childhood besties you saw once a year that somehow knew you even better than your other friends. Ebony's feeling of grief are felt through the pages. She's grieving the tragic loss of her grandmother, the loss of the life she knew and loved when her family uproots her from her world in Houston to Alula Lake. Ebony may frustrate you as a reader rooting for her but she is totally relatable. In dealing with her loss and trying to find herself in the chaos Ebony makes some impulsive choices that begin to lead her down a troubling path. We follow her journey in hopes that she's able to overcome her troubles and find her footing in her new life. The novel does a great job of capturing raw teenage emotion. Told from Ebony's point of view I liked the added parts were we got insight into Jalen's view of Ebony and how he sees her struggling. I enjoyed the supporting characters. An insightful and thoughtful YA novel. I would recommend.

This story was much heavier than I was expecting, and touched on some darker subjects. However, I feel that Ebony wasn’t completely fleshed out as a character and deserved a more supportive storyline. Although she became more likeable towards the end and I was able to sympathize more as the story went on. I appreciated the realness of the story and that it didn’t flinch away from the heavy topics.

Yo, I didn’t find out about this book until late, but I HAD to get my hands on a copy of it! It’s set in Texas AND the main character is Black?! Give it to me NOW! Buttttt of course once I got it, I realized I could have waited just a little longer and not made it so much a priority.

The reason I said that is simple. The main character. I’m a character driven reader, and I hate this phrase, but…. it was like watching a train wreck. I couldn’t look away. I didn’t want anything to happen to her but I could see it coming. The whole book she jumped to conclusions. And like I get that she was hurting, but anyone hurting enough to do the things she was doing, I guess I don’t understand how she didn’t break before that? It just seemed like A LOT she was carrying, especially to be a teen. I just thought someone would have noticed.

The romance was ok I guess. I liked him and I remember being so upset that he had fallen for her when she was doing him like this. This book really gave the “love yourself before trying to love someone else” saying some real meaning to me. Before I didn’t really understand, but this made it very clear. But when she finally got her life together and he wasn’t so mad anymore, they were really cute and I ended up being glad she had him in her corner.

For this to mostly be just a coming of age story, the plot moved pretty fast. I was sucked into the writing style and was filled with all types of emotions while I was reading it. It was like I was living with her as she experienced all these things and I couldn’t get out of it. I found myself even yelling at her through the book. So, yeah, it was good, but it was also annoying lol

The end wasn’t great. After the climax of the story it was really short and it just felt like it was there just to show that she had healed a little bit. I really think it could have been better. But that’s just me.

Tamani really captured the big, raw feelings of teenagers, especially ones dealing with grief and unwanted change. However, the story didn't quite click for me. I found the beginning to be slow and confusing, and I had a hard time getting invested after that.

This was a raw look at a 16 year-olds summer of finding herself. Of finding who she is and who she should be. Ebony's grandmonther, who she had a very strong connection to, drown 6 years ago and now her family is moving away from the life that she loves to her grandma's old house. It is not only a walk down memory lane, but a journey of self discovery.

There were a lot of times that I did not like Ebony/Indigo, but I feel like that was intentional. It is hard to like someone when they don't even like themselves. The feelings that she felt were so raw and, I feel, so typical of kids her age. The train wreck that was her life was so painful to watch.

I found the beginning mildly confusing. I wish instead of that first part being titled 'What She Missed' that there was some indication that this was an incident to take place later in the book. While Ebony felt like a well thought out person, I felt like some of the other characters were not well developed. I did like the 'What She Missed' sections beyond the first one. I thought they were really interesting.

3 stars for imagery and emotion.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This had me staying up all night yo finish. Sixteen year old Ebony Jones is forced to face the reality that she is moving from Houston to Alula lake. Alula Lake used to host great memories for Ebony but after the tragic death of her grandmother it’s the last place she wants to be. The only silver lining is her reconnecting with her childhood best friend Jalen. Ebony at this point of her life doesn’t know who she is. At one point changing her name to Indigo and then going back to Ebony in a constant cycle. She often compared herself to others and throughout her journey of finding herself and grief she starts to realize she has feeling for Jalen. I did not care for Lena she rubbed me the wrong way. I hated that Ebony wanted to be around her so much which aided her in making terrible decisions. I really enjoyed reading this and I definitely want to read more from this author in the future.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

What She Missed is one of those books that you're not expecting to touch upon so many heavy issues. There were times were it was giving me Mahogany L. Browne and Tiffany Jackson vibes because the author was bold enough to "go there" with heavy topics. The character development, to me, was on point considering there were times where I had to check my own emotions because of a character's actions and reflect on what was coming up for me in that moment just reading this. I do think this book could have explored more regarding mental health (treatment), but it is a worthy read nonetheless.

This book was darker than I expected. It touched on some heavy subjects, but offered little resolution. I feel like there was a missed opportunity to address mental health concerns for a teenager facing womanhood. Ebony had a lot of issues and deserved to have a more supportive storyline. I spent much of the book disliking her. It reminded me of how I received the main character in Tamani’s book “Calling My Name”. That was off putting for me. I eventually found compassion for Ebony towards the end of the book. I appreciated her self-discovery journey. Jalen was such a sweet boy. I wanted more character development for him (and several other characters). I wanted a cute love story for Jalen and Ebony. Though I was critical of many aspects of the book, I still found it to be an interesting read. It was intense and unflinching. I appreciated the realness.