After reading the book The Language of Flowers, I was really looking forward to reading Vanessa Diffenbaugh's book We Never Asked for Wings. This book was definitely worth the wait. I highly recommend this book. The family had some hard struggles to overcome and I found myself cheering for the family and wanting to continue to read to find out how it would end. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book for review. A 4 out of 5!

“We Never Asked for Wings” by Vanessa Diffenbaugh.

A raw and emotional novel about family life, expectations, and dynamics. A novel about friendship, love, immigration issues, bullying, trust, and self growth.

Vanessa Diffenbaugh has written an honest, relatable, and moving novel that pulls at one’s heartstrings while rooting for each and every character. As each one grows and uses their strengths in order to face their weaknesses, the reader becomes more and more invested in the novel, the chats gets and the storyline.

A novel not to be missed.

Rating: 4.7
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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

"Alex’s eyes flicked up to meet Letty’s, and suddenly Letty flashed on Alex as a little boy, sitting on his grandfather’s lap at the Landing. She’d come home between shifts to change and found them by the window, watching the long-empty winter sky flood with bright white gulls. Are they home to stay? Alex had asked, the birds’ incessant squawking drowning out the loneliness in his six-year-old voice. But her father shook his head no, and then there was Maria Elena behind them, reciting from St. Francis’s sermon to the birds. It is God who made you noble among all creatures, making your home in the thin, pure air.
Letty remembered feeling a connection to the birds then, en route from one minimum-wage job to another: God had given them nothing. But now, the heaviness of Alex’s thoughts in her lap, she realized she’d gotten it all wrong. The birds had been given everything they needed. A home in the thin, pure air: a moment of weightlessness, a reprieve from the gravity of life."

This novel has everything I am looking for in books - THE STORY, intense and in-depth, beautiful language, relatable and strong love story, the meaning (OK, there is not sophisticated (or any) murder, but I can´t have everything :)).
Ms Diffenbaugh has matured as an author obviously - I liked The Language of Flowers, but I love this one.
The story is rich, layered and infused with interesting, complicated characters, to whom I was nodding "me too, girl/boy, me too" all the time as I was getting where they were coming from.
his one is like love letter for all who are hurting in their circumstances, with the message of peace, hope and better chances in future. Yet this is no dark, unreadable story, but very much readable one, I promise.
There is love, so much love presented here in almost all of its facets - love of mother, grandparents, father, youngster, man, friend, nature...and love is much much more than just romantic love.
There is also fear and shame presented and how much can they destroy the self-respect and diminish the power of human spirit - but there is a way out. Hard way, yes. Maybe Letty would never choose it for herself, to step up and be the real mother - but the choice was not hers. So she has started. And as she entered the phase of trying and fighting, her circumstances started to change. And the life was not still, as the growing pains are never light and breezy. But there are rewards for the ones trying to do what they can with what they have. And love.
When speaking about love, I alternate between young Alex and Rick when picturing the ideal hero, as both are very manly in knowing what they want and going for it. Teenager Alex is just not there in the terms of maturity, but his idealism and inner purity can make for that. Rick is a man, offering his all, but not pleading, and the maturity of his heart is more than attractive!

Full of love, understanding, wisdom coming from hard days and hope - this is the novel that should not be missed. Deeply recommended.

This is a beautiful story! Please pick this one up

This story touched me. I love the writer's voice. I highly recommend this book.

I recommended this book on my podcast What Should I Read Next: http://modernmrsdarcy.com/59-episode/