This is the first book I’ve read that surround Hurricane Katrina. We follow Evangeline in her small Louisiana town. The writing was so so descriptive it was almost magical. The setting of Louisiana has so much rich elements and the author hit them all beautifully. Evangeline’s journey dealing with all different types of loss really went full circle into a coming of age discovery.

I thought this was a very well written book, but I thought the story itself was a bit on the slow side. I was a bit apathetic towards this one. I would read more by this author though.

I did not connect with this story much but we did buy a copy for our library and the teens have enjoyed reading it. Although I did not live anywhere near Hurricane Katrina, it still feels too fresh in the same way I can't read 9/11 books.

I really loved this beautifully written story. I have been in the midst of multiple hurricanes myself, living so close to the Gulf of Mexico. I felt I had some connection to this story and the emotions that one feels being trapped and having no electricity and no way of getting out.

Evangeline and her family must evacuate southern Louisiana in advance of Hurricane Katrina. Her family ends up in Atlanta while her friends end up scattered across the country. In this heartfelt story we delve into themes of family, friendships, death, and overall coming together. Author, Joanne O'Sullivan wrote a masterpiece of a story that is sure to resonate with people all over.

This really was not interesting to me at all. It was just really normal for what it was. Young adult.

I received this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. This was a pretty predictable YA story. However; it did open my eyes a bit more to the harsh realities of the impact that Katrina had on the gulf coast.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for review.

This a a beautiful, uplifting story.
I loved every second of it.
It is so vivid and gorgeously written. I couldn't recommend it enough if you are in the mood for a nice, easy read.

♥ Quick Thoughts and Rating: 3 stars, could possibly be bumped up to 3.5 stars later upon further reflection. Ms. O'Sullivan did a lot of things right in this book, like capturing the Louisiana setting and the voice of teen girl caught in the devastating aftermath of one of the most significant natural disasters on record, but my inability to be emotionally present for the moment proved to be my biggest hurdle with this book. Ultimately, that struggle is what caused my rating to drop as well.

♥ Review: Before I dive into this review, let's do a little backstory, shall we? In August of 2005, during the days of Katrina's brewing and what came after, I was 19 and starting my sophomore year at a junior college in north Mississippi. I remember being glued to the television screen during and after the storm. I remember my town and surrounding areas receiving some refugees from all along the coast. I remember seeing the complete devastation on their faces and hearing their stories, listening as they recounted the hours of traffic and fear for their homes, their families and friends that they hadn't heard from and couldn't locate. I will never ever forget any of it for as long as I live, I don't think.

So, after reading the synopsis for this book, I think I went in to it with certain expectations. For the most part, I think the author did an amazing job of introducing the characters and Bayou Perdu, a tiny fishing town just outside of New Orleans, to the readers and letting us glimpse what their day-to-day life was like before the storm so that we might understand and get a real feel for the loss that came after. In viewing those days leading up to it, we realize how it was supposed to be "just another hurricane," one like they'd prepared for countless times before but usually only as a safety precaution and not something that would inevitably completely uproot life as they knew it. And then Katrina hit and brought with her all the death and destruction that most of us now know came with her. O'Sullivan explored the aftermath of that storm and how it affected each individual and family so differently and yet wholly the same in other regards–displacing some momentarily, others long term, bridging certain communities and tearing others apart. Not only was the landscape changed forever, but the people who had survived the storms by any means necessary would never be the same either. I believe she really honed in on all of that exceptionally well with a thoughtful prose, and I appreciated experiencing the journey alongside the characters as they found ways to fit into their new normal.

So, what went wrong for me? To be completely honest, I'm not absolutely certain that I can pinpoint one singular thing. I think since I had a somewhat tangible experience to Katrina (though it was nowhere near as tangible as those truly and directly impacted by it), I expected to connect to the story and the characters more than I actually did. If I were to say where things went a little awry, in my opinion, it was with the introduction of the romance. While the love interest was definitely adorable and they had met previous to the storm's approach, I feel like in ways it took away from the bigger story which was the heroine and her family's struggle with being relocated and all the pitfalls that came with it. Furthermore, I was never one-hundred-percent sold on the ups and downs of that relationship. The outside drama of meeting, leaving Louisiana, finding each other again, and then him suddenly leaving without getting to say goodbye and a whole mess of "him getting back with another girl once he got home" just muddled the storyline for me. I don't know, I guess I just expected something different from what I got, which is really more my fault than any of the author's doing.

With that being said, I mostly liked how the novel was concluded and definitely appreciated that we got to see where everyone was two years later, thriving and rebuilding. It certainly had a hopeful ending and I'm all for that.

♥ Teaser Quote:
America may be a melting pot, but Louisiana is a gumbo pot. The French came here for the sugar and the rice plantations, and the enslaved Haitians and Africans were brought to do their labor. The Italians came to fish, and the Irish came to dig channels. The Croatians, like Daddy's mother, came to oyster back in the 1920s. The Vietnamese came here in the '70s to escape the war and work as shrimpers. Daddy says we're all mutts down here, a little of this and that race and culture all mixed together. You can have half a dozen shades of skin and textures of hair all in the same family, like we do. And each culture brought their own flavors with them and poured them into the mix.
–quote taken from the eARC of Between Two Skies at 4%



♥ Rec It? Probably. As proven evident by the higher ratings on Goodreads, a good deal of readers connected to this book a lot more than I was able to, and perhaps this just wasn't my full cup of tea. I did enjoy it; I just didn't fall in love with it like I thought I would.

♥ A very special thanks to Candlewick Press and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this title.

My Thoughts:

First off thank you for netgalley for the copy of the book. I knew this book was one I had to read based on the summary. It did not disappoint and i finished the book in no time. The characters were well written and made the story so much better. The plot was so interesting especially since it is set in Louisiana before Hurricane Katrina and it also deals with the aftermath of the hurricane. The setting is described in great detail and adds to the story.

Plot:

The plot follows Evangeline and her life in Bayou Perdu. She has her whole life planned out there until tragedy strikes. Her whole life is flipped up when Hurricane Katrina hits her town and destroys it. She has to relocate and start again in a new city. The author tells her story in a way that keeps the plot moving and the reader captivated. The plot is well written and full of detail. The settings in the story helps the plot.

Characters:

Evangeline is so well written and we see her growth as her story goes on. Her family is also well written and add to the story. Tru was also a well written character and fit well into the story.

I was intrigued by the concept of this story. I was a teenager when Katrina hit (2005) and remember seeing the news coverage, but being entirely unable to imagine what it would be like to be literally cast adrift. The beautiful writing in Between Two Skies immediately drew me in. The story starts right before the storm and follows the Riley family as they struggle to adjust to their new life in Atlanta—with varying results. Mama settles into a new office job, forgetting about the diner she ran in Bayou Perdu, while Daddy struggles to find odd jobs and becomes increasingly depressed. Meanwhile, her older sister Mandy longs to go back to her life as popular cheerleader and can’t seem to adjust to their new high school. Evangeline clings to her grandmother and namesake, Mamere, seeking guidance and encouragement, and tries to embrace her new life while silently longing for her old one—and searching fruitlessly for her lost best friend, Danielle.

I can’t imagine losing my entire hometown to a natural disaster, but I think it’s important that we don’t forget the devastation Katrina caused in particular. We don’t like to talk about the messy parts of our recent history, but this is a big one. We don’t like to talk about Katrina—and how the government’s delayed response reflects on a class system in which Katrina’s victims were viewed as secondary simply because they were often poor. Evangeline’s family is solidly working class, and her dad in particular clashes with the middle class world they find themselves in while living in Atlanta. The book doesn’t shy away from talking about class, something not a lot of YA books do at all, much less with any amount of grace.

I appreciated getting a window into Cajun culture, the mixing of different cultures and ethnic backgrounds, and the way everyone seems to look out for each other. This is definitely something I’d like to see more of, and I appreciated the way Evangeline talks about race: she identifies herself as white, while her best friend Kendra is black, and her love interest, Tru, is Vietnamese. The natural diversity that is just part of Cajun life was really refreshing to read, and not something I knew a whole lot about.

I really connected with Evangeline’s voice: she’s a girl who’s very connected to nature (a totally dying breed) and she feels torn between her past and the life she builds after Katrina. This is one of the few YA books I’ve read where narration really steals the show; Evangeline is extremely observant of her family and the story flows like the water she loves so much. The language really showcases the heartbreak of being torn away from your home and the conflict of trying to adjust to new surroundings without forgetting who you are. Anyone who’s ever moved away from home can relate to this, but it’s really a story about being displaced—and how that makes you feel lost and torn apart.

This is another book where the romance surprised me, in that I actually have no criticisms of it. Evangeline’s conversations and interactions with Tru feel very realistic; wouldn’t you cling to someone from close to home when you’re both refugees together? The romance develops slowly as they get to know each other better, but their bond is built on something extremely deep and real. Their conversations gave me goosebumps, because Tru is one of those guys who doesn’t shy away from talking about the deep stuff. Their relationship shows something that’s very true about grief and depression more generally: life doesn’t stop when something terrible happens, and sometimes you have to take happiness where you can find it—because you know it may be brief.

overall recommendation:
Between Two Skies is a beautifully-written story of the heartache that comes from losing your home, your past, and not knowing what your future can possibly look like. It’s a story about serious depression that can come from traumatic events, but it’s also a story about continuing to have hope, about fighting for who you are in spite of where you are now.

I've now read several books about Hurricane Katrina, but they've always been about New Orleans. It was interesting to read about another town: the life before, the devastation from, and the attempts to recover after. Its about more than the Hurricane, too. Its about having to define yourself when your entire world has been changed. Now, that exploration is not particularly deep and somewhat reliant on happenstance. Still, a solid read that doesn't rely too heavily on raw emotions. Instead it uses the hurricane to explore how much of our sense of self can be tied to a place.

16yo Evangeline Beauchamp’s life is upended after hurricane Katrina devastates their beloved small town in Louisiana. Not only are her fleeing friends spread out all over the country, but her family’s livelihood is lost. The Beauchamps who have spent their entire lives in a paradise-like fishing village become refugees stuck in landlocked Atlanta. With no jobs and only a tackle box each full of possessions, it may as well be another planet. Each family member must cope with the stress and confusion of no longer having a place to call home.

There is much to love about this YA debut. The author deeply immerses us in New Orleans both pre- and post- Katrina. Though I’ve never been there, I got a sense of the vibe and culture of the area, which are richly weaved into the story. I’ve read post-Katrina stories, but never from a teen perspective, which makes this story both unique and interesting.

A great takeaway from this poignant story of loss and displacement is that despite our troubles, we can always adapt and remake ourselves. Part romance, part historical fiction, part coming-of-age, BETWEEN TWO SKIES a great story for ages 12-16 to show the power of resilience that lies within us all.

Evangeline is about to turn 16 years old and she is excited of what her life will change. She is a normal girl who helps her family at the diner and likes to listen to her grandmother's stories and memories. Diferently of her sister Mandy who dreams of being Queen of the Orange Festival in the small town where they live, Evangeline only wants to stay invisible..
The city lives on fishing and the fairs and festivals related to it. One of these days, she saves a boy stuck on a sandbar near one of the isolated islands in the area.
Tru is a gentle and polite boy who enchants Evangeline's different way. Both talk and when arriving at the pier Evangeline is impressed by the way the boy acts. Since she is very shy, she does not try to get closer to him.
Hurricane Katrina threatens the area and the family is forced to stay in a hotel in a more distant city, and in thst moment all dynamics of life will change dramatically for these people.
What I found most interesting besides the clear and light writing of the author was the way she reported the anguish experienced by each person who was forced to leave and leave all their life behind to survive this natural tragedy. I had never read any book talking about this subject and I could feel the pain of every person who saw everything being destroyed by the force of the waters and the winds.

The forced change led the family to face new problems and Evangeline faced a life in a new city and school, where people looked upon her as a strange refugee.

The book focuses on the figure of the protagonist but also presents the reaction of the other members of the family and other people they meet along the way.
It's a book about resilience, about how Phoenix resurfaced from the waters and not from the ashes. Moreover, to my delight still has a very beautiful background romance and several simple details and symbolisms showing how everyone faced the problems they have lived.
Highlight for the moment where the title and the cover are explained.
Highly recommended
5 / 5stars

This young adult novel is set in a fictional version of one of those communities destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in Plaquemines Parish - Bayou Perdu - “the place where Louisiana takes its last breath before plunging into the Gulf of Mexico.”

In August of 2005, the heroine of the story, Evangeline Riley, is just turning 16. Evangeline won the under-sixteen fishing rodeo; like her dad who is a shrimp fisherman, she loves being out on the water. She felt like if she didn’t spend time on the water, she would shrivel up: “Thoughts come to me when I’m on the water. It’s clear who I am out here. Not who I am compared to anyone else. ” She also loves the ecosystem of the bayou:

“The most beautiful birds you’ve ever seen - roseate spoonbills, blue herons, and snowy egrets - build their nests in our marshes in the winter and teach their babies to fly here.”

And just as much, she relishes the *human* ecosystem of Coastal Louisiana, with its mix of French, Italian, Irish, Croatian, Spanish, Vietnamese: “America may be a melting pot, but Louisiana is a gumbo pot.” She cherishes its unique mix of languages, cultures, food, and even looks.

But the day of her 16th birthday is when they get word Hurricane Katrina is on it’s way, and they must evacuate. They head to the home of a relative in Atlanta, Georgia, and are heartbroken hearing about the destruction that comes to the Gulf Coast. It is a long time before they are assigned a trailer home back in the area so they can return.

Evangeline and her sister Mandy enroll in school in Atlanta, where each of them have adjustment problems of a different kind. Mandy is not longer the popular, sought-after girl she was back in Bayou Perdu, and Evangeline feels lost without the bayou itself:

“I miss the water, the birds, the wind through the marsh grass. I miss the sunset and the sound of that hard, hard rain falling on the roof. I miss the smell of salt in the air, that awful heat rising up from the docks. I feel sore all the time from all the missing. Bruises just beneath the surface. Invisible.”

But then she runs into another evacuee at her school she had met back home, and had briefly crushed on: Tru Nguyen. She feels happiness again for the first time: “I am bursting. All those SAT words that mean ecstatic. Ebullient. Elated.”

Tru is attracted to her as well and they tentatively begin a relationship. Although the dark clouds of her life now are “edged by silver,” she can’t help feeling like her namesake, Evangeline, the heroine of the poem by Longfellow about the Acadians who fled Canada and ended up in Louisiana, becoming known as Cajuns. The poetic Evangeline is separated from her love and her home, but she can’t deny the “inexpressible sweetness” of Louisiana. As Evangeline recounts, “ Above her is the Louisiana sky. Below is its reflection in the water. She is there in her boat, suspended in the middle, ‘hanging between two skies.’” This Evangeline feels that way too.

There is no decision to make by Evangeline and Tru though; the adults in their life make them for them. Tru is taken back to the coast to work on his father’s fishing boat, and Evangeline accompanies her own father to their assigned trailer near their old home. Before she leaves though, her school counselor gives her a blank journal with the quote written on the inside cover by Camus she said reminded her of Evangeline: “In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.”

At this point though, almost everyone has been separated; not only Evangeline and Tru, but Evangeline and her friends from before the storm, and Evangeline’s family, now divided into two parts.

Where will fate lead them all? As Tru once said to Evangeline, “I think the things we love are what lead us to our fate, you know? Maybe that’s what fate is. When you catch up to the things you love.” The Epilogue two years after the storm lets us know how it worked out.

Evaluation: This is a gem of a book. It is first of all a lovely story about coming-of-age and young love. But it is also about the varied response to a calamitous disaster by not only the government but the people in the country who responded in different ways to it. Finally, it is a stirring tribute to Louisiana. Highly recommended!

One of my favorite YA titles of the year.

I have always been fascinated by the city of New Orleans and the area surrounding it, and am forever changed by seeing the devastation Katrina caused the entire coastal area. I remember so clearly exactly what I was doing when the news of Hurricane Katrina came, when we heard what was coming toward the Gulf Coast in August 2005. I was hugely pregnant and home with my husband and his high school best friend, who had lived in New Orleans for years and was visiting his parents near us in Wisconsin. We watched the TV coverage non-stop and spent so much time with our friend as he was displaced from his longtime home. We experienced the "Katrina-refugee" story through him, a 30-something affluent single adult who was fortunate enough to have a safe and comfortable place to live while the storm raged and the clean-up took place. We listened to him as he told us about his friends and their stories, and looked at the pictures he sent us of his house and the ravaged places we had visited when we went to see him several years before. We returned to New Orleans several years later to attend his wedding, and marveled at the rebuilding that had brought the city back to a semblance of normal, but mourned the loss of so much else.

I have read numerous books about Katrina and post-Katrina Louisiana, but I have never before read a book about Katrina from a teenager's perspective. I am so very happy that when I did, it was this one. Evangeline captured my heart and wouldn't let me go until I had finished the book, less than 18 hours later. I first heard about this title from a post by the author on the Nerdy Book Club blog (link at the end of my post), and immediately requested it from Net Galley to review for my library. I am so happy to have had the additional insight from the author during that pre-reading experience, and thoroughly agree with her that "stories that place the intricacies of the heart at their center" have a place on the shelves. "Between Two Skies" is the perfect story to explain the horrors of Katrina and the beauty of the bayou to a generation of teens who barely remember the tragedy, or who have never visited this area of the US - much like stories like "Nine, Ten" and "Towers Falling" bring the horror of 9/11 told through a sensitive lens to a new generation. These stories need to be told, and YA and middle grade fiction is how these stories will best reach children of today and tomorrow.

Nerdy Book Club post: https://nerdybookclub.wordpress.com/2...

From what I can tell this is O'Sullivan's debut novel, a fact which makes its easy, natural rhythms even more impressive. She tells an individual, heartfelt story about one family's experience fleeing Katrina in a low-key, restrained manner that seems counterintuitive but is, in fact, the perfect vehicle through which the reader can get to know Evangeline and her world. In a lot of ways, the rhythms of the book echo those of Evangeline -- she's still a kid but, even in crisis, she's contained and instinctively confident, moving slowly toward her dreams with only occasional doubts.

Evangeline is a delightful character, and those around her are equally sharply drawn, from her friends (both in ATL and Louisiana) to her family, particularly a cousin in New Orleans, her sister, who struggles mightily with the changes wrought by Katrina, and her grandmother, who O'Sullivan manages to render a wise, gentle matriarch without allowing her to collapse into cliche.

I'm doing a terrible job really describing this book so here's the tl; dr version: it's quietly, gently, comfortably great.

I really loved this beautifully written story. Evangeline and her family must evacuate southern Louisiana in advance of Hurricane Katrina. Her family ends up in Atlanta while her friends end up scattered across the country. Add in a slow burn romance, a broken heart, and the death of Evangeline's beloved grandmother, and you've got the makings of an introspective, heartfelt story.

I really enjoyed this book. The descriptions of Bayou Perdu and New Orleans were so rich and vivid, that I could almost feel the humidity. I have never read a books set during Hurricane Katrina, but found the chapters directly related to it very moving. The characters here were great also, especially Evangeline and her Mamere. The romance part got a little bit extra (as did some of the family connections as a matter of fact) but it was still cute to read, and I think teen readers will particularly love the little bit of extra drama it brings. I wish that a few of the characters had been developed more, namely Mandy, and I would love to read a Hurricane Katrina book from the perspective of a black protagonist (if anyone knows of one let me know!) But this was overall a great, immersive read.

A lovely, heartbreaking, emotional debut from an author to watch. O'Sullivan captures teen romance perfectly. The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina is handled brilliantly....giving us an eye-opening glimpse inside the lives of those forced to leave the homes they love.

Between Two Skies is a beautiful, heartfelt debut about pre- and post-Katrina. I absolutely love books that wholly transport you to a different place. You can feel New Orleans - the salty air, the music - and will become entirely absorbed. And Evangeline Riley? What a heroine. You'll fall in love with her almost instantly. Some of her lines had me in stitches. Really, this novel has everything I wanted: lyrical writing, young love, and family bonds. I highly recommend it.