© 2023 by The Book Lover. Proudly created with Wix.com

  • Facebook B&W
  • Twitter B&W
  • Pinterest Black Square

Shelfishly Addicted

For those with high shelf-esteem!
  • BOOK REVIEWS & BOOK BLOG

  • ABOUT THE READER

  • More

    1 star

    2 stars

    3 stars

    4 stars

    5 stars

    a court of thorns and roses

    a fierce and subtle poison

    a good indian wife

    a little life

    a small indiscretion

    a tyranny of petticoats

    adult

    advanced reading copy

    adventure

    adventures

    adventures of a book junkie

    all the time in the world

    and the mountains echoed

    anne cherian

    apple and rain

    arc

    artificial intelligence

    atia abawi

    austin

    author feature

    author interview

    azar nafisi

    bahu

    blog feature

    blog tour

    blogger feature

    book blog

    book blogger

    book evolution

    book giveaway

    book marketing

    book publicity

    book review

    book review blog

    books

    born wicked

    burial rites

    burning

    carlsbad caverns

    caroline angell

    celeste ng

    chemistry

    children

    christmas

    classic

    contempor

    contemporary

    cultural

    danielle rollins

    deaf culture

    diversity

    dreaming of antigone

    drift

    dystopian

    eileen cook

    eleanor oliphant is completely fine

    engagement

    erika swyler

    everlife

    exquisite captive

    fantasy

    fauzia burke

    fiction

    firangi

    firangi bahu

    firstlife

    four stars

    fsb associates

    gayle forman

    gena showalter

    ghachar ghochar

    harry potter

    harry potter and the sorcerer's stone

    heather demetrios

    historical

    how many letters are in goodbye

    i'm thinking of ending things

    iain reid

    if i stay

    illustrated

    india

    interview

    issue book

    jan ellison

    jenny bravo

    jesmyn ward

    jessica spotswood

    john green

    kara thomas

    kiersten white

    laura lee anderson

    lisa jewell

    literary fiction

    literature

    little fires everywhere

    look how happy i'm making you

    louisa hall

    love and other unknown variables

    lynn weingarten

    m.k. hutchins

    maggie stiefvater

    magical realism

    main street

    mature themes

    middle grade

    murder mystery

    mystery

    mythology

    nadia hashimi

    new mexico

    no rating

    nobel prize

    non-fiction

    online marketing

    paranormal

    paul pen

    paula hawkins

    personal

    polly rosenwaike

    prachi

    psychological thriller

    punjabi wedding

    ravenclaw

    reading lolita in tehran

    reading rewind

    realistic fiction

    road trip

    robin bridges

    romance

    roshani chokshi

    ruta sepetys

    samantha mabry

    sara o'leary

    sarah crossan

    sarah j. maas

    sci-fi

    shannon lee alexander

    shelfie

    shelfiesunday

    short story

    sinclair lewis

    sing unburied sing

    song of summer

    speak

    stacie ramey

    star-touched stories

    stephanie meyer

    suicide notes from beautiful girls

    sula

    suspense

    tbr

    texas

    tfios

    the book of speculation

    the cahill witch chronicles

    the chaos of stars

    the darkest corners

    the girl on the train

    the girls in the garden

    the light of the fireflies

    the scorpio races

    the secret sky

    the sister pact

    the star-touched queen

    the unexpected inheritance of inspector chopra

    theguywiththebook

    these are the moments

    this is sadie

    three and a half stars

    three stars

    toni morrison

    translated works

    twilight

    vaseem khan

    vivek shanbhag

    weike wang

    when the moon is low

    white sands

    wild swans

    with malice

    young

    young adult

    yvonne cassidy

    Please reload

    Tag Cloud
    Featured Review

    Review: The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi

    April 3, 2016

    1/1
    Please reload

    Review: Wild Swans by Jessica Spotswood

    April 4, 2016

    Jessica Spotswood is best known for her debut series, The Cahill Witch Chronicles, paranormal YA with swoony romance and twisty suspense. With Wild Swans, Jessica has made a masterful transition to coming-of-age contemporary, and I am so pleased she chose to broaden her horizons, because Wild Swans is truly well-done.

     

    In Wild Swans, we meet Ivy Milbourn the summer before her senior year of high-school in small-town Cecil. She is well-known as a Milbourn girl, being the granddaughter and great-granddaughter of talented Milbourn women who wrote prize-winning poetry and painted troubled, captivating stormy landscapes, before dying early and tragic deaths. She’s also the girl who was abandoned by her mother as a baby and raised by her professorial Granddad, who shows his love by pushing her to live up to the Milbourn legacy.

     

    What Ivy would want you to know, however, is that she’s captain of the swim team and a lover of literature. She has two best friends, Claire and Abby, who know her well and love her unconditionally. Beyond all that, she’s a diligent student, and she works sincerely towards finding her “niche”; the place in the world where she truly belongs, where she truly excels. Yet, no piano, ballet, poetry, French, painting, or dance class really offers that opportunity to shine. Ivy is okay, maybe even good, at most things she does, but she is not extraordinary; not like her Milbourn ancestors. Granddad’s acute disappointment, and the fact that he tries to hide it, sits heavy on her shoulders.  

     

    Ivy usually spends her summers attending classes or camps, eager to please Granddad, but this summer, she’s determined to relax and have fun with Claire and Abby, and not worry about Granddad’s expectations so much. Then, after fifteen years of radio silence, her mother, Erica, unexpectedly turns up with two girls – her sisters – in tow, asking for a place to stay until she figures things out. Everything Ivy thought she knew about her mother, about family, comes into question. Suddenly the summer is less about forgetting herself, and more about finding herself.

     

    I really loved the character development in Wild Swans. You can’t help but like Ivy. She’s clearly intelligent and strong-willed, yet she is also eager to please and to conform to the expectations of those around her. You can’t help but feel empathy for her, as she struggles with intense feelings of inadequacy, comparing her achievements, or lack thereof, to the other Milbourn women. On top of that, she also lives with the knowledge that her wild-child mother willingly left her and then signed away her parental rights. Who wouldn’t feel inadequate with such a past?

     

    Yet, Ivy also has two incredible friends on her side, Abby and Claire, with Claire being my favorite. They stick up for her, they stand by her, and they share their trials with her, too. It is through the various interactions of this trio that Jessica deftly and elegantly addresses sexual agency, fat-shaming, teenage sex, feminism, and diversity. Claire is such a bad-ass character, with her confidence, honesty, and feminist views! I want young girls to read this book just to see what real friendships look and sound like, as well as to learn how to handle situations when someone is being bullied or shamed for who they are, what they look like, or how they dress. This aspect may be my favorite of the entire book!

     

    There is some romance within the story, but I won’t spend any time on it in this review, as it is not the focus of the book, and I also do not want to spoil the review for those who have not yet read the book. Suffice it to say that the romance is a slow burn, and while I initially questioned the guy’s intentions, I came to like him quite a bit in the end. Bonus points that poetry and literature were involved! Those looking for major swoons will not find them, but I imagine you’ll be happy with what we do get.

     

    The story itself is not faced-past or action-packed. Jessica really focused on the relationships and character development here, and the book is that much better for it. Erica, Ivy’s mother, clearly has a lot of baggage. There were times I wanted Granddad to kick her out, or for Ivy to scream at her. Yet, I also loved how considerate Grandad and Ivy were of her two sisters, Iz and Gracie. They were just as eager to please as Ivy was, just for different reasons. They didn’t have a legacy weighing on their shoulders, but they did yearn for stability and love. Once Ivy recognized this, she stepped up to the plate and into her role of “big sister.”

     

    The various issues presented within the book, involving both the main and secondary characters, are not tied up in a tidy bow at the end, nor does everyone get what they want. The story is bittersweet because of this, and altogether, a breathtaking coming-of-age novel, in which Ivy must learn that trying to live up to other’s expectations of us can often lead to failing our own selves, and that family is not so much something that you’re part of, but rather something you do.

    Kudos to Jessica for writing such a beautiful story, for being sensitive to diversity in terms of race, sexual orientation, and body types, and for giving us characters with whom we can relate, no matter where we are in life. Wild Swans is a must-read, dear reader! 

     

    Discuss

     

    Have you ever struggled to meet someone’s expectations of you? How did you handle it? Would you have done anything differently?

     

    If you had one piece of advice to give a girl who feels like she doesn’t quite fit in anywhere, what would it be?

    Please reload