YA Review: Audacious by Gabrielle Prendergast

Title: Audacious

Author: Gabrielle Prendergast

# of Pages: 

Publisher: Orca

Publication Date: October 1st 2013

Source: Provided by author in exchange for honest review

Level: Young Adult

Rating: 2.5 Hearts

Synopsis

Sixteen year old Raphaelle is that girl who says the wrong thing, who crosses the wrong person, who has the wrong hair, the wrong body, the wrong attitude, the totally wrong clothes. She can’t do anything right, except draw, but she draws the wrong pictures. When her father moves the family to a small prairie city, Raphaelle wants to leave behind the misfit rebel, the outcast, the vengeful trouble-maker she was. Reborn as “Ella,” she plans fit in at her new school, while her perfect younger sister goes to the Catholic girls’ school and her emotionally fragile mother looks for a job.

But Ella might just be a different kind of misfit. She’s drawn to a brooding boy in her art class, Samir, and expresses her confused feelings in an explicit artwork. When a classmate texts a photo of Ella’s art to a younger friend, the horrendous fallout spreads though Ella’s life like an uncontrollable disease. Ella is expelled from school and faces pornography charges, her mother is hospitalized, her sister fails all her classes, and her distant father finally notices something is wrong.

My Verdict

I don't know if you guys remember or if you followed my blog back then, but I actually interviewed author, Gabrielle Prendergast last year as part of my Novels In Verse Reading Challenge (which can be read here). Point being, I have been waiting for this book to come out for a long time! I'm so grateful to Gabrielle for providing me with an ARC for review purposes.

Being an artist myself, I thought it would be easy for me to connect with and understand Ella. Unfortunately, this didn't happen. I just couldn't see where she was coming from at all. Including a naked picture of herself in a school art show and frankly, not caring what happened in response. The thing is, it seemed like this wasn't the first time Ella had done something like that. I got the impression that her artwork had caused problems before. I feel like she just wanted the attention, whether good or bad and didn't really think of how her decisions affected others.

Her love interest, Samir, is also an artist but again, I just wasn't able to connect with him either. For a main character, he felt really distant to me throughout the whole book.

Religion is also a large topic in this story. Ella's family is Catholic, while  Samir's family is Muslim. Both characters are struggling with their faith, what they believe, who they believe in, or if they even believe anything at all. Personally, I didn't like the way religion was portrayed as this burden that both characters were trying to escape from. However, I respected the fact that the author didn't shy away from religion like most YA books do.

While this book wasn't a good match for me, I do think a lot of others will enjoy it. Especially fans of Ellen Hopkins and other books with heavier, more controversial subject matter.

Novels In Verse Challenge: July Linky List!

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June Recap:

Last month I read one book toward the challenge.

What novels in verse have you read lately? Link up your July reviews below!

MG Review: Love That Dog & Hate That Cat by Sharon Creech

Title: Love That Dog / Hate That Cat

Author: Sharon Creech

# Of Pages: 128/148

Publisher: HarperCollins

Publication Date: April 8, 2008/ September 23, 2008

Source: Library

Level: Middle Grade

Rating: 2 Hearts / 3 Hearts

Synopsis

(From Amazon)

Love That Dog-

Jack

Room 105 - -Miss Stretchberry

September 13

I don't want to

because boys

don't write poetry.

Girls do

But before he knows it Jack is creating his own poetry and a wonderful story emerges as he becomes interested in this thing that 'girls do'! Not only is Jack inspired to write to his favourite poet, but the poet agrees to visit, and Jack discovers how much more there is to poetry behind the words on the page. A lovely, loving and very impressive novel that defies definition.

Hate That Cat-

Jack

Room 204—Miss Stretchberry

February 25

Today the fat black cat


up in the tree by the bus stop


dropped a nut on my head


thunk


and when I yelled at it

that fat black cat said


Murr-mee-urrr


in a 


nasty


spiteful


way.

I hate that cat.

This is the story of 
Jack
words
sounds
silence
teacher
and cat.

My Verdict

There are two types of middle grade books; those specifically geared for middle graders, and those with enough depth for all ages. These books fell into the first category.

Told in a series of journal entries, Jack communicates to his teacher Miss Stretchberry about his thoughts on poetry. Every time his class learns about a new type of poem or famous poet, Jack writes a poem inspired by them about events in his own life.

Out of the two, I enjoyed Hate That Cat a lot more than the first. I think Jack’s personality came through a lot more than in the first. I liked his sense of humor, he definitely had me smiling =)

He also used the word tintinnabulation is a sentence, which was one of my Wordlover Wednesday Words!

As a 22 year-old, I didn’t particularly get a lot from these stories but I do think they would be good books for their specific age bracket. They both touch on different types of poetry, being embarrassed to put your name on something you’ve created, and most importantly it turns a boy who’s reluctant to write poetry into a boy who loves poetry.

Book Review: Nelson Mandela

Title: Nelson Mandela

Author: Kadir Nelson

# Of Pages: 40

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

Publication Date: January 2^nd, 2013

Source: Library

Level: Children’s (Pre-School - 4^th Grade)

Rating: 4 Hearts

Synopsis

(From Goodreads)

One day when Nelson Mandela was nine years old, his father died and he was sent from his village to a school far away from home, to another part of South Africa. In Johannesburg, the country's capital, Mandela saw fellow Africans who were poor and powerless. He decided then that he would work to protect them. When the government began to keep people apart based on the color of their skin, Mandela spoke out against the law and vowed to fight hard in order to make his country a place that belonged to all South Africans.

Kadir Nelson tells the story of Mandela, a global icon, in poignant verse and glorious illustrations. It is the story of a young boy's determination to change South Africa and of the struggles of a man who eventually became the president of his country by believing in equality for people of all colors. Readers will be inspired by Mandela's triumph and his lifelong quest to create a more just world.

My Verdict

I know I don't usually review children's books on here but since this one was told in verse, I made an exception =) 

The biography of Nelson Mandela and his role in Apartheid is brought to life by author and illustrator, Kadir Nelson, through free verse and beautiful paintings that are rich in color and large in scale. A fellow blogger reviewed this book and when I heard it was told in verse I knew I absolutely HAD to read it!

It’s very unique to have a biography written in free verse but I think it worked really well and will help to keep kids interested. This book is a great resource for kids to learn about an important time in history but also one that I think they will thoroughly enjoy reading as well.

“Nelson stood proudly

with the wind at his back

and spoke to a colorful sea of people.

‘We must forget our terrible past

and build a better future for South Africa,

Let us continue to fight for justice

and walk the last mile to freedom.’ "

Novels in Verse Challenge: April Linky List!

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Hey everyone! We are now jumping into month four of the Novels In Verse Reading Challenge, and it looks like everyone is still going strong!

GIVEAWAY =D
Want to win a copy of Sonya Sones verse novel set What My Mother Doesn't Know and What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know?

For each book review you link up this month your entitled to one entry via the Rafflecopter form below all you have to do is hit enter. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Review: The Wild Book by Margarita Engle

Title: The Wild Book

Author: Margarita Engle

# Of Pages: 144

Publisher: Harcourt Children’s Books

Publication Date: March 20, 2012

Source: Library

Level: Middle Grade

Rating: 3 Hearts

Synopsis

(From Amazon.com)

Fefa struggles with words. She has word blindness, or dyslexia, and the doctor says she will never read or write. Every time she tries, the letters jumble and spill off the page, leaping and hopping away like bullfrogs. How will she ever understand them?

But her mother has an idea. She gives Fefa a blank book filled with clean white pages. "Think of it as a garden," she says. Soon Fefa starts to sprinkle words across the pages of her wild book. She lets her words sprout like seedlings, shaky at first, then growing stronger and surer with each new day. And when her family is threatened, it is what Fefa has learned from her wild book that saves them.

My Verdict

I just have to express my absolute LOVE of this cover! The illustrations are just so colorful and beautiful. Now for the actual story: this is the third book I’ve read by Margarita Engle and unfortunately none of them have lived up to the first.

The Wild Book is about eleven-year old Fefa, who at the beginning of the book finds out she has “word-blindness” or what we now know as common day dyslexia. The book is about Fefa’s struggle and how she works to overcome it. It’s set in the Cuban countryside of 1912, and is a work of historical fiction loosely based on stories the author’s grandmother used to tell her.

I found it unbelievable how cruel Fefa’s own brothers and sisters treated her, making fun or her reading and writing, calling her ugly. Maybe it’s because I had a great relationship with my sister growing up, but I just couldn’t fathom them being so downright nasty to her.

As always the authors beautiful writing had me jotting down quotes as I went along. Here is my favorite:

“Words seem to float

and drift, changing

their strange shapes,

like storms clouds,

always ready to explode.”

Overall it wasn’t a personal favorite, but I think it serves as a great example for kids of perseverance and never giving up, because while Fefa got frustrated a lot near the beginning, she kept working to overcome her dyslexia.

Book Review: The Language Inside by Holly Thompson

Title: The Language Inside

Author: Holly Thompson

# Of Pages: 528

Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers

Publication Date: May 14, 2013

Source: Borrowed ARC

Level: Young Adult

Rating: 4 Hearts

Synopsis

(From Amazon.com)

Emma Karas was raised in Japan; it's the country she calls home. But when her mother is diagnosed with breast cancer, Emma's family moves to a town outside Lowell, Massachusetts, to stay with Emma's grandmother while her mom undergoes treatment.  

Emma feels out of place in the United States. She begins to have migraines, and longs to be back in Japan. At her grandmother's urging, she volunteers in a long-term care center to help Zena, a patient with locked-in syndrome, write down her poems. There, Emma meets Samnang, another volunteer, who assists elderly Cambodian refugees. Weekly visits to the care center, Zena's poems, dance, and noodle soup bring Emma and Samnang closer, until Emma must make a painful choice: stay in Massachusetts, or return home early to Japan.

My Verdict

Author, Holly Thompson uses free verse to weave together a great multi-cultural story about family, friends, love, hardship, and what to do when the language inside doesn’t match the language outside.

The main character, Emma, and her family move from Japan (the only home Emma’s ever known) when her mother is diagnosed with breast cancer. The family moves to Massachusetts to stay with a relative so that her mom can be treated in Boston. 

Her mother’s breast cancer, the move - it all leaves Emma with a lot of stress and she starts to suffer from severe migraines. Emma also experiences a lot of guilt having left Japan right after it was struck by the tragedy of a Tsunami. She feels she should be there with her friends to help clean up the destruction and start rebuilding.

Her grandmother signs Emma up to volunteer at a long-term care facility while she’s in town. She is there to help a patient named Zena , who suffers from locked-in syndrome, write poetry.  The only way Zena can communicate is with her eyes. Emma has to hold up an alphabet board organized by row and color, reading each one out until Zena looks up to select a letter. I found this dynamic of the story to be very heartwarming as we get to watch Zena and Emma’s relationship grow as they connect with one another through their mutual love of poetry.

There is also a small romance aspect to the story between Emma and Samnang, a fellow volunteer at the care facility. It’s a sweet relationship that develops slowly throughout the story but at times it was frustrating too because they weren’t even going out but Emma would get all worked up and upset if he hung out with another girl *insert eye roll*.

“I look at him

and he looks straight back at me

into me

and there’s a calm

between us

we are just sitting, breathing,

and I think we are smiling

with out eyes.”

As you can see, this book deals with a lot of different issues; breast cancer, locked-in syndrome, post traumatic stress disorder, and migraines, to name some, but it does so effortlessly, weaving them together into one coherent and touching story about one girl’s journey to find herself.

Book Review: Witness by Karen Hesse

Title: Witness

Author: Karen Hesse

# Of Pages: 161

Publisher: Scholastic

Publication Date: July 5, 2000

Source: Own

Level: Young Adult

Rating: 2 Hearts

Synopsis

(From Amazon.com)

Leanora Sutter. Esther Hirsh. Merlin Van Tornhout. Johnny Reeves . . .

These characters are among the unforgettable cast inhabiting a small Vermont town in 1924. A town that turns against its own when the Ku Klux Klan moves in. No one is safe, especially the two youngest, twelve-year-old Leanora, an African-American girl, and six-year-old Esther, who is Jewish.

In this story of a community on the brink of disaster, told through the haunting and impassioned voices of its inhabitants, Newbery Award winner Karen Hesse takes readers into the hearts and minds of those who bear witness.

My Verdict

It’s always disappointing when you read one book by an author and absolutely love it and then you read another by them and don’t like it. That is pretty much what happened here. I had just read Out of the Dust the night before and was expecting another great book but instead was very disappointed with what I found.

This is a work of historical fiction about a small town in 1924 and how it affects them when the Ku Klux Klan moves into town. Told in five “acts”, the story unfolds before us through the eyes of eleven different characters, each passage told from a different point-of-view. The cast of characters was just too large and hard to keep track of. There was a cast list in the front of the book with pictures of each character, which was nice but I got sick of flipping back and forth between pages every time I couldn’t remember who someone was.  Needless to say this really hindered me from connecting with any of them.

Another thing I didn’t like about switching between such a large number of characters was that their ages ranged from six to sixty-six so one minute your in the head of a six year old with her innocent thoughts and the next minute your in the head of an adult who’s plotting to poison someone.

I apologize for the really negative review but this book just wasn’t for me. I am still planning to read more of Hesse’s work in hopes they will be more like my first experience with her writing, which was the polar opposite of this one. 

Book Review: Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse

Title: Out of the Dust

Author: Karen Hesse

# Of Pages: 256

Publisher: Scholastic

Publication Date: January 1, 1997

Source: Library

Level: Young Adult

Rating: 5 Hearts

Synopsis

(From Goodreads)

When Billie Jo is just fourteen she must endure heart-wrenching ordeals that no child should have to face. The quiet strength she displays while dealing with unspeakable loss is as surprising as it is inspiring.

Written in free verse, this award-winning story is set in the heart of the Great Depression. It chronicles Oklahoma's staggering dust storms, and the environmental--and emotional--turmoil they leave in their path. An unforgettable tribute to hope and inner strength.

My Verdict

I’ve never had any interest in reading this book. I remember my sister reading it when we were kids but the cover was dull and old looking and I didn’t think it could possibly hold anything in it that I would enjoy. In more recent years, since my love of verse novels, many other verse lovers and authors have talked about how much they love this book, still I hesitated.

I finally decided to look past the boring/ugly cover and read it anyway. Now I can understand what all the fuss was about. Out of the Dust is a well-written, honest look at a young girl’s life during the Great Depression. Broken down by season, the story unfolds over a two-year span and is told in first person narrative by fourteen-year-old Billie Jo.

I picked up this book late one night expecting to read a few pages before bed. Those few pages turned into the whole book. Although it is a rather slow progressing plotline about a family of farmers’ day-to-day life, somehow it kept me enraptured. I think a large part of this was the writing. Hesse writes with an honest, bluntness that is raw, powerful, and emotional.

“But now,

sorrow climbs up our front steps,

big as Texas, and we didn’t even see it coming,

even though it’d been making its way straight for us

all along.”

In conclusion, if there is still anyone out there who has been putting off reading this book, don’t wait any longer, read it!

Book Review: Sisters of Glass by Stephanie Hemphill

Title: Sisters of Glass

Author: Stephanie Hemphill

# Of Pages: 160

Publisher: Knopf

Publication Date: March 27^th 2012

Source: Library

Level: Young Adult

Rating: 4 Hearts

Synopsis

(From Amazon.com)

Maria is the younger daughter of an esteemed family on the island of Murano, the traditional home for Venetian glassmakers. Though she longs to be a glassblower herself, glassblowing is not for daughters—that is her brother's work. Maria has only one duty to perform for her family: before her father died, he insisted that she be married into the nobility, even though her older sister, Giovanna, should rightfully have that role. Not only is Giovanna older, she's prettier, more graceful, and everyone loves her.

Maria would like nothing more than to allow her beautiful sister, who is far more able and willing to attract a noble husband, to take over this role for her. But they cannot circumvent their father's wishes. And when a new young glassblower arrives to help the family business and Maria finds herself drawn to him, the web of conflicting emotions grows even more tangled.

My Verdict

Stephanie Hemphill writes a unique and captivating story about a family of glassblowers in 15^th Century Venice. The story focuses on sisters Giovanna and Maria and their strained relationship.

Maria and Giovanna live on the island of Murano, famous for it’s glassmaking. Maria grew up helping the family business by mixing batches of glass, helping out in the furnace, and dreaming of someday becoming a blower. Traditionally, it is the eldest daughter who marries into nobility but Maria’s father specifically ordered that she be the one to marry into nobility right before his death. This causes her elder sister Giovanna to become resentful of Maria.

“ Giovanna shoots me

only a sideways glance

as I lace into my new green dress.

I want to scream,

‘I will trade positions,’

that I Desire to polish glass

and stoke the fires

and see the creation of crystal,

like I was permitted to do

when I was a little girl.

But I promised Father

on his deathbed that I would

honor his first and greatest wish for me.

I just did not know I would

lose my sister even before

I lose my Murano.”

Now 15 years old, Maria is forbidden from working with the glass she loves so much to stay indoors brushing her hair, and wearing fancy dresses, while her family tries to find her the perfect suitor. But when a young man comes to work for the family Maria starts to fall in love, but not with her suitor. 

“ To follow the head,

or the heart,

this is the question

that rips me apart.”

Overall, I really enjoyed this book, the writing was great, the story interesting (I really enjoyed learning about the art of glassblowing!) and I liked the main character, Maria, but something was missing that kept me from loving it.

Book Weekend: Defy the Stars

It's time for another  Book Weekend! 

This coming weekend January 25th through the 27th stop by for a weekend dedicated to Defy the Stars by Stephanie Parent, a Young Adult novel in verse. 

Here's the schedule for the weekend:

Friday: Book Review

Saturday: Author Interview

Sunday: Giveaway & Author Mad Lib

I hope you stop by! =D

Novels In Verse Reading Challenge Sign Ups

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Welcome to the second annual Novels In Verse Reading Challenge!!! I had a blast hosting the challenge last year and look forward to doing it again this year! =D

RULES:

This challenge runs from January 3rd - December 31st, 2013. All books must be started on/after January 1st. Once you choose your level you can't change it. You can read any novels in verse you fancy, whether they be Young Adult, Middle Grade, or Adult it doesn't matter, just read! They don't have to be published in 2013 but YOU MUST READ THEM IN 2013. Also, feel free to re-read old favorites. AS LONG AS YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY REVIEWED THEM. You can post your reviews either on your blog or on Goodreads.

LEVELS:

Haiku 1-4 books

Limerick 5-8 books

Sonnet 9-12 books (This is the level I've chosen for myself)

BOOK IDEAS:

I've created some Pinterest boards with a bunch of titles to help give you ideas =) 

Middle Grade

Young Adult

HOW TO SIGN UP:

(Sign Ups will be open until June 1st)

To join the reading challenge fun just creat your own sign-up post that includes the button above and the level you've signed up for. If you want you can even create a list of the books your hoping to read as part of the challenge. You can create a list of books beforehand or start a blank list and fill them in as you read. It's that easy! Whatever you do just be sure to come back here and link up that post! (Please link to your sign up post directly and not just your blog.)

At the beginning of every month I will post a linky list where everyone can link up the reviews they write throughout the month.

GIVEAWAYS:

I'm going to be doing a few verse related giveaways throughout the year that will be for challenge participants only! 

NOTE:

If you are the author or publisher of a middle grade or young adult novel in verse and would like to take part whether it be an interview, guest post, cover reveal or donating something for a giveaway please let me know! You can contact me at bornbookish {at} gmail {dot} com

Book Review: All the Broken Pieces

Title: All The Broken Pieces

Author: Ann E. Burg

# Of Pages: 240

Publisher: Scholastic

Publication Date: April 1, 2009

Source: Library

Level: Middle Grade

Rating: 4 Hearts

Synopsis 

(From Amazon.com)

Two years after being airlifted out of war-torn Vietnam, Matt Pin is haunted: by bombs that fell like dead crows, by the family -- and the terrible secret -- he left behind. Now, inside a caring adoptive home in the United States, a series of profound events force him to choose between silence and candor, blame and forgiveness, fear and freedom.

My Verdict

All The Broken Pieces gives us a beautifully written look into the after effects of war, through the eyes of a seventh-grade boy named Matt Pin.

Matt was rescued from the Vietnam War and taken to America where he was adopted into a loving American family.

Now two years later, Matt is still carrying around the broken pieces of his past life. Knowing that Matt might need an outlet to talk about what he has been through, he and his father start attending group sessions for war veterans who served in the same war that Matt escaped. It is then that Matt must decide whether he is going to carry those broken pieces forever, or if he will open up and share his past with others.

While I enjoyed the issues addressed and the main story behind this book the one thing I was disappointed in was the character development. Besides his past, or the fact that he plays both baseball and piano we really don’t know anything about Matt. Who is he aside from these aspects of his life? What does he do when he’s not practicing baseball or piano? Who are his friends? What is he like when hanging out with friends? These are some of the questions I asked myself while reading.

To sum it up, All The Broken Pieces is a beautifully written, touching story that deals with heavy topics such as the after effects of war, survivor’s guilt, and adoption. The plot was deep, I just wish the characters were too.

Reading Challenge: October Linky List!

Only 3 more months to go! Link up your October reviews here =)

Book Review: Reaching for Sun by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer

Title: Reaching for Sun

Author: Tracie Vaughn Zimmer

# Of Pages: 144

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books

Publication Date: March 6, 2007

Level: Middle Grade

Rating: 5 Hearts

Synopsis

(From inside flap)

Josie Wyatt knows what it means to be different. Her family’s small farmhouse seems to shrink each time another new mansion goes up behind it. Her mom is demanding, her gran is opinionated, and her father- well, she’s never known him. Then there’s her cerebral palsy: even if Josie wants to forget that she was born with a disability, her mom can’t seem to let it go. Yet when a strange new boy- Jordan- moves into one of the houses nearby, he seems oblivious to all the things that make Josie different. And before long, Josie finds her herself reaching for something she’s never really known: a friend… and possibly more.

Interlinked free-verse poems tell the beautiful, heartfelt story of a girl, a proud family farm reduced to a garden, and a year of unforgettable growth.

My Verdict

Reaching for Sun was a great lazy-day read that took me only about an hour from start to finish. It is written in a series of free-verse poems, which I love.

I’ve come to find out that formatting is a big deal when it comes to novels in verse. All of my favorite books in verse share a common thread, the format, which is short and sweet. The lines are all short and to the point, each poem containing its own heading, kind off like a chapter title, that ties in with what is being said. This book was also broken into seasons, which I really liked. I thought it worked really well with the book because the story has so much to do with gardens and plants, which all change due to the season.

The author made it easy to get into Josie’s head. Her thoughts were so true, so pure, so real. This was an uplifting, heartfelt story of a young girl finding her place and her voice in life. 

Book Review: Chasing Brooklyn by Lisa Schroeder

Title: Chasing Brooklyn

Author: Lisa Schroeder

# Of Pages: 432

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Publication Date: January 5, 2010

Rating: 5 Hearts

Synopsis

(From Amazon.com)

High school junior Brooklyn and senior Nico are trying to move past the death of Lucca, a pivotal figure in both of their lives. Lucca was Brooklyn’s boyfriend and Nico’s brother. Although it has been one year since Lucca’s death, the recent overdose death of Gabe, Lucca’s long-time best friend, shakes Nico and Brooklyn by reopening the wound of Lucca’s sudden passing. Soon after dying, Gabe begins haunting Brooklyn’s dreams. Gabe’s intent is not clear, but the dreams have a malicious overtone that unsettles Brooklyn. Meanwhile, Nico has his own supernatural communications with his dead brother, and the clear message from Luca to Nico is that Brooklyn needs help. Nico reaches out to Brooklyn, and their grief and love for Lucca bring them together. But soon Brooklyn and Nico’s newfound friendship leads to deeper feelings.

My Verdict

    

This book was amazing! Chasing Brooklyn is a book written in free verse, by one of my all time favorite authors!  Lisa Schroeder is such a powerful writer, she know just what to say to pull on those heartstrings. This is Lisa’s third YA book written in verse, and can I just say that they keep getting better and better!

  
Books written in multiple perspectives are a toss up. Most of the time I really like books written this way, but sometimes I really hate it. I guess it all depends on the execution by the author. In this book I loved it. The chapters alternate back and forth between Brooklyn and Nico throughout the whole book, diving into the heart and soul of two different characters, experiencing the same heartbreak, both of whom you will fall in love with as you read this book.

   
As you can imagine this book was very emotional. Brooklyn has lost her boyfriend Lucca, who was also Nico’s brother. Then they both loose a friend, Gabe, who was Lucca’s best friend. But through all this loss and heartbreak they find each other. So it was an emotional journey to say the least. One that brought me to tears more than just once, but I loved every minute of it.