Review – Sparrow by Mary Cecilia Jackson (3/5 stars)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Length: 368 pages
Publisher: Tor Teen
Release Date: March 17, 2020
ISBN-13: 978-0765398857
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: eGalley from NetGalley.com
Rating: 3/5 stars
“There are two kinds of people on the planet. Hunters and prey
I thought I would be safe after my mother died. I thought I could stop searching for new places to hide. But you can’t escape what you are, what you’ve always been.
My name is Savannah Darcy Rose.
And I am still prey.
Though Savannah Rose―“Sparrow” to her friends and family―is a gifted ballerina, her real talent is keeping secrets. Schooled in silence by her long-dead mother, Sparrow has always believed that her lifelong creed―“I’m not the kind of girl who tells”―will make her just like everyone else: Normal. Happy. Safe.
But in the aftermath of a brutal assault by her seemingly perfect boyfriend Tristan, Sparrow must finally find the courage to confront the ghosts of her past, or lose herself forever….”
Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I got an eGalley from NetGalley.com to review.
Story (3/5): I have mixed feelings about this one. Some parts were a bit confusing; for example I didn’t realize Sophie was Sparrow’s aunt until well into the book; for some reason I thought she was Sparrow’s stepmom at first. I also wasn’t a huge fan of switching between Sparrow and Lucas’s POV; they just seemed to be separate stories with separate issues the characters were facing and didn’t merge together well.
Aside from those issues this was an emotional read about a young woman who’s been programmed to accept abuse and her struggle back to life from a brutal attack. It’s hard to read at points, but also feels a bit contrived. The ballet is more of a backdrop to the story than a really integral part of the story.
Characters (3/5): The characters were…okay. I again had mixed feelings about Sparrow…I get that her background played a part here but I was very frustrated with how she kept letting her boyfriend treat her and how she pushed her friends away. I get that she’s supposed to be “prey” but I really struggle with protagonists like her. I didn’t like her but I think that’s the point in the beginning of this book. I also thought Lucas came off as really immature at points and didn’t really enjoy him much as a character either.
Setting (3/5): The setting is contemporary. Brief portions of the story take place in a ballet studio which was interesting.
Writing Style (3/5): The writing style was readable with no big technical flaws. I didn’t enjoy the switching of POV and found some things confusing because they weren’t explained well. However, it was okay.
Summary (3/5): Overall this was okay but not great. I am always a sucker for ballerina stories for some reason. This is less of a story about ballet and more of a story about a teenage girl battling her demons and overcoming abusive relationships. If you are into that sort of thing you might like this, otherwise I would skip it.
