Sunday, March 01, 2015

2015 book 50

Stacey Lee's Under a Painted Sky
It's 1849, and two teenage girls--one Chinese, one a slave--are on the run, headed West, dressed as boys. I mean, how good a premise is THAT? I was mildly dismayed when they almost immediately encounter a group of cute teenage boys and our narrator (the Chinese girl, Sam) finds one /very/ cute, but their journey is still really eventful and interesting, and the romance isn't a huuuuge part. Mainly because she's supposed to be a boy. :) I was way more into the descriptions of Chinese culture and cowboy-ing than her mooning over the dude (who, hilariously, is actually named West), though. Not to mention the awesome friendship between the girls. Things are a bit predictable, but in general, this was a cute read. Plus, if you grew up playing Oregon Trail like I did, you'll recognize all the landmarks mentioned! B+.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on March 17th.

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