This was one of my most anticipated reads of the first quarter and it was so disappointing. The back and forth of the timeline was so jarring and confusing. It seemed redundant. It just didn't' work. There was also such a quick jump from the hot new guy wanting to ask her out to her being so scared of him and fearing him. Unfortunately, this just wasn't the book for me.

'Sparrow' is a heartbreaking and yet hopeful new young adult contemporary novel that's incredibly realistic and relevant to our society. I don't normally read contemporary because it's not my cup of tea, but something about the description made me want to give it a try. I'm glad I did because it turned out to be much more than I thought it would be. Here's a breakdown:

Characters: Sparrow is a wonderful main character. She's complex and incredibly realistic. I connected with her right from the beginning of the book. As I learned about her past, my heart broke for her and what she went through. I don't normally have lots of big "feels" when reading - especially contemporary fiction - but this was an emotional roller coaster for me. Like I said, my heart broke for Sparrow and with hers as the story progresses and the bad things happen. I was angry, happy, hopeful, and completely rooting for her during the entire story. I came to really care about Sparrow and felt like she was telling me the story herself - or I was experiencing everything alongside her. The second narrator, Lucas, was also easy to identify with, although I didn't connect as deeply with him as I did with Sparrow. The other secondary characters were decently rounded with distinct personalities, so they weren't all complete stereotypes (although they were there). I loved getting to know Sparrow especially along with all the other characters and their relationships with one another.

Plot: This is a hard story to read and definitely has some triggers that readers need to be aware of. The book talks about some really hard topics and doesn't just gloss over them. The story really takes a deep look at how abuse affects a person on several levels - emotional scars, shame, guilt, trust issues, and so much more. It also shows how the loved ones of someone who has been abused and/or attacked are effected as well. How their lives are turned upside down and they have uncontrollable thoughts and emotions like anger, grief, shame, and guilt too. It was fascinating to experience all of these things on a very realistic level even though it was really hard at times to read.

Writing Style: If you've read my reviews before, you know how much writing style means to me and how it can ruin a book if done in a way I don't like. I love the first person point of view because it lets the reader form a deep connection with the narrator, on a level that no other writing styles can. I was so happy that the author chose to write this in the first person POV. I was very immersed in the Sparrow's story and how it effected her and the people around her. I loved getting to really know both Sparrow and Lucas - their hopes and dreams, fears and nightmares, memories, emotions, inner thoughts and feelings, and everything in between. I really believe that this writing style made the story come to life for me and allowed me to feel like I was a part of everything that happened. I definitely recommend this book for fans of YA contemporary fiction, especially ones that focus on tough topics like abuse.

Sparrow is a very talented ballerina whose life was always very focused on her training, not personal life. When she meets Tristan, she wants to change it so she can finally feel the taste of teenage love. She falls so deeply in it that she doesn’t recognize that the relationship with him is very toxic and abusive. She hides it from everyone and blames herself for every attack from his side. Her friend Lucas is against this relationship from the very beginning. Tristan was always a bully and he didn’t see any change in his behavior so he couldn’t understand why she wanted to be with him. They got into a lot of fights about it. He was the only person that saw that something is very wrong with it. So, every time he saw Sparrow, the conversation ended up as a fight and that’s how half of the book goes.

Sparrow’s relationship with her boyfriend is very toxic. She has no right to have an opinion, cry, speak to any guys and many more because it makes her boyfriend mad. When he gets mad, he starts to be very abusive and that’s what terrifies her, but she still tells herself that he does it because he loves her so much. When she finally tries to end it, she becomes a victim of a brutal assault. That’s how the first part of the story ends and instead of going to the second part, the story goes back to the beginning and shows the same story from Lucas’s point of view what makes no sense and is useless. I think that this book would be so much better without it and less annoying. Lucas is very childish and mad at the whole world because nothing is the way he wants it to be. He thinks that he knows everything better and takes everything too far with the major consequences at the end.

The next two parts are about the time Sparrow spends in the hospital and the recovery after she’s finally home. It reveals a dark story of her mother and how much influence it had on her life. I honestly think that the chapters about her stay at the hospital were too long and not needed. It should be focused more on the reason why she felt and acted the way she did after she finally woke up from a coma. The part I enjoyed the most in this book was the part of Sparrow’s therapy. It was interesting and explained all the important aspects of the story that could be confusing for the readers.

I was very excited to read this book. The synopsis sounds very interesting so I thought the book should be even better. The overall story idea was good, but the away it was written was just bad and boring. I felt like the first 250 pages were so repetitive and boring that I was falling asleep during the reading. The only part I enjoyed was 50 last pages and I don’t understand why the author didn’t focus on it more than on stupid fights between Lucas and Sparrow. Honestly, I didn’t like this book. I think it could be so much better if the author would focus on the different aspects of the story than she did. I feel very bad to give it a bad review, but I wanted to be honest. It doesn’t mean that the book is not worth a shot because everyone has different tastes and likes different books.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

So this book is being advertised as a book "in the voice of Laurie Halse Andersen's" "Speak" and I have to say that I agree! Though, if you're a fan of the movie "Black Swan," you'll jive well with this one, too. In fact, the former ballerina in me loved that this was incorporated into the story. Dancing can help people heal and I loved that aspect in this book.

Seventeen year old Savannah "Sparrow" Darcy Rose is an aspiring ballerina who lives with her dad and aunt after her mother was killed in an accident many years before. On the surface, it seems like Savannah has dealt with the grief of her mother's death through ballet and surrounding herself with her family and best friends, Delaney and Lucas. One day, while on her way to ballet, she's nearly hit by a car driven by the handsome, golden boy Tristan King who suddenly takes an interest in her and the two start dating. However, as much as Tristan may look like a golden boy, there's something far more sinister below the surface. He gets angry... He's controlling... And, even when Savannah's friends and family try to step in, to make sure that everything's okay, Savannah smiles and says "it's all good. I'm all good. Don't worry!" Because it is good, right? Tristan gives her gifts and loves her. And, even if he gets super angry and agitated, he ALWAYS apologizes. So it's good right? Until, one night. The one night that changes everything.

Did I interest you? I hope so, though this book isn't for the faint of heart. It gives a solid picture into domestic abuse and one girl's story into why it's so easy to "forgive and forget" abuse. It shows how one abuser likely became who he was. It shows how one victim conditioned herself that there wasn't a problem, particularly because she had to cope with a childhood trauma that she kept secret for many years. And, it shows survivor's remorse: how the friends and family of an abused victim carry the guilt of "knowing something was wrong and if I only had..."

I really liked how Jackson divided the book. The first 50% was focused on the growing relationship and abuse between Savannah and Tristan as well as the worry carried by her friends and family. It was at the 50% mark where the "one night" occurs. After that point, comes the grief, the rage, the sadness, and the healing. So, it's balanced awfully well.

There was also a fantastical aspect added during specific dream scenes and I felt that this was also appropriate.

The ending was left open and I think it was the perfect ending considering the circumstances. As much as I wanted to root for one of the characters (don't want to spoil much), it wouldn't have fit in properly. Not when Sparrow still needs to heal. But, maybe down the road I can dream of the ending I want for Sparrow and this other character...

I think the reason I gave it 4 stars is, well, maybe this is silly but I felt like Tristan checked all the boxes on a "stereotypical" domestic abuser. He was violent, bullied, and hurt others for a long time and he didn't try much to hide his anger. I've read a few domestic abuse books over the years and I think abuse comes in all forms and, more often than not, the abuse is hidden VERY well from the public which makes it even harder for others to believe the abuse is occurring. I think I'd rather have seen a case like that versus one where it checks, on paper, the stereotype of an abuser. Also, I think I wanted to see more of the relationship development between Sparrow and Tristan. Though, I do think the point is that he was so controlling that, after a few months, Sparrow was deeply into the relationship.

I'm definitely recommending this one to my students! It's a must-read.

First of all, thanks to NetGalley and TorTeen for approving my request and sending me an eARC in exchange for a honest review.
You have to know English isn’t my first language, so feel free to correct me if I make some mistakes while writing this review.


Actual rating: 3,5 stars.


TRIGGER WARNING: domestic violence, abusive relationship.


"Sparrow" is a book I'll struggle with while writing this review because it touches extremely delicate themes that at the same time lead me to be in conflict with them.

Sparrow is a talented dancer who, while being late for her dance lesson, is almost run over by Tristan one day in late winter - the handsome and perfect boy she has known for a lifetime, who has always been a bully and made fun of her and her best friend Lucas because of their passion for ballet.
But now Tristan - more beautiful than ever - says he's sorry for those behaviors and for having almost hit her, so he practically obliges her to accept an invitation to dinner as an opportunity to apologize.

And we read about their first date, we read how the next day she tells everything to her friends at school, we read how Lucas doesn't take it well and how her best friend Delaney is instead excited for her.

And then we jump forward a few months. We see how Sparrow is anxious because the dance lesson went beyond the usual time and Tristan - in addition to having seen her dance in close contact with Lucas during the rehearsals of "Swan Lake" - is now impatient since he brings her in and gets back to take her home at every lesson.
Let's go a few months further and we see how angry Tristan is because Sparrow forgot to put on the necklace he gave her - and Sparrow blames herself as Tristan puts his hands around her throat.

Delaney and Lucas' attempts to extort Sparrow the truth about her relationship with Tristan are useless - they only have suspicions and no proof and in the meantime Sparrow says that everything is fine, that the relationship is perfect, the bruises are due to her being clumsy so that her relationship with Tristan is none of their business.

Sparrow learned years ago with her mother not to speak and to smile through it.

But then we read about Tristan's brutal assault in late August and from that moment pretending will be impossible.


Abusive relationships are something I struggle to empathize with - perhaps because I am too self-centered and sometimes I get explosively angry even at nothing so it's highly improbable I could bear someone putting their hands on me while I remain in silence, maybe because (though being different relationships and although suffering the pains of hell after) I experienced some toxic friendships and I left when things started not to feel good anymore.

The truth is that while I feel extremely lucky I have never experienced an abusive love affair, I am the type that walks away - who emotionally and physically moves away at the first sign of something making me sick. This is why I have always felt quite confident in stating that I would never be able to stay in such a relationship, I would never be able to justify someone who beats me saying that he loves me and that afterwards feels guilty and tries to apologize, someone that says he's doing it for my own good - and at the same time I could never think that it is my fault, that I deserve it because it was my lack in something. I am too self-centered to think of such a thing.

It was difficult for me to empathize also because there are those temporal jumps I mentioned earlier - there's no way to get to know Tristan and be fascinated by him and then find out what kind of person he really is, there's no growing violence, there are single episodes in which you still get anxious and feel the tension because you feel the escalation of violence in Tristan as the months go by, yet I have struggled to empathize.

And then the story switches to Lucas and we go backward - we go back to Sparrow's first outing with Tristan and retrace the same episodes of violence seen though by Lucas' eyes.
The whole book is like this: for a while we are with Sparrow and then we go back at the same period with Lucas - a classic change in points of view chapter by chapter would perhaps have worked better for temporal continuity even if being so close to each other would have been a bit repetitive.

Not that what we read from Lucas's point of view is useless, on the contrary - we see what we can initially confuse as classic jealousy becoming concern and anger because Sparrow seems not to want to see what really is wrong with her relationship. We then see him feeling guilty, we see a different kind of anger that leads him to get in trouble - we see the pain, the helplessness in wanting to save Sparrow and the frustration in failing to it. We see him coming to terms with the fact that men see a problem and they would like to find a solution right away and immediately solve what is wrong while women need time to work out the traumas with their paces.

Although I have been unable to empathize - I had read a book five years ago on the same topic, but which started from premises and characteristic traits of the characters involved completely different - "Sparrow" is a book that shows and deals with those issues in the right way: the justifications the victim finds for their partner, the guilt felt by the survivor (the one felt by the person brutally attacked and the one felt by those who love the victim and haven't been able to stop what happened), the necessary therapy to heal, the type of domestic violence that creates two types of people - the one that will end up again victim of someone else and the one who'll turn from victim to oppressor.

Because even though he has no excuse, something about Tristan's family life with his father show through a phrase he says to Sparrow.
Because what Sparrow suffered at the hands of her mother is only hinted at, hushed at the beginning as she was taught to do, but which then explodes in all its horror when Sparrow realizes it's time to speak if she wants to have any chance of healing.

It's definitely a book with a really powerful message and I was sorry I was unable to empathize with this fragile but strong at the same time girl. Just as it's a pity those time jumps that perhaps made that part of the story end too soon - or perhaps the author didn't want the story to become too morbid because what matters is what happens next. Maybe I would have done without some of Lucas' point of view - or I would have left it intact, but I would have expanded Sparrow's.

The ending, however, is perfect for me: truthful, credible, bittersweet - the symbol of an affection that goes beyond friendship and romantic love, the representation of the way a person marks your life perhaps even when they're not a huge part of your life anymore.

I read Sparrow a few weeks ago, so my memory of the book is a little muddled when it comes to specifics, but I remember very clearly how it made me feel, how it made me want to wrap my arms around the characters I’d come to love without even realizing it- how it made me swipe off the tears that fell as I read.

Sparrow is the story of a girl called Savannah Darcy Rose. She’s a ballerina, a swan gliding on the moonlit waters of a lake, her feet wrapped in pointe shoes, her arms raised above her head in graceful arcs. Then we have her prince, her friend-maybe more, maybe not-, and her partner on this lonesome lake, Lucas. Their story is sad, it’s terrifying and heartbreaking. But, they come out of it stronger, maybe kinder, more themselves than they have been before, so maybe it is beautiful, too, in its own warped way.

Before you go into this novel, I would like to issue a big trigger warning. This book details and discusses Sparrow’s abusive relationship with Tristan King which involves gaslighting, manipulation, emotional abuse and physical violence. It also deals with the story of Sparrow’s friend Lucas and it involves him processing his grief over the death of his father. The topics dealt with in this book are heavy, and while the story doesn’t glorify anything inappropriate, it is important that you are aware of these things as you go in. Please be careful and be sure to practice self-care if you choose to pick this book up. <3

There’s not much to say in terms of the plot of the novel here. It’s a wonderfully told story that takes us through the journeys Lucas and Sparrow go through as they grieve and grow, experience destruction and rebuild. I, personally, felt the impact of Sparrow’s story much harder than I felt Lucas’. It felt like Sparrow was still the main character of the book, even though we got to see Lucas’ perspective and experience his story. Perhaps it was just that I connected to her more as a character? I’m not sure.

Like I said, Lucas and Sparrow, both get first person perspectives in this book, and while this book did that thing with dual perspectives that I usually hate in novels - the thing where we just see the same events from the perspective of two characters in consecutive chapters- I really didn’t hate it. The two characters had something new to share every time, and it didn’t feel like an unnecessary writing device. There were some inconsistencies in the character work, but the distinct voice of the characters still shone through and it made my reading experience that much more complete!

Speaking of the characters, I could definitely spot a few inadequacies in the way that they were crafted, and in the way that they were developed, but they also that indescribable quality that made them feel very real, and I found myself falling in love with all of them- well, the main cast, atleast. There was a certain charm to all of them, I suppose, and it really made up for the other shortcomings.

The writing in this book was lush and it fit perfectly well with the kind of story that it is. Lucas’ parts were rooted in reality, but they were brimming with grief and anger at the world for the unfair hands that it dealt people. And Sparrow’s parts had an almost ethereal quality to them - like her life itself was something like the fairytales she danced to life on the stage. I absolutely adored the parts where we got to see her dreams. The prose there was so flowery and purple and I was so completely sucked into it that it felt like I was reading fabulism and not contemporary literature.

While there is not much I can say about the plot- really, it’s about how Sparrow recovers from her traumatic relationship with Tristan, a boy she starts dating in, like, chapter one, and how Lucas, dealing with his dad’s death, gets entangled in this relationship, and how he tries to help Sparrow only to realize that the most he can do is stand by her, and let her grow, but these are things I can say, and you wouldn’t truly understand them until you read and live through them- I will say that the portrayal of tragedy in this book was excellent. The themes that were touched upon didn’t feel forced, and the reaction of the characters to their personal tragedies were so genuine and heartbreaking! Sparrow’s story really reminded me of Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak, and that, I’d say, is high praise.

There’s a lot of things that I could point out which felt lacking, too- the character work wasn’t perfect; there were a few cheesy parts here and there; Tristan King and his father were almost comically evil, despite there being proclamations that they weren’t; a few places had jaggedy-waggedy writing and all that jazz. But all of it really paled in comparison to the emotional response this book was able to elicit in me. Again, these issues were minor in the first place - i still stand by whatever I said about the parts I liked about this book- , and because the subject matter of the book was so compelling, these small issues didn’t matter.

Overall, I think this book is a really important book. It tells an important story, and I really hope it helps people heal and grow if they do pick it up. I would really recommend that you check this book out if you’re able to, as long as you are aware of the triggering content that it contains. You might just fall in love with it.

I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I love ballerina books, but I didn't LOVE this one. I liked it but in my own personal opinion it was just okay. I felt it was a bit predictable and a bit cliché. I did enjoy it though and it was a quick read.

Thank you kindly to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for this review copy.

An interesting book and story line. Sparrow is in an abusive relationship and is brutally attacked. Once she wakes up from the attack she faces the demons from her past and tries to work through them. Lucas is her friend and fellow dancer who tries to help her see the truth about Sparrow's relationship. I enjoyed the book but wish it was told solely from the point of view of Sparrow and not Lucas as well. It seemed a little disjointed at times when it was from Lucas's point of view. Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

I think my biggest complaint about this book is the arc of the abusive boyfriend. Not only is it obvious, it doesn't follow a sensible progression. First he's cool and suave and handsome. And somehow he's too much of those things to be a match for her? Like if someone that much of a "catch" is into this girl then obviously something must be wrong with him. He's sweet and charming. Then all at once he turns. The change is sudden and absolute. No halfway point, no back and forth. Abso.lute monster capable of beating someone nearly to death without blinking. He's completely unaffected by his own actions.
I also found the timeline a bit confusing. Each perspective change covers months of time. It was a big hard to follow, to remember what had happened with the last perspective character before we changed perspectives again.

Sparrow is a girl who loves life and dancing. She's even going to dance in her school's rendition of Swan Lake. Her life soon takes a dark turn as she falls for Tristan, a boy who used to bully her group of friends, but seems charming and is definitely handsome. What starts out as a sweet relationship degrades over a period of months as Tristan demeans, insults, and hurts Sparrow, physically and emotionally. Lucas, Sparrow's best friend, tries to extract Sparrow from this disastrous relationship, but to no avail.

Sparrow turns a blind eye to the abuse, staying quiet and trying to explain it away. Lucas sees things as they really are, but he can only sit by, helpless. Tristan's behavior only worsens over time.

This book hurt my heart to read because both Sparrow and Lucas go through so much pain. Sparrow turns a blind eye even as she suffers, even as Lucas tries everything to save her. This felt like an authentic journey through a damaging relationship, and I wanted nothing more than for Sparrow to see things as they really were happening to her. Unfortunately, as with many things in life, often we don't recognize the extent of the damage done until it's far too late.

I recommend Sparrow, but only if you're ready to feel like a helpless best friend who can't help her.

I have to admit to initially falling in love with this cover. Besides giving off some serious Black Swan vibes, I am fascinated by ballet. Skill, athleticism, grace, determination, and strength all come together to form this beautiful dance that is both rigid and soft.

What I first thought was a typical YA about a troubled but beautiful girl turned into something way more intricate and beautiful. To say this is a coming of age story sells it completely short. This is a story of survival.

The most beautiful and engaging moments came when Mary Cecilia Jackson wrote about each characters emotions. In life, we often times disregard teenage feelings as overly dramatic caricatures of true adult feeling, but Sparrow serves as a sorrowful reminder that childhood emotion can be just as real, just as deep, and just as lasting.

It’s also a much needed reminder of the impact domestic abuse can have and the importance of taking mental health seriously. Domestic violence often has many victims beyond the person getting physically assaulted. The ripple effect of each blow, each insult, reverberates throughout someones life, touching everyone around them, and changing everyone’s lives forever.

Mary Cecilia Jackson chose to write in a beautiful style that I really appreciated, and let me explain why. The story is told from two different perspectives, but is not told truly chronologically. When we read from Sparrow’s POV, we see only parts of the story, but once the perspective shifts we get to see other events. In essence, instead of being an omnipotent reader, we experience the book as an onlooker would. We only see what’s available and sometimes find out too late the whole story.

If you’ve ever known someone in an abusive relationship or been in one yourself, many times even close friends and family didn’t know what was going on behind closed doors. By framing the book this way, Jackson gave us the ability to experience Sparrow’s story as each character did.

Needless to say, I loved the book. One of my fav YA books of the year for sure, but be prepared for some heavy emotions and violent imagery. Definite trigger warnings in this one.

Sparrow was so much deeper than I was expecting. As hard as some of this story is to get through, I strongly think teenage girls should read it.
Sparrow is your usual teenage girl with a dark past that falls for the wrong boy. Like most girls her age, she makes excuses until one night those excuses can no longer be hidden. But that's only half the story.

This story splits part way through by bringing in another characters point of view. It also shows the before and after effects of an abused girl and the friends around her. I found the story well written and realistic. It may trigger some with abuse in their lives.
With that said I highly recommend this novel. It is definitely a must read at any age.

*We received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are our own and do not reflect the thoughts or opinions of the publisher or author.

I was first drawn to this YA contemporary by the gorgeous, minimalist cover. Then I read the synopsis and I knew that I had to read this social-issue novel. I am happy to report that I was not disappointed.

Our protagonist is Savannah Rose- or Sparrow to most of her friends. She is your average teenager who deals with high school and dances in a ballet company. When she meets Tristen she thinks she has met the man of her dreams.

This book is heavy and there is a lot to unpack. We get alternating perspectives between Sparrow and one of her best friends, Lucas. I think this was an amazing way to handle this story because it showed the far reaching impacts of abuse and assault that extend beyond the abuser and victim.

Jackson does an amazing job getting inside Soarrows head, first as she tries to understand the red flags she is seeing with Tristen and then while she struggles to heal after the brutal assault. All the supporting characters are phenomenal and complex, showing the importance of networks of loved one in the process of recovering from such horrific events.

On a lighter note, I loved the ballet scenes in this book. Never doing ballet is one of the biggest regrets of my life and I found the scenes with Sparrow and Lucas dancing so immersive and beautiful.

If there was any doubt, I gave this heavy but beautiful book 5/5 stars and would recommend it to people who love authors such as Angie Thomas and Mindy McGinnis.

I didn’t know what to expect when I started reading this, it was a beautiful heart breaking novel that I really enjoyed reading. I also absolutely loved the cover of this book.
This wasn’t a easy book to read , you could see where it was going and that disaster was looming , Sparrow’s back story is horrifying and the emotional scars she had lead to physical scars in the present.
I loved Sparrow’s character, her strength and determination shine throughout the book and i loved her strong friendships which made the novel shine.
I’m really hoping there’s another to this book, the story is told from Sparrow view and alternated with one of her best friends Marcus who is her dance partner this read was a rollercoaster of emotions.
My rating 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

I received this book in return for an honest review

Sparrow is a phenomenal coming of age story. Damn, this Mary Cecilia Jackson book is so much more than I could have ever expected.

This is a serious and complex tale. The topics are heavy, including abuse, both physical and emotional. It's a story of the inability to stop someone from being in an abusive relationship. And then...then it gets heavy.

This is a story of internal demons, some that have been around for a lifetime. It's a story that includes the death of a parent, in an amazing manner.
And it's a story of rage, hopeless, and ultimately hope.

Told in first person povs, alternating between Sparrow and Lucas, this is a story of life. The good, the bad, the highs and the lows. It's a tale of friendship and healing.

The writing is fantastic, impressive for a first time novelist. The writing is detailed, fluid, and almost lyrical at times. It covers a lot of events, skipping over a lot at times, which bothered me a little at first. But, as the story progresses, it's clear why the author does things this way, and what the true heart of the story is.

The author covers many very serious topics, all with care and compassion, including an abusive boyfriend, which is damn tough to read.


The author uses alternating point of views, choosing to repeat events, showing them from different perspectives. A normal practice, this one seems a little weird at times, as the author rewinds when starting from the new point of view, rather than just showing different events from each character. But it works none-the-less.

Sparrow is thought-provoking, impressive, and seriously tough to handle at times. This Mary Cecilia Jackson is well worth a read when you're looking for a serious young adult book.

Please note that this book contains content surrounding abuse, suicide and assault.

I was kind of disappointed with this book.

I had such high hopes as I really love diving into YA Contemporaries with hard-hitting storylines and emotional, raw characters finding self-discovery.

And as soon as I read the synopsis of a ballerina and her abuse, I knew this one was going to be all the feels.

Unfortunately, the writing style was too jumbled and disconnected. The content itself was a great intro, but then I realized that the timeline jumped drastically from paragraph to paragraph without any distinction of it happening. One minute I was reading her new relationship and by the end of the page, they had been together for three months already? It just kept happening with no distinction in between..

I really wanted to dive so deep into this book but it just wasn’t executed correctly. So, I ended up giving it only a 2 out of 5 stars. I think that if it was less scrambled, this could easily have been a 4/5 star book.

Disclaimer: I received an arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: Sparrow

Author: Mary Cecilia Jackson

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 5/5

Publication Date: March 17, 2020

Genre: YA Contemporary

Recommended Age: 16+ (bullying, homophobic comments, psychological/mental illness, abuse)

Publisher: TorTeen

Pages: 320

Amazon Link

Synopsis: 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….

Review: Holy cow this book was a complete 180 from what I thought it was going to be! I thought this would be more boarding school ballet but this book was very grounded in very real and serious real-world issues. I loved the character development and I loved how the story flowed. It was almost like a ballet itself in how it was written.

However, I did think that the book was a bit slow and it did take a bit to get into.

Verdict: Add this to your online cart while you practice ballet in the safety of your own home.

Poignant, painful, but ultimately hopeful, Sparrow provides a harrowing look at one girl’s journey from victim to survivor. This is the sort of book that will stick with you for a while–and, yes, you’ll probably shed some tears.

Now, normally I save trigger/content warnings for the end of a review, but I want to make this abundantly clear: this is a heavy read. It deals, in detail, with the subjects of abuse, both physical and verbal, both from parent to child and within a romantic relationship. This is not just a minor thing; there is violence severe enough to cause a hospital visit. A character struggles with deep psychological scars from past abuse. There is a side plot including cancer and death of a family member.

Please, please, take care of yourselves. I do strongly recommend this book, but only when you are in a healthy enough headspace to deal with it.

With that said, let’s get on to the rest of this review, starting with a quick summary:

17-year-old Savannah Darcy Rose (“Sparrow,” to her friends and family) keeps her life in a tightly regulated cycle of school, ballet, and friends. She is dancing the lead in Swan Lake at her conservatory, opposite her best friend Lucas, and looking toward a professional ballet future. When she finds herself in a relationship with Tristan King, everything changes. Tristan is gorgeous, attentive, intense, and showers her with gifts…but things quickly take a dark turn as attentive becomes possessive and intense becomes controlling. Sparrow thought her abuse had ended when she was a child, after her mother died, but finds that things with Tristan could turn much, much worse. When things escalate to a point far beyond what she ever expected, Sparrow has to struggle to heal physically, mentally, and emotionally, grappling with ghosts both past and present, if she is ever to get her life back to being truly her own.

The first thing I have to say about this book is that it is emotional. I’m not a sad-cry person (I stress-cry and failure-cry…but that’s a story for another day). I have never cried at a book, a movie, or a TV show, and I’ve only cried once at a musical. But reading this book was one of those rare instances where I felt such an intense sadness, I was sure that, if I were a crying person, my emotions would have been pouring out of my eyes and down my face. Jackson does not pull any punches in her writing, and we see it all–the good, the bad, and the downright awful.

The story is told through the dual perspectives of Sparrow and Lucas, a technique that I found highly effective in carrying the storyline. We see Sparrow grappling with internal demons while trying to suppress and gloss over the seriousness of what is happening to her, followed by Lucas’s horror-struck, detailed observations of those same scenes, and guilt over his inability to help the girl he loves, who has been his closest friend since childhood. There is a resonance between their two narratives: Sparrow, who feels powerless but needs to learn that she is not; and Lucas, who wants to help but needs to learn that not everything is his fault or his job to fix. Jackson is able to keenly hone in on the details of both characters’ psychological states and convey those in an eloquent (but not pretentious) way. It’s the little details that really hold their characters up: the way Sparrow obsessively does things in groups of three when she is nervous, the relationship between Lucas and his little sister, the use of dance as both a coping mechanism and a distraction, and the recurrent overspilling and misplacement of anger from both of them as they work through the wake of a disaster.

While we are talking about writing style: Jackson’s writing is lovely, full of vivid imagery and smoothly flowing sentences. There are splashes of humor every now and then, mostly in the banter between Lucas and some of his other friends, and from Delaney, who is the third member of Sparrow and Lucas’s friend trio, which helps add some much-needed levity in the earlier chapters.

Jackson also took an interesting approach to telling this story. Many times, a story on abuse will follow the trajectory of the relationship until it reaches a critical point, or it will at least keep the abuser as a major character for much of the story. That is not the case with Sparrow; the worst point of the relationship happens well before the halfway mark, and the rest of the book focuses on Sparrow and those who love her (especially Lucas), on the process of healing, and on the hope for a better future. Rather than dwelling on the bad actions, it places emphasis on the fallout from those actions. Outside of confrontation with Lucas at school, Tristan is not physically present for the majority of the story. This is significant: it makes it clear, even from the early days after the incident, that this is Sparrow’s story, not her abuser’s. And, critically, by including Lucas’s perspective, it is able to show more clearly the wide-reaching effects of the abuse, not just to the one being abused but to everyone around them as well.

The one aspect of this book I couldn’t quite decide whether I liked or not was the pacing. The narrative was fragmented oddly in some places, jumping from one scene to the next, sometimes skipping months at a time. On its own, this pattern is well-suited to a book that is taking such a concentrated, razor-edged approach to a difficult topic, by only including key scenes and omitting the fluff in between. But because the narrative spans such a long time, there are events that clearly have buildup to them but feel abrupt anyway, because we didn’t see any of it. The other problem was the combination of this format with the dual perspective, because it meant that things didn’t always happen chronologically–we see a few months from Sparrow, then jump back and see the same few months from Lucas, filling in some of the gaps in Sparrow’s narration. As a whole, I still think it works, but it can also be disorienting for the reader, especially on the first perspective switch.

As a whole, Sparrow is a devastating-yet-beautiful book, fully deserving of a read. Do not expect it to be easy; emotionally, it will hurt. But it is so, so valuable, so important, so significant in the bluntness with which it addresses these issues. And its ever-present message of hope will continue to ring long after you close the last page.

3.7/5

Sparrow is the story Savannah Darcy Rose, who loves & is a ballerina (hence the name), lives with her father and Aunt Sophie. Friends call Savannah as Sparrow, and I was amazed by the details of ballet that was put in. It sometimes looked like a wonderful painting in words.

The book is written from two POV's one from Sparrow aka Savannah and the other is Lucas, one of her best friend, her ballet partner (also he is in love with her, because why not. A girl and boy can't ever be just a friend, rite!? )

Sparrow in just few pages falls in love with Tristan "King" and decides she will love him no matter what. Because he is Handsome, and rich and...(well what more does a girl need, rite!?)
But Tristan is not what she thought, and he can be very brutally brutal. Even after her friends/family, trying to reach Sparrow and seeing Red Flags, she just walked down the road to disaster.
But wait, there are some other secrets Sparrow hasn't shared with the world(us & her family). Lucas is a best friend, so surely he knows ALL ABOUT IT.

Want to know what the secret is ? Well sure, go ahead and grab the book.

The story has so many cliche's that I was not that happy with the book.
But let's get to the good things that I LOVED about this book.

Writing, I loved the poetic, lyrical way the author Mary wrote the book. There were so many sentences which I just loved because the so poetic.
Friendship, I love books that show very strong friendship (and I really don't care that if one of them is in love with another).

There are few strong female character's that I loved. One of them is Lucas's Granny Deirdre , with age comes the wisdom can be so true to this character. I loved her, and she reminded me of my grandmother.
Dr. Gray < you need to read to know about her role > _i don't want to give out spoilers :P_

Title: Sparrow
Author: Mary Cecilia Jackson
Genre: YA
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Sparrow—Savannah Darcy Rose—thought she would be safe after her mother died. She thought she could finally stop hiding. She’s a gifted ballerina with a tight-knit circle of friends, she’s starring in a new production, and her future looks bright.

Then she meets Tristan: handsome, wealthy, the most popular boy in school. Sparrow is in love, but Tristan isn’t quite as perfect as he seems, and soon Sparrow finds herself keeping secrets from everyone. She’s not the kind of girl who tells, but after a brutal assault, she must learn how to open up to those around her.

This wasn’t an easy book to read. You could see the disaster looming…but you were helpless to divert it. Sparrow’s backstory is horrifying, and the emotional scars she bears lead to physical scars in her present. I loved her strength and determination—and the strong friendships made the novel shine.

Mary Cecilia Jackson loves being a Southerner and reading. Sparrow is her debut novel.

(Galley courtesy of Tor Teen in exchange for an honest review.)