this one was alright! a sweet book with a beautiful plot, but it lacked memorability. This wasn’t one of the hard hitting texts that sticks with you. It’s just alright.

This book was unexpected in so many ways. It had a story that really kept you in, even when you felt uncomfortable with what the characters were doing or thinking. It was clearly thoughtfully written, each character having their own distinct personalities and approaches to what was going on around them. It was wild to see so many people living in the same one-street, feeling like their world was so small, but having such starkly contrasting experiences, even with events that would overlap. The author does a phenomenal job with the setting (including some dialect writing), really drawing you in and making you feel like you were there. It's a riveting read with some really difficult topics, so it isn't something I would recommend for someone looking for a light book.

The writing style is very strong, although the way in which it switches perspectives was a little hard to follow for me. I'm the kind of reader that can get easily confused when a lot of characters are introduced at once, and I found this was the case for me in this book. While I did eventually pick everything up, it did take me some time, and it required me to go back in the book and revisit some parts so I could connect names to characters and experiences. Another difficulty for me was the way in which the book recounts past events, or has flashbacks; now this may have something to do with the copy I read being an arc, and perhaps it is corrected in the published novel, but there was no real separation between the flashbacks and the current events. There is one really poignant scene in particular that I found to be powerful, where it jumped back in forth between the flashback and the character's current going-on, but I really had to think hard and find the division between the two moments. Again, this could have to do with the fact that I read an arc and not the final copy.

Even with my two setbacks, I found this book to be a powerful one. It makes a lot of bold statements about gentrification, poverty, family divisions, sex, the availability of essential female sanitation products, and betrayal. As I mentioned, it is difficult to read at times with the heavy topics, but it is well worth it.

Facing the Sun
4/5 ⭐️to Facing the Sun by Janice Lynn Mather

Thank you very much to Simon and Schuster and NetGalley for an early egalley of this book!

Overall, this was a lush book with a Caribbean setting that focused on friendship, family, and community. Especially perfect for a summer read! Loved the gorgeous cover, too, which reflected the spirit and setting of the book so well. I felt the strongest parts of the book were the writing, atmosphere, and overall theme. It is told in a rotating perspective between four teens who are friends and live in the same community in the Caribbean. This was a strong choice in terms of the type of story the author was trying to tell as you get a larger sense of the community and how the lives of these teens intersect. Each girl has her own personal issues that make this book real, raw, and relatable to readers. This also helped keep each narrative perspective, but the one drawback for me of having so many MCs was that it took me longer to be completely drawn into the characters and story. Mather wove the stories of these four girls so artfully together to tell her bigger story of Pinder Street (the community). The supporting cast was also skillfully included and really helped create this community and bring it to life. As a coming of age story, I feel that character growth is important, and so I really appreciated how each of our main characters learned a lot about themselves and each other through the challenges that happen in the book!

Please check out this book if you want a heartfelt story about friends and their beautiful Caribbean community! Also, this author is Bahamian-Canadian, which I find so wonderful! I definitely plan on picking up her books in the future!

The term "coming-of-age" has never really made much sense to me. It's far too wide of a genre, and a bit vague. Surely every book with main characters between the ages of 10-18 could be considered coming-of-age? I also never really could identify something that could be considered coming-of-age. It feels like it will always remain a bit of a mystery, but then I read a book like this one, where "coming-of-age" seems to fit it perfectly. There's not really a distinctive plot in Facing the Sun. Sure, things happen, relationships are tested and built upon, and obstacles are encountered, dealt with, or overcome. But instead of having a distinct beginning and end, we get the feeling that the story existed before we got there, and will continue after we close the book. You might think that would be obvious, and happen in every story, but that isn't always the case. What I felt in this one was like I was peeking into a small section of the lives of our main characters, with just a glimpse into this one particular moment in time.

What this book is mostly built upon however, is the friendship between the four main characters: Eve, Faith, KeeKee, and Nia. Or rather, their relationships with one another. Because I am still not sure if they consider themselves true friends or not. They are clearly staples in each others' lives, and their comings and goings are so interconnected they don't have a choice in the matter. But what I assumed would be a story about a tightknit group of girls who were helping each other through their problems was instead a story about four people who consistently find themselves wrapped into each others' lives. Sometimes they get along, sometimes they don't. Sometimes one breaks off and has relationships outside, sometimes the group splits down the middle. Sometimes they're not a group at all. But overall, it was so interesting to see how they appeared in the daily lives of one another, connected in so many different ways other than just friendship.

However, it was the four different perspectives that was also the weakness of this book. I don't frown on multiple perspective, they keep things interesting within a story. But if I had to choose, I would prefer that a story doesn't flip back and forth so frequently between those perspectives. Particularly at the beginning, when we had barely been introduced to each of them at all, it was difficult to keep them all apart, even more so when their lives intermingle so much as I mentioned above. There was also no consistency in the separation of perspectives. Sometimes it would last one page, sometimes five. Other times, whole chapters were dedicated to one girl. It made it harder to discern between them all, and I had trouble keeping some of the other relationships straight.

I liked the writing style in this book a lot. It reminded me of Toni Morrison's writing, if I were being honest. I'm a skim reader - if I can skip over some words to read a book faster, I'll do it. Sometimes it makes me miss things, other times the writing is weak enough that I don't. This book made me force myself to slow down and take in every word, which I don't do often, but I do enjoy. Obviously reading every word in a book will make it more enjoyable. But forcing myself to do this also reminds me that the book is special, and that there is more to the characters and the story that is written between the words that cannot be missed, no matter how quickly I want to get through to the end.

I love that this book takes place in the Bahamas, because I think most of the world looks at the Caribbean and sees islands that are just meant for vacations. But real people live there, they make their livelihood there, and this book really makes that clear and evident. It was also really interesting to see this other side of tourism and the effect it has on the locals, with the main plot of the book revolving around a hotel development. I love that the author is Bahamian as well, which obviously makes it more genuine and real, and really enhances the experience for the reader. I don't know how much (or if any) of the book may have been based on experiences of the author, but regardless, the familiarity with the environment is there and much appreciated from a reader's perspective.

I read this book in one sitting (because what else is there to do in this pandemic), and never felt like I was bored at any point. I don't know what happens to the characters before the story begins. I don't know what will happen to them after. I really like how the book ended, with the sense that the story doesn't actually end there. Maybe they graduate and all go off in different directions in life. Maybe they all stick around. Maybe they all will work for the hotel after it's built. Regardless, I like that it continues, even though I've closed the book. These characters felt very real, and flawed, and not like they were created for a book and perfectly crafted. I enjoyed the experience of reading this a lot, even though as a reader, there wasn't a personal connection. It really goes to show that if a book is well-written and there's thought put into the story and the characters, it's not necessary to relate to everything inside of it. You can still get the same sense of home and hope within it.

This was an excellent read. It's a book that examines community, coming of age and responsibilities young people take on. It was chosen for the FOLD Kids Book-of-the-Month for November.

Four teenage girls face a summer of change in Janice Lynn Mather’s latest novel. The coming of age tale follows Eve, Faith, KeeKee, and Nia as they navigate difficulties in their neighbourhood as well as within their relationships with each other.

As the school year winds down, each girl has to face what the summer is going to mean to them. They each have a number of hardships in their lives – to list them all would take far too long – and they all seem to collide at once, made infinitely harder by the news their beloved neighbourhood beach has been sold to hotel developers.

Given the novel features four characters, it takes a long time for the reader to get a sense of each girl. There is a lot of set up and it wasn’t until halfway through the book that the story seemed to move forward. Once it does, it moves quickly as almost every relationship in the book becomes fractured just as hotel construction begins.

The end of Mather’s novel may not wrap things up the way the reader wishes – it’s difficult when there are so many storylines and so much loss and heartbreak – but it is just right for the story she’s told. Life is not perfect and growing up is hard. All we can do is make the most of what life has given us.

Review of ‘Facing The Sun’, by Janice Lynn Mather
While at its heart, this is a coming of age story, I feel that the main focus of any book club reading Facing the Sun by Janice Lynn Mather should be the consequences of building fancy resorts on beaches formerly used by locals.⁠ I don’t think there is any easy answer to this question, quite honestly. But by delving into the consequences, both positive and negative, of these developments, perhaps as conscious consumers, we can make better decisions when it comes to planning our vacations (yes, there will be a post-pandemic world, at some point!)⁠
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It did remind me about the tactics described by Naomi Klein in ‘The Shock Doctrine’—in short, using the shock of post-tsunami times to move in, buy beach-side land (some formerly and fiercely protected), and build yet another resort on it. And keep in mind that most of the money doesn’t go back into the local population; the current model seems to always disproportionally benefit the (rich) investors.⁠
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There isn’t anything negative to say about this book; the writing is on point, the characters are engaging, and readers will be left caring way too much about them, all signs of a great book. Plus the cover is gorgeous, and makes me want to replace my NetGalley ecopy with a print copy.⁠ Someone please hide my credit card.⁠

Thanks to Simon & Schuster Canada for providing a digital ARC of Facing the Sun in exchange for an honest review.

Facing the Sun is a coming of age story at its finest. Set in the Caribbean, the story follows its 4 protagonists as they navigate family, friendship, self-worth, and growing up. All 4 characters and their families feel dynamic and real and the prose and imagery are absolutely goregous.

My main issue comes along with the choice to have 4 perspective. It makes it take a while to get a feel for each girl individually because of how frequently the speaker changes in the first few chapters and at times in the middle of the book we see the same situation recounted and reflected on by each perspective making a few sections lose momentum.

Overall though, I really enjoyed this.

An ARC of this novel was sent to me by NetGalley for reviewing purposes. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book was amazing! The characters and cast was extremely dynamic and well-developed, and the author's writing style is great. I look forward to reading more from this author!