A heartbreaking yet hopeful story about grief, love, and change. The depiction of grief is raw and real, and the importance of family throughout the story is beautiful.

I loved the story, the world building and meeting the different characters. I felt completely immersed in the story and couldn't stop reading it.

3.5 stars

Do people really still develop film? Each time there was discussion of film development I was asking myself that question. It seemed so unlikely that a high school senior would be taking pictures with anything but a digital camera and yet there were two students from different backgrounds and opposite coasts of the country who bonded over photography and developing their own film.

I had a hard time relating to anyone in this story so while I enjoyed it for the most part, I just couldn’t understand where most of the characters were coming from.

After losing her father to cancer, Marigold’s life is completely uprooted when her mother moves their family from sunny California to a life with her aunt in a rural town in New York. Gone is the great best friend, the cute boyfriend, and the places that remind her of her father. Marigold doesn’t know how she’s going to make it through her senior year and struggles with her most important relationships being long distance. Eventually, Jesse, a student with a passion for photography, and she begin a friendship that ultimately requires more than Marigold is willing to give; honesty. How can Marigold be honest in her new friendship when she isn’t being honest with those closest to her?

Filled with family drama and adult and teen grief alike, this novel is one that is hard hitting and doesn’t shy away from the difficult. Sweeney does a wonderful job of navigating raw emotion and the challenges of coming to terms with loss that leads to the crooked path of eventual healing. Although somber, it does land at hope.
3.5 stars wounded up to 4 for this review.

After leaving her friends, state, school and life behind Mary struggles to find her place in life. After the death of her father, her mother up and moves them from California to New York and she grapples with all of the changes. Making friends, meeting a guy, getting along with her mother and sister, college applications and feeling broken.

I really enjoyed this book! I enjoyed that it was part lighthearted and part very heavy. It definitely covers the grief and confusion in losing a parent. I liked the characters and enjoyed seeing them grow. Would have appreciated a a longer and in depth epilogue. It was only a page and didn't really get into things I wanted to learn about (relationships, a job for Mary? College). Seems it ended quickly. Otherwise, great book!

This coming of age novel about three sisters who have to pick up and start fresh after the death of their father was everything I need in a YA novel and more. The sister dynamic is what got me, it was so easy to relate to. The emotions of high school brought me back. This was so expected and I loved it all.

The pacing was really slow in this book and it was hard to keep engaged. I wanted to DNF but stuck through. The depiction of grief and loss was done well though. I am still wondering what the plot of this story really was and the ending was very abrupt.

After leaving everything behind to move to upstate New York, Mary is trying to figure out her new normal. With her (now) long-distance boyfriend being a mess of a relationship, her best friend Nina who she’s no longer able to see everyday, and then there is Jesse.
Jesse is a photographer, just like her. And she finds herself smiling more than she has in a long time.
This book is great for those who are fans of contemporary coming-of-age stories! Especially those in which the character has to undergo odds to truly get a better understanding of themselves.
This is such a cute story with characters that are well rounded and unique in their own ways!

Thank you penguin teen for an arc of this book in return for an honest review!

Cover Story: Mood Board

First of all, I’m just thankful this isn’t an illustrated cover, because this book is not remotely twee or whimsical. Secondly, everything, from the camera to the marigolds to water, is very relevant to the story, so I shouldn’t complain but… I want to? Because this is a gorgeous novel, you guys, and it deserves better.

The Deal:

It’s been nine months since her dad died from cancer, and everything about Mary (short for Marigold) Sullivan’s life has changed. Leaving behind her bestie, Nora, and her long-time love, Bennett, in Los Angeles, Mary’s been forced to move across the country—for her senior year, no less—to Cumberland, a small town in upstate New York, where her mom can be closer to her sister, El. The new setting does nothing to improve the strained relations between Mary’s little sister, Bea, and their mother, who once again begins to drift away from them, nor does it help Mary grapple with looming college deadlines and her future in general. The only thing that does seem to offer any kind of solace is a boy named Jesse Keller, who shares her passion for photography.

As the weeks pass, Mary feels caught in the liminal space between her old life and the promise of what comes next, which in and of itself is almost impossible to imagine given the storm of grief raging in her head. She’s unmoored, floating in memories of her dad that keep disappearing; in competing desires for two different boys; and in the uncertainty of who she has—and will—become.

BFF Charm: Yay!

In spite of the impression I may have just given you, Mary is not, like, an Eeyore type. She feels things intensely, sure, but that means she’s as likely to catch her breath over a shaft of sunlight beaming through the room as she is to pensively stare at the rushing water of the river by her house. What I’m saying is, she’s deep, but she’s also still a teenager who says awkward shit in front of hot boys and loves going vintage shopping with her sister. Take a look inside her brain and tell me she isn’t relatable AF:

His hand is warm and his forehead is kind of leaning against mine and I can smell his breath and I swear to god it smells like flowers. Like the kind in the Greek myths that are designed to lead you to your death.

Mary is the type of person who will continue to surprise you as you get to know her, and I savored each and every layer.

Swoonworthy Scale: 7

Apologies to all of the folks out there who aren’t Gilmore Girls fans, but Jesse is basically the best parts of Dean (insanely tall, earnest, and thoughtful) and Jess (sexy, creative, and bold). He’s such a good dude without being boring, and he challenges Mary out of her listless bubble of sadness. From passing her notes like, “Do you think it’s possible to photograph ghosts?” to taking her to a used bookstore so they can read the first line of as many books as possible, he’s an absolute dreamboat, and the only reason the score isn’t higher is because, well, Bennett.

Mary’s connection with Bennett (who happens to be a surfer smokeshow) is an aching, bittersweet one, drenched in in the warm stability of childhood nostalgia. I wouldn’t call this situation a love triangle, because Mary’s feelings for Bennett fall in a complicated area with no geometric shape to it, but it does add another dimension to the romantic aspect of the story.

Beyond creating Jesse, Kate Sweeney has a real knack for crafting chemistry. She superbly captures those tiny details, those sparks and crackles, that make your stomach flip and your pulse rise. Here’s a taste of her wizardry:

There’s a strange awareness to having a crush, especially one you know you shouldn’t have. It’s the feeling—the hope—that at any moment that person could be watching you, could notice the way you scrawl your notes lefthanded, the way you stretch your arms wide like the sun when you’ve been sitting for a while. You see yourself through their eyes and you start to look different.

Butterflies, amiright?!!

Talky Talk: The School of Sarah Dessen

If you’re new to the site, you should know that I adore Sarah Dessen, so consider it HIGH PRAISE when I say that Kate Sweeney filled the Dessen-shaped void in my life and THEN SOME. Catch the Light sparkles with swoon while simultaneously gutting you with its exploration of grief, illuminated with evocative descriptions like this one of Mary’s mother:

The first few weeks after Dad died, she was blown wide open, leveled by a hurricane, splinters of her former self littering the front lawn.

Sweeney’s writing is beautifully vivid—occasionally searing, sometimes funny, and always resonant with genuine emotion. While this is the kind of book that’s easy to devour, thanks to engagingly realistic dialogue and smooth pacing, I found myself dwelling on sentences and sinking into the pages so that I could stay immersed in Mary’s world, as rocky as it was, for a little bit longer.


Bonus Factor: Sisters

As prickly as she could be, I got a kick out of Mary’s sister, Bea, a 9th grader with a morbid streak and a penchant for changing her look every few months. (My favorite: “sixties housewife,” defined as “polyester dresses the color of sherbet” and “big hair.”) Mary also has an older sister, Hannah, who was clearly the caretaker of the family until she left for college. (When Mary calls her about a fight between their mom and Bea, Hannah recommends Steel Magnolias as the cure-all.) The girls share an endearing, playful intimacy—at one point, Bea ends a fight with Mary by saying, “I can forgive you… if you give me ten years off the end of your life”—but they’re also separated by the unique ways they’re each processing their dad’s death, and there were multiple times I wanted to scoop them all up in a group hug.

Bonus Factor: Upstate New York

I get why Mary misses LA, but DUDE, upstate New York sounds resplendent! Their house is basically in the woods, with a river nearby where they can swim or paint or read or just like enjoy nature, and the actual town of Cumberland is charmingly small and quaint, marred only by the existence of Trumpers (a detail I found to be realistic if unwanted). This book makes even snow seem delightful, and I haaaate being cold, y’all.

Relationship Status: Deeply In Love

I fell for Catch the Light, slowly and sweetly, as it swept me up in its poignant insights and wonderfully complex characters. From the rush of romance to the pain of loss, my heart was left brimming with all the feels, which are far from fleeting, because this book? It’s a keeper.

Thank you penguin teen for the ARC.

I thought this book was good for the most part.
I’m still not sure how I feel about our MC Marigold. I found her incredibly selfish and it was hard to get past that.

What I did love was the sibling relationships and our love interest Jesse.

The author did a fantastic job at portraying the different ways grief affects a person.

I would definitely read more by this author.

CATCH THE LIGHT is the perfect example of a beautiful, "quiet", coming-of-age YA novel that has the potential to go unnoticed because of how the market is - but I do not want that to happen with this book!

This is a dream novel for readers who grew up loving authors like Sarah Dessen, Judy Blume, and Nina Lacour. Nine months after the death of her father, Marigold is forced to pick up and move from sunny Los Angeles all the way across the country to rural upstate New York. This tackles the way grief intertwines with identity, and how love changes once you've experienced loss.

The writing is beautiful, and I loved the way Marigold changes and grows throughout the novel. It is so true to the senior year experience - and the terrifying truth that comes with change, whether you've experienced loss or not.

The MC's father dies so they up and move across the country. This one really tugged at my heartstrings, and although I didn't love this story, It was still an enjoyable quick read for me.

I loved the setting, these characters all felt so real to me. I can’t wait to see what’s next! Five stars all around!!

What happens when your whole world turns upside down? In Kate Sweeney’s debut YA novel, Catch the Light, one girl must grapple with a family tragedy and the ripple effect it has on her life, relationships, and future.

If you’re a fan of Nina LaCour, then you HAVE to check this book out! Sweeney’s writing is so poetic in the way it explores Mary’s thoughts and feelings through this rough time in her life. The way grief is expressed through Mary, her sisters, and her mom after the death of her father showcases how people cope with their emotions and how you can feel guilt for trying to find happiness after a tragedy.

Poignant and bittersweet, this book is a must-read for those striving to find a deeper meaning in their world. This is a touching and speculative read for any YA lovers out there!

*I received an ARC from Penguin Teen in exchange for my honest review.

I liked this story ok, though the pacing was slow at times. I could tell the character was on an emotional journey and I just wanted a little more. Teen feelings are real and they are hard and I felt like it was missing some of that emotional depth and passion that I read in YA books. The love triangle prevented me from really rooting for the romance and the family issues were solved too easily.

This is a great YA novel. I liked the characters, the setting, and the photography angle. The author has caught the teen voice and social scene in a realistic way, and doesn't shy away from the realities of weekend parties and alcohol abuse, without making it a focus of the story. Likewise, how the main character, her sisters, her mother, and her aunt deal with the death of her father is realistic, but not the entire focus of the book. It would be a good book discussion book.

Thanks #NetGalley #VikingBooksforYoungReaders for letting me review this book from an e-galley

Quick Stats
Age Rating: 14+
Over All: 4.5 stars
Plot: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
Setting: 5/5
Writing: 5/5

Special thanks to Penguin Teen and NetGalley for an eARC of this book! All thoughts and opinions reflected in this review are my own.

This book was an amazing take on grief, family, and finding yourself.
Marigold’s family fell apart when her dad died of late stage pancreatic cancer nine months ago—now her life is destroyed, too, when she’s forced to move from LA to the middle of nowhere, New York.

Usually, books where the main character keeps making the worst decisions drive me absolutely crazy. However, I connected to Mary, and despite her train wreck of bad decisions, I genuinely liked her as a character and a person. Kate Sweeney managed to write a main character who is flawed, messy, and hurting those around her, while still making her an inherently likable character.
I feel like there isn’t a whole lot that I can say without spoiling anything, but if you want a story that’s sometimes sweet, heartwarming, and well written, but still hard hitting and messy with a healthy serving of teen angst, you definitely need to give Catch the Light a read.

DNF at 30%. I tried to get into this story, but sadly I didn’t really care for any of the characters and the pacing was very slow. I thought the depiction of grief and loss were really well done though, as well as the family/sibling dynamics. My inability to connect is probably just a case of “it’s me, not you”.

*I voluntarily read an advance copy of this book*

i may change my rating on this one but here we go for now:

catch the light follows mary after she moves from california to upstate new york following her father's death. she has to balance who/what she has back in california (her best friend & boyfriend and the memory of her father) and her new life in new york (as well as a guy she can't get out of her head...).

this book did a good job with its depiction of grief, especially in the way it showed how people cope with grief differently. mary really struggles with the downward spiral that happened after she lost her father: not only learning how to remember him/move forward but also dealing with everything else in her life, from friends to relationships to college plans. mary begins to think that she's forgetting her father, and she needs to reconcile that and realize that even though there are some little parts of her past that she's lost, there's also a huge part of her father that still remains with her. mary's struggle with grief is not linear, it's messy, and it's told very authentically.

sibling/family relationships are also a big theme in this book, with mary, her sisters, and her mother. they all cope in different ways, and in the book they really needed to get to know each other again. it all came down to communication and some understanding. their relationship, again, was imperfect but realistic.

photography was one of mary's biggest interests, and i think that became a good symbol of mary's process with grief and reconciling her father's memory.

time to discuss romance lol. i think this is where my rating becomes not a 5-star rating. there's mary, bennett (the guy from cali who mary was with before), and jesse (the new guy). bennett is pretty cool. jesse is amazing. it's giving golden retriever energy and this man is just so considerate and respectful and exudes so much joy. i love him. he's so cute. him and mary are very adorable.

now you see.. when i opened the book the first thing i said was "i hope there's no emotional cheating". well.. there was what i would classify as emotional (and physical) cheating. it's giving.... anna and french kiss. there is a degree of nuance to the situation because mary and bennett never really defined their relationship and were kind of on the rocks, but they were still romantically involved. mary very clearly wanted to break it off with bennett, she just needed to do so before doing anything with jesse. for mary, bennett served as a connection to her past and thus, to her father. and i can see how it was hard for her to let him go. but man, both him and jesse deserve better than to be lied to.

i think it's important to note that although (many of) the choices mary makes in the book weren't the best, her judgment was very much clouded by what she was going through. now, that definitely doesn't excuse what she did, but she was basically in this avalanche of lies and trying to appear like everything was a-ok. yes, it did backfire in the end. yes, i really wish she had done things differently. but yes, she also was not herself.

CW: death of loved one (in the past), grief, depression, underage drinking

Thank you to Penguin Random House and NetGalley for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Nine months after her dad dies, senior in high school Mary is forced to uproot her life from the hustle and bustle of LA to a small rural town in upstate New York. A town where if you blink, you miss it, and the biggest store in town is the local co op. Mary can't think of what lies ahead only what she's left behind.
⠀
While Mary acclimates to her new world, she's also hiding a secret. She has begun to forget her dad. While she's filling up the empty space her dad was with teenage activities, her photography, and balancing a strong connection with a fellow classmate she feels caught between what her life was and what her life is becoming.
⠀
The writing in this book is incredible! Having lost a parent I deeply resonate with how difficult it can be to want to honor the past but not live in it and the need to live in the present and think about the future, the writing in this book perfectly depicts this.