This book was so much more fun than I expected! (And a lot more risque, too, FYI). I loved the relationships, the way we got to see Skye grow as a character and become more comfortable with herself. I especially loved her relationship with her "egg". I loved the setting, the neighborhood, all the major and minor characters (all of whom were well developed and distinct). It made me laugh out loud, tear up, and smile with happiness. Highly recommend!

I enjoyed seeing the growth of all the main characters throughout the story. Well paced and interesting book.

I really appreciated this book. It beautifully captures the feelings of “blood family” vs. “found family” and the struggles of figuring out where you fit into the world.

Skye’s internal thoughts and feelings felt very close to home for me. Her voice is so defined. This sometimes makes her extremely unlikeable, but I think that’s why I enjoyed it so much. She felt like a real person and not someone who does a magical 180 on her life in the course of ~300 pages.

I think that at times the writing is a bit informal and not very “literary”. If that’s something that bothers you, I wouldn’t recommend this book. But if you want to read a book that feels like talking to a friend, this one really nails it.

I received an eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

3.5/5 Stars. I really enjoyed this book overall and loved the premise. A queer woman who is slightly angsty and messy and discovers the daughter of a friend who she donated her eggs to 12 years ago? Great premise and the plot definitely delivered. The best part of this book was the relationship between skye and her pseudo daughter. It changed skye for the better and it was a great found family relationship. I also loved that Philly seemed like its own character in this book. I did get annoyed with Skye's antics and self destructive-ness, especially with her friends and family. But the romance between her and the aunt made up for it in the end. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and would recommend for a lighthearted, fun read.

I really enjoyed this book. It's creates such a great sense of place and time. I really felt immersed in West Philly, and I found the slang and Spanglish helped create that. Skye, the narrator and main character, is a bit of an anti-hero, but I found myself rooting for her as she came to grips with her past and all the ways she was failing herself in the present. Her internal monologues made me laugh, made me hurt for her, and made me cheer her on. It was a great set up to contemplate the complex relationships of the families we're born with, and the families we choose, why we leave and why we stay.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC, in exchanged for this honest review.

I don't know why but this book just did not click for me. What I enjoyed most was the author's obvious love for Philadelphia, which really came through in the novel. Unfortunately I did not enjoy the writing style. But maybe the story just wasn't for me. I was very happy to read a story about black, queer people written by a black, queer woman! More of that!

I wasn't sure how I'd feel about this book but I loved it. I loved how messy and blunt our main character is, I love the unique story line, I laughed out loud at so many parts. Definitely a new favorite of mine!

I adored this book, and I was honestly not expecting it to be quite this wonderful. I’m easily drawn into things if they’re queer, but I still have times I get sucked into idea that queerness means romance, and so I kept hesitating picking this book up because the synopsis doesn’t mention a romance. But this book is so much more than queerness. It is a Black lesbian living with her trauma, reconnecting with family and friends, and building a relationship with the child she was the egg donor for. And there’s a small romance arc.

This was so good. Skye is so funny but also messy and nuanced and a bit of a disaster. She has trauma from an abusive childhood and her response to her perceiving people letting her down is to leave - often the country. Which is helped by her job, where she takes Black tour groups to different countries. But when she comes home and her friend, Viva, convinces her to go to an art show she’s suddenly confronted with Vicky. When Skye was 26 she ran into a friend from summer camp that she hadn’t seen in like a decade, and when she brought up egg donation, Skye was happy to help her friend, especially as she couldn’t imagine herself having children. But Charlotte passed away a few years ago and Vicky learned that she wasn’t her genetic mother, and finds Skye.

I love the relationship between Skye and Vicky, especially seeing Skye navigating the complicated dynamics of not being Vicky’s mom but also needing to learn she can’t just be her friend and have her back unquestionably. Vicky is also dealing with anger about the death of her mother, the way her step-mother makes racist comments in her hair and feeling like her dad doesn’t have her back, and being a twelve-year-old Black girl.

Like, I was not expecting to love this book so much, but I read this so fast and had so much trouble putting it down, especially the last third. It’s messy and complicated, but also there’s so much love and learning to accept and give love. Just, excellent. Highly recommend!

When she was twenty-six and broke, Skye didn’t think twice before selling her eggs and happily pocketing the cash. Now approaching forty, Skye still moves through life entirely—and unrepentantly—on her own terms, living out of a suitcase and avoiding all manner of serious relationships. Maybe her junior high classmates weren’t wrong when they voted her “Most Likely to Be Single” instead of “Most Ride-or-Die Homie,” but at least she’s always been free to do as she pleases.

Then a twelve-year-old girl tracks Skye down during one of her brief visits to her hometown of Philadelphia and informs Skye that she’s “her egg.” Skye’s life is thrown into sharp relief and she decides that it might be time to actually try to have a meaningful relationship with another human being. Spoiler alert: It’s not easy.

Things get even more complicated when Skye realizes that the woman she tried and failed to pick up the other day is the girl’s aunt, and now it’s awkward. All the while, her brother is trying to get in touch, her mother is being bewilderingly kind, and the West Philly pool halls and hoagie shops of her youth have been replaced by hipster cafés.

With its endearingly prickly narrator and a cast of characters willing to both challenge her and catch her when she falls, this novel is a clever, moving portrait of a woman and the relationships she thought she could live without.

My Thoughts:



I loved Skye Falling from the very first page. The first-person narrator brought me right into her interior world through her monologues and her interactions with the people around her. We get to see her life of the past and how her present life is not as satisfying as she had hoped.

On the journey, we get a first-hand view of Philadelphia and the neighborhoods she has inhabited.

Vicky is an endearing character with a fresh mouth that reveals much about her thoughts and feelings. She was also a gritty and sometimes tough character who found a way to accept the people in her orbit.

As for Skye, we learn a lot about how one woman navigates her world and chooses what to do next, which kept me turning the pages. 4.5 stars.

***This ARC came from the publisher via NetGalley.

***

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book. I had been hearing so much about it. It was a delightful read. It was funny, touching and honest and I loved it. I couldn't get enough of Skye and her growth throughout the book. She was hilariously truthful and I could visualize her mannerisms and felt like I was standing by watching this whole story unfold. I will definitely be recommending this book.

What would you do if you donated your eggs and twelve years later a girl shows up on your doorstep claiming she’s your biological daughter?

Well, I think I would freak out. But our MC in 𝘚𝘬𝘺𝘦 𝘍𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 by Mia McKenzie seemed to handle it a bit better. This was a fun read about family, accepting your past, growth and allowing yourself to be loved. There was also LGBTQ+ representation and discussions of racial disparities and gentrification in urban cities. Some of these sound like heavy topics, but McKenzie presented it in a lighter tone. And our main character, Skye, reminded me of the main character in High Fidelity, so if you liked that show you’ll enjoy her personality.

Thank you @randomhouse @netgalley for this eGalley!

Skye Falling was one of those reads you could feel the emotion of the characters. From the descriptions of Philly to the bonds between others I was rooting for skye the whole way. Skye goes from being detached from her life to fully living it.

Thank you netgalley and the publisher for the chance to read this digital arc. All opinions are my own.

I struggled through this book, I had no affinity to any of the characters and I didn't care about the storyline because so many current event themes was threaded into it. LGBT, friendships, police presence, Black culture, family dynamics, racism, gentrification and love. Most times I was lost and unsure if what was happening was in Skye's head or in the book.

This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for my thoughtful & honest review.

Skye never stays in one place to long owning a travel business. She had a rough childhood in Philadelphia and has been running from it. Vicky a 12 year old with gumption who shares her DNA is able to get Skye to stay around a bit. Skye gave her friend an egg and Vicky was the result. The relationship between Skye and Vicky is endearing. This book beautifully looks at some issues America is currently facing.

Grabbed this from netgalley when I saw it as a book choice elsewhere and I'm glad I did. A good story that took me a little while to get into but worth the time to read.

Skye Falling is a funny and heartwarming found family story. Skye is used to leaving town and not keeping up with her family or friends. That is, until a 13-year-old girl approaches her to tell her that she was once Skye’s egg. Now, Skye must learn how to stay and deal with her past.

Skye is African American and a lesbian. Her voice is the absolute best part of a great book. I laughed out loud several times, and I think this kind of character development is rare and precious. Highly recommend this and I will be reading anything Mia McKenzie puts out next!

Skye doesn't spend much time in her hometown of Philadelphia, stopping by for only a few weeks at a time between trips abroad for her travel guide business. Even when she is in town, she avoids her family and alienates her friends, leaving Skye worried she'll have no one left in her life when she's old. It all changes when a kid shows up, claiming to be from the egg she gave her friend years back. Now, Skye sees an opportunity for a genuine, easy connection-- and it doesn't hurt that she has a massive crush on the kid's aunt either.

The Positives: If you're a fan of contemporary romance, there's a lot to appreciate about this book. There's wonderful diversity, including a main character sapphic Black girl romance. It tackles serious racial issues while never undermining the lighthearted tone of the book. The characters are not all likeable, but they're complex and fun to get to know. I've grown up in PA, but from a very different area to Philly, so it was nice to read about a familiar (yet in other ways new) local culture.

The Negatives: There was nothing driving the plot. It was incredibly obvious from the beginning exactly where this book was going and what would happen, so I had very little motivation to turn the page. There was nothing to uncover and no twist to learn. For some people, that might be a perfect book. But despite how much I wanted to love this for all the rep and fun description, I did not enjoy reading it. I would have DNF'd if it wasn't an ARC copy. I also take some issue with how the lesbian rep was done.

Overall thoughts: I think there's a ton of value in this book if you enjoy contemporary romance and I would absolutely recommend it to readers of that genre. It is incredibly rare for me to enjoy those books, but I thought from the description that the plot and diversity would make it stand out for me-- unfortunately, that was not the case and I was just bored waiting for anything to happen.

Skye Falling felt like meeting up with my friends and sharing our life updates. It's somehow a comfortable read, while also addressing the important topics of Black culture, family dynamics, racism, queerness, gentrification, love, friendships, and police presence. It's loaded, but Mia McKenzie writes Skye in a way that allows you to hear her thoughts in your head and her voice out loud when she's speaking. It feels like you know her and even though I personally do not have the experiences Skye does, or that many who read this novel do, I felt like I was there and being given a perspective I would not know otherwise.

Skye faces things with humor, snark, or by running, but life has caught up to her, tagged her it, and now she's free falling through it. I weirdly loved Skye, in all her messiness she owns it and as she recognizes the messes she's made she begins to face the traumas that have shaped her. Besides Skye, McKenzie gives readers an incredible set of secondary characters. Viva could have her own whole novel, I'd read it in a second, and Vicky is so herself at such a young age that I can't help but want to see her again when she's older. West Philly itself feels like a character too, not just a setting. The streets are alive, the most minor of neighbors plays an important role in highlighting the gentrification of Skye's home, the racism that persists.

Skye Falling is an incredible novel, filled with humor and heart. A bit of a coming of age story, but for a grownup, with an impactful, relevant storyline.

I originally wanted to read this novel because it is set in Philadelphia and knowing nothing about the plot, picked the book up. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed not only the story, but the character portrayal as well. The main character, Skye, is for lack of a better term, a hot mess; but a mess that is welcomed by a surprising amount of people in her life. When an assertive 12 year old surprisingly enters Skye's life, she begins to really sort out who is truly important to her and how to help all of her relationships.

I requested this book on a whim after seeing it on BOTM, and I'm truly so glad I did.

Skye Falling is the story of Skye, an almost-40-year-old woman who runs away from her hometown of West Philadelphia as much as she can. She has a travel company that focuses on Black roots, and she's pretty successful. Cue Vicky, a young girl who finds Skye and tells her she's the egg that Skye donated years ago.

McKenzie weaves a beautifully funny and emotional story of a woman who learns to face her fears and stay. Part queer love story, part social issues and part learning to love the way others want to be loved, I really loved this one. I'd recommend to anyone!