Sam is a young girl, the reader follows her life from age 7 to age 20. Sam is not a happy girl, there is a lot in her life that makes her sad and unhappy. Her biggest sadness is her absent father, who is an alcoholic and a promise breaker. The only thing that makes Sam a little bit happy is climbing. She always has problems “fitting in”. I keep hoping that something will make Sam at peace with herself and her life.

While this is not an uplifting book, I couldn't stop reading it. The writing style is different……short and easy sentences while Sam is young. As Sam matures, so does the writing style. But sometimes the writing seems choppy. There are many non-sequiturs which I don’t see the reason for.

This book is an eye opener about the art of rock climbing. It is a subject that I knew very little about. It is a sport that requires a lot of determination, concentration, and strategy and has psychological aspects.

Usually, I am a huge fan of coming-of-age stories. I love to see the world through the eyes of a young person discovering the world. This book did not creep into my heart like others. I think I was hoping for something a little more uplifting. While Sam's character was well defined and developed, I wasn't able to warm up to her as much as I had hoped.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the Advance Readers Copy.

This is a really, thoughtful, tender story about Sam, a young, lonely child, living with her single, overworked, exhausted mother, a younger brother with special emotional needs, and a loving father who heart-wrenchingly flits in and out of her life. Despite, her loneliness, sadness and occasional dispair, she finds she has a talent for climbing, with all the pain, skill and determination that comes with it.

Overall, the story beautifully uses climbing not just as a metaphor for the rockiness of her life but also as a testament to how central a role it plays in her character development over a 12 year period.

I would definitely recommend this book to a book club!

My first book by this Author. I LOVED it! Sam is a 7 year old girl living with her mother and younger brother. She sees her father sporadically growing up. Rock climbing is her one passion and she is very talented at it. I felt for Sam and she will live in my heart for a long while. This is a beautifully written book and I highly recommend it. Thanks to NetGalley, Penguin Random House Canada and the Author for allowing me to read and review this book.