A review by kmedusa
Under a Painted Sky by Stacey Lee
3.0
I expected great things of this book. That's where the problem lies at the end, as always, expectations
It is a cowboy story, with two girls playing cross-dressing to save their lives while living with three sweet and beautiful guys (who share two neurons). Although I liked the main characters, West was hard to swallow. Just as Sammy, I didn't quite figure him out and I'm not his biggest fan. Andy/Annamae was the reason I kept reading, while I enjoyed Sam's narrative and sympathize with her suffering. Cay and Peety are sweet and I would love to meet them in real life.
This gang faces may dangers along their adventure and it is interesting to see how their bond is formed and improved, through their long journey of 4 weeks. Well, maybe I am just too cynical and lacking social abilities to believe this trope.
There are some great and funny scenes that made me laugh out loud (my mother even came to check on me to see why I was so hysterical). Also, some horrible descriptions of torture and what being a slave must have been, those were all hard to stomach, but brought a necessary reflection about those terrors. There is talk about prejudice against someone for the color of their skin, or the shape of their eyes, or for their sex/sexuality. It all resonates adequate for the setting period.
My main complaint is I expected more depth to those characters. And my second complaint is Sammy constant fear with two things for the WHOLE story. There were different problems and action going on and "oh yeah, I just remember I need to worry about this and that again". I got bored with the lack of solutions to that until the (almost) end.
Anyway, I would recommend this book to anyone who like YA tropes (like, teenagers bounding easily and falling in love effortlessly and without reason in 4 weeks after first meeting), cowboy stories and cross-dressing. It may not impact and transform your life, but it is a entertaining story that can make you feel the characters' emotions. I may have not cared much about what was going on, yet I rooted for them to reach safety. Hope you can like it too.
It is a cowboy story, with two girls playing cross-dressing to save their lives while living with three sweet and beautiful guys (who share two neurons). Although I liked the main characters, West was hard to swallow. Just as Sammy, I didn't quite figure him out and I'm not his biggest fan. Andy/Annamae was the reason I kept reading, while I enjoyed Sam's narrative and sympathize with her suffering. Cay and Peety are sweet and I would love to meet them in real life.
This gang faces may dangers along their adventure and it is interesting to see how their bond is formed and improved, through their long journey of 4 weeks.
Spoiler
It is amazing how they went from "hey stranger I need a favour" to "we are a big and happy family" so fast.There are some great and funny scenes that made me laugh out loud (my mother even came to check on me to see why I was so hysterical). Also, some horrible descriptions of torture and what being a slave must have been, those were all hard to stomach, but brought a necessary reflection about those terrors. There is talk about prejudice against someone for the color of their skin, or the shape of their eyes, or for their sex/sexuality. It all resonates adequate for the setting period.
My main complaint is I expected more depth to those characters. And my second complaint is Sammy constant fear with two things for the WHOLE story. There were different problems and action going on and "oh yeah, I just remember I need to worry about this and that again". I got bored with the lack of solutions to that until the (almost) end.
Spoiler
Also, I just couldn't buy how ANY of those morons could not decipher those two were girls! And when they did why not talk about it???Anyway, I would recommend this book to anyone who like YA tropes (like, teenagers bounding easily and falling in love effortlessly and without reason in 4 weeks after first meeting), cowboy stories and cross-dressing. It may not impact and transform your life, but it is a entertaining story that can make you feel the characters' emotions. I may have not cared much about what was going on, yet I rooted for them to reach safety. Hope you can like it too.