A review by zinelib
Skye Falling by Mia McKenzie

hopeful reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

It's rare that I like a book as much as I didn't this one when I find the protagonist to be so self-destructive. Skye is an international tour guide and rarely spends time in her home town of Philadelphia. When she does, it's at the B&B of a high school friend, not with her mother and brother in her childhood home. Read into traveling ten months a year and rarely seeing your bio fam what you will, and you'll probably be right, that Skye had a troubled childhood. 

When we meet Skye at the age of 38 3/4, she gets a surprise that causes her to cancel a season of travel. While in Philly, Skye three steps forward and two steps backs her house in order. Skye's voice is smart and funny, and other than her, all of the characters are easily lovable. There are love and romance, but it's also a late-coming-of-age story. 

Example of Skye's voice (the first with a young friend and the second two with her brother)
"You go to therapy?" she asks. 
"Not currently. But I did for a while in college."
"How come?"
Wow, kids really have trash boundaries, don't they?

"Nah. I have some scotch, though. It's not too peaty."
I agree to scotch. He goes inside and brings it out in a coffee mug. I take a drink. It's peaty as hell. Like licking the mossy side of a tree. Like what you'd expect a hobbit's butthole to taste like, if you happened to be part of the ass-easting community of the Shire."

"You go to church?"
"Nah. But I did for a little while. Most of it was whack. Sexist. Homophobic. But one idea I took from it really helped me."
"Vengeance?" I ask. Christian God is so dick-hard for vengeance. 
"Mercy."
Expand filter menu Content Warnings