A review by in_love_with_bookish
Sweet Dandelion by Micalea Smeltzer

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

 I don’t know about this one, I feel like I should love it more, It’s that nagging feeling inside that’s telling me this book should be a favorite but I just couldn’t fall in love with the story. I just kept feeling apart from it like a bridge keeping me far away and I just couldn’t cross it.

It’s hard to share the most shattered parts of ourselves, don’t you think? The thoughts, the memories, the pain … it’s all so jagged and cutting. I already have to hurt, I don’t want other people to hurt too.


The story deals with grief, loss, and trauma and it revolves around Dandelion, a girl who lost her mother in a school shooting. As she goes to live with her brother, she meets her school counselor and she creates a bond with him that soon becomes more. At the same time, she is learning to live with the trauma and the loss of her mother as she starts to share life with her brother and meets new friends.

Sweet Dandelion is a personal book, It feels intimate and really hard to read, It’s a journey of healing, acceptance, and feeling alive again. But it’s also a love story that’s really complicated and difficult. I personally think the love story hurt the book a little bit. I understood the connection between Dandelion and Lachlan Taylor, her school counselor and I understood why Dandelion was drawn to him but It also made me uncomfortable.

It’s not that I even think of the house we grew up in all that often, but a home holds happiness inside its walls, it has a personality, a beating heart of the people who live there.


The author doesn’t shy away from talking about how inappropriate the relationship is between the two. Lachlan is really tormented by his feelings for Dandelion and he tries really hard not to act on them which drives home how much he cares for her but Dandelion tragic situation’s and her despair to latch onto anything that could make her better makes the romantic bond between them feel unbalanced. It was hard for me to root for the romantic aspect of the story and that hindered my enjoyment of the book.

To friendships that matter, relationships that are meant to last, and a passionate future wherever life might lead us.


I also find her relationship with her friend, Ansel more rewarding and more engaging. The portrayal of friendship is great in this book. There are all those bitter-sweet moments and beautiful experiences that Dandelion has with her friends that she can’t have with anyone else.

But I think because the author focuses a lot on the characters and their struggles, the plot wasn’t as solid as it could’ve been. I caught myself losing interest in the story few times because It really felt repetitive at times.

This is a complicated story with complicated dynamics, It was hard for me to support a lot of all the characters' choices because I’m not sure they did the right thing but It was also rewarding witnessing Dandelion's journey and healing through the book.

I’m trying. One day at a time. One step. One moment. The past doesn’t have to be an anchor, it can be your wings.

 
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