• About Us
    • Disclaimer and Policies
  • Giveaways
  • Features
    • Pre-Order Deal Incentives!
    • Author Talk Podcasts
    • Flashback Friday
    • Whadda YA Know Wednesday

Fiction Fare

  • Banners
  • Reviews
  • Contact Us

REVIEW: Searching for Sky by Jillian Cantor

May 7, 2014 by Jaime Leave a Comment

SEARCHING FOR SKY
By: Jillian Cantor
Publication Date: May 13, 2014
Searching for Sky
Summary
Sky and River have always lived on Island, the only world they’ve ever known. Until the day River spots a boat. Across Ocean, in a place called California, Sky is separated from River and forced to live with a grandmother she’s just met. Here the rules for survival are different. People rely on strange things like cars and cell phones. They keep secrets from one another. And without River, nothing makes sense. Sky yearns for her old life where she was strong and capable, not lost and confused. She must find River so they can return to Island, but the truth behind how they ended up there in the first place will come as the biggest shock of all.

About Jillian
Jillian CantorJillian Cantor has a BA in English from Penn State University. She received her MFA from The University of Arizona and was the recipient of the national Jacob K. Javits fellowship. She is the author of award-winning novels for teens and adults including, THE SEPTEMBER SISTERS, THE LIFE OF GLASS, and THE TRANSFORMATION OF THINGS. Her latest novel for adults, MARGOT, a re-imagining of Anne Frank’s sister in post-war America, was published by Riverhead Books on 9/3/13. Her next book for teens, SEARCHING FOR SKY, will be published by Bloomsbury in 2014. Born and raised in a suburb of Philadelphia, she currently lives in Arizona with her husband and two sons.

Erin’s Thoughts

Searching for Sky by Jillian Cantor

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Searching for Sky by Jillian Cantor was a quick and interesting read. These days books are all about people figuring out how to navigate in a world very different from what we have today but this story focuses on two individuals who grew up on an island and are suddenly thrown into our existing world. I found myself pulled right in and couldn’t wait to see how things went.

Sky and River grew up with Sky’s mother (Petal) and River’s father (Helmut) on a remote island. They were always told that they were the sole survivors of a boat crash and they managed to survive for a number of years. The story opens on Sky’s sixteenth birthday and we find that now, it is only Sky and River left and they are doing their best to survive but it isn’t always easy. River had always challenged Helmut and his rules and now that he is no longer around, he makes the decision to try to draw attention to their island. He believes that if a boat would find them, he could go back to his mother, who he believes was left behind.

A boat does come for them and both River and Sky are thrown into a situation that they don’t know how to adapt to and the only thing familiar to each of them (each other) is ripped away and they are forced apart. Sky it turns out is actually Megan and her grandmother comes to take her home with her…and away from River who happens to really be Lucas.

As the story progresses, we find out there is really more to this story and Cantor does a wonderful job of peeling away the real story layer by layer. Sky’s mother was really a part of a cult, which happened to be run by Helmut. Before they left on the boat, Helmut enlisted the help of Lucas to feed the cult members apples that happened to be poisoned. Because of this and the fact that the press has had access to the images showing Lucas in the pictures, there is an immediate bias toward him, not only by the public but specifically by Sky’s grandmother. It is because of this bias that she basically pays him to stay away from Sky which ultimately creates larger issues.

It was really hard once River was back in Sky’s life to see how different their integration to the real world was. Where Sky had someone who tried to care for her, River had no one. He didn’t know how to do anything but survive in the wild (for lack of a better way of explaining) and because of that, he ends up living in a somewhat similar situation to before…just a different location.

I really did feel bad for these two. We see the story through Sky’s eyes and to see her ripped away from River and then everyone trying to force her to be someone she wasn’t made me want to shake everyone and make them see how much they were hurting her. Ben was the one person to pull through for them in the end and I appreciated how he admitted what his role was supposed to be and to make up for it, he did what he had to in order to gain back Sky’s trust.

Overall this was a solid 3.5 stars for me. I thought the pacing was good and the way Cantor brought me into these characters lives was great. It was a quick read and I found myself turning the pages to see how it would all end up for these characters. I would have liked to know more about the decision Helmut made (with the mushrooms – – why then…did something happen??) but it in no way took away from the story of Sky and River.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bloomsbury for the review copy.

View all Erin’s reviews

Related Posts

  • Related Posts
Fiction Fare
Review: Morning Glory
Fiction Fare
Review: Spell Bound
Fiction Fare
REVIEW: The Good Girl by Mary Kubica
Fiction Fare
Reviews: Chasing Mrs. Right & Against The Wall (ADULT)
Fiction Fare
Review: Until There Was You

Filed Under: Book Review Tagged With: GoodReads, Reviewed by Erin

About Jaime

Avid reader and book blogger, lover of music, writing, my kid & my cats. Master of sarcasm and snark and doing what makes me happy.

  • facebook
  • twitter
  • pinterest
  • bloglovin
  • custom1
  • goodreads
  • rss
  • custom2

Get Our Updates!

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

E-Book Deals!

E-Book Deals!


Author Talk

 photo author-talk_zpscsw6iy8a.png

Archives

What We’re Currently Reading

Jaime's bookshelf: currently-reading

The Trouble with Destiny
0 of 5 stars
The Trouble with Destiny
by Lauren Morrill
The Beginning of Everything
0 of 5 stars
The Beginning of Everything
by Robyn Schneider
Forget Tomorrow
0 of 5 stars
Forget Tomorrow
by Pintip Dunn

goodreads.com

Erin's bookshelf: currently-reading

Endure
0 of 5 stars
Endure
by Sara B. Larson
The Unquiet
0 of 5 stars
The Unquiet
by Mikaela Everett
Twist
0 of 5 stars
Twist
by Karen Akins

goodreads.com

Upcoming Reviews

None yet!

Ebates Coupons and Cash Back

Challenge Participant

Recent Comments

  • Lisa Loves Lit on Waiting on Wednesday: The Queens of Innis Lear By Tessa Gratton
  • bookbunny68 on Top Ten Tuesday: Books That Have Been On My TBR the Longest and I Still Haven’t Read
  • Kristy Petree on Top Ten Tuesday: Books That Have Been On My TBR the Longest and I Still Haven’t Read
  • MischaS_ on Cover Reveal: Beyond Pain by Kit Rocha
  • Maggie @ ReadingDiva's Blog on Blog Tour: Tempests & Slaughter by Tamora Pierce

Recent Posts

  • People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
  • Flashback Friday: Blood and Sand by C.V. Wyk
  • Our Top Ten Most Anticipated Books to Screen Podcast Episode
  • Flashback Friday: The Highwayman (Victorian Rebels #1) by Kerrigan Byrne
  • Podcast Episode 81: #FicNews–March 2021

Recent Reviews

People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
The Heiress Gets a Duke by Harper St. George
Crown of Bones (Amassia #1) by A.K. Wilder
Courting Trouble (Goode Girls Romance #2) by Kerrigan Byrne
Eventide by Sarah Goodman
All Scot and Bothered (Devil You Know #2) by Kerrigan Byrne
Deadly Curious by Cindy Anstey
Review: Rebel Spy by Veronica Rossi
The Court of Miracles by Kester Grant
A Dark and Stormy Knight (Victorian Rebels #7) by Kerrigan Byrne

Copyright ©2010-2015 Fiction Fare « All Rights Reserved « Site Design by The CreativeB « Login