Starfish | 
1. Kiko can‘t wait to graduate from high school so she can get away from her narcissistic mother and leave #Nebraska for art school in California.
2. I‘ve never been there, but I‘d like to visit Carhenge.
#RoadTripUSA2022
#TravelTuesday
Thank you @Endowarrior21 for this delightful package. I think we included similar items! Those pens are a secret bargain - my favorite pens this year and at the dollar store!!! ❤️ I love calendars and clocks, and I never think to include them in things I collect, but I do - so the mini calendar was fun! Off to make a cup of whiskey tea now. #bestof2020swap
pickThis isn't an easy book to read. Kiko's relationship with her white mother and isolation from her father's Japanese culture was frustrating and heartbreaking but This would be a powerful and important story for many young people. I don't want to give any spoilers but I enjoyed the way Kiko was able to learn more about her culture and her artistic voice. This process introduces such a wonderful character. I also think the romance was well done.
📚 Current reads: Split Tooth. From Scratch.
💜 Purple book: Starfish is the first purple book that I thought of
🛍 Most anticipated pre-order: I don‘t have one 🤷🏻♀️
#weekendreads
pickI feel so seen by this book. Kiko's interactions with & feelings about her mother mirror my own experiences & feelings about my own narcissistic mother. This was, at times, painful, relieving, & validating to read. I do wish the ending hadn't been quite so rushed...I would have liked to read more about Kiko's journey in healing.
#7days7books day 1 thank you @NeedsMoreBooks for the tag. This book defiantly left a big impression on me and I think about this book a lot lol. I think I‘ll tag @Pageturner1 @TheBookKeepers @slategreyskies @thebluestocking
so-soStory of Kiko, a half-Japanese teen with big dreams of art school and getting as far away from her bullying narcissistic mother as she can. Especially after mom lets abusive uncle move back in. Good depiction of social anxiety, and I liked Kiko‘s growth... it was a quick read... but some “twists” were very convenient and not surprising. Mom was a bit overdone too. #booked2020 #animaloncover
“Hearts aren't meant to be broken an infinite amount of times.“-
From Akemi Dawn Bowman's Starfish, one of my favorite realistic fiction books of all time.
Not much of a digital artist, obviously, but I thought I'd give it a try. Beautiful quotes deserve half-decent formats (;
Thanks to gustavorezende for the heart!
pickI can not say enough good things about this book! Kiko is a Japanese American girl who suffers from anxiety. Kiko lives with her 2 brothers & their mother (a stereotypical blue eyed blonde all American girl) who is a bullying Narcissist who dismisses her children‘s feelings while seeking validation from them.
Kiko dreams of being an artist, of going to art school, of being enough.
Starfish is beautiful. I devoured it & recommend it to everyone.
pickStunning writing + beautiful message + art art art + cute childhood friend to couple + relatable protagonist + brilliant message + mental health representation + diversity = YES.
Read this please!!
'Because sometimes, when the world doesn't make sense, it just feels better if there's someone around to make it a little less lonely.'
'We all have to dream our own dreams. We only get one life to live - live it for yourself, not anyone else. Because when you're on your deathbed, you're going to be wishing you had. When everyone else is on theirs, I guarantee they aren't going to be thinking about your life.'
'Maybe that's just part of growing up - things aren't black and white, hot and cold, happy and sad. They're complicated.'
so-soGlad to see a stark representation of anxiety, especially w/a young WoC. Appreciate the challenge to erroneous thinking about what anxiety is like/about, & pushback on toxic ideas about what qualifies as sexual abuse. The book is quiet but strong at times, and I cared about Kiko a lot. But I felt like the mom was cartoonish at times, & too much telling rather than showing. Often heavy-handed, & had a bit of “romance solves problems” feel. 3/5 ⭐️
We all have to dream our own dreams. We only get one life to live — live it for yourself, not anyone else. Because when you‘re on your deathbed, you‘re going to be wishing you had. When everyone else is on theirs, I guarantee they aren‘t going to be thinking about your life.
I live my life in the small space between “uncomfortable” and “awkward.”
[It me.]
I want this cover as a lil‘ wall art. (Also, we need a starfish emoji. And a jellyfish too, why not.) #nowreading
Needy cat is needy 🐱
(and also this book is giving me all sorts of emotions wow)
pickI was going to save this #underdog story for later in the year, but I saw it was available at the library and pounced on it. Kiko is a senior in high school, half Japanese, painfully shy, and she can‘t wait to get away from her self-absorbed hot mess of a mother and go to art school. But things don‘t exactly turn out as planned ... Plot/characters aren‘t exactly subtle or nuanced, but the story is sweet, & you can‘t help but love Kiko. #Booked2018
pickStarfish is a Bildungsroman, focusing on the life of Kiko, a half-Japanese teenage girl and the complex relationship that she shares with her narcissistic mother. The story follows her relations with her childhood friend, her two brothers, and her father who has a new family. I picked the book up because of the gorgeous cover and it is an excellent debut novel. The other themes include mental health, biracial identity and the importance of family.
pickThis is a beautifully done YA book about a 17 yr. old half-Japanese girl named Kiko. She has a horrendously self-absorbed mother, a talent for drawing/painting, and a crushing social anxiety disorder. I would have to say this book has captured exactly what it feels like to have social anxiety...it honestly kind of blew me away in that regard. It was healing, somehow, to read. Kiko finds her way through her painful past, learning to accept herself.
Current deal at Amazon. I haven‘t yet read it but it seems interesting...I wish I‘d had a book like this when I was a teenager, to help figure out how to deal with big disappointments.
I want to follow more people on Litsy! If you have a book review account please drop a comment below - I‘d love to check out your profile!
Btw, STARFISH is my current read and I‘m loving it ♥️
so-soI wish I could say I loved this to bits. But it was only okay for me.
It had great insights to an abusive family, what that kind of a parent can do to the people around them, that was done superly. I loved Kiko's growth, and the apparently compulsory relationship was cute and all, but some of the twists were a bit too convenient. There was a certain hamfistyness in making some points, "a wise man tells you stuff"-type of thing that's just..eh.⭐⭐⭐
pickI‘m going to regret having stayed up to finish this when I‘m on baby duty in about 3 hours... but it was really good! My only issue was with the mom‘s character- she had no redeeming qualities, she was just evil. It got annoying.
Friends! About a month ago I found out that my first ever cover blurb was going to be on one of my favorite books from 2017, STARFISH by Akemi Dawn Bowman 😊 The publisher sent such a cute package and I‘m so excited that this is the book for this milestone.
I had to stop by work today to help my long term sub with some issues with the circulation system and the craziest thing happened - a stack of books just fell into my bag and made it home with me!
pickI absolutely loved this YA contemporary that tackles some difficult issues such as mental health and abuse. Can‘t wait for the authors next book later this year.
I‘ve been binging on YA and the Olympics! Finished Starfish, Love & Gelato, Come Back to Me, and To All the Boys I‘ve Loved Before. Still reading American Panda and Under the Lights. #currentlyreading
🥇Starfish wins the gold🥇
#nowreading! I finally finished A Quiet Kind of Thunder and immediately moved on to Starfish. #coverporn #winter #itssobloodycold
Reposting this here in case any of you want to win goodies (just retweet on Twitter, no other things needed. 😊) and also bec i ❤️❤️❤️ this flatlay photo of the book! It‘s simple and it doesn‘t take your focus away from the gorgeous book cover! I hope to have flatlay skills even close to this someday. 😂 #giveaway
Will I️ ever stop singing the praises of this book? Nope.
After I read the ARC, I️ immediately went to B&N to preorder a hardcover. Starfish is so brilliant and I️ was/still am genuinely touched.
I‘m opting to go with the first sentence of my current read, because I‘m all in if there‘s going to be some mother-daughter tension. Thanks for the tag @BarbaraBB #firstsentence
Check out how stunning this book is!! 😍😍
#starfish #diversebooks #litsygram #bookmail
pickKiko is a seventeen year old painter whose dreams come crashing down when she isn't accepted to art school. Her mother is a narcissistic wreck and her father mostly absent. After reconnecting with a childhood friend Kiko travels to California to try to reconcile with her past... and discover her future.
5/5🌟
My grandma had a stroke today and isn't doing well. I had a little breakdown over it in the flower isle at the market (grandma gave me my love of plants) and ended up buying myself a bouquet to feel closer to her. My plans for the evening include wrapping myself in the blanket she made me and starting this book. Sometimes being so far away from the rest of my family really sucks.
