“Theoretically, everything should be explainable. But what if the explanation is that things are a gazillion times simpler than we think? That we don't need theorems to figure out our own lives?
What if it’s as simple as a boy loving his father? A girl loving a sister?
A boy loving a girl?”

[b:If Birds Fly Back|34601342|If Birds Fly Back|Carlie Sorosiak|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1489582034s/34601342.jpg|51394143] is a beautifully emotional story that resonates love, longing, and hope. This is a story about family and expectations and longing and grief. Linny is left reeling after the unexpected disappearance of her sister Grace, and all of Sebastian’s intellect can’t tell him anything about his birth father. Both teens are striving for answers and reasons to mysteries they don’t understand. Linny and Sebastian come together and learn more about family, acceptance, and themselves in the process.

Things I Liked:
Linny and Sebastian both were great MCs. Linny is a contradiction of optimism and realism. She has a heart wrenching dedication to her sister Grace, and her world implodes after her disappearance. I loved how she documented disappearance, and while maybe not the healthiest of coping tactic, it was truly unique and fascinating. Sebastian is again is a bit of a contradiction. He wants to be an astrophysicists - so he’s very logical and analytical. He also is a bit of a dreamer, who uses physics to explain the beauty and mystery around him. I also really loved Álvara Herrara. Though we don’t get much from him, he very much felt like a catalyst for our characters and the overall story. He was so earnest and a lovable grandfather-type character trying to play matchmaker for our two leads.

I loved Linny’s script. It was so beautifully whimsical and meaningful. I became invested in her relationship with her sister, even though we’ve never seen them together. It also really showed Linny’s emotional state and growth through the story as she starts questioning and blaming herself, wondering what she could have done, and grow toward acceptance.

Sebastian’s little theorems and thesis prompts through the story was one of my absolute favorite parts. Like, Linny’s scripts, Sebastian’s theorems showcased his thought process and emotions really well. And they were just fantastic in general. Here are some of my favorites:

A Theory for Absent Fathers #2: The end of invisibility directly correlates with the beginning of complication.

Theory on Kissing, Featuring Newton’s Third Law: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. But you will never fully understand this until there is a girl pressing her lips against yours in the same way that you are pressing your lips against hers.

The Stars-are-Like-Secrets Principle: Both can run out of fuel. Even if they remain dormant for years, all it takes is a catalyst. One day, they will explode.

This story was so EMOTIONALLY GRIPPING!!!!!!! It was so powerful and moving without feeling really heavy or depressing. There was this bright air of hope and growth that infused happiness into the story.

Things I Didn’t Like:
I felt like Sebastian’s father reveal felt really abrupt and out of nowhere. It happened at the beginning of the story to set the events into motion, but it just came out of left field.

There was this whimsy-ness that made it hard for me to connect and really sink my heart into the story until about 60%. It almost felt like I was an outside looking in, and I was missing an unnamed something.

This was a surprising success for me and I really enjoyed it. I don’t know how many times I can say beautiful and emotionally resonate, but it was just so fantastic. This is perfect if you like your summer contemporaries with some depth and great character growth. Highly recommend this!!!

I received a copy of the book from HarperCollins via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. ( )