I would've enjoyed this significantly more if the onus for adjusting to the loss of her mother and being thrown into a new family and a new home hadn't been almost exclusively on Violet. None of the adults in her life—her father, her new stepmother, even her guidance counselor—seem to think they bear any responsibility for addressing her grief or uncertainty or anger or frustration.

When she finally explodes with all the harsh words she's been holding inside, instead of sitting down and talking through her frustrations as a family, they berate her for hurting everyone's feelings and tell her she's not trying hard enough. And Violet, already a people-pleaser afraid to say what she really feels for fear of hurting others, does as demanded and tries, reaching out again and again even after her initial attempts are met with punishing coldness.

Eventually, after Violet has already done most of the heavy lifting in her new relationships, her stepmother concedes that she could've done a better job in their first month as a family. And while her father swiftly acknowledges that he's made it difficult for Violet to come to him for fear of upsetting him, at no point in the remaining 100 pages after this admission does he attempt to check in with her, to make sure she's all right.

I understand that this is middle grade fiction and there are a lot of moving parts to cram into 240 pages, but I would've appreciated if a few more of those moving parts included Violet learning that it's okay to be unhappy and that it's okay to express that unhappiness with the adults responsible for helping her cope. ( )

I enjoyed this middle school read. I voluntarily chose to review it. I've given it a 5* rating. This was a fun, a little bit wacky story of a girl who lost her mother when she was young. My granddaughters enjoy this author and this is a second in a series. This addresses a lot of tough issues and I wanted to expand the reading of my grandchildren. This is wonderful for this age group. ( )