Fantastic voice from the narrator, and a plot feature that hasn't been done to death - a heterosexual girl questions her sexuality. I haven't seen any books before where the main character actually thinks about being straight instead of just assuming he or she is, ( )

A cute story about Morgan, a high school girl who lives out in the middle of "Central Nowhere" in Nebraska. She's a typical teen who has lots of friends, a boyfriend, and excels in school. She has a favorite spot that visits frequently, that she calls The Hill. It is where she goes when she wants to scream out her frustrations, whatever they may be. She also enjoys writing fortunes on Post It Notes and leaving them random places for others to find.
The story covers her relationship with her grandmother, in which some family secrets are revealed that throws Morgan into tailspin. Partner that with her break-up with her long-time boyfriend, kisses from a girl who adores her and a new relationship with a guy that she works with at the grocery store, and you have one FANTASTIC novel that is just begging to be read! Loved it! ( )

With wit, warmth and dark humor, Kirstin Cronn-Mills weaves a powerful story in The Sky Always Hears Me: And The Hills Don’t Mind. Narrator Morgan is an intelligent teen who dreams of writing the Great American Novel, like many of us, but gets by on penning cryptic “fortunes” on Post-Its, napkins and register tape — anything she can find, basically, and leaving them strewn about like edicts from a higher power. When life gets too overwhelming, Morgan escapes to visit her grandmother, Elsie, and borrows her car to go and vent her frustrations in the wide-open hills of Nebraska.

Morgan carries The Sky Always Hears Me, letting us into her private world as she grapples with issues as large as sexuality, abuse and a stifling sense of being sequestered in a tiny place she’s long outgrown. Though the “I have to get out of this God forsakin’ town!” trope is definitely nothing new in fiction, Morgan was a fresh character with whom I could relate — someone whose dream is to write and do something more, but can’t immediately find the tools to do so.

While the book centers largely around the three love interests in the story, creating a complicated romantic triangle, it’s also about family dynamics and the long reach of grief. Morgan’s mother died when she and Martin were small, leaving them alone with a distant father and one guilty, saddened grandmother. Elsie, Morgan’s grandma, has done everything she can to provide a loving female role model for her granddaughter — but that hasn’t necessarily been enough.

Interspersed with Cronn-Mills’ narrative are snippets of fortunes from Chinese restaurants all over the world, collected by Elsie when she was a traveling concert pianist. In addition to penning her own, Morgan takes these fortunes to heart — and I liked the way we were introduced to each chapter with another quote or piece of advice. It provided credence to the sense that anything can change at any time — and that, for better or worse, we can all shape our destinies. And Morgan can shape hers.

In addition to being entertaining and very readable, The Sky Always Hears Me does an admirable job of exploring teen sexuality. As a young woman, Morgan isn’t expected to have everything figured out — and the path towards discovery can be messy. Central Nowhere is a small town, of course, and few are accepting of the idea of gay or lesbian people in their community. Fear and disapproval of an “immoral” lifestyle permeate Morgan and Tessa’s high school. I liked that Cronn-Mills didn’t take the easy way out, showing Morgan’s “repulsion” at being kissed by Tessa and failing to stick up for her friend. Instead, the author let her characters work out their feelings on their own terms.

Fans of quirky young adult fiction featuring memorable, dimensional characters would enjoy Kirstin Cronn-Mills’ debut novel — and I know this isn’t one I’ll soon forget. At just over 270 pages, too, it’s easily devoured in an afternoon or two. ( )

Thanks to Cronn-Mills’s beautiful writing style, this book is a quick read that I had a hard time putting down. Morgan’s narrative voice is witty and contemplative and irreverent all at once, and her story really pulled me in from the start. She is up against a lot in this book, but her sense of humor kept the tone from becoming crushingly serious. I particularly enjoyed the interjection of the fortunes she writes in response to what is going on around her. (After a surprising encounter in the back room of the grocery store with co-worker Rob: “Be careful of hotties searching for toothpicks.”)
With the exception of Morgan’s friend Jessica, who comes across as flat (though the fact that she’s shallow may be all that’s relevant to the story), the characters are wonderfully fleshed out, their imperfections blending with their strengths to create an array of complex characters. Morgan herself is a beautifully flawed main character, stubborn and immature but searching for her identity in a world she wants to escape. When she is forced to grapple with the unexpected, in school, in love, and in her family, she seems at odds with herself as well, always fighting what she’s feeling in the moment with how she wants to be in the future.
At its core this book is about the journey of self-discovery, which can be dirty and clumsy and full of unanswered questions. I’m sure there are people who would avoid this book due to the topic of homosexuality as addressed in the book’s summary, but in reality that seemed like such a non-issue in the story. The bigger subject is the idea that there are a lot of confusing things in life, and a person has to wrestle with these things to figure out who s/he really is. This book left me hopeful that Morgan would be strong enough to be true to herself. ( )

Morgan lives in Central Nowhere, Nebraska. When life's too much for her, she drives out into the hills and screams her troubles into the sky. This year, her junior year, she's got a lot to think about. Her alcoholic dad verbally abuses her and her brothers. She's got a major crush on a gorgeous guy she works with (despite the fact that she's in a long-term relationship with a football player). Oh, yeah, and her next-door neighbor Tessa kissed her a couple nights ago. And she thinks she liked it.

I really, really liked this book. Morgan's voice fulled me in from the very beginning. She has a dry wit and a very dark humor that was startling and interesting. The novel is about gray areas and I loved that there were no easy answers. Highly recommended.

Read more on my blog:
http://abbylibrarian.blogspot.com/2010/01/book-review-sky-always-hears-me-and.ht... ( )