Sticks & Stones

Sticks and Stones was like a perfect combination and I was very surprised when I guessed wrong about what would happen. It was honestly quite a refreshing read.


It starts off with our main character waking up to her mother's arrest, and her best friend/ long-time-crush gets sent with her to live with her grandmother that she hasn't seen or spoken to in a while. Our

Emily and Jared have to start over in a new town, deal with her crazy grandmother (who really just loves God and thanks Him for every day he gives her), and figure out how to process Emily's mother and best friend her entire life being accused of things that Emily knows she couldn't have possibly done.


Such a beautiful book, the plot flew together and I had no way to guess what would happen next!

The romance was there, like a side dish prepared to strengthen characters and have you rooting for them again. It was not instant love, and I thoroughly enjoyed that aspect!


As for the mystery part with Emily's mother and her arrest, I had a hard time with Emily's mom in the last half of the book. Mostly because the author did so well at making Emily's memories of her mom so awesome that you loved her too. I felt so disappointed right along with our protagonist for their little family.


I loved the side characters, the grandmother was so sweet and makes me miss my own grandmother very dearly.
Seeing Emily grow and pursue to be happy and not just say ‘‘I'm fine'', was so encouraging and heartwarming to read about and definitely what I needed right now.

Maybe not a forever favorite read, but definitely a re-read in the future!
4 stars!

Full review here: http://bookswithnoel.blogspot.com/2020/03/sticks-and-stones-review-giveaway-more.html