Today’s featured book is The Boy Who Steals Houses by C. G. Drews (a.k.a paperfury) and I would like to thank both NetGalley and Hachette Children’s Books, Australia and Orchard Books (the publishers) for providing me with this free e-book in exchange for an honest review. This was my most (and only) anticipated book of 2019 and I was not dissapointed. I couldn’t put it down. Cait broke my heart. I want to adopt some children. And I’m currently trying to demolish my TBR so I can re-read it in the hope that maybe it won’t be so bad next time.
So what is this book about?
This is a book about brothers, houses and what it means to have a family. Sam and his brother Avery have been abandoned by their immediate and extended family and are looking for a place to call home. Sam finds one, but will it be enough to save him?
What I liked . . .
- All the characters – I mean not the mean and nasty secondary ones. But Sam and Moxy and all the De Laineys? I want to go have Sunday lunch at their house.
- The setting – apparantly there’s Australian contemporary YA out there, I just can’t seem to find it apart from this one. (On a tangent, please recommend any you’ve loved.)
- #ownvoices rep – I don’t have the greatest awareness of mental health issues and I’ve heard that at times representations in novels can be unrealistic and/or problematic. But this helped me to understand more about what autism and anxiety can look like in people. (Although everyone does have their own experience.)
What I didn’t like . . .
- Cait breaking my heart – although I kind of expected that so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
Conclusions
My Rating 💭purpose 💭originality 💭engagement 💭writing skill 💭enjoyment
Star Rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5
This book was a book that I couldn’t put down. It tore my heart apart but managed to put it back together again by the end. I loved this story about family and the search for a home not just a house. This book was my best of April and so far is in my Top Five for the year and can’t wait to re-read it. If Australian fiction, contemporary YA or #ownvoices are your thing, go buy a copy. You won’t regret it.
read . write . recollect 