Lovely book until the unnecessary (and unresolved) bit at the end.

Very good.

4.25 stars!

Migrating birds reorient themselves at sunset. The exact reason is unknown, but at twilight, just when the sun drops beyond the horizon line, birds flying in the wrong direction correct their flight paths all at once.

2 years ago, I read The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh and I loved it. I was thrilled to receive an ARC of Diffenbaugh's second book, We Never Asked for Wings. I was not disappointed.

I love this author's style! She has the ability to make you fall in love with the flawed and quirky characters she creates. The writing is beautiful! The pacing is perfectly done to allow time for the characters to creep inside your heart, and make you want to blow off whatever you had planned for the day just to live in their world and cheer them on- which is exactly what I did today.

In this novel, the author touches on subjects such as parenting, family, first-love, poverty and illegal immigration. While a lot to tackle in one novel, I found it to be very well done. This would be an excellent book club selection as there is much to discuss.

I would definitely recommend this book if you are looking for a thoughtful read that tugs at your heartstrings.

ARC provided by NetGalley

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for this free readers edition. In exchange I am providing an honest review.

To say I am a fan of Vanessa Diffenbaugh would be an understatement. I am a huge fan. Her first book, The Language of Flowers, was wonderful (which is a massive understatement) so I was eager to read her second title - We Never Asked for Wings. I was not disappointed.
We Never Asked for Wings follows the path of Alex, Luna, and Letty - a family trying to figure out how to be a family and make it. Letty is mother to Alex and Luna but she didn't raise them, her mother did. But circumstances have changed and Letty now needs to either step up to the plate or go have a seat on the bench. Can she be a mother? Should she be a mother? Alex is smart, just like the father he's never met. Throughout his 15 years his grandfather has been teaching him about birds - their flight patterns, their migration, their feathers. Encouraged by his grandfather to find his own wings Alex, with the help of Letty, sets out to sprout the wings that will take him the places he wants to go. But Alex and his strong sense of loyalty and responsibility won't let those wings take him too far from the people he loves and cares for. Getting wings, it turns out, can be rather painful.
This is a well-written coming of age story for not just one character but two. Letty and Alex both go through the growing pains of growing up at the same time. As Diffenbaugh did in her first title, she made all the connections needed to flesh out the story and have it all make sense. She took a subject matter and infused it with the life of someone's story. She developed her characters around the core of the subject matter and the analogy of it and created a beautiful story. She explores some topics that need a closer look and I appreciated that as well. Looking forward to her third book, she's on a roll!

While I didn't love this as much as TheLanguage of Flowers, Diffenbaugh once again demonstrates her ability to create very real, flawed and compelling characters. She addresses, to some degree, several key societal issues such as immigration, teen pregnancy, absentee parents, and global warming. Recommend to those wanting a summer read as it definitely captures the reader's attention and keeps one hooked with several plot twists.

The writing saved this books. The story just didn’t grab me like I wanted it to.

Like Vanessa Diffenbaugh's first novel, this one uses another aspect of the natural world to tell her story. Instead of flowers, birds and feathers unscore and drive the novel. Letty, a single mother, has allowed her parents to parent her two children while she works multiple jobs. When her parents return to Mexico, she has to step up for the first time. Teenage pregnancy, immigration and the struggle to survive are themes touched upon. Letty, her children, Yesenia and the rest characters are likeable and well-drawn. And their story compelling. While I gave this five stars, it was rounded up from four and a half stars. The only drawback to this story is that it was too much on the sweet side. But that is minor consideration when taken as a whole. I still loved it.

I think I liked this just as much as The Language of Flowers. A heartfelt family story that is very well written.

I bought this book on Audible almost as soon as it was released because I loved Diffenbaugh's debut, The Language of Flowers, so incredibly much. That book felt like a hand that reached inside my body and rested its fingers on my heart, transferred its words into my veins so that they have flowed through my bloodstream ever since I first read it. I knew that this book would be different (and I have also learned from experience that books with pretty language are better read than listened to), but I hoped it would be just as wonderful.

Because I was so excited to read another novel by Diffenbaugh, I don't even think I read the description of this book before I started listening to it. That made the story unfold quite organically for me, because I really had no idea what it was even about. I had expectations regarding the writing and the quality of the book, but not regarding its actual content, and that was both a small blessing and a curse. Near the beginning (in the first few hours of listening) I wasn't sure where the book was going. I have something sort of inherently against books that begin with an end, that barely introduce a lovable character and then take them away so suddenly. That's how I felt at the start of this novel. I would have liked to have seen a bit more of the relationship between the kids and their grandparents before they were separated.

I kind of got lost in the middle somewhere, unsure of where the book was going. The relationship that begins to develop between Alex and Wes is nice; the family moving to Mission Heights is wonderful. However, these victories seemed quite small, minor, not all that important or interesting, and I just didn't see where they were all leading to. I suppose the main 'event' of the book was supposed to be the part when Alex gets arrested, and then the ensuing difficulties with Yesenia, but I still didn't find this part of the book all that interesting.

I did, however, appreciate some of the themes and how each character had a unique story and experience. For Alex, this felt like a coming-of-age story, his first time getting into trouble, his first time falling in love, his first time learning to connect with his parents while in the midst of growing up. For Letty, this book was about parenting, unconditional love, regrets, and memories. The common theme of wanting more for your children than you had is also prevalent, along with larger topics such as bullying, teenage pregnancy, and immigration. The arguably most important theme, relating to birds and migration patterns, was sort of lost on me. I can see how it vaguely relates to the story but I think it was a bit of stretch.

It's interesting how different each author and each novel is. Some of my favorite authors start off with their best work, and follow it up with mediocrity (Janet Fitch). Others get off to a rough beginning and then blossom into a wonderful author (Lionel Shriver). Others are so consistent it hurts (Jodi Picoult). I guess for me, I have to put Diffenbaugh in the first category, at least based on the mere two novels she has published so far. I just fell in love with The Language of Flowers so truly, and maybe it's not fair to hold a writer on such a pedestal just because of one touching novel, but that's what I did, and this book let me down. I would definitely call it good, but it was missing the sort of spark I was looking for. I will still continue to read Diffenbaugh's future novels and I really do hope to come across something as wonderful as her debut again.

“'I love it,' Letty said, kissing Luna's cherry lips and wondering how a half-eaten lollipop could somehow taste like a reason to stay.”

Another beautiful book.