Review: Saving Red by Sonya Sones

Title: Saving Red

Author: Sonya Sones

Publisher: HarperTeen

Publishing Date: October 18th, 2016

Pages: 448
Audio Length: 4 Hours and 7 Minutes

Genre: Young Adult Contemporary

Series: Standalone

Source: Audio

 

Right before winter break, fourteen-year-old Molly Rosenberg reluctantly volunteers to participate in Santa Monica’s annual homeless count, just to get her school’s community service requirement out of the way. But when she ends up meeting Red, a spirited homeless girl only a few years older than she is, Molly makes it her mission to reunite her with her family in time for Christmas. This turns out to be extremely difficult—because Red refuses to talk about her past. There are things Molly won’t talk about either. Like the awful thing that happened last winter. She may never be ready to talk about that. Not to Red, or to Cristo, the soulful boy she meets while riding the Ferris wheel one afternoon.
When Molly realizes that the friends who Red keeps mentioning are nothing more than voices inside Red’s head, she becomes even more concerned about her well-being. How will Molly keep her safe until she can figure out a way to get Red home? In Sonya Sones’ latest novel, two girls, with much more in common than they realize, give each other a new perspective on the meaning of family, friendship, and forgiveness.

What made me pick this book up: 

So before I got into the picture Jenn was really bad about requesting books to review and... well not reviewing them.

Kidding, I do the same thing.

Anyway...

I was going through the books that we have but haven't reviewed and I added a bunch to my list on scribd and on audible and such, and here we are.

What did I like about the cover: 

I love the hair! Oh Lordy I need that hair. Honestly though the entire cover is so aesthetically pleasing. Between the red hair, the hazel eyes, and the freckles. And then the HUGE part of red on it. I think it's just amazing.

I want to take a photo like that to be honest.

What made me read this book: 

I was scrolling through scribd and noticed this one was only a 6 hour book (listening to it at 1 speed, I listen at 2.5 so like a little over 2.5 hours for me) and the cover looked promising.

I read the synopsis and I'm on a really big contemporary kick and here we are.

What did I like the most: 

There was honestly so much I loved about this book. I went in with low expectations, I didn't think I would hate it, but I didn't think I'd like it as much as I did.

This book has so much going on emotionally. First with Molly's family, her dad is never there, because he's working all the time, her mom is always high and checked out emotionally, and her older brother went missing a year ago. 

So home life isn't so great.

She doesn't have any friends, and is all around lonely. 

So when she's volunteering with homeless people and finds a girl with fiery red hair, she immediately gets drawn to her. 

Molly wants nothing more than to reunite this girl with her family for Christmas Eve, because her whole family can't be together. And it becomes her mission.

While she's trying to take care of, and get to know this girl, she becomes her best friend.

The homeless girl tells Molly to call her Red, and Red is a spitfire, she is always doing something crazy, and running off. She is fun, full of energy, and very spontaneous. 

She also has a lot of issues. She hears voices in her head that make it hard for her to live, which is why she's homeless. It's really sad and Molly does what she can to help her. 

Now let's talk about the romance. Normally I hate insta love. But honestly this one didn't bother me. I thought it was so cute and sweet. Maybe because they are both so young, that it's just puppy love. But I liked reading about the little bit of interaction they had, and it made me smile. 

Cristo was just so sweet, and exactly what Molly needed, and I was so scared he was going to break her heart, I was actually feeling protective of Molly.

Literary characters are real people too!

The thing I love about this book, is how much it brings to light. Drug abuse, family issues, mental illness, and all about a 14 year old girl.

What didn't I like: 

I don't think there was anything I didn't like. It wasn't anything super spectacular but I loved it. 

Would I read the rest of the series/more from this author?
Most definitely

“I didn’t even notice that, along the way
somewhere, she’d become my best friend.
― Sonya Sones, Saving Red

SONYA SONES has written seven young adult novels in verse: Stop Pretending, What My Mother Doesn’t Know, What My Girlfriend Doesn’t Know, One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies, To Be Perfectly Honest, Saving Red, and The Opposite of Innocent.

Her books have received many awards, including a Christopher Award, the Myra Cohn Livingston Award for Poetry, the Claudia Lewis Poetry Award, a Los Angeles Times Book Prize nomination and a Cuffie Award from Publisher’s Weekly for Best Book Title of the year. But the coolest honor she ever received was when her novel, What My Mother Doesn’t Know, landed her a spot on the American Library Association’s list of the Most Frequently Banned Authors of the 21st Century. (To find out why, see page 46.)
Sonya has also written a novel in verse for grownups—the Los Angeles Times bestseller The Hunchback of Neiman Marcus, a coming of middle-age story about learning to grow old disgracefully, which was optioned by Michelle Pfeiffer, and has contributed poems and short stories in verse to lots of anthologies.



Her books have been recognized by the American Library Association as Best Books for Young Adults and Quick Picks For Reluctant Young Readers, and have received a dozen state awards for Best Young Adult Book of the Year.