NightbirdReview posted July 23, 2015.
Wendy Lamb Books (Random House), 2015. 197 pages.
Starred Review
I've read at least three different books about a teen who sprouts wings, and how they deal with that. This book is different -- It's about the sister of a boy with wings. In fact, the wings are part of a family curse on all the men of the family.
Twig Fowler lives in the small town of Sidwell, Massachusetts, with her mother and a brother that no one knows about. The town has plenty of tradition - including Twig's mother's Pink Apple Pie. But one of the traditions -- the Sidwell Monster -- is not so benign.
James is tired of living in hiding. And Twig is tired of not having friends. When a family moves into the home of the witch who cursed the Fowler family, and they are descended from that witch -- Twig and her new friend Julia decide it may be time to break the spell. But how? And James is getting more and more reckless -- and falling in love with Julia's sister Agate.
This is a feel-good story, and if things worked out awfully nicely, I don't begrudge any of them a happy ending. We've got a kid just wanting friends, a small town infused with magic, and Alice Hoffman's brilliant writing.