Review: Counting By 7s' by Holly Goldberg Sloan

Title: Counting by 7s'

Author: Holly Goldberg Sloan

Publication date: August 29, 2013
Publisher: Dial

Genre(s): Middle Grade (Contemporary)

Source: NetGalley
Format: eARC

Pages: 384

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Willow Chance is a twelve-year-old genius, obsessed with nature and diagnosing medical conditions, who finds it comforting to count by 7s. It has never been easy for her to connect with anyone other than her adoptive parents, but that hasn’t kept her from leading a quietly happy life . . . until now.

Suddenly Willow’s world is tragically changed when her parents both die in a car crash, leaving her alone in a baffling world. The triumph of this book is that it is not a tragedy. This extraordinarily odd, but extraordinarily endearing, girl manages to push through her grief. Her journey to find a fascinatingly diverse and fully believable surrogate family is a joy and a revelation to read.

Willow Chance has just lost everything. Her parents have just died in a car crash, and she has no friends, being a quiet girl who doesn't make friends too easily. She is overwhelmed with grief. But she isn't. Willow finds a broken family, and they accept her. She takes everything around her and makes it better. And by helping the people around her, she finds herself feeling slowly better about everything.

Willow is an amazing character. She is so inspiring and kind, I automatically liked her. She takes the people and things around her and makes everything better. In the mean time, she is also battling herself just as much as the world around her. I also liked a girl named Mai, I think she is my favorite character. She is stubborn and hard-headed (which I can be like at some points) but she is also very caring. I relate her the best.

The writing in this book is in first person narration. It was a bit boring, because there was nothing really suspenseful; Not really too much of a conflict.Which is a bit annoying as you all know. That's what brought it down to a 3 star rating. The flow was a bit slow for me, as it was a somewhat childish read. I still did like this book. It was so cute, quick and inspiring. Recommended to teens and pre-teens ages 11-14.