Review: Moonglass by Jessi Kirby

 I read once that water is a symbol for emotions. And for a while now, I've thought maybe my mother drowned in both.
Anna's life is upended when her father accepts a job transfer the summer before her junior year. It's bad enough that she has to leave her friends and her life behind, but her dad is moving them to the beach where her parents first met and fell in love--a place awash in memories that Anna would just as soon leave under the surface.
While life on the beach is pretty great, with ocean views and one adorable lifeguard in particular, there are also family secrets that were buried along the shore years ago. And the ebb and flow of the ocean's tide means that nothing--not the sea glass that she collects on the sand and not the truths behind Anna's mother's death--stays buried forever.

The cover to this novel is really what drew me into the book and I’ve been hearing wonderful things about Jessi Kirby’s latest books, so I was excited to read this book. I really enjoyed it and I think that if you haven’t picked up one of Kirby’s books, you should do it now.

The book begins with Anna moving with her dad to a new home on the beach years after her mother drowns. She doesn’t like the new town at first, but begins to become a part of it as she meets new friends, understands what happened to her mother all those years ago, and figures out who she is and wants to be.

I found the relationship between the main character and her dad refreshing because unlike other young adult fictional characters, they talked and did stuff as a family. She’d go surfing and diving with him and his friend and in the end, they wound up becoming closer.

The romance in this book was sweet and subtle which I think a lot of readers would enjoy. It developed like how any love would in the real life and the love interest was super sweet which made it all the more enjoyable. I also liked how Anna’s new found friend seemed like a rich brat, but was really caring even though she wasn’t so bright. I can’t wait to read some more of Kirby’s novels in the future.

4 stars!

Source: Bought