Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World by Ashley Herring Blake

Ivy Aberdeen's small Georgia town is shaken when a tornado destroys her and many other families' homes. Ivy feels her family is drifting away from her as they temporarily settle themselves in a hotel; she just seems to get in the way. What's more, her secret notebook full of stormy drawings of girls holding hands disappeared when her house was destroyed, and Ivy feels lost without it.

In the aftermath of the storm, Ivy becomes friends with June Somerset, her mom's doctor's daughter. As Ivy develops a crush on June, her drawings start appearing in her locker, along with mysterious notes encouraging her to tell someone her secret. As Ivy and her family struggle to recover from the disaster, and Ivy is conflicted with her feelings for June, will she be able to show everyone who she truly is?

 

Another recent reread (I've read this book...at least four times now) and one of my favorite realistic fictions. I absolutely adore Ivy--she's insecure, shy, and anxious, as well as being creative, caring, and resilient. I really connected to her as a character. June is a really well-rounded character, too; she has her own struggles and anxieties and isn't the flat, attractive crush that authors often default to. This is a really sweet and lovely book about girls trying to find their place in the complicated world.