Watches and Warnings Review

Title: Watches and Warnings

Author: Ryan Wolf

Genre: Young Adult, Verse Novel, Contemporary

Trigger Warning: Mentioned Drug Abuse, Character Death, Description of Corpse

Rating: 5 stars

Release Date: August 1, 2019

Synopsis

Hi-lo. Sixteen-year-old Philip is the son of two Evangelical youth pastors. He also secretly helps his older brother pay for his heroin addiction. When a massive tornado touches down in their small town, Philip’s family becomes heavily involved in the post-disaster cleanup as Philip struggles with the return of his detoxing brother. With his life swept into sudden chaos, Philip grapples with questions that cut him to the core.

Review

A special thank you to Netgalley and West 44 Books for providing a free advance digital copy in exchange for a honest review.

This is going to be the book I point out as what I want verse novels to be like. This book manages to have strong poetry and lots of plot and subplot. It's absolutely the perfect balance between the two. There is so much stuff packed into this short book and I loved the craft of this book.

The characters are absolutely amazing, and not because they're positive. Most of the side characters have glaring flaws that serve to make them feel more human. The interactions between characters that made drastically different decisions is absolutely fascinating, especially as Phillip tries to balance his wants and desires with what his parents and brother ask of him. I really love Phillip's relationship with Mariana, a girl he meets cleaning up from the tornado. This is a coming of age story that is circular and complete while still leaving open many possibilities for the future.

Overall, this was just a really great read that's quick and easy while covering a lot of ground and many important subjects. It's one of the best verse novels I've ever read, and I definitely recommend checking it out. This type of thing is why I love verse novels in the first place.

This is by far my favorite verse novel I've read this year. If you want to check out another verse novel I loved, check out Second in Command.

Thanks for reading!
Alyssa

Comments

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