When Elephants Fly Review

Title: When Elephants Fly
Author: Nancy Richardson Fischer
Series: Not Applicable
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Publication Date: 04 September 2018
Source: Harlequin Teen
Format: eBook (ARC)
Pages: 400
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Reading Timeline: 04 August 2018 - 08 August 2018

Goodreads Synopsis:

T. Lily Decker is a high school senior with a twelve-year plan: avoid stress, drugs, alcohol and boyfriends, and take regular psych quizzes administered by her best friend, Sawyer, to make sure she’s not developing schizophrenia.

Genetics are not on Lily’s side. When she was seven, her mother, who had paranoid schizophrenia, tried to kill her. And a secret has revealed that Lily’s odds are even worse than she thought. Still, there’s a chance to avoid triggering the mental health condition, if Lily can live a careful life from ages eighteen to thirty, when schizophrenia most commonly manifests.

But when a newspaper internship results in Lily witnessing a mother elephant try to kill her three-week-old calf, Swifty, Lily can’t abandon the story or the calf. With Swifty in danger of dying from grief, Lily must choose whether to risk everything, including her sanity and a first love, on a desperate road trip to save the calf’s life, perhaps finding her own version of freedom along the way. 

Book Review:

Pre-reading Thoughts:

I read a small excerpt of this book mainly because the synopsis attracted me. I am really excited for this book. I have heard amazing things about this book on Goodreads. I cannot wait to jump into it.

Thank you so much to Harlequin Teen for providing me with a copy of this book. Just a small disclaimer for those reading this review. I have received this book for free. Please note that this does not affect my opinion in any way. All thoughts are my own.

Writing Thoughts:

The writing in this book was phenomenal. It had a really good pace, it was fast enough that you progressed through the story quite well but you also got to take in so much information. The dialogue between the characters was natural and flowed really well, creating realistic human interaction.

Plot Thoughts:

This plot was like nothing that I had read before. It felt like I was absorbed into the story and I was there with Lily. Everything felt real and looked vivid. I think that this story deals with an important topic and something that isn't really seen in young adult literature. The plot was slow but every piece was like a puzzle that was slowly building up to this huge two-part question of what will happen to Lily and what will happen to Swift Jones. The plot is one that will be sure to tug at your heart.

Character Thoughts:

Lily is exactly as she sees herself and a little more. She is both bland in some instances but in others, she is complex. I quite enjoyed her as the narrator because her past just seemed to add that edge that the book needed. Her narration worked with the plot and created this large complex story that deals with constant everyday scenarios and unique moments that are once in a lifetime. Sawyer was a great break from Lily's narrations. He just added a different view on things.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, I was really impressed by this book. Didn't think that it would grab me as much as it did. It looks like a tomb but between the pace of the writing and the question of what will happen next, the pages seem to fly by. The plot was well thought out and had all of these intricate details that the reader just seems to pick up on. The characters were well developed and realistic, they seemed like real people and as readers, we were part of their lives. I think this book has a very unique story to tell and it is definitely one that I can recommend to everyone! Thank you so much to Harlequin Teen for providing me with a copy of this book.

Yours in Reading,

Melleny