Review Detail

Anda lives on an island on Lake Superior. For most of the year, she’s there with her father, trying to play a role of a normal person. But when November comes, she can’t ignore her calling to create storms and sink ships, just like her mother and her sisters, already part of the water. Usually, she’s alone during November, her father taken leave to the main land, but this time, a boy named Hector is hiding on the island as well. Hector ran away from a terrible life to hide out until his 18th birthday. When the two meet, sparks fly, but nothing can stop the incoming storm.

Ever since the synopsis was released, I’ve been so excited for Lydia Kang’s THE NOVEMBER GIRL. From the gorgeous cover to the chill-inducing summary, this is a story unlike anything I’ve read before. The premise is completely fascinating. Anda is half-human, half-magical (for lack of a better term). It’s sort of a mixture of water/storm elemental magic and Ursula from The Little Mermaid. A large theme of this novel is what it means to have two different parts of yourself and how isolating that can sometimes feel when people around you expect you to be (or choose) one side or the other.

While the plot drags a little at parts, the slow build up between Hector and Anda is lovely. They come from two different worlds, but they have so much in common. Their relationship is a nice mixture of sweetness, angst, sexual tension, and a few solid comic relief moments. Kang does a phenomenal job of making their stakes seem impossible to overcome, and you’ll be flipping the pages as fast as possible towards the end to see if they can overcome them or not.

THE NOVEMBER GIRL is a weird (in the best way), magical novel that sings with romance, heartache, and the difficult journey of making your own path.