Let's be honest here, I picked this up because I loved the cover. I mean wow, she's holding a tornado. But little did I know how accurate it was. Jane is an old woman living inside a teenage girl. She's exhausted of trying to hold together the tornado that is her mother. She's always tired, covering for her mother, trying to pay the bills and keep their life from falling apart. It's frustrating and shocking. This was the first book I've read that addresses alcoholism. I never realized how awful it could be, not only for the alcoholic, but for surrounding relatives and friends. Jane is destroying herself little by little. It's disgusting how her mother manipulates her by claiming they are a "team" and then drinking away Jane's hard-earned money. She's a thief and a liar. She is sucking the life out of her own daughter. It is such a toxic relationship.I breathed a sigh of relief when Jane left to go stay with her brother. I loved Ethan and the TorBros. They were wild and just what Jane needed. When Jane begins to see the parallels between herself and the angsty Victor - she starts to realize she deserves her own life. The only thing I was unhappy about was the mildly awkward relationship she starts with Max. It felt plastic and a little uncomfortable. It was a little unnecessary too, the book is more about Jane pulling herself out of a deep hole with the help of her brother and his friends.I liked it a lot. It was shocking, a little disturbing and eye-opening. I never really realized what a slave alcohol could make a person. How it could make a mother take advantage of her own daughter and tear her own family apart. The scariest thing was, she couldn't even recognize her mistakes. She just blamed the problems she caused on others. And I was so thankful that Jane managed to stand up against her, and create a new life she would live for herself. What a great little book that was recommended by Keertana in one of her reviews.The Waiting Sky is exactly what a YA contemporary should be. It's about making mistakes, making hard decisions, realizing who you are. I thought the tornado chasing concept was so quirky and I loved how action packed the story was. There was not one moment I was bored when reading this. The romance was a little too picture perfect and unbelievable to me, but I thought everything else was spot on. It was hard not to like Jane even though I wanted to both shake her and give her a hug at all the ways she was enabling her mother. Yay for being pulled out of a reading slump.
What do You think about The Waiting Sky (2012)?
Agreeable story, well written and believable characters, with the right amount of romance.
—Yellybird
I wanted so much more with this book. I had high expectations and they just were not met.
—Becca
