Happy Tuesday my bookish friends. Today I’m really excited to be part of the blog tour for Harley in the Sky. It’s one of my most anticipated reads this year. I discovered Akemi last year and she’s on my auto-buy/read list ever since. The only book I haven’t read is Starfish which I think will do sooner rather than later. My post is a review but before that here is a little bit more about the book.

(Just on a side note, I haven’t totally finished the book yet due to work craziness last week with Ofsted so my reading took a bit of knock and thus a bit late to read this book. But I started it on Sunday and I’m nearly finished so I think from that you can tell how good it is.)

Harley Milano has dreamed of being a trapeze artist for as long as she can remember. With parents who run a famous circus in Las Vegas, she spends almost every night in the big top watching their lead aerialist perform, wishing with all her soul that she could be up there herself one day.
After a huge fight with her parents, who continue to insist she go to school instead, Harley leaves home, betrays her family and joins the rival traveling circus Maison du Mystère. There, she is thrust into a world that is both brutal and beautiful, where she learns the value of hard work, passion and collaboration. But at the same time, Harley must come to terms with the truth of her family and her past—and reckon with the sacrifices she made and the people she hurt in order to follow her dreams.

My Review

There is something Akemi’s writing that is just seamless and you just can’t put the book down. She just has a way with words that just sing to your soul. In my review of Summer Bird Blue, I said that book is hopeful. I think all of books become this beacon of hope for all of her characters, hope and dreams is key to Harley in Akemi’s latest book, Harley in the Sky.

Harley’s parents own a circus in the middle of Las Vegas, she sneaks in the back and watches the performances all the time, she is transfixed by the beauty of it all and it’s all she wants to do. But her parents have her future set out, go to university and do you degree. She tries to persuade them, but they won’t budge, she is suffocating from their lack of compassion for her choices. So she does the worst thing to them, she runs away to their circus competition to train and be a trapeze. But maybe it might be the best choice to follow her dreams and to never let go.

I can sense the fierce passion that Harley has, but also how conflicted she is by her own identity as well. Harley’s doesn’t shy away from who she is, with the subtle nerdy references to Star War’s and Marvel, which made me smile. I’m a person who believes in making the right choice for you. I’m certainly not one to follow someone else’s dreams through your own life as that is what Harley’s mum and dad too. It gets me annoyed to be honest, which I could sense through Akemi’s writing connecting with Harley’s character. She’s annoyed, frustrated and her hopes are slowly being reduced by the mere mention of university and degrees.

The world is very much dominated by this need to go to university and I love how Akemi’s tackles that. At the end of the day you have to do what’s right for you. Akemi’s novels have this essence of freedom, that her characters fly and fly true to who they are, like Rumi in Summer Bird Blue. She create such beauty in everything she writes, I think that’s why I love them so much. Be who you are, be free to be who you are and don’t follow into the tropes of life. Don’t give up on life or your dreams!

There is more to say with this book, as like I said I haven’t quite finished the book. But who knew I could write so much about Akemi’s books. These books are to be treasured but she is an author that shines so bright and her books need to be read.

Thank you to Ink Road for sending me copy in exchange for an honest review. 

About Akemi

Akemi Dawn Bowman is the author of William C. Morris Award Finalist Starfish, Summer Bird Blue, and Harley in the Sky. Her upcoming sci-fi series, The Infinity Courts, is set to release in 2021, followed by her middle-grade debut, Generation Misfits. A proud Ravenclaw and Star Wars enthusiast, she has a BA in social sciences from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She currently lives in Scotland with her husband and two children.

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Don’t forget to check out the rest of the #HarleyintheSky blog tour below.