Momentous Events in the Life of a Cactus - Dusti Bowling

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⭐ 10.0/10

(Originally written by Magdalene)

This is the sequel to a book I read earlier in the year, about a girl born without arms and her other "outcast" friends. I loved this so much, and during the last few chapters even my heartless self started getting teary-eyed because it was all so lovely.

In this book Aven has to go to high school, where she hasn't been able to make new friends and a few students are REALLY mean to her, which is a big hit to her self-esteem in all aspects of her life. It included a lot of big feels for Aven, which can get annoying in other books, but to me it all felt really realistic in this case, and not over the top. High school for a girl with no arms sounds like the absolute worst. Also, even though she's in high school now, the tone is still definitely middle grade.

So Aven is dealing with a lot of stuff, including a first crush, thinking about finding her bio dad, and the ice cream man doing worse and worse. Aven has a setback, but it was so heart-warming to see her eventually pick herself back up again. And all of her friendships are so wonderful. Maybe my only complaint is that there wasn't enough Connor! He was my favourite character in the last book.


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