Source: From the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This in no way alters my opinion or review.
Publication Date: May 7, 2024
Rating:
Goodreads Synopsis:
What if your fortunes really came true?Once upon a time, Millie, Nora, and Bea were best friends who loved slumber parties, exploring their Manhattan neighborhood, and making fortune tellers with their Magic Markers. Now, in the summer before seventh grade, they haven’t spoken in over a year—thanks to a big fight, the pandemic shutting down their school, and each girl moving away for different reasons. The girls routinely check each other’s social media, but none of them can muster the courage to reach out, even if they might want to.Then their long-ago paper fortune tellers start popping up in the most unexpected places. The fortunes carry some eerily accurate wisdom for each girl: Your future is hidden in your past. Hold on to the memories. Go back to where you started. Could this be the push the girls need to reconnect and reunite? Or is the gap between them too wide to mend?
Review:
This was a cute middle grade read about best friends falling apart and then trying to piece their friendship back together. Told in both alternating POVs as well as alternating past POVs, girls Bea, Millie, and Nora show the reader how they fell apart and how they are living now. In the 3-5th grade they were obsessed with making paper fortune tellers, most had generic messages and they sold them to classmates for a fundraiser at one point. Inevitably that is what tore them apart when one of the girls was still very much into them and the others were phasing out.
The girls were interesting, albeit a bit one note all around, it was a bit hard to tell them apart. There was a lot of jumping from people and in the timeline so that might have made it harder. That said, they were, what I would consider, your normal middle school girls. They are trying to grow up, trying to make and keep friends, and dealing with those struggles. I think how they come together to try to rebuild was great. I appreciated how they were able to talk about their feelings with each other.
There wasn't much said about the 'magic' the fortune tellers had or brought, other than that weird things were happening. This might be more magical realism than realistic fiction in that way, had it been addressed. One concern I have is - does eveyone know what a fortune teller is? I know that most young girls in the US probably do, but is this an international thing as well? I am just wondering for the sake of the story and its international reach.
Magical nature aside, there are things that I wanted more of out of this story. I liked the friendship and resolution, but I would have liked more character development and feel like we only got deep, emotional characters out of the side characters like Roger and the topic of poverty, or Sam and her emotional instability around friends. (Also this Sam read a lot like "Sam" from iCarly).
Overall, I think this was a cute read for middle grade readers. It has a diverse family element that is wonderful and handles dynamics of moving pretty well. I enjoyed reading it and it brought a smile to my face to hear the girls get excited about themselves and each other.
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