An American Mom in Asia

I’ll give you my rating of this book right away…5 stars. I can’t believe how much I enjoyed Facing the Sun by Janice Lynn Mather. It took me maybe about 15% of the book to really into a groove, especially because of the switching narrators and I was listening to it as an audiobook. But once I got into the flow, and knew the characters better, I could not stop reading this novel.

Facing the Sun takes places on a small corner of a small island in the Bahamas. The main characters are four teenage girls who have been best friends almost their whole lives. When a looming hotel development threatens their piece of paradise and sense of home, the girls each experience a life-altering crisis. This a true coming of age story, and readers are immersed into teenage girl emotions and moments. The girls face love, loss, family illnesses, generational trauma, self purpose, identity, talent and self worth. When I first started listening, I thought this would be such a long story, at almost 13 hours. But as the chapters went on, I couldn’t stop listening.

I loved this book on so many levels. These girls brought back teenage girlhood in way that I haven’t remembered in decades. I also read this book while living in Bali, Indonesia, as this island paradise is also currently experiencing the booming weight of development, and I see the impacts on the Balinese people. Does it create jobs and economic growth, yes of course. But does it also change the fabric of the culture, yes absolutely. This book is exactly why I’m doing this challenge. To find authors from around the globe telling universal stories of humanity.

⭐️ My rating: 5 stars of 5