Book Review | | Wing Jones - Katherine Webber

There's absolutely no denying my love and enthusiasm for young adult fiction. I read it so often, I write it, I live and breathe it basically. And as much as I love it, this year I am trying to branch out and expand my reading repertoire outside of the YA box. This post was intended to be three short reviews of the YA books I've read in the last week but, as per, I got carried away with talking about Wing Jones because I love it so much.

With an abundance of incredible books in my possession it's hard to pick and choose favourites, every book I read is becoming a favourite, so basically every book is my favourite. Ugh whatever.

Wing Jones is a half Chinese, half African 15 year old girl who simply doesn't fit in and hasn't yet found her group of people. I felt this intensely, I often feel I don't fit in, and I've felt like it since a teenager. I loved this story so much, so much so it made me cry. I want to hold the book close to my body at all times. It's about not fitting in, about family and running. 

Wing discovers she is good at running, more than good, after her older brother is in an awful car accident that leaves him in a coma, unknown to his family whether or not he'll wake up. Wing tries to distract herself by starting to run and it works, the endorphin's are addictive. She runs late at night, when no one knows, or can see her, and she runs until she can't run no more. This new discovery of talent helps build her confidence and allows her to grow as a person, allows her to find out who is she is and what she's about. I love to run, and reading this book about a girl finding her own love in the sport has inspired and encouraged me just that little bit more. To me it reinforces the strength of girls and women, running makes me feel strong and accomplished. If I succeed my 2018 running goals, it's all down to Katherine Webber and Wing Jones. 

Another aspect I liked in Wing Jones was family, family means a great deal to Wing, she lives with her two grandmothers who are unbelievably hilarious and constantly bicker about old people things, and her mum and brother. It's about the unrelenting strength of family, how family stick together despite hard times, and how family is always there for you. 

And it wouldn't be a young adult book without a bit of romance, but I won't spoil that, it makes me all giddy and happy and stupidly expectant on my own love life. Lol. 

I was fortunate enough to meet author Katherine Webber at a Waterstones book event late 2016. It's a memory forever ingrained in my mind. Wing Jones was still in the making, and it's incredible to me that from that day until now so much has happened for Katherine. Her book is wonderfully fantastic, heart-warming and positive. We spoke about writing, about our work and ideas, and I think about it often. 

I just want to carry Wing Jones (The book, not fictional character) around me with for the foreseeable future. I would also like to run with Wing, no doubt I would lose. I want to tell everyone about it. I want to show everyone how gorgeous the pink and purple sprayed edges of the pages are.