DUAL REVIEW 5 Stars for KYLAND by Mia Sheridan with FOXYBLOGS AND FMABOOKREVIEWS

FMA’S REVIEW:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

“You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope.”

My favorite series of 2014 was Becoming Calder and Finding Eden by this author. So I was both giddy with excitement and slightly terrified for her next book. Excited because – well, this is Mia Sheridan – writer extraordinaire, we are speaking of, and terrified because how do you follow that story? (Could you imagine the bedtime stories she gives her kids? :D)

No fear needed! Right from the beginning, Sheridan pulled at my heart-strings, when she portrayed the real-life struggles of the Appalachian people. Reading about hungry and cold children tore. me. apart! Poverty is devastating for everyone, but when it affects children, it’s ever more devastating. I see its effects in my job. Free and reduced lunches help, as do Friday Back Pack food programs that provide what might be the only food these children get over the weekend, but they only scratch at the surface of a very deep problem. So the humanity in this story was very relatable to me!

Sheridan’s stories are stories about the human spirit. They are much more than a love story. They are about trials and tribulations of every day people. And the beauty is, that within their pages, lie a beautiful love story.

“I guessed the promise of love is about the strongest pull there is.”

You see, Kyland and Tenleigh are both young kids when we first meet them. They are devastatingly poor like the rest of the people who live on their mountain. Many times they go without food, electricity, and wear clothes with holes. But, somehow, they manage to help others when they need help. They manage to maintain a positive spirit.

They are both determined to get off their mountain, and the way to do that is to win a scholarship which will pay for all of their college. They are both vying for it. She needs it to help her family, he needs it so he can have a life, one away from that mountain with bad memories.

Their love story was a beautiful story, of giving and taking, of unconditional love at its purist. It was devastating to read. I cried, I got angry and in the end, my heart was filled with joy. Their dreams were like everyone’s, only they were harder to obtain, more obstacles were in their way.

“Dreams failed, and when they did, reality hurt that much more.”

“The truth is, Tenleigh,” “you might have noticed, I’m not exactly a catch anyway.”

In true Sheridan fashion, her words were descriptive leaving the reader with a vivid picture of the scene as they were reading and of the feelings the characters were experiencing. She gives her characters and her stories heart.

“No. No, don’t say that. Don’t feel that way. I care. I can’t do that.” “Tenleigh, someday, you’re going to meet a man who wants to give you a life, a man who wants to give you everything he has to give. And I’m not going to take the thing that should be his. I’m not going to take the thing that’s yours to give him as a gift.”

YES, this story had me in tears at times, but it also gave me great hope. Because their story reminds us that no matter what problems we face, we can conquer them.

Also, while reading I listened to the playlist on Spotify that Ms. Sheridan posted,

**Complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.**

FOXY’S REVIEW:

KYLAND is an emotional story of small mining town situated in the Appalachian mountains. Survival and loneliness are the backbone of this story. Being hungry is the norm and having heat and electricity is a luxury.

A rare ray of hope for those seniors in high school is the Tyton Coal Scholarship offered each year. That scholarship is the ticket out of town.

Kyland and Tenleigh are both top candidates for the scholarship and only one of them can win it. Both have their personal reasons for needing to win the scholarship and attend college. Kyland has pledge not to allow himself to become attached to anyone. That way it will make the transition of leaving that small town behind easier on himself. Once he’s leaves town he’s never going to think of it again. On the other hand, Tenleigh already has some attachments to the town. Her plan is to better her families life through educating herself in college and getting a well paying job.

One act of desperation has these two forming a friendship. Their friendship develops through books. The book notes back and forth were entertaining with all their quips to each other. When they argued books, such as Wuthering Heights, that had me laughing.

As with all books some readers will love the story and other’s won’t. But as our heroine smartly points out, “And maybe we all saw books differently based on our own hearts.” So true. What bothers one reader might not even phase another reader… all of our life experiences help shape how we react to a book. We got front row seats on that when the hero and heroine had their “book club” meetings.

Are you new to Ms. Sheridan’s books and wondering how the Sign of Love series works?
Ms. Sheridan wrote the books as standalones but a couple books have another book with them.

✻Leo and Leo’s Chance➜ You can either read Leo as a standalone or read both books but make sure to read Leo first. Leo’s Chance is the hero’s pov of first book. It is a companion novel.

✻Stinger ➜ standalone

✻Archer’s Voice ➜ standalone

✻Becoming Calder and Finding Eden ➜ 2 part series. To get the conclusion of the story you must read Finding Eden after Becoming Calder.

✻Kyland ➜ standalone

I’ve been a fan of Ms. Sheridan’s writing since 2013 when I read Leo. Looking at the list above of her work I realize that the only book of hers I haven’t read yet is Leo’s Chance. I hope to rectify that here in the next year. AND there are 12 zodiac signs so I’m looking forward to more awesome books by Ms. Sheridan.

STANDALONE

**Complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.**

FOXY’S Goodreads review with updates  FOXY’S website