REVIEW: Castles on the Sand by Emily Mah Tippetts

Madison Lukas knows her place in the world. She’s not pretty, not interesting, and therefore easy to forget. 

John Britton is serving his mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and has been praying for fifteen years to find the sister he lost in his parents’ divorce. She is beautiful, talented, and makes kindness a fine art.

When John and Madison cross paths, he recognizes her at once, but Madison is certain that he’s got it all wrong. Even if she is his long-lost sister, she can’t possibly be the exceptional, amazing girl he thinks she is, can she?

My Thoughts:

Castles on the Sand was for me, a book that contained so many different layers. And I thoroughly enjoyed peeling each layer back to discover more of this wonderful story and it's equally wonderful characters!!

At first glance Madison appears to be your typical teenage girl dealing with your typical teenage issues. But as the story unfolds and we delve deeper into Madison's life we see that she is dealing with so much more than your average teen. But through it all she is strong and loyal. She has a mum who has shut down and barely speaks to her. She shows very little interest in Madison's life and it's nothing out of the ordinary for Madison to have to step up and be the adult. 

Then, out of the blue there is a knock on the door and Madison comes face to face with John, a Mormon man who says he is her brother. Madison never really doubts that what he tells her is the truth. He knows too much about her and he looks just like her mum. To be honest, John rattled me a little bit at first. He was so full on and so expressive in how much he loved and wanted to protect Madison. But as the story went on that was one of the things that I loved most about him!!  And he comes into her life when she will need his love and support the most!!

And then add into that Madison's best friend Kailie who is dealing with issues of her own. Now Kailie was a character that I had a really hard time liking. She does some really horrible things to Madison. Really horrible!! But through it all Madison is so incredibly loyal and comes to her defence at every turn. And then we learn the extent of the trauma's that Kailie is suffering and you can't help but feel for her. But there is still that little niggle in the back of my brain that keeps asking if that then gives her the right to treat Madison as she does?

And who could forget Alex!! Alex is the bad boy... Or is he? Alex was by far my favourite character. There is so much more to him than what we see on the surface. It just goes to show how a person can be perceived by their actions, but until someone takes the time to look a bit deeper and see what bought about those actions, you can never truly know what makes a person tick. His relationship with Madison was beautiful to watch unfold.  His love for his mother just shone through. 

This is the first book that I have read my Emily Mah Tippetts and I can guarantee that it won't be the last!! She is such a wonderful storyteller!!! So excited to hear that the sequel to Castles on the Sand is being written as we speak. 

4.5/5 Stars!!

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