BLOG TOUR: THE SKY IS MINE BY AMY BEASHEL//BOOK REVIEW

Hello Book Dragons!

Today I have a very special book to share with you guys. It’s called The Sky is Mine by Amy Beashel. All thanks to the wonderful team at Oneworld Publications and Rock The Boat for my spot in the Blog Tour and for sending me a copy of the book. 💜

Amy Beashel has also picked a selection of songs to go with each blog post as an honour to Izzy’s obsession with Desert Island Discs. Amy has picked Try by P!nk as her choice of song for my stop. Try is one of my most favourite songs by P!nk and this is why Amy loves it too!

Try ~ Pink

Try is my go-to song in every moment – and there are many – in the writing process when I’ve doubted if the ultimate goal is worth the ongoing torture. And, god, is there torture. I appreciate Try is a love song but the idea that flames, burns and pain are a necessary consequence of a desire that will not kill me is basically what gets me sitting at my laptop each morning. Being the emotional sadomasochist that I am, the song also offers catharsis in that it makes me cry every single time I hear it. Hence my kids, Monty and Dolly, playing it if they’re feeling particularly spikey and want to see me weep!

No one has ever asked Izzy what she wants. She’s about to change all that…

In a house adept at sweeping problems under the carpet, seventeen-year-old Izzy feels silenced. As her safety grows uncertain, Izzy know three things for sure. She knows not to tell her mother that Jacob Mansfield has been threatening to spread those kinds of photos around college. She knows to quiet the grief that she’s been abandoned by her best friend Grace. And, seeing her mother conceal the truth of her stepdad’s control, Izzy also knows not to mention how her heart splinters and her stomach churns whenever he enters a room.

When the flimsy fabric of their life starts to unravel, Izzy and her mum must find their way out of the silence and use the power in their voices to rediscover their worth.

For fans of Sara Barnard, Louise O’Neill and E. Lockhart, The Sky is Mine is a powerful exploration of rape culture and domestic abuse, and a moving story of women learning to love themselves enough to demand to be heard.

The Sky is Mine is such a heart-wrenching tale that I cried throughout the course of the book. It was such a heart-breaking story to read. From page 1 till the end, the book made me so uncomfortable and sad that I had to take breaks in-between. Izzy’s story is right in your face. It doesn’t build over time, it’s already built from the first page. We just witness her struggling through all the abuses at the hands of her step-dad and her classmates and it’s deeply emotional. I wouldn’t have it any other way either.

I have been in a low state of mind over the past couple of days due to some personal problems and reading The Sky is Mine at such a time, I think it was double the impact. I am not sure if everyone who read the book thought it was sad and heartbreaking or not but I deeply felt Izzy and connected with her. I may not have been in Izzy’s position but I have experienced something similar as Izzy does in this book so for me it was a deeply personal story.

The truth is The Sky is Mine isn’t just a fictitious story, it’s the truth about our society that we live in. It’s the circumstances that we have normalised. It’s the situations we laugh at by claiming that they are funny. It is a story which is a reality for many people. Amy Beashel is holding up a mirror through Izzy’s story and the resulting outcome is a far cry from the society we think we live in.

Beashel’s writing style needs some getting used to but we have to keep in mind that the story is narrated from Izzy’s point of view, a seventeen-year-old teenage girl. While reading, I just kept wishing that somebody would hear Izzy. I wanted to pluck her out of all her struggles and help her. Even though it was deeply uncomfortable, I mastered up the courage to finish the book. I wanted to witness Izzy and her mother finally finding their voices. Finally being heard. All the characters are so well-fleshed out that it’s impossible to not FEEL the story. While the title of the novel may seem unsuitable given the story, for me it created a sense of hope that someday Izzy would find her voice which in a way is “touching the sky”.

I absolutely admire Beashel for writing such an important book. The Sky is Mine explores rape culture, domestic abuse, normative gender roles and several other social issues and sends a strong message about consent. I can’t recommend this book enough. Please read it, share it with your friends and spread the word about The Sky is Mine. The most uncomfortable books turn out to be the absolute best and The Sky is Mine is an example of that.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Amy Beashel lives in Shropshire with her husband, two kids and a couple of kittens called Bird and Cat Dooku. She is passionate about inspiring young women to find their own voice. Incidentally, she is also the fastest woman in the world on a space hopper.

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Signing off,

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