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    Hummingbird Heart
    Hummingbird Heart
    Hummingbird Heart
    Ebook262 pages3 hours

    Hummingbird Heart

    By Robin Stevenson

    3.5/5

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Sixteen-year-old Dylan has never met her father. She knows that her parents were just teenagers themselves when she was born, but her mother doesn't like to talk about the past, and her father, Mark, has never responded to Dylan's attempts to contact him. As far as Dylan is concerned, her family is made up of her mother, Amanda; her recently adopted younger sister, Karma; and maybe even her best friend, Toni.

    And then, out of the blue, a phone call: Mark will be in town for a few days and he wants to meet her. Amanda is clearly upset, but Dylan can't help being excited at the possibility of finally getting to know her father. But when she finds out why he has come—and what he wants from her—the answers fill her with still more questions. What makes someone family? And why has her mother been lying to her all these years?
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOrca Book Publishers
    Release dateApr 1, 2012
    ISBN9781459801561
    Hummingbird Heart
    Author

    Robin Stevenson

    Robin Stevenson is an award-winning author of books for kids and teens. Her writing has been translated into several languages and published in more than ten countries. She lives with her family on the west coast of Canada.

    Read more from Robin Stevenson

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    Reviews for Hummingbird Heart

    3.5/5

    16 ratings6 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Dylan is sixteen, the exact age her mother was when she became a single parent. Dylan knows nothing of her father other than the sketchy rare comments her mother makes about a one-night-stand. That is, until her father shows up in town and wants to meet her. Dylan’s mother has been lying about her relationship with Dylan’s father and this adds to the confusion his visit is causing. Not only is she shocked at his visit, but she is conflicted by the reason for his sudden interest. Mark, her Dad, has come to ask her to be tested to possibly help save his other daughter who has leukemia. How can Dylan say no and possibly doom her half-sister to death? Dylan is a responsible teen who looks out for the environment and who hasn’t had a real dating relationship yet. Her best friend is now busy with a boyfriend and Dylan feels left out. Then a new boy, Jax, begins to pay attention to her and she is flattered but not really invested in the relationship. Jax wants more from her physically than she’s willing to give and that causes her more anxiety. Dylan has a supportive mother but she’s not a real role model – she’s into tattoos, drinking, marijuana and frank discussions with her daughter of her sex life with men she dates. Amanda – the mother – is not the typical parent in teen fiction yet she may be the reality for some teens today. Dylan’s confusion and her struggle to come to terms with meeting a father and sister she never knew before, make Dylan a sympathetic character. Her willingness to try to help her half-sister is one indication of her good heart. The writing of the book flows smoothly and the story builds with good momentum. Characters are real and some are multi-dimensional. In particular, Dylan’s mother is unique in that her wild crazy ways do not relegate her to the status of unfit parent. She really cares about her daughter and one can understand why she made the choices about deceiving her daughter for so long. A quick read; teens should find it interesting.
    • 4/5
      Even though 16-year old Dylan's life might be different from those of her readers, I think many teens can relate to her feelings. She's scared of death, feeling lonely now that her best friend has a boyfriend, and confused by her mother and some truths that are starting to emerge. Dylan wants to save the environment (she bikes everywhere) and would like her mother to act more like a mother sometimes. She's not sure if she'd ever like to meet the father she's never know and who she thinks has never wanted to meet her. Then a phone call changes everything. She'll question her sense of family and learn the truth about herself, her mother and her father.I think the was a good read. It was a little predictable at times, but still kept me interested. Dylan's feelings of loneliness are ones I think a lot of teens can relate to.
    • 3/5
      The cover: I like this cover. I think it is simple and striking compared to other covers that are out on the market right now. I like that it looks like a tattoo and that it ties into the story well. I really have nothing negative to say about the cover- it is very pretty. Another publisher (Penguin) has a YA title coming out this summer with a very similar cover, even the hummingbird tattoo. I wonder if that is just coincidence (it wouldn't surprise me).The characters: I really struggled with the characters. I felt sympathetic for Dylan and for the struggles that she was facing, but I didn't like her very much. To be honest, with the exception of Karma and Dylan's dad and his family- I didn't really like ANY of the characters. It wasn't that they felt fake or flimsy- the characters were complete. The choices that they made made me angry! Every single character in this book was a "hot mess". I was hoping that someone normal would come along and save me from the craziness.The story: I am incredibly conflicted about this story. On one hand- I really did enjoy this story. It was absolutely fascinating look at what it like for a girl to finally meet her real father after 16 years and the emotions that go through that meeting and developing a relationship. But this is not the first book I have read where every single teen is smoking pot, getting high, getting drunk, and having sex every night. Now I get that teens today are doing more, but really? This book was EXTREME. Am I really that disconnected from the world? The way this book was written- it made it sound like if you were a virgin or someone who didn't get trashed or high you were abnormal. Do I have any teen followers? Is this really true? I admit, I am almost 30, but I really am tired about reading about teens that are train wrecks waiting to happen. (But then again, maybe I am too stodgy). There are numerous mentions of sex in this book, drug use is a prevalent theme, and there are many mentions of getting drunk and of alcoholics, and one pregnancy scare. This was a good book, but not an uplifting one at all.
    • 2/5
      I really wanted to like this book because the cover is so beautiful, but it's quite possibly the most depressing book ever. The only thing Dylan ever does is moan about how alone she is, about how she wishes her mother didn't have so many tattoos or smoke pot, about how her best friend abandons her for her boyfriend, about how she knows nothing about her father, and about the ozone layer and pollution. The girl needs to chill out.And then Mark, her father, abruptly tries to reconnect and Dylan turns into super-bitch. Swears her mouth off to her best friend and then thinks that they've never had a fight like that before? That wasn't a fight, Dylan, that was you biting your friend's head off.I flipped forward to see if it got better, but it didn't. It got worse. I do not recommend this book unless you just happen to enjoy miserable people doing miserable things and making no effort at all to enjoy themselves.
    • 4/5
      Sixteen year old Dylan has never met her father. Now, out of the blue, he has contacted her and asked her to be a bone marrow donor for his other daughter, Casey, who is 4 years old and suffering from a form of leukemia. Dylan lives with her mother, Amanda, and her adopted sister, Karma in near poverty. She discovers that her mother has been lying to her for years about her father and more and now she doesn't know how she feels or who to trust. This is a well-written story about a teenager being forced to confront questions about her past, her family, her relationships and her very identity. Dylan is a well-developed, realistic character and teens will be able to relate to her dilemma. Highly recommended.
    • 4/5
      The strength of this book is its central character Dylan, a 16 year old girl who is prickly and smart and has a lot on her mind. Born to her mother when she was only 16 herself, Dylan has never known her father, and believed that he had ignored her her whole life. When he shows up out of the blue to ask her to be a bone marrow donor for her 3 year old half-sister, Dylan is understandably ambivalent about finally meeting him. It turns out to be a complicated situation because of her mother's many secrets, and in the meantime Dylan is also wrestling with a new romance and changes with her best friend. Although this teen novel has many subplots going on simultaneously, it holds together well, and is thought-provoking at the same time that it entertains. The teen voice seems authentic and engaging.

    Book preview

    Hummingbird Heart - Robin Stevenson

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