Review: We'll Fly Away

We'll Fly Away
by Bryan Bliss

Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Publication Date: May 8, 2018

WE'LL FLY AWAY by Bryan Bliss is the story of two best friends, Luke and Toby, and their senior year of high school. With the promise of a college wrestling scholarship for Luke, the two boys make their plans to leave their town, Toby’s abusive father, and Luke’s distant mother at the end of the school year. Carefully woven within the story of the boys’ year are Luke’s letters to Toby from death row. 

These letters ultimately allow readers to piece together the events leading up to Luke’s incarceration and complimented the other aspects of the novel well. However, the best part of reading WE'LL FLY AWAY was the vulnerability of each of the two main characters. This, along with the strength of the boys’ friendship made reading the novel and their growth apart from one another especially heartbreaking. 


Warnings: physical abuse 

Review: Meet Me Here

Meet Me Here 

by Bryan Bliss 

Publisher: Greenwillow Books

Publication Date: May 31, 2016

MEET ME HERE, is a captivating story that takes place over the course of one night, and yet as a reader I felt I had known Thomas his whole life. Thomas is faced with choosing between the decision his brother made, to join the army and fight like everyone around him believes he should, or run away from that life, letting everyone down. Over the course of his graduation night, while faced with his decision, Thomas starts to realize that despite having been in the back of his mind all his life, there might be more ways to look at the situation than he always thought. All the characters in this book, from Thomas, to his brother, to his hometown friends, to the neighbor he hasn't talked to in years up until this night, come alive so vividly. By the end of this book you might just feel that you've spent your graduation night alongside Thomas, and the town he grew up in might start to feel like it was your hometown too.