The November Book Recommendation is, The Heartbeats of Wing Jones, by Katherine Webber!

The Plot: The protagonist is a teenage girl named Wing. Wing feels overshadowed by her older brother, Marcus who is the typical golden boy. The whole town seems to adore him and there’s pressure on Marcus to win a scholarship for himself since he’s the star of the football team. The shift in the plot happens when Marcus makes a mindless mistake that changes everything. Marcus drove behind the wheel after he was drunk from a party. The car had an accident that killed two people and lands Marcus in coma. Now Wing had to handle the judgment of her peers, supposed friends, and the town. In addition to all that stress, Wing’s family was facing difficulty with Marcus’s expensive medical bills. Her house was at risk to be evicted. Wing tires to keep it all together the way most people do: Run.

Characters: Wing was a phenomenal protagonist. I related to her vividly. Wing doesn’t want to act like a tag-along for her brother, but she wants to fit in. The fact that she has a crush on her brother’s best friend was complicated as well. Wing develops from beginning to end. She was unsure of herself in the beginning. As the accident happens, she had to come to terms with the resentment she had for her brother. How stupid and how reckless Marcus had been. Wing had to deal with people at school. She was divided between wanting to protect Marcus from the backlash, but how could she do that if she agreed with it?

Marcus was essential to the core of the story. I felt his character from every interaction he had with Wing. He goes from being the strong household figure to being lost. Wing helps him gain his self-worth back.

The secondary characters were all exceptional but for me, Wing was the most memorable.

Cover: I really liked it. It had caught my attention and was simple.

Final Thoughts: I loved this book so much! I throughout enjoyed the whole feel of this book. The most notable aspect of the story was the fact that Wing was biracial. Not only was she biracial, but her ethnicity was African American and Chinese. Have you ever heard of such a book? Wing’s ethnicity was not the focus of the book but the representation should be commented on, considering the lack of diversity in literature. I simply related to Wing in wanting to get away from her problems. It’s a feeling many can empathize with and not everyone’s first instincts are to solve problems. It can be hard and in running Wing finds solace. I wholeheartedly recommend this book to teens!