By Laekan Zea Kemp
Publisher: Little Brown Books
Print Length: 448
Release Year: 2023
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Avg. Goodreads Rating: 4.5
Danna Mendoza Villarreal’s grandfather is slowly losing himself as his memories fade, and Danna’s not sure her plan to help him remember through the foods he once reviewed will be enough to bring him back. Especially when her own love of food makes her complicated relationship with her mother even more difficult.
Raúl Santos has been lost ever since his mother was wrongly incarcerated two years ago. Playing guitar for the elderly has been his only escape, to help them remember and him forget. But when his mom unexpectedly comes back into his life, what is he supposed to do when she isn’t the same person who left?
When Danna and Raúl meet, sparks fly immediately and they embark on a mission to heal her grandfather…and themselves. Because healing is something best done together—even if it doesn’t always look the way we want it to. (Goodreads)
| Writing | ★★★★★ |
| Character | ★★★★★ |
| World Building | ★★★★ |
| Plot | ★★★★ |
In association with HearOurVoices Book Tours.
An Appetite for Miracles is an immensely impactful novel-in-verse that will make you laugh and sob. Through her use of verse, Kemp intertwines two very real stories together, both of which explore love and loss. Kemp explores both concepts with practised care. Danna and Raul’s stories are the stories of many people and are a reminder that love and loss come in more than one form. Most importantly, their stories are a reminder that your experience of them, regardless of how different they may be, that you are not alone and your feelings and thoughts are valid.
Telling a story through verse presents a lot of challenges not only for the writer but for the readers. I, myself, don’t have much experience with reading the style. But even as inexperienced as I am, I could easily follow Kemp’s rhythm and enjoy the story regardless of style. If you are a reader who is hesitant to pick up a novel-in-verse, I recommend picking it up anyway. While there is a poetic rhythm to it, An Appetite for Miracles does not condescend to its readers with excessive literary platitudes but rather uses the writing technique to invoke the deep emotions felt by the characters.
As a reviewer, I want readers to take away the impression that An Appetite for Miracles is a triumph in emotional storytelling. It’s not often that a book is released that can invoke such intense emotions that they leak outside of the reading experience. But in reading Miracles, I often found myself sitting lost in thought because the lives of Danna and Raul touched me too deeply.
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