I’m really happy to tell you that this year we reach another milestone on the blog and this review is for the first ARC I ever read. So thank you very much Heather Clark for this opportunity. So today we are speaking about a middle-grade book, Lemon Drop Falls, one that beautifully surprised me because it’s a story about grief, anxiety, dramatic changes, and learning how to breathe again.

Lemon Drop Falls is a story about a girl who lost her mother. A story about a family who lost their compass and now they are learning to exit without their biggest supporter and best friend. The story has two timelines, the first is before the death of the mother and the second after that. In the first timeline, we learn about their family habits, how their relationship was, how a mother with 3 kids manages to be there for all of them. The focus is on the big sister, who is 12 years old and everything changed in her social life. Boys are no longer just friends, the soccer team becomes more competitive, her best friend has a new best friend and she doesn’t understand why all these things can’t remain the same as last year.

The lemon drop is a strategy when everyone can come and take one lemon candy and the mother will understand that they need to talk about something that upset them. This is where the author introduces a piece of really good advice if you can explain your problem, talk about it… your problem becomes easier. And one of the favorite things that the mum likes to do… is to create an ABC plan.

When the plan falls

The ABC plans are used for everything. For example, plan A is your team is gonna win the soccer game. But that doesn’t happen so you need the B plan which is karaoke and good food. The C plan is something you don’t want to need. And after their mother’s day, all is left is a B plan when the biggest child tries everything to be like her mother because of “the fog”, something that their dad has in his eyes. Something that keeps him ignorant about a lot of their problems.

The second timeline, after the tragic moment, is about grief and learning how to exit without an important piece of your life. This is my favorite part of the story. It is ugly, is sad and it helps you realize that you are not invincible, those bad things can happen to you even you have the perfect plan. I love the way that the author created the image of a lemon drop falls, how much the girl needed it and how afraid she was because of that. The dynamic between the children and the dad, how the girl taught she was doing good, how the father was afraid for her but didn’t dare to speak, all of these things make the characters more human and easier to understand.