All The Little Bird Hearts- Blog Tour

 

Author: Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow

Publisher: Tinder Press

Publishing Date: 2nd March 2023

Many thanks to the publishing team and Random Things Tour for my copy of the book and a spot on the tour

Blurb

I lived for and loved a bird-heart that summer; I only knew it afterwards.

Sunday Forrester lives with her sixteen-year-old daughter, Dolly, in the house she grew up in. She does things more carefully than most people. On quiet days, she must eat only white foods. Her etiquette handbook guides her through confusing social situations, and to escape, she turns to her treasury of Sicilian folklore. The one thing very much out of her control is Dolly - her clever, headstrong daughter, now on the cusp of leaving home.

Into this carefully ordered world step Vita and Rollo, a couple who move in next door, disarm Sunday with their charm, and proceed to deliciously break just about every rule in Sunday's book. Soon they are in and out of each others' homes, and Sunday feels loved and accepted like never before. But beneath Vita and Rollo's polish lies something else, something darker. For Sunday has precisely what Vita has always wanted for herself: a daughter of her own.

My Thoughts

A debut from the author and a fantastic one at that. 

The  main character for this story was Sunday and she effortlessly flowed off the page. The character development captivates and you keeps you engaged from start to finish. You go on a journey with Sunday with hardships and joys that she has to endure during her story. Sunday possessed a quirkiness about her but also you get a feeling she is fighting some internal battles especially when she isn't having a good day and reverts to probably her comfort behaviours. She is autistic and it highlights her daily battles. 

We also get a deeper level of emotions when we get reeled into her relationship with her daughter. Even though this is the only version her daughter has come to know of Sunday she doe raise some questions of how her mother came to be like this. But once Vita and Rollo are introduced into their lives this causes a shift and some rift in the mother and daughter duo. 

Vita makes you feel uneasy at some points when you get a sense that she would rather spend time with Dolly rather than Sunday. But what I liked about this plot was that it wasn't rushed, like in realtime, easing your way on. And this is when Sunday realises that she needs to overcome some her challenges to not let her daughter stray and maintain that relationship. Which isn't an easy ride. 

We get to delve into how Sunday thinks, articulates and navigates her way around her this challenging and noisy world. It was a well written book that although heart breaking to read in parts was beautiful to read.