The Heart Is Not A Size by Beth Kephart

The Heart Is Not A Size
Georgia knows what it means to keep secrets. She knows how to ignore things. She knows that some things are better left unsaid. ...Or are they?

When Georgia and her best friend, Riley, travel along with nine other suburban Pennsylvania kids to Anapra, a squatters' village in the heat-flattened border city of Juarez, Mexico, secrets seem to percolate and threaten both a friendship and a life. Certainties unravel. Reality changes. And Georgia is left to figure out who she is outside the world she's always known.

Beth Kephart paints a world filled with emotion, longing, and the hot Mexican sun.

When Georgia discovers a program where she could go to Mexico to help build a community bathroom, she doesn't hesitate to join alongside her best friend, Riley. Both Georgia and Riley have secrets that will threaten this friendship. Will they be able to stay friends?

I loved how easy it was to read this book. I was done with it in two days. A really quick at-the-beach read. Beth Kephart has a beautiful writing style, almost poetic. The words just...flow.

Riley is a very extreme character. She wants to be against everything her mother wants her to be. You can see that their relationship isn't that good and I felt and suffered with Riley.

Georgia is a quiet character, reserved, and with a big secret. Of course, she is worried about her friend and how extreme she's taking everything but it doesn't quite work out.

The setting is fantastic. I love how vividly everything was portrayed in Juarez.

Overall, I really liked the story. It was a quick and easy read and enjoyable but not at-the-edge-of-your-seat kind of enjoyable. I really liked Georgia and Riley's friendship and how imperfect it was, yet, it seemed to work out.

In one sentence:
"A quick read about friendship and the risks we're willing to take for it."

Plot: 4
Writing: 5
Characters: 4
Cover: 2
Overall Feeling: 4
Average: 3.8