When Life Gives You Mangoes
by Kereen Getten
Published by Pushkin Press

This exciting story explores friendship & elements of real life that can be so tricky. A smooth blend of drama & normality, we really get to share the characters' feelings. A fantastic debut novel by Kereen Getten, I feel like I grew familiar with the island locations. The traditional island games amongst mango trees & banana groves remind us of simple childhood innocence & fun. The eclectic mix of real characters on the island who'd almost all lived there many years is superb & includes a shunned uncle labelled a witch doctor.

The reason for Clara's memory loss & feelings of painful isolation stays a secret for a lot of the story, but she manages to grasp every moment of fun she can. A slow summer really takes off with the appearance of Rudy from England. New arrivals to the island were very rare & Clara was delighted by Rudy's detailed role-playing games, enthusiasm, daring fashionista style & fantastic imagination.

Old family disagreements surface & long term grudges get in the way of life but the discovery of some old letters & surviving a devastating island storm turn everything around revealing old truths & sparking true community spirit.

This story has mystery, adventure, fun-factor, & explores the joy & simplicity of island life games but gives us layers of emotion & human strength in the wonderful mix from cover to cover.

Bravo Pushkin!

Thanks to Pushkin Press for letting me read this book for a review.

I have When Life Gives You Mangoes 5 Stars.

When Life Gives You Mangoes follows Clara who lives in Sycamore with her best friend Gaynah. However, there's one thing she can't remember; what happened last summer. When Rudy arrives from England, the two hit it off and go on adventures across the island, discovering secrets along the way. Slowly, the memories from last summer begin to come back.

I loved this! It took me on a journey I was not expecting to go on. I haven't read many middle-grade recently so I wasn't sure what to expect going into this but I'm truly glad I did. So many emotions were brought out while reading this and I couldn't put it down. I loved reading about the relationships across the village and what life is like in Jamaica. Seeing Rudy and Clara's friendship blossom as they go on their adventures to the fort and down to the river brought back childhood memories and when Eldorath was introduced to the story, I couldn't help but fall in love with the family bonds.

I really do recommend this book to nearly everyone!

Middle grade isn't normally my thing but this was a heartwarming, authentic story about friendship, family, loss and grief. Clara is 12. She used to love the sea and surfing, but now she can't even step in the water. She can't remember last summer at all, and is acting out of character.

This summer, Clara wants to have the best time with her friend Gaynah, and maybe get to know the new girl Rudy. I loved Sycamore, the imagery Kereen Getten gave me from her writing was spectacular, with mango trees and Clara's Uncle's home being standouts.

Clara goes on such a journey in this book, having to come to terms with her trauma. What she goes through at 12 is so tough, and I love that her parents stand by her when some of the other people in the village are critical of her behaviour. I also really like Rudy's character - she was such a fun, unique girl with great style, and I think she was such a good friend for Clara.

The ending is super sweet and it definitely made me tear up a bit. Sometimes that happy sadness feeling is a great feeling, you know? Anyway, I'm really glad I gave this a go because it was nice to be transported back to the life of a 12 year old, and it really gave me a feel for Sycamore.

This book, wow. Just wow. I don't even know where to begin to unpack all of the fantastic things about this book. As a middle grade, I really didn't expect the themes that were prevalent, including intense relationships with family, friendship and loss/grief through the eyes of a child. This book wasn't even remotely mysterious, but the plot twist was incredibly unexpected.
I had so many different ideas of what would have happened in this book, all of which were much less exciting than the actual outcome and I am so glad I was given the chance to read this book.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was a really cute book which aims at middle grade readers but can be read by anyone. 12 year old Clara loved water but then something happened and now she is afraid of going in the sea. Worse, she doesn't remember what happened to her. Things change when Rudy comes to her place from England and to the chagrin of Clara's best friend, seems to be replacing her.
As the story furthers, it gives the readers idea about what has happened and we deal with themes like memory loss, bullying, grief the power of friends and friendship etc. This is a story that teaches readers so many things without being in the least preachy.

Also, special mention to the cover designer for this colourful n so so attractive cover. I wonder how pretty it will look in a physical copy!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this book.

The story spoke to me, starting with the gorgeous cover that drew me in. The writing was very good. I liked following Clara’s story. It was very easy to relate to her and her friends, to imagine their games. Which then made the problems arising between the children, and adults, very relatable, too. The plot twist towards the end of the novel was predictable for me, but I am sure middle-grade readers will be surprised.

When Life Gives You Mangos is a story about how complicated friendship can be. How trauma, loss and grief influence our lives in different ways, and about how friendship, forgiveness and acceptance can help you – and your community – heal.

I didn't expect this middle grade to deal with such hard hitting concepts but it did an incredible job!
There wasn't a moment that I wasn't hooked. Clara was a great protagonist for this story and I loved following her magical journeys around the island with her friends, experiencing these with her. This is a wonderful story for not only children but adults too, we should all read this beautiful tale and we could all learn from it. This has inspired me to pick up more middle grade for sure!

"When Life Gives You Mangoes" by Kereen Getten is a fun middle-grade novel that explores a whole host of difficult issues such as bullying and memory loss. The story is set on the island of Jamaica, and follows Clara who cannot remember the events of last summer but knows that she is afraid of water. She used to spend her time in the ocean, surfing, but now for some reason she doesn't like surfing anymore. Subject to bullying amongst her family and peers because of her loss of memory, she begins to feel isolated and angered by her community. That is until the arrival of Rudy, the new girl from England. This book was engaging and sweet, and easily one of my favourite middle-grades I've read in a long time. I would definitely recommend it!

* Thank you to NetGalley and Pushkin Press for the eArc to review*

12 year old Clara living in the small town of Sycamore, believes that nothing really happens. From playing pick leaf, to eating the mangoes from her garden and playing with her best friend Gaynah, her life is relatively uneventful. Apart from the fact that she can't remember some things from the previous summer. When a new English girl Rudy turns up, Gaynah changes and is being mean to Clara, and she is forced to face the realities of what had happened the previous summer.

This was such a beautifully written book. I adored the character of Clara, I just wanted to make her my little sister and let her know that everything was going to be alright. She's such a strong character for being 12 years old, and I really enjoyed following her around the island, and watching her go on adventures with Rudy, Gaynah and her other friends.

The story was entertaining and heartbreaking all at once. The resolution to the story was perfect, and it made me rate this a 5 out of 5 instead of the 4 I had been considering through the entire story.

This was my first adventure into middle grade literature and it certainly won't be my last. I'd recommend this book to everyone!

This is a delightful, gentle story that vividly conjures an image of life in the small, close-knit community of a Caribbean fishing village, where everyone knows each other. Clara loves surfing but has not been for ages, following an incident that has left her with no memory of the previous year. Then drama-loving, imaginative Rudy arrives from England to visit her grandmother and the two quickly become friends, to the apparent annoyance of Clara’s former best friend and cousin Gaynah. The summer is enlivened by Rudy’s role-play games, culminating in a visit to the old house lived in by Clara’s uncle Eldorath, surrounding whom there is much mystery in the village and who is reputed to be a witch doctor. The mystery deepens further when the reality of the man does not reflect the stories that the village children have been told.
The sea and the vagaries of the weather play an important part in how the plot unfolds, but at its heart this is a tender story of friendships made and lost, full of well-intentioned, believable characters whose actions are determined by family love. This is a very enjoyable book, with enough mystery and surprises to keep the reader hooked and a denouement and atmosphere that generate a warm feeling that lasts long after the reading is finished.

An incredibly powerful story of Clara and her emotional outbursts, lack of memory from the previous summer and her tumultuous relationship with cousin Gaynah.
Clara and her family live in Sycamore, on a tropical island. Surfing, playing pick leaf and staying out of the intense heat is all part of their summer holidays. This year, something is wrong with Clara and the entire community know and urge her parents to seek help. Over the course of the book, I speculated on what I could imagine would erase memories and the results were always sad. As I continued to read and get to know Clara, I wanted her to share the secret, show me what happened and I wanted to help her understand.

This debut novel is stunning in setting, characters and emotions. Highly evocative and atmospheric I could see and feel the sights of Sycamore, the banana groves, the sand and ocean and I felt a connection to this small community who stick together through good and bad.

When a huge storm threatens the island, Clara is sent to fetch her Uncle Eldorath, the "witch doctor". These are just rumors of course but it is he who will unlock the secrets creating the anger in Clara and teach her to overcome the hurt and guilt she is bottling up.

With tears flowing as I came to the realisation, I felt all the emotions as Clara finally let go. The tears didn't stop until long after the ending- which causes tears for a different reason- a completely enchanting story and one which will have an everlasting effect on me.

When Life Gives You Mangoes is a beautiful read full of heart and love. It's a story about memory and confronting the past.