This teen novel is about six teenagers living in Alaska in 1970. All come from different lives and experiences, but come to find that they are closer than they realize. One of the girls is an Eskimo and tries to run from her family issues. Another girl is raised as a fisherman's daughter but also wants to dance professionally. The third girl tries to hide a secret from a mistake she had made. The three boys are brothers who are trying to escape from their lives. All their lives intertwine and what they find brings on a strong sense of emotion. You'll find yourself cheering them on.

I really like reading about Alaska and a time around when I was born. I love reading about Indigenous people and their experiences. This was a good book to read if you're a historical fiction reader. The only issue I had was trying to keep everyone straight since it was a slow paced book. ( )

DNF at unknown %

I restarted this book 5 times and still can't remember any of the characters names. Time to shuffle on outta here I reckon.

3,7 ( )

My heart hurts. All the feels. ( )

teen/adult fiction (coming of age, historical Alaska 1959-1970)
I would classify this as more of an adult story than teen--the narrators are teenagers, but there's little to do with school or the usual angsty topics like boyfriends and more to do with living in, or escaping, homes with varying levels of stability. Though the cliff-hanger of Sam's falling off the ferry is left dangling for SEVERAL CHAPTERS before the story winds back over to his rescue, all the characters' threads weave together nicely and all ends happily, with the teens all finding stable homes, new friends, and happy endings.

Parental notes: I don't remember any swearing, but one teen gets pregnant (by a boy who turns out to be a jerk) and is sent away to have her baby at a convent (the adoptive family seems nice and reminds the teen of the family she used to have before her dad died in a plane crash and her mom was sent away for mental health reasons). There is kissing but nothing explicit and an abusive father who molests one of the teens (but not explicitly). ( )