The Search for Us

– Susan Azim Boyer –

Wednesday Books

Published 24 October 2023

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The Search For Us is a compelling realistic fiction novel, light on romance and full of beautiful themes of finding your identity and family.

Samira Murphy is the only one keeping her family together. Her brother is losing his battle with alcohol addiction, her mother has her focus on her own career and is no use at all and her grandmother thinks Kamron can do no wrong, even after being arrested while drinking and almost killing someone. It’s up to Samira to make sure Kamron doesn’t go to jail and her grandmother is okay, even if it means giving up her college dreams and sacrificing her own health.

Henry Owen is sick of trying to make his family happy – it’s an impossible task. Trying to balance the relationship (and jealousy)between his adoptive mother and his birth mother, not to mention keeping his strict adoptive father off his back about his ice hockey playing, college choices and basically everything.

For Samira and Henry, the mystery of their birth father has always loomed over them but recent events make finding him seem like an answer to at least one of their problems. When they decide to each take a DNA test, they don’t find their father, but each other, a sibling neither thought they had. When Samira and Henry join forces to try and find their father, it takes them on a journey neither expect. It will push them beyond what they thought they would do, take them to scary places and challenge their relationships with their family. But they also discover something about themselves, what they want for their futures and how to go about getting that.

The Search For Us has some big topics and handles them all beautifully, from adoption and helping a familiar member who has an alcohol addition, to anxiety and problematic family relationships, Samira and Henry have to learn to look after themselves, learn how to ask for help and learn that some things are out of their control.

The publishers provided an advanced readers copy of this book for reviewing purposes. All opinions are my own.

More information

Category: Young Adult fiction

Genre: Contemporary

Themes: Family, substance abuse, neglect, family, friendship, romance, grief, death, mother-daughter relationships, wheelchair users, disability.

Reading age guide: Ages 13 and up.

Published: 5 December 2023 by Inkyard Press

Format: Hardcover, paperback, audiobook, ebook. 400 pages.

ISBN: 9781335429155

Find it onGoodreads