Wildflower by Alecia Whitaker

Wildflower by Alecia Whitaker
Series: N/A
Source: Publisher for Review
Publisher: Poppy
Publication Date: July 1, 2014

The best songs come from broken hearts.

Sixteen-year-old Bird Barrett has grown up on the road, singing backup in her family's bluegrass band, and playing everywhere from Nashville, Tennesee to Nowhere, Oklahoma. One fateful night, Bird fills in for her dad by singing lead, and a scout in the audience offers her a spotlight all her own.

Soon Bird is caught up in a whirlwind of songwriting meetings, recording sessions, and music video shoots. Her first single hits the top twenty, and suddenly fans and paparazzi are around every corner. She's even caught the eye of her longtime crush, fellow roving musician Adam Dean. With Bird's star on the rise, though, tradition and ambition collide. Can Bird break out while staying true to her roots?

In a world of glamour and gold records, a young country music star finds her voice.

I'll be straight up with you - I didn't know what to expect from Wildflower. I loved Aleica's debut novel, The Queen of Kentucky, but I didn't know if I would like this one or not. So when I got the chance to read this one, I jumped straight on it. I was expecting a story similar to Ricki Jo's, and while I didn't get that, it was actually just as good.

I loved Bird's voice! She seemed like a totally normal teenager, aside from the living in a travel trailer for the past ten years... (is it ten? I think so). She was pretty down to earth, and she was very set in her ways, which I found really endearing. She was a terribly sweet girl, and insanely enthusiastic. Which was really cute, but sometimes her enthusiasm ran the show, which caused some problems. But she never intentionally hurt anyone, even if she did accidentally.

I found the traveling thing to be so cool - it just seemed very fun and interesting. And it really strengthened the relationship between Bird and her siblings, whose relationship I found to be very true to life. They all had a very normal, joking relationship, which I just adored! It's not very often that you find a good sibling relationship within a young adult book.

Now I'll move on to the actual plotting of the novel. It was pretty good! I liked the way that it all played out. But I'm really not sure that Bird thought about the ramifications of the deal when she took it. It seemed like the record company tried really hard to change Bird, and I didn't really like that. But I did like the fact that they couldn't change her personality - she stayed the same old bubbly Bird throughout the book.

I will admit to thinking that Adam was going to break Bird's heart, though. It just seems logical, with all of the broken hearts make the best songs and such - and that's true, but it just kind of freaked me out. Fortunately, it didn't all go down the way I thought it would, and I liked that. I really had to reevaluate my opinion of Adam, which I rarely have to do, and it was a good experience for me.

Wildflower didn't have the ending I expected at all, and I just had to love that surprise. It was a tiny bit bittersweet, but I still liked it. All in all, I'd have to say that Alecia Whitaker still has it, even after her debut novel being such a winner. Four stars!