This book got some terrible reviews but I thought it was sweet and worth reading ❤️

Icy is an adolescent orphan girl growing up with her grandparents in 1950s rural Kentucky. She has Tourette's Syndrome, but no one there really understands her disorder at the time. She ends up isolated from her community; too scared to go out. Icy is a very intelligent young lady, but her tics and uncontrollable cursing/croaking are wrecking her self-confidence.

After failing time and time again to trade a wiggle for a jerk, I felt all kinds of contradictions roosting inside me. I was afraid of having a spell in front of people, but also afraid of being cut off from the world.

It's a story about learning to accept ourselves just as we are. The last half of the book could have been much more succinct, though. It was a slow-go after she got back home from treatment in Louisville.

2.5 stars. I generally don't write reviews of books, because I believe reading and one's opinion of any particular book is very personal matter. Feeling how you do about a story, free of anyone else's judgment or view, is a gift. I felt compelled to share a brief thought on this book, however, perhaps just to see if anyone else agrees with me. The story of Icy, finding her way while carrying the weight of a disability, transitioning (not at all cohesively) to the book's last 20-30 pages, describing her spiritual awakening of finding Jesus, is one of the most disjointed things I've ever read. It was a disappointment at the end. Until the last 30 pages, I would have likely rated the book 4 stars.

This is a book which was interesting in the first part, less so in the second (although very moving) and finally disintegrated into a fairly routine teenage coming-of-age story. Yes, we all feel for poor Icy but she turns out to be a lot special in the eyes of the author than we'd hoped and the usual array of quirky Southern small-town characters also failed to be as charming as they started out to be. Disappointing in the end but very Oprah.

Ordinarily, I hate all literature, fiction, or story-telling about Appalachia. HATE. And I mean that as forcefully as the all caps implies. Silas House? So twee and building stereotypes that some of us would rather not have to fight against on a daily basis. Jesse Stuart? Please spare me.

But this book, while set in eastern Kentucky, isn't really about Appalachia. It's about a girl who happens to grow up in an isolated community, surrounded by mountains. But she's a special girl -- and she's got a secret. Her secret makes her good at keeping the secrets of others, even when it's to her detriment. Not only is she special, but she's special in a way that makes her alone. No one understands her and she doesn't even understand herself. Who in this world hasn't felt like he or she has been on the outside looking in? Gwyn Rubio does a good job of creating a sympathetic character without pretensions. Icy may suffer from Tourette Syndrome in an age before it was really understood, but this book is a work of fiction, well-written and entertaining, without the seeming agenda of educating the audience. How refreshing!

If you want a fast read about a smart kid who is a misfit and doesn't really understand what's wrong with her, this book is a good option. If you teach high school, I can easily see this being on a reading list where kids get to choose what they read.

A slow beginning, a fast paced middle and a disappointing end.I'm not sure why this was on Oprah's book list (not that I picked it for that reason) - perhaps because it was loosely based on a girl with Tourette's Syndrome who had a morbidly obese friend, lived in Kentucky and found God... I have nothing against all of these separately or bunched together but it made for a bland read when it brushed by topics that could have been more interestingly explored. Again, I don't mind a loose end or two at the end but I felt like I got on the train to one destination and inexplicably ended up just south of there where I had to retrace my steps back and wonder why I took the trip in the first place. Not a waste of time per se but I don't get why the high marks on the review I'd read.

Ugh. I just saw the book cover, and wanted to hurl. My sister told me to read it. Thats the last recommendation she ever gave... I killed her.

I felt this novel was trying to duplicate the free spirit of Scout and wisdom of Atticus captured in TKAM through Icy and Miss Emily. It tried way too hard, so the lessons came across forced and the story failed. Though I'm by no means an expert on Tourette Syndrome, I also felt the disorder was oversimplified and I hated the idea that Jesus soothed all the temptation to twitch away. The last chapter was nearly insufferable. I read it so that you don't have to - do not put yourself through that.

What. In. The. World.

This book was going along ok… then like a flaming fiery crash went down so fast.
I didn’t finish. Interesting story, not fantastic but it was ok,… but then went on a weird twist of hymnals? I have no clue what happened. The book’s storyline and agenda were hijacked by someone else, like they passed the half written book to someone else and just let them add their own ending.

When I read the back of the book cover to Adam he gave a big dramatic sigh and declared, "You read the most depressing books in the world." A book about a young girl growing up with undiagnosed Tourettes Syndrome, a story where the heroine feels completely unable to adapt to the world around her, a girl with no mother, raised by her loving but confused grandparents, a child who's only friend is a 400 pound adult, a stint in a mental hospital where the main character struggles and still remains undiagnosed, WHAT ISN'T TO LOVE ADAM? I was so on board with this book, the style, the struggle of the main character, the way the reader begins to realize this book isn't simply talking about the pain of living with Tourettes but actually the difficulties each of us face attempting to fit into society, and then WHAM the ending. Ugg the ending. Maybe YOU will love the ending, but all I can tell you is that I rolled my eyes a LOT in the last 30 pages. Read it, then tell me if you rolled your eyes too.

The book still gets five stars despite the fact that I felt some parts were a bit sensationalized. Once I put it into context of being a coming of age novel it made more sense. Just a personal preference. I still enjoyed most of the book. I’ll always give Appalachian literature a try.

The book’s theme had so much promise! Yet, I found the characters to be shallow or rather not well developed. The author kept setting up conflict and then “resolving” with vague solutions. The ending was especially disappointing. EVERYTHING was made better by religion....ugh! That insults the science teacher in me. I usually keep books on my shelves as “good” friends to remember. This one is going to the used book store.