Really Ravishing Review (Hurricane Mia)

Review of Hurricane Mia: A Caribbean Adventure, by Donna Marie Seim.
Quickie: Cute story, perfect for the age range it's aimed at.

Full: Mia has big plans for her summer- a trip to Maine with her bestie Sam, going camping, horseback riding, wakeboarding- but all her hopes and plans are shattered when her parents tell her she is being flown down to stay with her grandparents. Her little brother Jack is going too... perfect. Mia is bitter about the dramatic change in plans, and it's made worse by her grandmother's rules and rigid personality. Mia becomes envious of Jack when Gramps continuously chooses him to do things with, and not Mia.

Her outlook brightens a bit when she meets a girl her age on the island, Neisha, and they become fast friends. Together they learn of a lady on a neighboring island, Aunt Cecilia, who is considered a "wise woman" and practices bush medicine. To Mia, this is wonderful news, because her mother has leukemia and she's very, very sick. Aunt Cecilia is rumored to make a tea that can cure everything. Mia has got to get some to her mother so she can get better and everything can go back to normal.

The problem with that idea though, is that Mia has no way to get to the island Aunt Cecilia lives on. She and Neisha hatch a few plans, but none of them seem viable- until Mia lets Jack in on her plan. Suddenly they have the means to get to the island... even though it involves lying, "borrowing", and putting all of them in possible danger. That's not going to stop Mia though!

Hurricane Mia was a charming tale of love and friendship- perfect for a mid-grade reader. Mia sort of annoyed me with her attitude sometimes, but I'm an adult and she's a kid who feels like her life is ruined, so I think we both had normal reactions. ;-)  There were a few hilarious scenes, my favorite possibly being when the donkeys got into the courtyard. Of course Mia felt horrible, since it was her fault, but Jack running around trying to lasso the donkeys was just too funny.

My only complaint is that I wanted to know if the tea ended up helping her mother or not. But that's just my obnoxious mind. I always want to know everything!

4 out of 5 stars.