In RAINBOW STATE, Mariah Ashley’s debut YA coming-of-age tale, Jade is a teenage girl growing up in Hawaii in the 1980s. Grieving the recent loss of her mother and alienated from her father, Jade copes with her pain and anger by walling herself off from the world and finding solace in vivid dreams. Her few friends include her Auntie, whose shop Jade helps out at; Benny, an odd young man (with an exceptional talent for fixing things) with whom her mother had a close connection; and DJ, a boy she harbors a crush on. Making matters even worse, Jade suffers constant taunting and bullying from another girl, Laila, and her crew. And if all that isn’t enough to deal with, Jade has a supernatural ability—to perceive people’s auras, or “colors,” that reveal their inner nature—that she has concealed from everyone but her late mother and Auntie.
Jade stumbles upon a mysterious letter that reveals a dark secret about her parents: years ago, they survived a shipwreck in which several people died—and not all the victims, it turns out, died from drowning. The discovery leads her to search for the truth about what happened. Enlisting DJ’s help, Jade launches an investigation into the matter, revealing layers of tragic family secrets and shocking hidden connections between Jade and the people in her life. It’s a tumultuous journey that will illuminate the true nature of her parents’ relationship and force Jade into a reckoning with everything she believed she knew about herself and her past.
Ashley does a wonderful job setting up the world of RAINBOW STATE, introducing Jade, her situation, and the other characters in an organic way instead of simply dumping exposition onto the reader. Though the story is tinged throughout with the ache of sorrow, the novel maintains a light, frequently funny tone, with natural-sounding dialogue that sparkles with wit. The story follows familiar YA romance beats, and revelations regarding Laila and other characters—as well as the central mystery—probably won’t entirely surprise fans of the genre. But its rousing mix of family drama and adolescent relationships is rendered with uncommon grace, exploring the complexities of grief, healing, and acceptance with sensitivity and resonant insight.
Mariah Ashley’s RAINBOW STATE is a rousing mix of family drama and adolescent relationships rendered with uncommon grace, exploring the complexities of grief, healing, and acceptance with sensitivity and resonant insight.
~Edward Sung for IndieReader