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By Xixi Tian

Powerful, beautiful, heartbreakingly raw, All the Way Around the Sun is a moving exploration of culture, identity, and the journey through grief.

When I say this book wrapped me in a warm hug, I’m not joking. Between beautifully crafted characters and moving prose, Tian is a master with words. All the Way Around the Sun had me kicking my feet and screaming one moment and crying the next. What a novel well done.

Thanks so much to Xixi Tian and Quill Tree for providing me an ARC of this book! All opinions are my own. All the Way Around the Sun is coming this Tuesday (09/30), so be sure to grab a copy!

Rating:

Review:

The world can change in a second. And no matter how hard everyone tries to make the world the same again, you’ll never be. That’s a lesson Stella Chen learned the hard way when her brother died alone in his dorm, and her parents uprooted their lives to California to start anew. Struggling to find her way in a new state, life gets even harder when her parents leave her for two weeks to plan a wedding—forcing her to go on a college-visit road trip with her estranged childhood friend. But as Stella looks to the future, the past carries more emotions than she’s ready to face.

Whew, this book was a lot… in the best ways possible. Tian writes in a way that’s so raw and honest. You feel every bit of grief and pain that Stella and her family experience. From page one, you care about Stella—wanting to understand the ghosts that haunt her. You root for her like she’s your best friend, and you ache for her like she’s your sister.

This rawness is part of what makes All the Way Around the Sun so powerful. It isn’t just words to read on a page. It’s an opportunity to feel words on a page. It’s a chance to connect with characters you might not normally understand.

And it’s not light, but it’s perfectly adolescent. Because teens’ lives aren’t always the breezy, carefree coming-of-age stories media makes them out to be. This book reflects that truth with honesty and unflinching compassion.

Furthermore, All the Way Around the Sun isn’t just about navigating grief; it’s also about navigating one’s culture and identity. Overnight, Stella goes from being one of the few Asian kids at school to one of many. This shift and the sense of cultural uprooting are powerful and told with refreshing frankness. For readers who’ve experienced similar situations, these moments resonate deeply, offering the rare gift of feeling truly seen. For others, the story provides a lens into the complexities of belonging, culture, and the subtle, often unspoken weight of identity.

Beyond how powerful the story is, it’s also a reminder of what really matters. It’s a reminder that maybe pain is okay, and maybe you can learn to smile through it. It’s a reminder that the journey is just as powerful, if not more so, than where you end up. It’s a reminder that being a teenager isn’t always easy—and that teenagers have their own ghosts too. And it’s a reminder that there’s always hope, no matter how long it takes you to find it.

Now will you excuse me while I go read Tian’s other novel, This Place Is Still Beautiful? Thanks and goodbye 🙂

P.S. I closed my book to write this 😉

Thanks so much to Xixi Tian and HarperCollins for providing me with a complimentary ARC copy of All the Way Around the Sun in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.