3.5 stars *This ARC was kindly provided to me by Random House Children's Books through Netgalley.com*When I was younger, my favorite subject to learn about in history was the Dust Bowls. I'm not entirely sure why, but the subject has always intrigued me. I read a Dear America book set in the Dust Bowl around Christmas, and I remember reading it every year around Christmas. So you can imagine how excited I was to read Dust Girl when I heard about it.Dust girl was a well-written and original story, that I couldn't put down at times. Our main character, Callie, is a half black / half white young woman who lives in a time where segregation wasn't allowed. She's also a fairy, drawing her powers from music, something I found to be fairly clever and something I haven't read before regarding fae.Although I enjoyed the book, there were definitely some things that I would like to point out:-I really enjoyed the history of the fae in Callie's world, but I felt it could have used more. I often found myself wishing that I knew more details about the fae, rather than just throwing them into a situation.-The plot really petered out by the end. During the entirety of the book, Callie is searching for her missing mother, but by the end it seemed to just have been forgotten. So many obstacles were put in Callie's way that it began somewhat hard to follow.-The characters were all likeable... but not so much memorable. Callie was somewhat of a Mary Jane, Jack was a John Smith, and the side characters really weren't too interesting either. Hopefully we get to learn more about everyone in the second book.Overall, Dust Girl was a fun and exciting read. The writing was gorgeous and flowed just right. I would just really like the author to give more history behind the fae in her world and also more insight into the characters' minds, and not lose sight of the plot-line. I will definitely be reading the second installment to find out what happens.
