In The Girl from Everywhere, Nix has spent her entire life aboard her father’s ship, sailing across the centuries, across the world, across myth and imagination.

As long as her father has a map for it, he can sail to any time, any place, real or imagined: nineteenth-century China, the land from One Thousand and One Nights, a mythic version of Africa. Along the way they have found crewmates and friends, and even a disarming thief who could come to mean much more to Nix.

But the end to it all looms closer every day.

Her father is obsessed with obtaining the one map, 1868 Honolulu, that could take him back to his lost love, Nix’s mother. Even though getting it—and going there—could erase Nix’s very existence.

For the first time, Nix is entering unknown waters.

She could find herself, find her family, find her own fantastical ability, her own epic love.

Or she could disappear. (via Goodreads)

I first heard about this book on Twitter, when I somehow started following the author, Heidi Heilig. I was trolling through my library’s racks one day, not sure what I wanted to read, when I recognized a name on the shelf.

Heidi grew up in Hawaii, and loves to travel, and you could feel her love for both reading through this book. The Girl from Everywhere made me want to learn so much more about Hawaiian history. If you’d like to read some native Hawaiian authors, check out this linkup from Gaming For Justice’s Native Hawaiian Own Voices month.

Nix was an interesting character, though I didn’t find her as enthralling as the boys did. Nix was hapa, which means that she was part native Hawaiian, and part Chinese. Her dealings with her father, an addict with a mission, were heartbreaking to me.

Kashmir, the Persian thief, made a great partner in crime. Man, he’s in love with Nix. It’s obvious from page one. He’s a very roguish character, and I loved him.

“I never knew you had such a fine eye for fabrics,” I said as we continued up the street. “You should have been a tailor instead of a thief.”
“I have a fine eye for all things, amira, which is why I’m a thief and not a tailor.”

The magic system of The Girl from Everywhere was amazing. You just have to have a map of somewhere, even if it’s fictional, and you can go there. It made the timeline a little confusing at time, but it all worked out in the end. However, the explaining got to be a little much at times.

I rated The Girl from Everywhere four stars, for all the reasons listed above, and also a pocket dragon. You’ll find out what I mean by that.

You can pick up a copy of The Girl from Everywhere through Amazon, Indiebound or your other favorite bookseller! You should also keep an eye out for the sequel, The Ship Beyond Time. Again, available on Amazon, Indiebound and other booksellers for preorder now. It publishes in February 2017!

Heidi grew up in Hawaii where she rode horses and raised peacocks, and then she moved to New York City and grew up even more, as one tends to do. Her favorite thing, outside of writing, is travel, and she has haggled for rugs in Morocco, hiked the trails of the Ko’olau Valley, and huddled in a tent in Africa while lions roared in the dark.

She holds an MFA from New York University in Musical Theatre Writing, of all things, and she’s written books and lyrics for shows including The Time Travelers Convention, Under Construction, and The Hole. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, her son, and their pet snake. They do not own a cat.

Disclaimer: All links to Indiebound and Amazon are affiliate links, which means that if you buy through those links, I will make a small amount of money off of it.