Coming of Age
207 pages
www.shayyoungblood.com
Rating: out of 5
Shay Youngblood’s SOUL KISS is one of those books that has a
mysterious air about it. You can lose yourself in its beauty, its lyricism
and its poetry. Soul Kiss is also a journey through loneliness, pain and
ultimately, love.
Mariah Santos grew up as the love of her mother's life. She gave Mariah
everything she needed – plenty of hugs, kisses and words. She would
tell her daughter about the travels taken, her dreams, and about her
father, a man Mariah’s never met.
When Mariah’s mother becomes depressed, she decides to leave her seven-year-old daughter with
two aunts in Georgia, promising to return soon. Mariah was for her mother, her best friend, to
reappear. She doesn’t, and the girl is left in the care of Aunt Merleen and Aunt Faith, two elderly
spinsters set in their ways.
With these two women, Mariah lives a quiet life, full of gardening, cooking, and looking after the
health of her aunts. Mariah also falls in love with the cello given to her by Faith. It becomes her new
best friend, its sound soothing the pain of losing her mother.
After several years of waiting for her mother, Mariah gives up hope and begins rebelling against her
aunts. They send her to Los Angeles live with her father, a virtual stranger.
Mariah is sublimely happy being with Matisse, a painter. She’s only known about him through her
mother’s vivid tales of how the couple met, but that good feeling soon leaves. Matisse is never home
and even more distant when he is. When one of her aunts passes away, Mariah returns home to
Georgia – and it finally feels like home.
Youngblood’s story of pain is a masterpiece. It boasts lesbian undertones, as Mariah having strong
bonds with female peers and sharing her first kiss with a girl. Mariah’s touching journey through her
childhood, losing her mother and discovering her father, is drawn perfectly through Youngblood’s
words, and you really connect to Mariah’s ache. It grabs hold of your heart, and never lets go till its
very end.
Reviewed December 2005
