This book surprised me. I was very hesitant when I heard about it, initially- debut book by a white author about Chinese American history, written while she was between adopting Chinese children? Could be well-intentioned, but I'm wary of my history being used as a prop. Fortunately, Kay Honeyman did her homework and writes an accurate depiction of what Angel Island detainment was like.

It doesn't surprise me but always disappoints that it seems like most Americans are way more aware of Ellis Island than Angel, and though both stations were gateways for immigrants, Angel Island also served as detainment for undesirables. Fire Horse Girl is set in 1923, which is approximately the same time my great-grandmother arrived in the United States. My great-grandma was luckily one of the few hundreds of women who legally arrived as the wife of a merchant (the only exception to the Chinese Exclusion Act- merchants who owned businesses) with a child in tow. FHG's protagonist Jade Moon isn't as lucky, and with a betrayal twist in the first third is forced to disguise herself as a boy to make it onshore to the main land. There's some time skipping, and I do sort of wish we had some interstitial peeks through that (seriously, how did she handle periods while disguised? That's detail we should maybe know...)

My biggest pet peeve to be honest was how some character's names were translated into their meanings (Jade Moon, Sterling Promise, Spring Blossom), but others weren't (Jade Moon's father, Chan Jan Wei, though I will note Honeyman did maintain generational name structure by having his brother share the Jan part- if you didn't know already, Chinese clans have generational poems, where everyone born in the same generation shares the next character of the poem, so my cousins, sibling and I all have the same first part of our Chinese names).

It does feel a little assigned-reading-in-school in terms of getting history to the reader, but it's action-y enough YA that it'll do. ( )

FROM AMAZON: Jade Moon is a Fire Horse -- the worst sign in the Chinese zodiac for girls, said to make them stubborn, willful, and far too imaginative. But while her family despairs of marrying her off, she has a passionate heart and powerful dreams, and wants only to find a way to make them come true.Then a young man named Sterling Promise offers Jade Moon and her father a chance to go to America. While Sterling Promise's smooth manners couldn't be more different from her impulsive nature, Jade Moon falls in love with him on the long voyage. But America in 1923 doesn't want many Chinese immigrants, and when they are detained at Angel Island, the "Ellis Island of the West," she discovers a betrayal that destroys all her dreams. To get into America, much less survive there, Jade Moon will have to use all her stubbornness and will to break a new path... one so brave and dangerous, only a Fire Horse girl could imagine it.

FROM SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: Jade Moon, 16, was born in the year of the Fire Horse, a cursed year for girls. She is too bold, too brash, too stubborn, and is told she will bring nothing but sorrow and bad luck to her family. When a stranger named Sterling Promise shows up at her home in China carrying papers to America with her dead uncle's picture, a plan is hatched for Jade Moon, her father, and Sterling Promise to journey to a new country. The long voyage ends with Jade Moon being forced to spend desperate months on Angel Island waiting to be approved to enter California. However, when the headstrong girl realizes that her father and Sterling Promise are using her for their own ends, she sets out on her own. The action picks up when she cuts off her hair, disguises herself as a boy, and ends up working as hired muscle for one of the tongs in San Francisco's Chinatown. Her time working for them infuses the story with a classic 1920s gangster flavor, a refreshing twist on the Chinese immigration story. While some aspects force readers to suspend disbelief (e.g., the fact that Jade Moon is immediately installed in the house of the head of the tong and that she is able to hide her gender for so long), the action and Jade Moon's unbreakable spirit will win them over.-Jennifer Rothschild, Arlington County Public Libraries, VA

The book is quite interesting to read, though there are parts that you might need to pause to put all the pieces together, but other than that it is quite the thrilling book to read, filled with scenario after scenario, each one better than the last. One thing I hate about the characters within the book is simple. Many simply use the main character and force her into situations she hates, and not one person seems to care, yet when there placed in a difficult position they claim to be trying to 'help her', when in reality they use her. Great book, would recommend and I quite like the the books plots and history research and accuracy. ( )

Eager for adventure, a quick-witted, stubborn teenage girl moves from China to California with her father in 1923. She faces numerous challenges, including detention at Angel Island, betrayal, and the loss of her family

Excellent book with lots of action and strong female character. ( )