Reviewed by Jack Magnus for Readers' Favorite

Two Halves Whole: Hafu Sans Halo, Book 2 is a young adult coming of age novel written by Melissa Abigail. While the author gives enough background information to allow this book to be read on its own, I would advise that readers begin with the first book in the series, Judge by the Cover, to get the full impact of this engrossing and powerful tale. Haruna was still processing the fact that Ryu was not at all the irresponsible bad boy she had imagined him to be before their joint English project. Ryu, likewise, had had to rethink his preconceived notions about Haruna. The two of them weren’t quite sure, however, how to proceed from that point. There was something drawing them together that was more than their shared Japanese ancestry, but could it survive the fact that Ryu was in training to be a gangster and could expect a brief and violent life at best?

Melissa Abigail 's young adult coming of age novel, Two Halves Whole: Hafu Sans Halo, Book 2, continues the compelling story of Haruna and Ryu, whose lives seem so different and yet who are drawn so inexorably together. Along the way, Abigail addresses the issue of racism and the differences in attitude toward people of other races as displayed by the students compared with that of their parents, or, in Haruna’s case, grandparent. I was entranced by this bittersweet and genuine romance as the two young adults work to find answers to what is binding them together and a solution to what appears to be an insoluble situation. Two Halves Whole: Hafu Sans Halo, Book 2 is a beautifully written and eloquent literary fiction novel, and it’s most highly recommended.