Thursday, January 2, 2014

Christmas Challenge: Me Since You

12989100Author: Laura Wiess
Release Date:  February 18th, 2014
PublisherGallery, Threshold, Pocket Books/ MTV Books
Genre(s): YA Contemporary 
Pages: 368
*Stand alone*

~SPOILER FREE~
(part of New Year's resolution for blogging: trying to be spoiler free in my reviews!)

Summary(Goodreads): 
Laura Wiess captures the visceral emotion of a girl’s journey from innocence to devastating loss and, ultimately, to a strange and unexpected kind of understanding—in this beautiful and painfully honest new novel.

Are there any answers when someone you love makes a tragic choice?

Before and After. That’s how Rowan Areno sees her life now. Before: she was a normal sixteen-year-old—a little too sheltered by her police officer father and her mother. After: everything she once believed has been destroyed in the wake of a shattering tragedy, and every day is there to be survived.

If she had known, on that Friday in March when she cut school, that a random stranger’s shocking crime would have traumatic consequences, she never would have left campus. If the crime video never went viral, maybe she could have saved her mother, grandmother — and herself — from the endless replay of heartache and grief.

Finding a soul mate in Eli, a witness to the crime who is haunted by losses of his own, Rowan begins to see there is no simple, straightforward path to healing wounded hearts. Can she learn to trust, hope, and believe in happiness again?


Review:


*~Thank you so much to Gallery, Threshold, and Pocket Books/MTV Books for sending me this copy via Netgalley!~*
  
I’ve never really had trouble writing reviews before. It’s kind of simple: if I like a book,  I rave about it; if I hate a book, I rant about it, and if I’m in between, I do both.  Easy. Granted, I haven’t reviewed that many books yet, but still.

Then I read this book.  I was left speechless. Sitting here staring at my computer, then swiveling my head back and forth between the word document and my kindle, I can’t seem to find the words that would adequately describe how devastating and moving this book is. 

This book is a lot of things.  It’s about the ripple effect and how one thing can change everything.  It’s about grief and how it lasts a life time.  It’s about life and how it moves on- sometimes when you’re ready and sometimes when you’re not.  It’s about family and the bonds that hold a family together.  It’s about love and how sometimes love doesn’t seem like the strongest force in the world- in fact, it may even seem like the weakest.  It’s about hope and how hope comes in pieces.  It’s about moving on and letting go, but also holding on and treasuring the little things. And ultimately, it’s about forgiveness from a daughter to a father.

This book is raw, emotional, and powerful.  You will cry, and sometimes you’ll laugh- because the thing that this book does best is it shows how hope and love never truly die.  

Thanks for reading :)
Rating: 4 out of 5 

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