3.5 stars

Review: The Sky is Everywhere

11:31

The Sky is Everywhere
By Jandy Nelson

 Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance, 
Source: Personal purchase, paperback

 Goodreads Synopsis:

 Seventeen-year-old Lennie Walker, bookworm and band geek, plays second clarinet and spends her time tucked safely and happily in the shadow of her fiery older sister, Bailey. But when Bailey dies abruptly, Lennie is catapulted to center stage of her own life - and, despite her nonexistent history with boys, suddenly finds herself struggling to balance two. Toby was Bailey's boyfriend; his grief mirrors Lennie's own. Joe is the new boy in town, a transplant from Paris whose nearly magical grin is matched only by his musical talent. For Lennie, they're the sun and the moon; one boy takes her out of her sorrow, the other comforts her in it. But just like their celestial counterparts, they can't collide without the whole wide world exploding.

This remarkable debut is perfect for fans of Sarah Dessen, Deb Caletti, and Francesca Lia Block. Just as much a celebration of love as it is a portrait of loss, Lennie's struggle to sort her own melody out of the noise around her is always honest, often hilarious, and ultimately unforgettable.

 My Review:

 This book was such a cute contemporary! Once it got going, I really enjoyed the book. Although the beginning was a little slow, I thoroughly enjoyed the majority of it. I came in with really high expectations (because I'll Give You the Sun was just amazing! Review here ), so this book had to be pretty great to satisfy my Jandy Nelson love. Sadly, it wasn't as good as I hoped, but I still really liked it. 

 At the start, I absolutely hated Lennie. She made so many stupid decisions, and moaned so much! She was just so irritating to read about, and because it was told entirely through her perspective, I was stuck with her for the whole book. Her insta-love was just so stupid, especially when it was her dead sister's boyfriend! This really made me hate Lennie even more.

 But, thankfully, she does get better. She did still make a few silly decisions, but she definitely improved as the story progressed. By the end, she knew how to deal with her grief over her sister better (as we can only put the rash decisions down to grief), and was generally a better character to read about. 

 The plot for this story was a bit non-existent - nothing really happened, but that didn't really matter, I enjoyed it nonetheless. Some of the 'problems' felt petty at times, and to me it felt that they weren't really worth writing a book about, and therefore bored me.

 Overall, I enjoyed this book. It took a while to get into, but I thought it was a really cute contemporary.

 My reaction:

Rating:



5 Stars

Review: I'll Give You the Sun

16:16

I'll Give You the Sun
by Jandy Nelson

 Source: Book depository
Page count: 371
Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Realism, LGBTQ+

 Goodreads Synopsis:

 Jude and her twin brother, Noah, are incredibly close. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude cliff-dives and wears red-red lipstick and does the talking for both of them. But three years later, Jude and Noah are barely speaking. Something has happened to wreck the twins in different and dramatic ways . . . until Jude meets a cocky, broken, beautiful boy, as well as someone else—an even more unpredictable new force in her life. The early years are Noah's story to tell. The later years are Jude's. What the twins don't realize is that they each have only half the story, and if they could just find their way back to one another, they’d have a chance to remake their world.

This radiant novel from the acclaimed, award-winning author of The Sky Is Everywhere will leave you breathless and teary and laughing—often all at once.

 My Review:

 Ohmygosh this book was amazing! I loved every part of it (especially the cover - it's so beautiful!), and in my opinion, it definitely could have been longer. This could be continued into a 10 book series and I would love them all. Everything about this book is just so great, and I could read (and re-read) it forever!

 I was hooked throughout the whole book. From the very beginning I was gripped. I would have even read it in one sitting if I could have.

 It was so cleverly crafted - everything linked back together at the end (which must have been even harder because it was told through 2 different narrators, who were in 2 different times) really well. It had so much emotion in it - I actually welled up at the end with happy tears, which doesn't often happen to me! I was grinning, laughing, and burying my face in my hands with embarrassment at different points in the book - it really reached out to me.

 My only minor (and this didn't really bother me at all, I'm just nit-picking here) problem was that the British character in it didn't seem British at all. He just sounded like what an American would do for an impression of a British person (the author is American...), which kind of annoyed me, but it didn't bother me too much. As I got into the book, he just sounded like all the other characters, but I feel like I can't write a review that's all good!

 I think everyone should read this book. I recommend it to everyone, and it's instantly my absolute favourite contemporary. It might even be one of my new favourite books!

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