By Elana Johnson
Genre YA Contemporary Verse
Pages 300
First Sentence April rain sinks in sheets, forces me to squint against the chaos in the sky, makes the WALK signal blurry, almost invisible.
Synopsis
The last person Elly wants to get trapped in an elevator with is her ex Travis. She hasn't told him why she broke up with him or why she hasn't talked to him for five months. But her secrets are about to come out. When you have nowhere to go, you can't hide from the truth.
What it has going for it
Let me just start off telling you two very important things about this book. One, the cover and synopsis make it look just adorable and fluffy. It's not. Two, I hated this book the whole way through until the end...and then I loved it. With that out of the way let me tell you a little about why I loved it without spoiling too much. This book, though it looks light and fluffy, is anything but. There's not one single piece of fluff in this one. It's sad and depressing and seemingly hopeless...seemingly. It has that beautiful writing a verse novel has and Elana pulls out all the guns on the feelings department. In the end, if you can make it through the poor decisions and MC's guilt trips, you'll find a beautiful and important message. A message so important that the whole sad story made it worth it.
What's lacking
It's very hard to read this one and agree with the choices being made and to see the things these poor characters have to deal with. It's gritty and real and painful. I really didn't like Travis. I'm sorry but he was just so broken and there was no fixing him. The ending made it worth it, though.
Yea or Nay?
Yes, I'd highly recommend it. It's a verse novel, as I mentioned and so a fast read. It's also too real and beautiful to miss.
I'm really glad you liked it. I want to read this one. I'm waiting until August to read it, though. :)
ReplyDeleteGreat review and I'm glad that you wound up loving it, but I think it might be too sad for me right now. But isn't it funny how you can be totally hating a book then wind up loving it? Love when that happens!
ReplyDeleteVerse novels are such a huge risk for authors, but when they work, they work. I would have guessed light and fluffy based on the cover and title too. In a way, I'm glad it's a much more serious story.
ReplyDeleteThe tilted elevator always bothered me in this cover lol.
ReplyDeleteI've never read a verse novel, but this one sounds like a good place to start!
I didn't realize this was a verse novel. Interesting. I definitely need to read it now.
ReplyDeleteI love verse novels! I remember seeing this one awhile back and completely forgot about it. Thanks for bringing it back up to remind me!
ReplyDeleteI think I saw a review of this one somewhere on another blog but the blurb made me worry it was just going to turn out to be one of those typical romances. I'm glad it ended up being so much more. I've never read a book in verse before. Might give it a try!
ReplyDelete+JMJ+
ReplyDeleteOh, dear . . . I, too, once stopped talking to someone (not a significant other, but a close friend) with no warning and no explanation--and my biggest fear for years after that was that we'd accidentally meet in public. And now that that chapter in my life is closed, I wish we had. Things might have ended better. But in real life, we can't expect circumstances to arrange our happy endings; we have to make them happen ourselves.
I should probably check this one out, to see if the lesson in the end is anything like what I learned the hard way.
Oooooh, I'm going to see if my library has it!
ReplyDeleteI bought this actually. Halfway through. I'll be able to finish this weekend hopefully. I like it so far and I'm really curious about the end.
DeleteI've never read a verse novel before, I'm very intrigued. Though I would have to read this at a time when I know I could handle a sad book otherwise I'd end up too depressed to finish it and I'd miss the important message. Will definitely be keeping an eye out though, thanks for the review.
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