Goodreads Rating: 4.17 stars

Goodreads Summary:

Theodore Finch is fascinated by death, and he constantly thinks of ways he might kill himself. But each time, something good, no matter how small, stops him.

Violet Markey lives for the future, counting the days until graduation, when she can escape her Indiana town and her aching grief in the wake of her sister’s recent death.

When Finch and Violet meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school, it’s unclear who saves whom. And when they pair up on a project to discover the “natural wonders” of their state, both Finch and Violet make more important discoveries: It’s only with Violet that Finch can be himself—a weird, funny, live-out-loud guy who’s not such a freak after all. And it’s only with Finch that Violet can forget to count away the days and start living them. But as Violet’s world grows, Finch’s begins to shrink.

This is an intense, gripping novel perfect for fans of Jay Asher, Rainbow Rowell, John Green, Gayle Forman, and Jenny Downham from a talented new voice in YA, Jennifer Niven.

My Thoughts:

This book is tough because there are some things I really liked about it and some things I absolutely hated. That’s the burden of being a critical reader I guess.

Likes: writing style, characters, and plot…. for the first part anyway.

I definitely will keep reading books by Jennifer Niven because her writing style is captivating. I found myself reading and reading simply because her writing is eloquent. I also liked the characters of Violet and Finch. I liked how vulnerable they were. Maybe not entirely realistic, but what book has completely realistic characters? I really liked the plot in the beginning, but when we got to the sad parts it made me very sad and made me not like the plot anymore… hah.

Dislikes: the ending, romance, and last 1/2 of the plot.

I understand that writers feel they need to make an impact, and there’s a really good way to make an impact that we all know about but I’m not going to mention because… I’m still sad about this book a week after reading it and don’t want to think about it too much. The romance was very immediate in this book as well. It went from: we don’t know one another to one sided interest to sex… like… very quickly. And then the last 1/2 of the plot was sad and made me sad and I didn’t want to be sad. Therefore I didn’t like it.

My biggest issue was that I think the author could have had the same message/impact without doing what she did in the end. It seemed abrupt and manipulative. Not a fan of that.

I liked this book, but won’t be reading it again.