Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon

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This innovative, heartfelt debut novel tells the story of a girl who’s literally allergic to the outside world. When a new family moves in next door, she begins a complicated romance that challenges everything she’s ever known. The narrative unfolds via vignettes, diary entries, texts, charts, lists, illustrations, and more.

My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla.

But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He’s tall, lean and wearing all black—black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly.

Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster.

Everything Everything is just one of those gems that I urge everyone to read. Madeline narrates her story with such integrity that it’s hard not to be affected by her words.

Madeline has been isolated from the world for as long as she can remember. The way she explains it is that she’s on “SCID row”. She suffers from Severe Combined Immunodefiency aka “bubble baby disease”. Any contact from outside that bubble could trigger a severe allergic reaction. Her sole interactions with other people are her physician-mother and her nurse, Carla. For someone who is so shut off from the world, Madeline is remarkably accepting of her situation. Sure, she’d like to be able to experience first-hand all the things any one of us takes for granted but I didn’t get the sense that she felt sorry for herself. That isn’t until Olly and his family move in next door.

At first, Madeline just observes her new neighbours, keeping track of their comings and goings. But it’s Olly and his odd habits that intrigue her. Olly eventually extends an invitation of friendship by waiting for her at his bedroom window which is across from hers. Through emails they begin a fun correspondence that soon becomes the highlight of both their days. It’s here that the story sucked me in so completely. Olly is so magnetic and funny. Even though Madeline hasn’t been around kids her own age, she’s able to banter effortlessly with him. But it’s also here that I thought to myself, “this book is going to crush me” because inevitably there is a roadblock and then a crisis that interferes with this burgeoning friendship. Despite those things I still hoped for a happy ending.

There’s so much charm and wit in this story. It’s so beautiful to see Madeline come alive as she feels and senses things she’s never experienced before. And she’s not the only one affected. Olly too, who has his own family drama, finds security and comfort in their companionship. This new connection has opened up a whole new universe for them and in a way brought them some freedom.

I read this book in 4 hours so that tells you how much I adore it! This is an extraordinary story with a lot of heart and told with such tenderness. The many illustrations (courtesy of Yoon's husband) add to the book's appeal. I meant what I said at the beginning that it’s hard not to be affected by Madeleine’s journey or Olly’s calming presence. Everything Everything gives you all the feels and then some.

~ Bel

Update: On August 26th, Nicola Yoon shared some pretty exciting news on Twitter - MGM optioned the film rights to Everything, Everything!  Congrats, Nicola!!

Between Us And The Moon by Rebecca Maizel

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A luminous young adult novel that evokes Judy Blume’s Forever for a new generation.

Ever since Sarah was born, she’s lived in the shadow of her beautiful older sister, Scarlett. But this summer on Cape Cod, she’s determined to finally grow up. Then she meets gorgeous college boy Andrew. He sees her as the girl she wants to be. A girl who’s older than she is. A girl like Scarlett.

Before she knows what’s happened, one little lie has transformed into something real. And by the end of August, she might have to choose between falling in love, and finding herself.

Fans of Jenny Han and Stephanie Perkins are destined to fall for this story about how life and love are impossible to predict.

The story starts out cute despite our protagonist Sarah ("Bean" to her family and closest friends) having a broken heart. Sarah is the kid you don't have to worry about because she has it together. She's just smart and responsible. For past few months, she’s been tracking the trajectory of a comet for research that she hopes will win her a scholarship. This is where she is in her element surrounded by equations, hypotheses and facts. What she’s not so good at is reading people, like when her boyfriend shows up to her house to break up with her the night before she leaves for Cape Cod for the summer. He claims it’s because she hasn’t noticed how much he’s changed. He accuses her of hiding behind her telescope and notes, observing life rather than living it. His accusation stings but she can’t help but wonder if there’s a ring of truth to it. Look at her older sister Scarlett, who manages to be the life of the party. Sarah feels socially inept next to her, not to mention that their parents expect her to be the responsible one and Scarlett to be the flaky one.

Sarah decides that a change is in order so she concocts this plan to observe Scarlett in her element and take on her attitude and mannerisms in order to break free from her old self. The "Scarlett Experiment" takes her out of her comfort zone and leads to a few embarrassing if not funny moments. On her first day attempting to be Scarlett she meets Andrew, a local. He’s nineteen, in college, surfs and works on one of the fishing boats. She allows him to assume that she’s going to college. She throws in that she’s heading to MIT. Umm...no. She’s only fifteen and a couple of days shy of her 16^th birthday.

I thought the story was cute initially. I mean Sarah is all kinds of naive and adorable. I liked how she'd make scientific notes when observing her sister's behaviour. Branching out to make new friends and being a "normal" teenager is not something that comes naturally to her. It’s understandable that she's at that stage in her life where she wants to be seen as more than just a studious kid. But as she and Andrew fell harder for each other, I began to worry about where the plot was going. I was very uneasy with her withholding her true age. Seriously? What was she thinking? The guy could get in trouble, like jail time trouble! She knows she has to come clean but she's so in over her head that she's scared. Even though she was more herself with Andrew and he liked her for that, that didn’t negate the lies upon lies that were stacking up. The truth eventually comes out but not before some irrevocable damage has been done.

Between Us and the Moon is about growing up and screwing up while you’re at it. There are good things that come out of it – Sarah does come to accept who she is, makes friends, stands up to her family and reaches her educational goals. She also encourages Andrew to reach for his dreams and not to set them aside in an attempt to atone for an incident he wasn’t responsible for before they met. Still, the story felt incomplete to me because it didn’t provide any insight as to the fallout after all her lies are revealed. Despite the whole lying about her age which pushed that “wiggy button” for me (thank you BiblioJunkie Shel for that term), I still consider this a good read. And I’d be interested to know someone else’s thoughts on it.

~Bel

The Secrets Of Attraction by Robin Constantine

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Set in the same world as The Promise of Amazing, this smart, surprising, and romantic follow-up to Robin Constantine's debut novel follows two New Jersey teens as they become friends and fall in love. Perfect for fans of Stephanie Perkins, Sarah Mlynowski, and Jennifer E. Smith.

Madison Pryce thinks she's got everything figured out—she's working on a portfolio for a summer art program and hanging with her friends. Plus she has her hot boyfriend, Zach. But then a visit from a family friend turns Maddie's life upside down.

Jesse McMann is still reeling from a breakup that shattered his heart and his band. Then pride (and some goading from his bass player and fellow barista) forces him to find a new drummer—and the inspiration to write music again.

Kismet arrives in the unlikely form of Grayson Barrett, who tries out for Jesse's band, and whose girlfriend is BFFs with the cute girl who orders a chai latte after yoga every Thursday: Maddie. What Jesse and Maddie thought they knew about the secrets of attraction and the rules of romance changes once they start falling for each other.

Isn't this cover just so freaking cute? There’s nothing more gratifying that reading a sweet story that leaves you feeling all warm and fuzzy inside. That’s how I felt after I read Constantine’s previous release, The Promise of Amazing, so reading The Secrets of Attraction was a no-brainer.

This follow-up does feature characters from the previous book but the spotlight this time shines on Maddie. She’s just as nice as Wren but she comes with a hint of an edge to her. Trouble starts when her boyfriend says "I love you" to her. Most teenage girls would be ecstatic that their hot, popular athlete boyfriend would declare those magical three words. Not Maddie. She doesn’t feel the same at all. Not that he’s a bad guy just that she knows that she’s not in love. This makes things awkward between them especially when she strikes up a friendship with Jesse who works at the coffee shop near the yoga studio she goes to. Neither of them have any connection to each other until Grayson, Wren's boyfriend, auditions for Jesse’s band and now both groups of friends are intermingling.

Jesse's had his heart broken by his ex-girlfriend. She hooked up with his ex-best friend who was also the drummer in his band. Both betrayals hurt him badly enough that music kind of lost its luster. Enter Maddie whom he's been noticing for a while. Their friendship sparks something in him. She's delightful to be around and being in her company renews Jesse's interest in his music. He also wants to go for it with her but Maddie draws the line at just being friends. So Jesse has to come up with inventive ways to be with her. 

I like that Maddie is certain about some things yet hesitant about others. For one, I like that she knew that she wasn’t in love with her boyfriend and doesn't want to mislead him once she musters up the courage to be truthful with him. I like her devotion to her friends. I like her closeness with her mom which does get tested at some point in the book. I like that her character experiences the typical anxieties about graduating high school and moving on to college. She has her studies then she has her passion which is art. There’s the practical side of her then there’s the side of her that wants to abandon the heavy responsibilities and just take that risk in pursuing art.

Jesse is great too. He’s got a few kinks to work out like getting his ex out of his system. He’s really into Maddie but she's not ready to admit that attraction. His thoughtful gestures toward her are impressive and will woo the reader as well. While he’s not declaring undying, eternal love here, it’s interesting how he’s the one pushing for them to be an item. Maddie just needs to realize that what she’s experiencing with him is indeed falling in love for the first time.

All in all, The Secrets of Attraction is just adorable and I know that I can count on Constantine to deliver that just-right amount of sweet and angst without too much melodrama. 

~ Bel