The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Synopsis: Adrift after her sister Bailey’s sudden death, Lennie finds herself torn between quiet, seductive Toby—Bailey’s boyfriend who shares her grief—and Joe, the new boy in town who bursts with life and musical genius. Each offers Lennie something she desperately needs… though she knows if the two of them collide her whole world will explode.
Join Lennie on this heartbreaking and hilarious journey of profound sorrow and mad love, as she makes colossal mistakes and colossal discoveries, as she traipses through band rooms and forest bedrooms and ultimately right into your heart.
As much a celebration of love as a poignant portrait of loss, Lennie’s struggle to sort her own melody out of the noise around her is always honest, often uproarious, and absolutely unforgettable.
Genre: YA Contemporary Romance
Review: Have I mentioned how much I adore Jandy Nelson?
I read I’ll Give You The Sun for the first time this summer and from the first chapter, Jandy Nelson had my heart. So naturally, I couldn’t rush reading her [two] books, so I spread them out a little. And oh my goodness was it worth it.
Lennie Walker’s sister and best friend, Bailey, died a month ago after suffering a sudden arrhythmia. She has never dealt with grief before and finds that she cannot operate as usual without her sister around. Her grief is overwhelming–until she meets the new boy, Joe Fontaine, who plays the trumpet like a god and looks like one, too. But when Bailey’s boyfriend, Toby, comes around, their shared grief brings them close and pulls Lennie’s heart even deeper into the crosshairs. Lennie embarks on a journey to find out what she really wants and to learn to live with loss.
Reading two books in a row where the main character was mourning a close family member was a little brutal, I’m not gonna lie. But this book was such an incredible reminder of how to accept grief and carry it every day. The arc of Lennie’s personal growth and acceptance of her sister’s death and how it changed her life was truly the most beautiful part of this whole book.
In YA contemporary romance, there are two thrones: one for the ruler of the realistic and fluffy stories, and one for the quirky-bubble-of-real-life ones. Jandy Nelson sits in the latter. I am always blown away by the beautiful relationships and incredibly detailed worlds she weaves. Her books are tapestries sewn with beautiful, resonant words perfectly strung together. Any time she drops a metaphor about some deep aspect of life, I want to frame it on my wall. Do you know how much I would pay for a writing workshop with Jandy Nelson? (Hint: It’s a lot. I would pay a lot of money.)
I also was surprised to find how much I really loved Joe. He is very much your typical unattainable fictional love interest. Foreign, plays a million interests, unbelievably selfless and sweet, and his hair has no right to be that curly. But I found myself asking halfway through the book, “When did I start loving him this much??” Lennie is a character you want to root for, but she does have multiple moments where she royally screws things up, but Joe is just…perfect. He is wonderful and he must be protected at all costs. I was also surprised that I eventually came around to like Toby in the end. I could understand the nature of his relationship with Lennie after Bailey’s death, but I was still very angry with him. Halfway through I wouldn’t have minded if he never showed up in the book again, but Nelson is so gifted with character development and brought him around and when the day was done, I was happy he didn’t disappear.
If you’re looking for a really good read, look no further. This is it. You can never go wrong with Jandy Nelson, who is like the potter and spends 300 pages molding your heart. She breaks it a few times and starts over, but by the end it’s better than when she started. Plus, unlike the last book I reviewed by Sarah Dessen, Nelson gives us Quality Content and writes make out scenes, so what are you waiting for? Don’t put this one off any longer!
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