Review: Me Since You

I received this book for free from FTC: Exchange for honest opinion, Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Laura Wiess captures the visceral emotion of a girl’s journey from innocence to devastating loss and, ultimately, to a strange and unexpected kind of understanding--in this beautiful and painfully honest new novel.

Are there any answers when someone you love makes a tragic choice?

Before and After. That's how Rowan Areno sees her life now. Before: she was a normal sixteen-year-old--a little too sheltered by her police officer father and her mother. After: everything she once believed has been destroyed in the wake of a shattering tragedy, and every day is there to be survived.

If she had known, on that Friday in March when she cut school, that a random stranger's shocking crime would have traumatic consequences, she never would have left campus. If the crime video never went viral, maybe she could have saved her mother, grandmother--and herself--from the endless replay of heartache and grief.

Finding a soul mate in Eli, a witness to the crime who is haunted by losses of his own, Rowan begins to see there is no simple, straightforward path to healing wounded hearts. Can she learn to trust, hope, and believe in happiness again?

Some people are resilient. They go through so much and can handle pretty much anything that comes their way. Then something happens and they can’t anymore. This story is so emotional that it captures the reader deeply.

Plot: In the beginning, the plot moves a bit slow. From the start, I knew that this book would be emotional yet the story took time to get there. Almost half-way through the story I wondered if maybe I read something wrong. And then it happened. The plot builds up slowly from the beginning to middle but once the main meat of the story is out the plot moves faster. I admit that since I was anticipating the hard part of the story that when it finally happen I was taken away by it.

Suicide: Yes, this book is about suicide. The before and after. The consequence of the person taking their life and how it affected others. And the struggle to win that battle. I like that while reading this book, the reader see the struggle but not in much detail. The authors does a great job getting the reader to see the depression, the anxiety, the fight to live. And yet, the author leaves suicide a mystery. The readers see it but can’t quite comprehend it. This is the hard part. You want to understand. You want to help. But all you can do is sit there and cry.

Family: This part is another hard part to read. The reader also gets to see the aftermath of the broken family. Through the funeral, fights about finances, fights about counseling, fights about letting go and moving on. I mean, how can you move one from something you’ve known your entire life? How can you move on with no explanation? This is what this family goes through.

Closure: Letting go is the one of the hardest and bravest thing a person can do. Rowan dealt with her grief the way I expected any teenager to. She grieved through letters and took it one day at time.

This is an great story that carries suicide in a whole new way. It really takes the reader on this emotional ride that can not be stop once started. Me Since You is a touching tale that moves the reader deeply. Taking great care with every plot twist, Me Since You is admirable.

I give it 4 BITES!

Happy Reading!