I received this book for free from the author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon
Genres: Contemporary (YA), Coming of Age (YA)
Pages: 320
Goodreads
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.
I enjoyed the story for the most part. You don’t get much background information on any the characters, barely even on Madeline – which is the main character. You know she is sick and they refer to her “triggers” often, but you never know what her triggers are or what would happen to her if she came across any of these unknown triggers. Also, any visitors have to go through some sort of decontamination process that isn’t explained either. When it comes to her illness, very little is specified. The story is somewhat predictable as well, by the time you reach the end of the book you may have even figured out the outcome. Even with the lack of information, the story was cute. It kept me interested and I finished it fairly quickly.
There was not much character development, some characters could have even been left out of the story completely and you wouldn’t notice. Even her relationship with Olly was more of an insta-love, which was unconvincing and unrelatable, but still cheesy and cute. Although, her nurse Carla has a wonderful relationship with her, but outside of her the characters and relationships left you wanting more
This book is written a little differently from a regular novel. Some of the “chapters” are illustrations, emails, medical documents, journal entries or even have as little as one sentence or paragraph. I enjoyed this writing style, it was unique and kept me interested.
The writing style (i.e. illustrations and etc.) made for a very quick read. The pacing was pretty steady throughout. The love story was a bit of an insta-love, but with the events of the book it couldn’t have been drug out much longer.
Overall, I think the story had much more potential and while there is a lack of information, character development, and some plot holes, it’s a unique and enjoyable read. The story was cute, sad, happy and frustrating all at the same time. It is a very quick, easy read about young love and essentially discovering the world and yourself. So, if you take into consideration that you won’t get too much information about the characters and don’t mind that or are looking for a quick read, I would recommend this book.
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| Overall: | 3.5 / 5 |
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