Series: None
Author: Gayle Forman
Published June 1st 2021 by Simon & Schuster
Goodreads Synopsis
A heartbreaking story about finding yourself and your people, from the bestselling author of If I Stay, a major film starring Chloë Grace Moretz. For fans of The Perks of Being a Wallflower, John Green and Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist.
'I got this whole-body feeling . . . it was like a message from future me to present me, telling me that in some way we weren’t just bound to happen, that we had, in some sense, already happened. It felt . . . inevitable.'
So far, the inevitable hasn’t worked out so well for Aaron Stein.
While his friends have gone to college and moved on with their lives, Aaron’s been left behind in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State, running a failing bookshop with his dad, Ira. What he needs is a lucky break, the good kind of inevitable.
And then he meets Hannah. Incredible Hannah – magical, musical, brave and clever. Could she be the answer? And could they – their relationship, their meeting – possibly be the inevitable Aaron’s been waiting for?
Goodreads
Review
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher. This in no way impacted on my view.
Aaron Stein has found himself stuck in his dead end town after graduation. Where all of his friends have left for college, events in his Senior Year has left him as owner of his family's book store, alone with his father, as his mother travels, mourning the loss of Aaron's brother, Sandy. When he realises that the bookstore is a dying entity, haemorrhaging money, and his father is in even more credit card debt, he decides to sell the store, and his brother's prized vinyl collection. But when he meets Hannah, his whole world view changes. She loves the books he loves, and picks a song for him wince makes him believe it's all inevitable - but is it too late?
Right, I'm going to hold my hands up and say I just didn't like this book. I mean, I didn't hate it, but none of the characters, or the plot, or the feel of the book, excited or engaged me. I did read it in two sittings, so there's a plus, but I was just annoyed with Aaron for most of it, and his and Hannah's 'relationship', was not a good one. I appreciated the way that losing Sandy, and to addiction too, had affected the whole family, but Aaron's way of dealing with it was not a good one. People around him, or who came to be around him, were trying to help, and seemed to really care, but he was awful to them. Chad and the Lumberjacks, honestly, were the only reason this is a 2 stars, rather than a 1 star review. Very disappointing read for me.
Dates Read:
August 11-12, 2021
Rating
2 Stars
