5 stars.
Wow. I FLAT-OUT LOVED this book!!!
“…that’s what love does to you. Gut-wrenching, overpowering, crushing, fulfilling, complex, bring-you-to-your-knees love.”
It was beautiful!! It kept me hooked right from the beginning. It was amazing, heart warming and a little heart wrenching, with light and funny moments, as well as deeply emotional ones. The dialogue was clever and witty and had me laughing out so many times. But this book was not a fluff read – it was deep, touching, and bittersweet. Oh, and it has the best midnight drunken phone call ever! 🙂
“I’d just have to meet the right guy. Someone who isn’t ordinary. Someone who gets me. Someone I fit perfectly with. I want heat, chemistry, an undeniable connection.”
Julie has a wonderful voice. The story had me smiling from the first few pages. It starts when Julie moves to a new city for college. The apartment that she rented off of Craigslist turned out to be a scam and she ends up staying with the family of an old friend of her mom’s for the year. The family is kind and loving but Julie senses an undercurrent of something deeply wrong and hurt with them and she can’t stop herself from wanting to help them heal even though she has no idea what is wrong. There is Matt, the hot yet nerdy brother who seems to take care of everyone, Celeste, the sweet and extremely bright 13 year old sister who carries around (everywhere), talks to and interacts with a life-size cardboard cutout of her eldest gorgeous brother Finn who is off traveling the world, to the absent yet loving parents who immerse themselves in their work. Julie is given Finn’s room to stay in and she connects with him through Facebook and despite having never met him, feelings begin to develop for this charming, fun-loving and deeply caring guy that she just can’t get out of her head.
The characters in this book seemed so vivid. You really get the feeling when reading it that you are experiencing the story and its partly because of how much it integrates everything into the it – Facebook statuses, emails, private messages as well as the regular dialogue and story. It really helps to immerse you in the story and connect with the characters. You can very quickly garner so much from someone’s Facebook status about their personality that just doesn’t feel the same if you were told it. Most chapters start with each characters’ Facebook statuses and through them, which helps you learn so much about them in a really cute and adorable way.
Matthew Watkins I need an afternoon pick-me-up. I accept cash and/or prizes that can be exchanged for cash. Also, hobbits.
Finn is God If you get off your high horse, you’ll notice that it, too, poops.
Julie Seagle Mixed emotions regarding Twitter continue. Am again facing warnings about unprotected Tweets, but it’s not my fault the condom won’t fit over the laptop. “A” for effort and whatnot, I think.
This book is about relationships. Not just romantic ones, but also about deep family connections. It deals with many painful hurts that the family has experienced and throughout the book we see their healing process as this dysfunctional family puts the broken pieces of their lives back together.
I loved how caring Matt was – how he was always looking after everyone, I loved how quirky yet so perceptive Celeste was, and I loved how flirty and understanding Finn was.
This book made me misty-eyed several, it made my heart race and would often keep a smile on my face for pages on end. I totally felt sucked into Julie’s world – into the affection she feels for Matt and his charming yet geeky personality, to the acceptance she shows Celeste and her strong desire not to give up on helping her heal, and to the growing attraction that she feels for Finn – as she slowly falls in love with him over their online communication. Honestly, I never thought I could fall in love with a character without actually ‘meeting’ them but boy was I wrong!! Finn had me falling in complete ‘swoon’ with him in no time!
The writing is very fluid, the pacing is excellent – there are no slow points and no points where you feel like you missed a big chunk of time, Ms. Park’s storytelling is addictive – I didn’t want to put this books down. Given a choice, I would totally have read it in one sitting!
There is a big family secret that leads to a twist to the end of the book! I had a gut-feeling in the beginning that turned out to be right and I’m curious to see how many of you also guess it 🙂
The story has a wonderful HEA though – no worries!!
I’d definitely call this book a must-read! I’d highly recommend it! And I think it’s definitely a book that I will be re-reading.
Its YA so don’t expect smut, but trust me, you won’t miss it!
