If it weren’t for my involvement with the YA Buddy Readers’ Corner group on GoodReads, I might not have stumbled across this book.
The love story of Jonah and Vivi on one hand, but it was so much more than that.
Jonah and his older siblings have virtually taken over the care of their younger siblings as their mother is experiencing depression after the sudden death of her husband. Understandably, this is a challenging situation. It allowed the writer to explore a range of relationships, but it seemed to weaken the story for me ever so slightly. I completely understand that grief will impact in many different ways, but I didn’t get enough to explain how the Daniels family have allowed this situation to develop.
Anyway, when Jonah and Vivi meet it really is a collision. They are both fragile and needy in their own ways, but they find each other at the time they’re needed.
There were so many lovely moments described in this book. While I thought Jonah and Vivi were really cute together, I couldn’t help but feel the story could have been more powerful without the romantic bond between them.
I enjoyed the split narrative, and felt the portrayal of how Vivi lives with bipolar disorder was searingly honest. A funny but unflinching story exploring how people can hurt but also save each other.