by Sandy Hall
I picked this book up because I just wanted a breezy, cute read to read for Valentine's Day. Unfortunately, I finished it in one day, and now have to find another awesomely cute read! This book is so fast paced and I got sucked in to the characters' lives so quickly. I was worried that I wouldn't get to know the characters well enough because it wasn't told from either of their perspectives, but I, just like all the narrators of the story got so invested in Lea and Gabe's relationship. I felt like creative writing teacher, Inga, rooting for them so hard, while at the same time cursing Hillary. I think this is a perfect Valentine's Day read or for an everyday pick-me-up.
SPOILERS...
I have to admit that at first I was doubting the author because I found all the different viewpoints confusing. I just didn't understand how I would be able to read about important milestones in Lea and Gabe's relationship if it was told from everyone except them. I quickly grew to like them however. They kept the story fresh and I liked hearing how invested all of the narrators were. I loved how the bus driver Bob, fantasized about stopping short so that Lea would fall into Gabe's arms. I was a bit confused by the bench narrator but I figured the bench would be where Lea and Gabe had an important conversation (and I was right!). My favorite narrator by far though had to be the squirrel. I was reading this book in bed, and I would randomly shout "squirrel" and read passages so my roommate could hear all of the cute things the squirrel said. One of my favorite squirrel lines had to be when he didn't know what a bagel was, but he hoped it was a kind of nut (lol). By the way, I am also a first year college student so I found a ton of the material in this book to be very relate-able. I also really enjoyed the pop-culture references that were sprinkled throughout the book. Great movies and TV shows like Buffy, Mean Girls, and Teen Wolf were mentioned. I did figure out that Gabe had a hearing issue before it was actually stated it but I love figuring out twists and having them be right almost as much as I love being surprised.
One of my favorite interactions between Gabe and Lea was when they introduced themselves to each other at midnight breakfast after sitting next to each other for an entire semester. Poor Victor was narrating this scene and he broke up some of the second-hand awkwardness by pretending to stab himself with his fork. The most frustrating part of the novel was when Gabe decided to talk to Hillary to get used to talking to girls. I immediately knew that Lea would be offended. She spent so much time and effort trying to get Gabe to talk to her but he was too shy, but he can just walk up to Hillary and chat. He obviously didn't like her, which was why he was able to talk to her but Lea didn't know that and the rift this caused between them was heartbreaking. Gabe finally got up the nerve to talk to her in the coffee shop and she left when he tried. Despite this, they finally worked all their shyness out and the bench had it's big scene with the two of them...
MY RATING: ****1/2
