Just Finished Reading: Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

Everything, Everything
by Nicola Yoon

To be published by Delacorte BFYR
on September 1, 2015

Source: eARC from publisher via NetGalley

Synopsis from 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.

My take: On the surface, this book seems like everything, everything I dislike. A girl suffering from a rare illness (could use a break from that), epistolary elements (can do without those) and, according to the synopsis, a heavy dose of Instalove With the Boy Next Door (can't even...)

But I really loved everything, everything about this book. To me, the greatest strength of Everything, Everything was its narrative voice. This story is told by Madeline, a girl whose illness (has made her pretty much a Girl in a Plastic Bubble. She's a prisoner in her own home, and has been for her entire life. Nicola Yoon has given her what was, to me, a pitch-perfect voice: simultaneously innocent of the world and a little jaded by her condition, self-deprecating but never self-pitying, and filled with wonder at the idea of falling in love. All the drawings, charts, and little additions to the text were charming.

Love is what gives Madeline the courage to break out of her protective cocoon (figuratively and literally) and risk ... everything. If this sounds like it could be cheesy, it didn't read that way to me, just captivating and sweet. While at its heart this book is a romance, it's also a story with some twists and turns.  Given that Madeline writes one sentence spoiler reviews of the books she reads, I will follow suit (highlight blank area but it's a spoiler!)

Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon
Spoiler alert: "Things are not always what they seem; the first appearance deceives many; the intelligence of a few perceives what has been carefully hidden.” ― Phaedrus

While I urge you not to peek, I DO urge you to stop by on Friday, when I will be offering up a SIGNED ARC AND a matching tote bag that's as adorable as this book!