Book Review – Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

Everything, Everything <— GREAT STORY & it’s going to be a movie!! YAY US!!!
Yep… this one was pretty much everything everyone said it would be. I one-clicked it on bev’s recommendation/bargain-price-alert and the subsequent blurb-jolt it gave me. How could I resist THAT trifecta of book awesomeness? A reader-friend that loved it, an awesome price, and a synopsis that SCREAMS “my kind of book”!!!! MINE!! And I must insist. It should be YOURS too.

bev: Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon… Seriously good price and a really good read.

Alissa: Loved this book! Such an emotional ride

Arwen: Loved this one…a bit of a twist late in the story, very well done! Loved the characters. Hope you enjoy!

Jean: Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon…..another bev rec… It’s YA which I sometimes have a problem with, but this book is so uniquely written and is totally reminding me of Eleanor & Park! I am flying through it…

Kelley: Loved this book! Such an emotional ride

Paula: It’s an amazing book. I read it recently and found it mind-blowing.

Jaime: This was a very sweet, heartwarming story. While there was a twist i saw it coming from the first chapter. Still an amazing book though!

Heather: I loved the book, but really that’s how it ends. Kinda want to flip someone off right now!

YIKES!! I admit I was nervous after Heather’s comment, but honestly…? I thought it was perfect. I won’t tell you if it has an HEA or not (you need to experience the main character in all of her present, her life experience, and her personal growth to really appreciate the journey…), but I will say, this book felt complete to me.

It delivered the sweet romance angst amongst an almost impossible situation. Such a unique story, sort of forbidden love, but mostly only because of circumstance, laden in impending doom, threatening heartache. For them (the two main characters)… and for the reader. Because of this, it was a story that felt totally new to me, and because I was able to experience the entire journey through the heroine’s eyes (her POV, plentiful in fun, sweet, yet apprehensive detail). I was HOOKED!

Maryse: I Just finished Everything, Everything!!!!! WOW SO GOOOOOOD!!! I’m so happy! Loved it!!!!!!!!!!! *happy dances and twirls around*

Jean: Yay Maryse! Wasn’t it great! Maybe we all should listen to bev more often!

bev: Really? I was concerned for the same reason as I was with Jean. Don’t want to say too much cause spoilers.

Leslie: Gotta go check out this Everything, Everything that you all are so excited about. It’s not a depressing Marmy right?

*snickers* My lips are sealed, Leslie. But I promise no matter what you like as an “ending” this one is so worth it!

So what’s it about?

Madeline is house bound due to illness.

MY DISEASE IS as rare as it is famous. It’s a form of Severe Combined Immunodeficiency, but you know it as “bubble baby disease.”

Basically, I’m allergic to the world. Anything can trigger a bout of sickness.

She’s deadly allergic to… pretty much everything.

“It turns out that Mother Nature is a lousy mom.”

So she lives in a completely contained house, with an entrance “air sterilization” center and everything. Homeschooled all her life, with a permanent nurse since she was a child (she’s just turned 18 years old) that has become one of her most trusted confidantes, she’s resigned to her life.

I blow the candle out.

“What did you wish for?” she asks as soon as I open my eyes.

Really there’s only one thing to wish for— a magical cure that will allow me to run free outside like a wild animal. But I never make that wish because it’s impossible. It’s like wishing that mermaids and dragons and unicorns were real. Instead I wish for something more likely than a cure. Something less likely to make us both sad.

“World peace,” I say.

She doesn’t know anything else. Taking online courses in architecture, Skyping to stay connected with her teachers, and having a mom that is an actual doctor (and her other absolute best friend), she’s in good hands.

I guess if you’re going to be born with an illness that requires constant care, then it’s good to have your mom as your doctor.

She’s safe, she’s preparing for a career (even if she can never actually go out into society), she has game and movie nights with her mom, she reads (and explores the world that way), and she’s… happy.

And then she sees her new neighbors move in. Enamored by their athletic son, and spying on them from the privacy of her bedroom window,

He doesn’t smile. He doesn’t wave. Instead, he reaches his arm overhead and pulls the blind closed.

she watches them… “live” and experiences a whole other version of “family” life. Not so good one, in fact, when she notices the abusive father towards his cowering wife. And overtime, she develops a friendship with their son (at first, with notes and pantomiming via their windows), and then eventually via email and messenger. And they become incredibly close. Best friends… and yet, she experiences something she’s never felt before.

“Do you really want to lose the only friend you’ve ever had over a little bit of heartache?”

I’ve read many, many books involving heartache. Not one has ever described it as little. Soul-shattering and world-destroying, yes. Little, no.

Yep. She’s got it bad, and she doesn’t know how to handle herself. Him. And their friendship is changing.

Intense infatuation… longing… she’s falling in love.

So she makes a request.

“He’d get decontaminated and sit across the room, far, far away from me and only for fifteen minutes. Thirty minutes at the most.”

She shakes her head, but it’s not a firm shake. “It’s too risky. And your mother would never allow it.”

“We won’t tell her,” I say instantly.

And that’s where I’ll leave this. Because how can they possibly ever get together, when she can’t even leave the house, let alone… properly receive visitors? But she’s feeling a need for life that she’s been deprived of, and now, having just reached adulthood, this new emotion is consuming her. Is it truly living, if she’s living just to stay alive?

I was happy before I met him. But I’m alive now, and those are not the same thing.

I HIGHLY recommend this for those looking for a fulfilling, fascinating read! While, at first I found the tone of her voice slightly… “peppy” and “cute” and “quirky” (I was expecting a more sullen “adult” tone after reading that blurb), I quickly settled into the writing style (which is awesome, by the way), and really dug in and savored this exploration of “life” via a different version of someone’s existence.

P.S. The twist was GREAT!!

4.5 stars of overall awesomeness!

Tagged as: 4.5 stars, first love, Sheltered Heroines, YA