Book Review; Me Since You by Laura Weiss

Summary:
Laura Wiess captures the visceral emotion of a girl’s journey from innocence to devastating loss and, ultimately, to a strange and unexpected kind of understanding–in this beautiful and painfully honest new novel.

Are there any answers when someone you love makes a tragic choice?

Before and After. That’s how Rowan Areno sees her life now. Before: she was a normal sixteen-year-old–a little too sheltered by her police officer father and her mother. After: everything she once believed has been destroyed in the wake of a shattering tragedy, and every day is there to be survived.

If she had known, on that Friday in March when she cut school, that a random stranger’s shocking crime would have traumatic consequences, she never would have left campus. If the crime video never went viral, maybe she could have saved her mother, grandmother–and herself–from the endless replay of heartache and grief.

Finding a soul mate in Eli, a witness to the crime who is haunted by losses of his own, Rowan begins to see there is no simple, straightforward path to healing wounded hearts. Can she learn to trust, hope, and believe in happiness again?

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When It All

Every now and again you find a book that blows you away. It talks to your soul and just enraptures you completely. This is what happened with Me Since You. This was a book that I requested for review a long time ago and then never got around to reading. So when I finally picked it up and ended up loving it, I definitely felt shame for waiting so long. This book deals with depression, suicide, friendship, love and family so well. It is addictive, emotional, wonderfully written and just captivated me throughout. I will definitely be keeping an eye on this author for more of her work.

Falls Apart

At the start of this book, I have to admit that I almost put it down. It starts with a teenager who seems quite irksome. A bit of a brat, a bit too “party-girl” and someone who was hanging around with someone who didn’t really feel like her friend. I thought it was going to be this irritating story about how this girl becomes better. But I was wrong, and I loved that about this book so much. She does grow in this story but in the most perfect way. I love how loyal she becomes, how her emotions dictate her life, and how realistic the portrayal of her life felt. I could honestly imagine people responding that way about it all. This story has a plot that works so well. It is beautiful, soul-crushing, and it just a wonderful portrayal of depression and suicide and how it affects more than we may think.

Can You Pick

As mentioned above, there is a lot of character development in this book and what I loved most is that every character in the book changes. There are characters that show their weakness, characters that show their true colours and characters that show their strength. It is littered with it all and is one of the reasons I loved this book so much. You find yourself caring about them all with a fiery passion. I loved reading about Rowan’s story. Her words made me emotional and they made me see who she was inside and to empathize with her situation. Eli was also a wonderful character. I loved that he felt so real. He had his faults, his weaknesses and his overwhelming doubts and worries but on top of that he was strong and brave. These two were my favourites but I also loved Rowan’s mum and her dad too. All the characters were just wonderfully written.

Yourself Back Up

This book blew me away. Honestly, it did. I was expecting to find it sad. I expected to find it difficult. But instead it was excruciating. It caused tears to flow rapidly but not just because of what happened, but because I could understand and feel what Rowan was going though – and all of the characters she spent time around as well. The book, however, isn’t all doom and gloom. It is also enlightening and wonderful and shows how much strength we can all have while also reminding us that we don’t have to be strong one hundred percent of the time. It was a moving story that I very much enjoyed reading and would read again. I would also highly recommend it, especially if you know someone who suffers from depression, or if you know someone who knows someone who has committed suicide. It is a heart-breaking, but wonderfully uplifting book that you really shouldn’t miss.