G. Bianco, 2019
From the bestselling author of If I Stay comes a poignant tale about community and navigating the hurdles in life. Set to be released on June 1st, We Are Inevitable acts as a love letter to books and the power that stories have to move us. Aaron Stein used to think books were miracles. But not anymore. Even though he spends his days working in his family's secondhand bookstore, the only book Aaron can bear to read is one about the demise of the dinosaurs. It's a predicament he understands all too well, now that his brother and mom are gone and his friends have deserted him, leaving Aaron and his shambolic father alone in a moldering bookstore in a crusty mountain town where no one seems to read anymore. So when Aaron sees the opportunity to sell the store, he jumps at it, thinking this is the only way out. But he doesn't account for Chad, a "best life" bro with a wheelchair and way too much optimism, or the town's out-of-work lumberjacks taking on the failing shop as their pet project. And he certainly doesn't anticipate meeting Hannah, a beautiful, brave musician who might possibly be the kind of inevitable he's been waiting for. All of them will help Aaron to come to terms with what he's lost, what he's found, who he is, and who he wants to be, and show him that destruction doesn't inevitably lead to extinction; sometimes it leads to the creation of something entirely new. I’ve been a fan of Gayle Forman’s books for years and this book just solidifies her place as one of my favorite YA authors! Like every book by Forman, We Are Inevitable hit me hard and had me hooked from the very beginning. This story isn’t just about a failing bookstore or a boy trying to figure out his future; it’s about how we deal with the punches life throws at us. It’s about dealing with loss and grief and how to turn it into a learning experience. It’s about embracing that hurt (rather than forgetting it) and letting it shape you into a better person. Even though Aaron seems very narrow-minded and angry at the world (and I may have wanted to throttle him a few times while reading), he learns that life isn’t what you plan it to be and that even though the inevitable might be in sight, you can’t control what happens in this world no matter how hard you may try to. And that’s okay. In addition to a meaningful story, the chapters each being named after a different book and having novels, anthologies, and memoirs be interwoven into the story makes this novel even more well-written. Book lovers will love reading this book about books and feel that the stories we read really are miracles, as Forman likes to remind us throughout the book. This book is such an amazing book that any book lover will appreciate. Poignant, resonant, and insightful, We Are Inevitable should be on everyone’s TBRs! *I received an ARC from Penguin Teen in exchange for my honest opinion.
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2/23/2024 07:02:30 pm
You're everything to me;
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AuthorHi! My name is Elisa and my bookshelf is quite literally overflowing! Join me in my journey of reading as many books as humanly possible! Archives
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