Review Detail

4.5/5

Trigger warnings: mentions of death/injury, car accident, intimacy (kissing), ableist slurs

I absolutely adored this book! I thought this book was going to be a lot heavier than it was given what I'd heard about it. I was pleasantly surprised to find such a fun, adorable, and hilarious story instead. It made my heart happy reading this and that's about the best feeling you can get from a book.

I really loved the focus of this story. Maguire is a girl who believes she's been cursed by the universe because people always seem to get injured or die when she's around. A lot of this story focuses on her trying to overcome these beliefs through therapy. Her and her therapist set up these challenges for her to complete in hopes that she can overcome her fears of being around others, with the ultimate goal of being able to take a plane to Ireland for a memorial service for her dad, brother, and uncle.

It was really nice seeing a story that focuses on PTSD and therapy as a positive and viable option. I really enjoyed the way this story treated therapy and was happy to see a YA book that teenagers could read that showed them that therapy can be a good and healthy thing, even if you're not suffering from a mental illness. There were other characters who were just struggling with issues in their lives who used therapy as a way to try to solve those problems. I was really appreciative of that because a lot of people assume that therapy is only meant for people who are "cr*zy" when that isn't true. It was really refreshing to see that portrayal in this book.

I also really adored the characters. Jordy was by far my favorite. He was funny and charming and so sweet and I just loved everything about him. I loved who he was with Maguire and how he sort of found himself through her. He and Maguire were just adorable.

Maguire was fantastic too. I really liked reading from her perspective. Her character arc was wonderful, though I did feel like there were a few things that got sort of glossed over as she attempted to do these challenges. It sometimes felt like she moved past her phobias a little too quickly, which felt a bit unrealistic. That sort of reduced my enjoyment of the book, hence the half star deduction.

I also really loved Jade and Penn. They were just so much fun and Jade was HILARIOUS and they were fantastic friends. They were SO supportive of Maguire's phobias and they just accepted her and helped her out in any way that they could. I loved that so much.

Maguire's family was great too. Though we don't get to see much of them, the little bits we do see are just really nice and I liked the positive view on step-parents and step-siblings. I loved how they all came together as a family despite the awful circumstances. You could see how much they really cared for Maguire and how they just wanted her to be happy.

Overall this book was just a really delightful surprise. I can't wait to read more from this author!

P.S.-I have to thank the author for turning me onto my new favorite thing: burritos with french fries in them. Yummmmm.