Mark This Book Monday: Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon!!

Hiya there!

Back to the work routine on another Monday after a weekend of binge watching Jessica Jones (guys, it's AWESOME!) and re-watching Star Wars for me!

For this week's Mark This Book Monday I have my first Diverse December finished read up for review, and since it also was a 2015 debut, it counts towards my 2015 Debut Author Challenge!

Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Everything, Everything is my first finished read for #DiverseDecember and I'm quite glad that I started with this one, given how it was a super fast and adorable read (for the most part) that I could finish on a quiet night shift at work. Written by a BAME author and with a mixed race main character, diversity is not a flag waved in this one, but an integral part of the book as is.

I really loved how the book didn't just follow a liner storytelling format but also had IMs and e-mails, and homework assignments and some other more visual formats intersected, it gave it a very vibrant and dynamic feel at times.

Madeline has never got out of her house because she's allergic to the world, so she is homeschooled, cared for a nurse and her mum and have very limited interaction with the world outside. Barely anyone is allowed to come in, and they have to get through a decontamination process to do so. Her voice was a lil naive at times, but that's quite realistic given how few interactions she had with the outside world and how limited her experience in general is. I loved her relationship with her mum and Carla, her nurse.

Everything changes when a family moves into the house across the street, and as part of that family there's a boy, Ollie. Their interactions are sweet and adorable and funny and I loved how they were supportive of each other, but seriously, the adorableness of their interactions with their awkward pauses both online and in person were a delight to read.

Madeline changes because she finds that she wants more and she is no longer content with her bubble life and like any teenager tries to find her way and explore and take control of her life, even if in her case it could be a fatal risk. I felt like the relationship between Maddie and her mum was written so well. The guilt of leaving paired up with the desire of leading our own destiny.

There was quite an unexpected twist that I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it still. It really changed the perception of everything, and it made sense if you look back at all the events and reactions, but to a point it felt like a bit of the easy way out of the conundrum? I can't really explain it without spoiling things, but it also added a lot more to the complex mother-daughter relationship being explored here for sure.

All in all, a rather delightful debut, full of adorable moments and also with a much darker ending, even if it's also full of hope. 3.5 to 4 stars to this one!



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