“I have hundreds of kids getting on and off this bus every day. There are always a couple who stand out. Sometimes it’s because they’re just noticeable looks-wise, or sometimes it’s a simple case of logistics, like they always get off at a weird stop. My wife, Margie, loves to hear about all of them.Lately I’ve been telling her lots of stories about these two kids, a boy and a girl. There’s something different about them”.
Synopsis
Review
Books and synopsis don’t always go hand
to hand, however with this novel you have exactly what you bargained for. It’s
probably the first book that we read where the synopsis catches perfectly the
novel’s essence so, readers, pay attention!
Every fangirl or fanboy out there will
know exactly the feeling of seeing two people, clearly made for each other, act
stupid and bask in their sexual tension with no apparent intention of finally
give up and live happily ever after. If you know the pain of having an OTP (or
multiple, if like us, you follow an endless number of tv shows) this is the
book for you!
What we really liked about this novel
are the 14 (yes, 14!) narrators. Normally we would be horrified,in most books
even more than two points of view are difficult to follow but this, this is
pure genius. None of these narrators are the protagonists, so we live Lea and
Gabe’s love story thought the eyes of their friends, teachers, waitresses and
even by-standers. People see them, love them and suffer because it seems like
they will never make it, probably one of them (money on Tabitha) even wrote
fanfiction on these two! This is an interesting expedientthat turn a kinda
normal love story book into a funny and witty novel.
Personally, we think that this story
wouldn’t have been this interesting if it had been told in a more traditional
way; the multiples narrators keep things exciting and make you laugh in stuffy
situations.
Probably, in the end, if the story had been told by Lea and Gabe’s point
of views, all this “will-they-won’t-they” would have made readers hate them.
They are just too awkward and shy and their desperate thoughts would have made
this story a boring and already-read soap opera!
Instead, we can laugh with the sarcastic Victor and Charlotte,
fangirling with Tabitha, Maxine and Inga and plotting a way to force our couple
together with Maribel, Sam, Bianca and Casey. Like us, they are normal people and
they are so different from one other that every one of us can find their alter
ego in one of these narrators. Maybe that’s exactly the reason why we are
content with just watching Lea and Gabe’s story unfold in front of us and we
don’t feel the need to identify ourselves in this couple (like it happens with
other novels).
We absolutely loved Victor as a
narrator, he’s sarcastic, blasé and hate Lea and Gabe’s shilly-shallying but he
always finds himself crossing their path. It’s hilarious how, trying to avoid
them,he can’t help being drowned by their idiocy. Victor reflects exactly our
thoughts when the situation skirts the absurd.
The barista Charlotte, in the beginning
is absolutelyinsensible to our protagonists’ struggle; she can’t understand all
the fuss about this couple: her colleagues ship them so hard (probably to a
fanfiction level) that they are all they can talk about. She finds them
annoying and totally awkward, besides Gabe never understands what she’s saying
and this bothers her to no end. But, she’s exactly the type of fangirl that
tries to deny her love and obsession in public till she can’t anymore and
totally checks every now and then trying to catch sight of them entering the
café. We loved her scenes with Gabe (she’s totally rooting for him!).
Another interesting point of view, it’s
absolutely Inga’s (their creative writing teacher). Inga, every year, finds a
new OTP in her course and tries to push them together,essentially she acts like
everyfangirl in the world would, if given the chance. And we are totally with
her! We can all relate to the way she passionately hates Hillary (a blonde
bimbo with a huge crush on Gabe), because she tries to interfere with her
“let’s get Lea and Gabe together” plan.
So, if we could choose a couple of
characters each and know more about their stories we would definitely choose
these three (and maybe also Maribel….but only to know if she and Casey finally
get together. Oh, look at
that: an OTP in another OTP).
Not all the other narrators are as
complete and useful as these three. We didn’t really understand the point of
the squirrel (apart from being cute and making Lea and Gabe look like total
lunatics) and also the one of the bench, even though one of our favorite scenes
occur on her.
But, even only for
general info, we’ll list all the 14 narrators in this book:
Maribel (Lea’s roommate)
Inga (creative writing professor)
Bench (on the green)
Sam (Gabe’s brother)
Squirrel (!)
Victor (creative writing classmate)
Bob (a bus driver)
Casey (Gabe’s friend)
Maxine (a waitress)
Danny (Lea’s friend)
Pam (Inga’s wife)
Charlotte (a barista)
Hillary (creative writing classmate)
Frank
(Chinese-food delivery guy)
But, let’s talk about our protagonists.
Gabe is shy, and not the normal kind.
Nope. He’s the I-like-you-so-I-am-too-nervous-to-just-look-at-you-never-mind-talking-to-you
kind of shy. Fortunately,
he’s got a (kinda) good reason for his actions: he isdeaf from one hear. And
okay, this wouldn’t be a huge problem, if he wasn’t so keen on hiding it. So,
instead of saying: “Hey, sorry Lea, I’m not answering you ‘cause I can’t hear
well from this hear”, he remains silent. Obviously, Lea starts to think he
doesn’t like her and so this leads to tears and man pain and massive
frustration (for us). So, Gabe….Why the hell didn’t you say anything? You could
have spared us the pain!Even though, we have to say, that his behavior brought
to some of our favorite and most emotional scenes in the book. (There’s one in
which he writes a list of things he should have told her but wasn’t
able…totally heartbreaking).Then again, let’s think about a nineteen year old
boy, baseball star and with a guaranteed sport scholarship, who gets into a car
accident and sees his dreams vanish in front of him. Some of us think that his
tries to regain control on his life, pretending everything is the same, can be
justified indeed.
Even
thought, let’s say it, cheer up Gabe! You can’t beat yourself up all your life,
please give us some positive feels!
On the other hand, Lea is cheerful, flirty and openly smitten with our boy. Though
sometimes she can be insecure, every time Gabe talks (or just stays in silent)
to her, she tries to put him at ease. She can’t understand Gabe’s hot and cold
behavior towards her and when he tells her the reason, she’s royally pissed he
didn’t tell her sooner. Even though Lea is really less awkward than Gabe, her totally
normal excitement over the boy is really more interesting and funny if told by
another person.
Sandy Hall’s writing is funny and
flowing and her idea was totally a win!
We recommend this book if you need to unwind and you’re searching for a
light and witty story.
Beside, check the cover! It’s exactly
like the novel: charming and romantic and perfectly true to the spirit of the
story. We loved it to pieces.
So in the end, to leave you, we’ll
dabble in Inga’s creative writing assignment and for the last time, describe
this book without adjectives. “A little something different is the kind of book some of us would be convinced not to like. Romance, misunderstandings and frustration are not everyone’s cup of tea but the more we read, the more we are sucked in Lea and Gabe’s story. The need of knowing if every heartbreak will bring to a happy ending will drive us to devour this book in no time”.
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