Title: Everything, Everything

Author: Nicola Yoon

Media: Hardcover

Pages: 306

Overall Rating:      3.5 flames 

Synopsis: 

 My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla.

But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He’s tall, lean and wearing all black—black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly.

Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster.

Everything, Everything was a much anticipated debut novel written in an interesting format that includes lists, illustrations (done by the author’s husband!), IM conversations, as well as regular text. But we’ll get to that later.

First, I want to talk about that gorgeous cover! I’ll admit I’m a sucker for pretty covers and I do, in fact, judge books based on them. It’s not that I won’t read a book with an ugly cover, but let’s face it – pretty ones hold more appeal and are more likely to be prominently displayed on my bookshelves. I would’ve picked up this book based on the cover alone.

Now let’s get to the meat: this book is an easy read that you can devour in one sitting. Because of the writing style I mentioned above, the pages just seem to fly by. I’ll be honest, some parts of it had me saying, “Really? This would never happen.” But if you don’t take it too seriously it’s a pretty entertaining read. It tackles some tough subjects such as alcohol and physical abuse, but manages to stay fairly lighthearted and even funny. It is fairly predictable – I figured out most things before they actually happened, but it kept my interest and I finished it in just a few hours.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a YA romance and isn’t too turned off by a few cliches. Right after I finished reading it I gave it 4 stars, but upon further reflection I think it deserves more of a 3.5/3.75. I will say this though: if this was Nicola Yoon’s debut then I’m definitely looking forward to anything she writes in the future!