Goodreads Summary 3.5 STARS!!!
Amy loves Matthew and he loves her back. This is their story.
Amy is unflinchingly honest about her limitations. Born with cerebral palsy, she can’t walk or talk without help. But trapped inside this uncooperative body lies a brilliant mind and a luminous spirit – a girl capable of truly loving and worthy of being loved in return.
Matthew has his own set of challenges – a mind consumed by unwanted repeated thoughts, obsessive rituals and a crippling fear that he can't explain. But underneath all of the anxiety lies a deep seed of hope for someone to come along who believes in him…
This is the story of Amy and Matthew. It may not be a fairy tale romance or set in an imagined world far from our own. But the love they share is real. And yes, there's magic in it.
MY REVIEW
I had no idea what this book would be like when i first got into it. Amy is born with cerebral palsy. She doesn't talk without the help of her computer and that is the main cause of her loneliness. No one at school, gives her a chance to respond to them. Her speeches involve indecipherable sounds and it kind of sets everyoine off and i was so surprised when she used her computer to talk to Mathew. She had a personality that made me want to know her better. Her words and way of talking was so different from the girl that couldn't talk and drooled all the time. The author manages to beautifully show us how these people are lonely and all they need is someone to be their friend and not their pity companion.
I was annoyed with Amy's mom because she unintentionally isolated Amy from everyone else and it made my heart break when Amy would be all alone, wanting to reach out to other but no one would give her a chance. With Mathew it was different. He was also suffering from OCD and this book showed his personal journey from denying his problem to accepting it, getting help and ultimately getting cured. Another reason why i loved Mathew, was that he treated Amy like everyone else. When she first wrote that poem about how she was happy being her and that she didn't envy other girls' bodies, Mathew walked straight up to her and told her to stop lying because this was her reality. And of course he was right, there was no bullshit with him, he could see past the lies Amy said to appear happy. He was so caring and loving, it ultimately ended in him wanting to help her throughout her difficulties.
There are a number of reasons i can't give this book a 4 stars. Firstly, I didn't really like Amy at times. Most of the time she was great and funny but then she seemed a little bit selfish at times and then she did something extremely stupid with one of her peer companions, Sanjay, (REALLY STUPID) and when Mathew finds out about it, she said it was because she wanted to be prepared for when their time came...who does that?? And top of that she doesn't apologize to Mathew for hurting him because she thinks what she did was right . Secondly the dual POVs were a great idea, i just wished they were in first narrator because i feel we would get to know their feeling a bit more. I can't imagine how much emotion the author could have stirred up if she'd written Amy's POV in first... and the last thing was the ending, it was PERFECT but i personally feel we were in need of an epilogue of some kind. The author allows our imagination to run wild for their future but it would have been nice to have an epilogue-like a "12 years later" kind of thing...
This book was exceptionally well written, it had a lot of potential to surpass The Fault In Our Stars or any of those emotional love stories but to me, i saw the emotion; i just didn't feel it. It's about two different people who fall in love and overcome their fears and restrictions together. This is one of the most beautiful love stories i've ever read, i knew exactly why they'd fallen for each other. A heart wrenching and emotional book which will keep you gripped through their journey of self-discovery and love!
2 comments
Ooh great review, I'm excited to check this out! Shame it wasn't too emotional for you personally
ReplyDeletehttp://enchantedbyya.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/december-plans.html
Yeah just a few glitches but overall it was an amazing book which i'll definitely be rereading!! Hope you enjoy it too :P!!
ReplyDeleteThanks a million for taking the time to post a comment :)