Book Review - The Sky is Everywhere

The Sky is Everywhere
Author: Jandy Nelson
Standalone
Genres: Contemporary | Young Adult
Release Date: February 5th 2015
Publishers: Walker Books
No. Pages: 320
Source: Review Copy - Walker Books
Rating:
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Seventeen-year-old Lennie Walker, bookworm and band geek, plays second clarinet and spends her time tucked safely and happily in the shadow of her fiery older sister, Bailey. But when Bailey dies abruptly, Lennie is catapulted to center stage of her own life - and, despite her nonexistent history with boys, suddenly finds herself struggling to balance two.

Toby was Bailey's boyfriend; his grief mirrors Lennie's own. Joe is the new boy in town, a transplant from Paris whose nearly magical grin is matched only by his musical talent. For Lennie, they're the sun and the moon; one boy takes her out of her sorrow, the other comforts her in it.

But just like their celestial counterparts, they can't collide without the whole wide world exploding.

So I think it would be fair to say that I'm a little late to The Sky Is Everywhere party, right?. I'm not exactly sure why I have been put off reading it for so long, and why it took me until I'll Give You The Sun to remember just how much I wanted to read it . When it comes to the summary of The Sky Is Everywhere the first thing that grabs my attention and intrigues me is how little is given about about the story. You learn very little about Lennie and because of this it leaves you free to go into the story with a completely blank canvas and without an opinion. I've heard a lot about this book and I'm really thankful that my expectations weren't high or low, and were still blown away.

The other thing that grabbed my attention and something I loved about the book, would be it's little quirks. At the start of every chapter we are blessed with something Lennie has written to her dead sister, on anything she can find. Because of these little flash back shall we call them, we are able to get a picture of who Bailey was, it gives her a voice and it makes the whole thing feel so much more personal. I am a big big fan of quirks in a book, sometimes they can hold no purpose at all but thankfully they not only worked but also held such a bigger meaning than you would have guessed.

However I think the thing that I found to be my favourite about the story was that it wasn't your typical romance story. Though there was a lot of feelings from different people directed at Lennie it wasn't a story about a girl who fell in love. It was a story about grief, mistakes, friendship, family and acceptance. Lennie isn't sure how she is suppose to move past her sister dying, she's trying and sometimes it feel like she can't do anything right. On one hand he has Toby, her sisters boyfriend, who might be the only person who understands and brings out things in her she didn't think possible and then we have Joe, the new boy at school who doesn't seem to let Lennie make excuses, he doesn't beat around the bush with her and is blunt from the start refusing to pussy foot around her like others.

Overall I really did enjoy this book, the characters were well written, developed perfectly and beyond relatable, the romance wasn't in your face all the time but still swoon worthy and it was just all in all a lovely coming of age story. The transformation in Lennie from the start of the book to the end leaves her some what unrecognisable, but in a good way. This isn't a book about death like you might first think, it's about life and how it make take a while for people to realise it's ok for them to still be there when a love one goes. Brilliant first book for Jandy Nelson.