The Last Boy and Girl in the World by Siobhan Vivian
This was one of my most anticipated reads of the year. Like, top five--which is a crazy competitive list, considering the large amount of wonderfully sounding novels that get published every year. I've never read anything else by Siobhan Vivian, so she's not an automatic buy author for me or anything. I just read this description back in December and knew I had to have it. I became desperate to read it; to dive into its pages and fawn over its GORGEOUS cover.
So it goes without saying that expectations were high. And while I liked this novel--from the characters to the plot progression and most things in between--I didn't EXPLODE WITH FEELS like I wanted to. It's still pretty great and I will read it again some day, but it's not on my favorite shelf, unfortunately.
What if your town was sliding underwater and everyone was ordered to pack up and leave? How would you and your friends spend your last days together?
While the adults plan for the future, box up their possessions, and find new places to live, Keeley Hewitt and her friends decide to go out with a bang. There are parties in abandoned houses. Canoe races down Main Street. The goal is to make the most of every minute they still have together. And for Keeley, that means taking one last shot at the boy she's loved forever.
There's a weird sort of bravery that comes from knowing there's nothing left to lose. You might do things you normally wouldn't. Or say things you shouldn't. The reward almost always outweighs the risk. Almost.
It's the end of Aberdeen, but the beginning of Keeley's first love story. It just might not turn out the way she thought. Because it's not always clear what's worth fighting for and what you should let become a memory.
Keeley was my favorite thing about this novel. I loved being her, and being inside her head. I feel like I say that in a lot of my reviews, but it's true. That's why I read stories: To live someone else's life and share their experiences. And Keeley had an incredibly strong and original voice. I can honestly say I have never read a character with her personality. So many novels have a goofball, happy character that tries to make everything light and make the best out of every situation. But in all of those stories that pop into my mind, that character is always male and always a supporting character. So to have this weird, inappropriate, laughable character be the main character, and female, was spectacular. She used her personality as a shield; to protect herself from the difficult and confusing parts of life. She was so similar to myself and so many others, and yet so different, and I loved that dichotomy.
The relationships in this novel were both captivating and confusing. Towards the end of the novel, I felt like I was being jerked back in forth between what was happening in the story, and what I thought made sense with the characters--and that's never a good thing. No one turned out to be who they were depicted as, which is both good and bad. Because some of it was shocking in a good way, like her father, but some of it was shocking in a bad way, like Levi and Morgan. The pacing of the relationships could have been done a lot better, and I think it was the part of the novel that I liked the least. It was a bit of a love triangle, but not one that was done well--again, because of the pacing of the relationship arcs. All of a sudden, we are supposed to believe that she wants to be with Levi, when she's been an ass to him and disliked him the whole novel; she's also related so well to Jesse for the entire story, even though he is a bit of a douche to her.
I really enjoyed the writing. It's simple and written well. The writing of the voice and the characters are the best part of the novel. Also, she would throw in these quotes and lines that would rip my heart open. It was wonderful.