This review was originally posted on Andi's ABCs 
 Sometimes you read a book and you just don't know what to even say about it. It is pretty much perfect in all the ways that surprise you yet don't surprise you at all. It will make you feel things as you read, make you cry, make you laugh, make you swoon. That is what The Names They Gave Us did to me. In typically Emery Lord fashion I was blown away by this books beauty and realness. 
 I'm not really sure how to describe what I felt and loved about this book. First and foremost I feel like I should say that this is what you would call a "cancer book" or even a "religion book". Sure those are huge parts of Lucy's story, parts of who Lucy is, but I don't think those are the two things that end up defining her. What ends up defining Lucy is Lucy. She decides to open her mind and heart to new experiences and to new people. And Lucy decides it is okay to not trust in her faith, to be angry at the hand she has been dealt. To me that is really what The Names They Gave Us is all about, finding out who you are and want to be and being okay with it. Don't get me wrong, Lucy's mother having cancer is a major part of this story and truly broke my heart for Lucy, but that is just the beginning of her story. With the help of a new camp, new friends and a boy to mend her broken heart a new, stronger Lucy is born and that is the heart of the whole story. Well that and the friends Lucy makes 
 Lucy's friends at the new camp are truly amazing and inspiring. They are all dealing with something whether it is anxiety or illness or abuse. They all have some kind of baggage but they also don't carry that baggage alone. They let each other help and they rely on one another for support. It is the definition of a true friendship. And they willing, okay, some more than others, take Lucy into their fold which is something she needed desperately without even knowing it. And this isn't even talking about the beauty that is Henry and what he adds to the change in Lucy. Gah. I'm smiling just thinking about Lucy and Henry. 
 Truth, I'm not convinced Emery Lord is human. Okay well I know she is because I have met her, but still. The Names They Gave Us is Emery's 4th book (I've been a massive fan since Open Road Summer) and her 4th book to completely blow me away. Every time I read a book by her I think her next one can't be better and then I read the next one. It's unfathomable yet she manages to do it every time. There is something just so magical about her books. I swear if you are not a fan yet you will be as soon as you read something with her name on it. Make sure you add The Names They Gave Us to your TBR.