Every morning, A wakes in a different person’s body, a different person’s life. There’s never any warning about where it will be or who it will be. A has made peace with that, even established guidelines by which to live: Never get too attached. Avoid being noticed. Do not interfere.
It’s all fine until the morning that A wakes up in the body of Justin and meets Justin’s girlfriend, Rhiannon. From that moment, the rules by which A has been living no longer apply. Because finally A has found someone he wants to be with—day in, day out, day after day.
David Levithan has pushed himself to new creative heights. He has written a captivating story that will fascinate readers as they begin to comprehend the complexities of life and love in A’s world, as A and Rhiannon seek to discover if you can truly love someone who is destined to change every day. (from the author's website.)
Flo's Review
Every once in awhile I find in my mailbox a Surprise ARC. I don't think the majority of them are really surprises because I enter a lot of contests. But then I forget I enter them, so when the book shows up in my mailbox -- SURPRISE!
This is how I came upon Every Day by David Levithan. I loved Will Grayson, Will Grayson and Dash and Lily's Book of Dares, so when I found myself looking at another one of his books, I was super excited.
The book starts with a letter to the reader. I am not sure if that is just an ARC thing or if the letter is really in the book, but I hope it's really in the book. Basically, it's David talking about how the idea for Every Day came about. My favorite part about this is that he started with the premise:
"I had the premise: Since birth, a teen has woken up every day in the boy and life of a new person. But after that I didn't have any answers, only questions." He goes on to ask some of the questions that could come to anyone's mind given this premise then says, "I didn't have the answers to these questions. So I wrote a novel to try to find out what they were. And now you hold that novel in your hand."
Like Dash and Lily, I shoved this book in my purse at the last minute as I was packing for a trip, because I needed something for when I couldn't have my Nook on. Also like Dash and Lily, I ended up not turning on the Nook once the airplane reached cruising altitude and electronic devices were approved because I was so engrossed in the story. I had just come turned off my Nook where I was at the beginning of a book and there was a lot of scene setting going on...I wasn't feeling it. I even tweeted that I wished I was at the part at that book where I was engrossed already. Well, when I picked up Every Day, I was immediately engrossed. Because it starts like a "normal" day for A, the main character -- like every day. Except, this first day we read about is NOT like every day. This first day changes the routine A had become used to and causes him for the first time to really want a sense of permanency about his life.
Every Day is one of those books that casually throws deep thoughts at you. Like, if you are speed reading you may miss them. Like if you are eating just to eat. But if you are eating to savor the flavor of the food, you will catch and ponder on these morsels of life lessons and observations. I loved that.
I felt that the concept of this story was so unique -- it was unlike anything I had ever read before, and so I fell into A's world -- his thoughts, feelings, sensations, and it was all completely new. Just like for him -- every day was different -- for the reader, too, every day was new and unparalleled. Issues such as obesity, suicidal tendencies, homosexuality, child labor, are all covered, but not in a preachy kind of way -- they are just different colored threads in the multi-colored fabric of A's life, and in parallel, in our lives.
This is the longest review I have written in awhile, and I could just go on and on. If you are the least bit intrigued, I definitely encourage you to pick up Every Day.
And, at this rate, I may be adding David Levithan to this list.
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