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laurenash 's review for:
Hello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between
by Jennifer E. Smith
I still cannot believe I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for feedback. Thank you so so much, people at Netgalley!
Hello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between is essentially about a high school couple who has to decide whether or not to stay together when they go away to college. I never had to make that decision, but I knew plenty of other couples who did. I thought it was really well done in explaining how difficult that decision is or can be. The book is set the day before Aidan and Clare leave for college. Clare is going to Dartmouth; Aidan is going to UCLA. So the plan is to spend their last night together revisiting places/moments of their two year relationship in order to decide if it's worth it to stay together. Or if it would be better (or easier) to just break up so they're "free" to experience college.
Clare, the practical, list-maker, cutter of ties, wants to break up before things (or each of them) change. She was a jerk sometimes. Even the way she acted towards Stella felt a little unfair. And I totally called the at the verrrrrrry beginning of the book. Aidan, the optimist, go with the flow-er, wants to stay together because he has faith in the relationship and its worth. Aidan had a lot of really endearing qualities like his goofiness, but he could be a bit of a jerk too. But I thought he was very cute, and very Jennifer E. Smith boyish.
I can't really say much else in terms of plot or where it went, because I liked being able to experience it for the first time. I honestly didn't know what they would decide to do, or what I had hoped for them. All I know is that I really appreciated the ending and how the couple handled it.
Jennifer E. Smith has this amazing ability to write "fluffy" books that are actually quite wise/deep. I think it also takes talent to write a realistic high school relationship. It's not perfect--just like any relationship--but it has a newness/youth to it, and Jennifer E. Smith gets that.
Hello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between is essentially about a high school couple who has to decide whether or not to stay together when they go away to college. I never had to make that decision, but I knew plenty of other couples who did. I thought it was really well done in explaining how difficult that decision is or can be. The book is set the day before Aidan and Clare leave for college. Clare is going to Dartmouth; Aidan is going to UCLA. So the plan is to spend their last night together revisiting places/moments of their two year relationship in order to decide if it's worth it to stay together. Or if it would be better (or easier) to just break up so they're "free" to experience college.
Clare, the practical, list-maker, cutter of ties, wants to break up before things (or each of them) change. She was a jerk sometimes. Even the way she acted towards Stella felt a little unfair. And I totally called the
Spoiler
Stella/Scotty thingI can't really say much else in terms of plot or where it went, because I liked being able to experience it for the first time. I honestly didn't know what they would decide to do, or what I had hoped for them. All I know is that I really appreciated the ending and how the couple handled it.
Jennifer E. Smith has this amazing ability to write "fluffy" books that are actually quite wise/deep. I think it also takes talent to write a realistic high school relationship. It's not perfect--just like any relationship--but it has a newness/youth to it, and Jennifer E. Smith gets that.