Release Date: February 18th 2014
Published By: MTV Books
Pages: 368
Goodreads: Add it to your reading list
Purchase: Click here to purchase

Rating: 5 out of 5

Synopsis: Laura Wiess captures the visceral emotion of a girl’s journey from innocence to devastating loss and, ultimately, to a strange and unexpected kind of understanding—in this beautiful and painfully honest new novel.
Are there any answers when someone you love makes a tragic choice?

Before and After. That’s how Rowan Areno sees her life now. Before: she was a normal sixteen-year-old—a little too sheltered by her police officer father and her mother. After: everything she once believed has been destroyed in the wake of a shattering tragedy, and every day is there to be survived.

If she had known, on that Friday in March when she cut school, that a random stranger’s shocking crime would have traumatic consequences, she never would have left campus. If the crime video never went viral, maybe she could have saved her mother, grandmother — and herself — from the endless replay of heartache and grief.

Finding a soul mate in Eli, a witness to the crime who is haunted by losses of his own, Rowan begins to see there is no simple, straightforward path to healing wounded hearts. Can she learn to trust, hope, and believe in happiness again?

Review:

So, the synopsis says that Me Since You is a “visceral emotion of a girl’s journey from innocence to devastating loss and, ultimately, to a strange and unexpected kind of understanding—in this beautiful and painfully honest new novel” - and wow, is this true! No words can express the feels that this story will leave you with. Honestly, I tried to write this review earlier, but the words won’t come - only the feels!

One moment, Rowan is a normal 16 year old girl, about to cut school to go hang out with her best friend and some boys, and her biggest concern that her police-officer father will find out. The next moment a chain of events is set into place that will irrefutably change her life forever.

Rowan will end up with questioning everything - the “what ifs” are endless, the lack of understanding will haunt her, the heartache will suffocate her. Rowan will take you on an emotional rollercoaster of a journey that will make you weep, ache and hurt - you will feel her pain, you will understand her anguish and you will desperately ache for her yearning for answers and the unobtainable.

This story shows that the action of a complete stranger can affect the lives of so many people - that the flow on consequences can be devastating and life-altering. And let me say, the actions of this one stranger are intense - as are the events that follow. Right from the start, this book does not hold back the punches. The punches within this book will blind-side you and they are aimed straight at your heart.

I cannot tell you too much about the story, as that would ruin the experience for you. But as a quick recap: A stranger does something unthinkable leaving many lives in tatters. Those lives are changed forever and guilt, depression, frustration and confusion are left to fill the gaping hole that is left behind. These emotions will fill and take over some of those lives which then results in further events. And it is those events that will leave Rowan shattered and unsure if she can ever repair herself. And then there is Eli, who is extremely sweet and sadly understands what it is like to live with pain, suffering and regret.

I won’t go into the storyline too much, as I really want you experience this book for yourself. As far as capturing pain, loss, suffering, heartache, love, confusion, frustration and even anger, this book nails it! As someone who has been through events very similar to Rowan, I can honestly say this book completely encapsulations the burning desire for understanding but being afraid of the answers, of wanting to “move one” but being afraid to let go. It also is a perfect example of how grief is different for everyone - how it affects people differently and how everyone needs to handle their pain in their own way.

Me Since You is tragically beautiful, and not for the faint hearted. It will break your heart and tear you to pieces. You will be emotionally wrecked after reading this realistic account of lose, grief and betrayal. You will feel what it is like to lose hope and be engulfed with misery. You will feel that is it scary to start to feel hope again. You will just feel.

Filled with heartache, grief and tragedy, Me Since You is powerfully honest and raw. It is all about the feels - your heart will ache, you will cry, and ultimately, you will accept.

Quotes:

“Death knows exactly how to break your heart, over and over again.”