Holding up the Universe by: Jennifer Niven

Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Contemporary
Published: October 4, 2016 by: Knopf Books
Pages: 400
Rating: 3/5 stars

Libby Strout was once known as "America's Fattest Teen." Since losing weight and dealing with her mother's heartbreaking death, Libby is ready to step back into high school, and deal with the pressures of being a teenager. It is at her new school that she meets Jack, a charismatic popular guy, but with a rare disorder that he keeps secret. Jack cannot recognize faces, even of his close family members. As Libby and Jack get to know each other, they realize that their struggles make them who they are. And while navigating the cruel world of high school, they will depend on each other even more.

This book was kinda a hit and a miss at the same time. While I really enjoyed Niven's previous book, All The Bright Places, this book gave me the familiar beautiful writing and lovable characters that she does so well, but seemed a bit tropey in my opinion. And I'll explain why.

So first things first with the positives, I love how Niven writes a love story. She gives her characters amazing chemistry and utter adorableness that you just can't help but fall in love yourself. Her characters are so well-written and are given such witty attributes, that makes them so lovable. Jack and Libby were no exception.

The plot of this book wasn't boring, but wasn't exactly spectacular. The characters really made the book for me, because the plot didn't seem like it had anything special going on. It was just kinda average and predictable, but at the same time, didn't bore me as some other contemporaries do.

What really annoyed me about this book were some of the "fat girl tropes." Now I can't really accurately comment on these issues because I've never been overweight, but to me they seemed pretty recognizable. For me, I would love to read a book about a fat girl who didn't find the need to lose weight and THEN present herself to society. I want a book in which the girl owns her confidence and her weight is not the overarching problem throughout the entire book. Now this book could be very inspiring and body-positive, there's no doubt about that, but it's nothing that I haven't seen before. I would have liked it a lot more if it had taken more of a Dumplin' by: Julie Murphy approach.

So really, I'm in two heads about this book. Have you read Holding Up the Universe? What did you think?

Emily @ Paperback Princess

All The Bright Places by: Jennifer Niven

Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Contemporary
Published: January 6, 2015 by: Knopf
Pages: 388
Rating: 5/5 stars
*major spoilers ahead; highlight white text to reveal them*

All The Bright Places was the brilliant story of a boy named Theodore Finch, who is obsessed with the idea of death, and a girl named Violet, who feels like she wants to die. When the two meet in an spring of fate, they both set out to help the other overcome their obstacles. They save each other.

This. book. was. amazing. When I saw it on Goodreads being described as The Fault in Our Stars meets Eleanor and Park, I couldn't resist. This book stood it's own and will honestly impact me forever.

To the first positive of this book, the writing was so beautiful. I could practically quote this entire book because Niven was so clever at writing it, and it was very emotional. There was not a single line that did not have an impact.

The second positive, is the character development. The two main protagonists start off to be very broken, but throughout the course of the book you can really feel them trying to pick up the pieces, and live happier lives. Theodore was just an amazing human being, and I felt extremely connected to him. He was so supportive, funny and brilliant.

I loved the message of this book. Yes, it is essentially about suicide and death, however it wasn't such a heavy and really hard book. It was realistic and showed the incredible story of how to conquer something inside. Even though the ending had me sobbing, I was actually happy with how everything turned out. Yes, I was extremely upset to see Theodore die, but I liked how Niven kept it real. It wasn't a predictable ending in the sense that everyone gets better and lives happily ever after. She showed that suicide is a real issue, that needs more awareness surrounding it. Even though Violet is a fictional character, I hope that she lives a content life now knowing how much she meant to Theodore. 

Overall, this book was so well thought out, and really has a different take on a heavy topic. I encourage you all to read this as I am certain that anyone will take something out of it. Hopefully, we can stop innocent lives being taken by suicide soon. 

Have you read All The Bright Places? What did you think?

Emily @ Paperback Princess