About the Book
“There’s a Japanese phrase that I like: koi no yokan. It doesn’t mean love at first sight. It’s closer to love at second sight. It’s the feeling when you meet someone that you’re going to fall in love with them. Maybe you don’t love them right away, but it’s inevitable that you will.”
Review
I'll be honest, I was iffy about this one after reading Everything, Everything. Not that I disliked that one, but a gender and race swap isn't enough to make it not Bubble Boy. Anyway, I spent a while debated on whether or not I should read this one before I finally gave in.
This mostly takes place in a 24-hour period, but there are also some flashbacks and an epilogue that takes place 10 years in the future. Even with such a small time frame, there's a lot going on between Natasha trying not to get deported and Daniel debating on whether or not his parent's desire for him to go to Yale is more important than what he wants for his own future. The two of them cross paths and so the drama gets intermingled and it's great. I love drama!
Natasha is awesome. She started out awesome. Her character growth is awesome. She ends even more awesome. Not only is she smart, but she's determined and does what needs to be done, despite the odds being against her. She's one of the best teenaged protagonists I've read in a while. And extra bonus points because she's female.
Daniel is a good opposite to her. Not to say he's lazy or doesn't try, but he's the artistic to her scientific mind. It's a great balance.
My only real issue was the cut offs to feature background characters to give more of an insight on what was going on around them. For the most part I really didn't care about those characters. Ultimately I was surprised at how much I ended up enjoying this story.