Friday, May 31, 2013

The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider

Release Date: 27th August, 2013

Publisher: Katherine Tegan

Pages: 330pgs

The Story

Golden boy Ezra Faulkner believes everyone has a tragedy waiting for them—a single encounter after which everything that really matters will happen. His particular tragedy waited until he was primed to lose it all: in one spectacular night, a reckless driver shatters Ezra’s knee, his athletic career, and his social life.

No longer a front-runner for Homecoming King, Ezra finds himself at the table of misfits, where he encounters new girl Cassidy Thorpe. Cassidy is unlike anyone Ezra’s ever met, achingly effortless, fiercely intelligent, and determined to bring Ezra along on her endless adventures.

But as Ezra dives into his new studies, new friendships, and new love, he learns that some people, like books, are easy to misread. And now he must consider: if one’s singular tragedy has already hit and everything after it has mattered quite a bit, what happens when more misfortune strikes? 

The Review

A big thanks to the publisher on Edelweiss for accepting my request in reading this book early!

I absolutely loved this book BUT I only loved the first half of it. I was totally rooting for this book (don't get me wrong here), you know? Especially when I started the book because it was so funny, so lovely, so quirky and it was such a half heart-aching storyline that I thought was never going to do any wrong and I was SO close to give it 5 stars because I loved it so much and it made me want go out and buy it too. However, like I said before, I only loved the first half of the book. The rest of the book - for me at least - just didn't go the way I hoped it would.

I don't know what it was exactly that let me down in the first place, but I felt as if everything that happened towards the end of the book was too rushed and had left me contemplating whether to like this book on a whole or not at all. It's not as if it wasn't a great book because it really, really WAS and even though I completely understand why it ended in the way it did but . . . I was still left disappointed. Left thinking, 'Why did that have to happen in the way it did?' You know, why did we have to go through all of that and come out with this strange, confusing feeling at the end of it. It just seemed like the character's actions and the situation within itself just lost the magic tough from what I felt in the beginning of the book. But regardless I still enjoyed this one. Just more half of the book than of the whole of it.

But what I LOVED about this book was our two main characters! Honestly Ezra and Cassidy were like two peas in a pod and I thought they worked perfectly together in this book. Even with their faults. Ezra was a little heart broken and well . . . broken in general. Cassidy, on the other hand, was a little strange and hid a secret that no one could really figure out. Not even Ezra could. But despite their ups and downs, the two of them just had something special about them that I loved. Ezra especially happened to my favourite character of all and went through so many transformations . . . so I loved him to bits! Cassidy, however, was loved by me straightaway and I mean LOVED by me because she's so quirky and hilarious! BUT like the storyline, the character I once loved slowly changed and with Cassidy she just became something else entirely (a whole different person) which I didn't like . . . but I still liked Cassidy (I mean of course I still do) but I just didn't like her choices that she made in the end and how her relationship turned out with Ezra.

Overall, THE BEGINNING OF EVERYTHING is definitely a page-turner and it's the perfect read for anyone looking for a coming-of-age story. The zing! dialogue was just faultless and it also had this similar vibe to John Green's The Fault in Our Stars which is awesome considering I love that book too! So if you love anything mixed between John Green and the likes of Gayle Forman, I would seriously recommend this one to you all despite being a little disappointed by the last half of the book.

The Rating
4/5 stars

2 comments:

  1. I hate how a novel is so amazing the first half but then the second half disappointing. Still, I am glad you still gave it 4 stars and that the characters were fantastic!

    - Juhina @ Maji Bookshelf

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah it's not good when that happens. But ah well. Overall it was still a nice read and the characters definitely held my interest all the way through the book. :)

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