You Were Here by Cori McCarthy


2.5-3 out of 5 stars

*I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Here's the thing. For me, this was one of those books you get so frustrated with because it's well written, but the content of the story and the plot wasn't too great. When I read the synopsis for the book, I thought, cool this girl sounds pretty awesome. It's kind of like she's carrying on her brother's legacy. Except when you read the book, there's a lot more to it than just that. Jaycee is obsessed with her dead brother. I mean, it's been five years, let Jake Strangelove rest in peace, let the rest of us move on. Jaycee is what you would call a brutally honest individual. In fact, her friend Natalie tells her just that. She has absolutely no filter whatsoever and says what comes to her mind.

All the characters in this book seem to be at least mildly troubled. Jaycee with her Jake obsession, her entire life seems to revolve around Jake. Jake this, Jake that. The kid wasn't even in the book and I kind of hate him now. Natalie, Jaycee's childhood best friend, can't wait to run away from her life in Ohio and go to school in New York. To her, life is pretty difficult. What with her uptight mother, her constant breakups, and makeups with her boyfriend of four years, Zach, and all her secrets. Zach has to deal with his jerk of a brother Tyler, his parent's divorce, and taking care of his little sister. Bishop, another character was introduced as a heartbroken young man. His girlfriend Marakesh had just broken up with him and left him in a wreck.

Some things I really enjoyed in this book are, again, like I said, the fact that it was well written. The comic strips that were in Mikivicious's perspective. Bishop's art in his chapters. I especially liked Mikivicious's character. His mysteriousness and selective muteness were great character points.

One thing that really bothered me was the way the scenes were written, they were very... abrupt. Or rather, the transition between scenes was abrupt, for lack of a better word. Usually, an author eases into a scene to get you familiar with the characters, the circumstances and surroundings, not this one. I felt like I was bombarded with different sides od the characters, and unexpected events happening, it was a little weird for me.

All in all, I thought it was an okay book. I know my thoughts were scattering in this review, but that's just how I felt about the book

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