Once in a while, a book will cross my lap and will be so familiar to me as if I had written it myself. The characters easily speak the words that are stuck on the tip of my tongue, their inner dialogue echos mine, and they make the mistakes that I have made (with exactly as little grace and as many dire consequences as I).
In Every Day, I first saw myself almost right away. I won't say which character, but I was there, and when I recognized it, I cried. Right there in the Starbucks, clutching my tablet with both hands; I cried. And I cried again and again and again at the end.
Had this not been a book meant for young adults, I may have felt just slightly less foolish connecting in the way that I did, but then again, maybe not. We are, after all, just a big bunch of 16 year olds pretending to be "grown up", aren't we?
The story centers around A, a soul that begins each day in a different body. A wakes up as someone new every single day. He (or she?) opens his (her?) eyes and discovers that himself (herself?) inhabiting the body of, for example, a jock, a depressed teenage girl, a princess, a nerd, or a burn-out. It's up to A to seamlessly slip into his host's life; accessing memories, picking up on clues, and interacting with friends and family.
That alone is a fabulous premise for a book, but imagine what happens when a love interest enters the mix. How can you make someone love you, when you take a new form every day? Is looking past the form and loving only the soul even possible?
Read it and see.
PS - Fans of The Infinite Playlist of Nick and Norah will recognize David Levithan's name.
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