solb3rry 's review for:

The Gravity of Us by Phil Stamper

3.0

emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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review;

I have some things to say; when I read a tempest of tea I was bothered, because the teenagers felt like adults… and this book does give you teenagers that are messy, emotional and frankly just teenagers! so I really ended up enjoying the coming of age aspect of this book. It felt really real that Cal was searching for himself and whatever his future looks like.

Sadly, I also had an issue with the romances in this book (like I had with a tempest of tea); it was very insta-lovey, which is really hit or miss for me → this was a big miss… I didn’t like Cal for Leon at all which brings me to my last point.

I hated how this book treated mental health disorders. Both the anxiety of Cal’s mother and the depression of Leon were treated very poorly → we get a very Cal-centered view on both of these because he is the main character ofcourse, but his behaviour and his simply untrue thoughts about both disorders don’t get called out enough for me to be okay with it. Yes Cal does realise that there is no fixing that he should be doing, but he keeps thinking and acting like the disorders that both loved ones go through are inherently making them faulty and both characters get described as if they don’t want any help, while they just don’t enjoy the way Cal is helping them.

Overall I did enjoy the plot and that ended up being the reason I finished it. It was intriguing to see where it was going; and it kept me hooked until I finished the book.