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A review by eslismyjam
Some Other Now by Sarah Everett
4.0
Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a free ARC of this book. I requested this book based entirely on the this sentence, "For fans of Far From the Tree, Emergency Contact, and Nina LaCour." It didn't disappoint. If enjoyed any of those novels you will probably like this. Added bonus- (or not depending on your persuasion) it made me cry at the end.
Everett handles quite a lot of tough material very deftly. It could have gotten very muddy very fast as Jessi is dealing with a mom with severe depression, and her surrogate mother, Mel, being "sick" (I assume cancer, but it was never really clarified).
The format of the book successfully keeps the reader engaged but alternating between the present and past and slowly spooling out the details to keep you reading. I won't spoil, but within the first 25% there is a reveal that throws off what you were expecting to happen.
I was expecting a more standard, coming of age, young adult novel, but this actually developed into something of a romance after its initial setup. The conflict between the two characters being grief over their shared loss and impending losses. It is one of those books that you don't find out the big reveal until the very, very end. I often like books that keep you guessing.
One thing that didn't' really work for me though was the representation. Jessi is mixed race, as are the boys, Luke and Rowan, but it felt more like a throwaway attempt at representation than anything real and substantial. I guess it is good that authors are now writing more diverse characters, but I don't feel that it informed much in the book. It was a few sentences at the start of the book and then never really addressed again. It would have been easy to rewrite the book and make all the characters white and not really change the story in any way. Which I guess is both good and bad in terms of representation. There was a small subplot dealing with the prejudice and racsim Jessi's mom and dad faced as a mixed-race couple from the mom's family, but it felt a bit unnecessary.
On the whole, I enjoyed this a lot. I liked both Jessi and Luke and I thought they had a nice character arc.
Everett handles quite a lot of tough material very deftly. It could have gotten very muddy very fast as Jessi is dealing with a mom with severe depression, and her surrogate mother, Mel, being "sick" (I assume cancer, but it was never really clarified).
The format of the book successfully keeps the reader engaged but alternating between the present and past and slowly spooling out the details to keep you reading. I won't spoil, but within the first 25% there is a reveal that throws off what you were expecting to happen.
I was expecting a more standard, coming of age, young adult novel, but this actually developed into something of a romance after its initial setup. The conflict between the two characters being grief over their shared loss and impending losses. It is one of those books that you don't find out the big reveal until the very, very end. I often like books that keep you guessing.
One thing that didn't' really work for me though was the representation. Jessi is mixed race, as are the boys, Luke and Rowan, but it felt more like a throwaway attempt at representation than anything real and substantial. I guess it is good that authors are now writing more diverse characters, but I don't feel that it informed much in the book. It was a few sentences at the start of the book and then never really addressed again. It would have been easy to rewrite the book and make all the characters white and not really change the story in any way. Which I guess is both good and bad in terms of representation. There was a small subplot dealing with the prejudice and racsim Jessi's mom and dad faced as a mixed-race couple from the mom's family, but it felt a bit unnecessary.
On the whole, I enjoyed this a lot. I liked both Jessi and Luke and I thought they had a nice character arc.