A review by katkinney
Our Year of Maybe by Rachel Lynn Solomon

5.0

Oh man, what I love about both books I’ve read now by the amazing RLS is the way she creates these really complicated, sticky, uncomfortable, emotionally messy scenarios where there really aren’t any bad guys, but still you can end up with a LOT of hurt feelings. And ooohhh I could tell this was going to be so juicy from chapter one. Sophie and Peter are best friends. Peter has been chronically ill his entire life because of a kidney problem. Sophie has a thing for Peter which is sort of brewing below the surface, but they’re 18 now and with all her hinting around, Peter has never really acted on it. Sophie is a donor match, and offers a kidney to Peter. You can guess where this is going. Where do those lines blur between doing something purely from the goodness of your heart for a friend versus because there is some sort of expectation attached? Especially when that something is HUGE and impossible to take back.

This was seriously heartbreaking to read, from both perspectives. Codependence is brought up here, and absolutely fits.

Spoiler

You really feel for the situation, of the difficulty of chronic illness and the hardship it presents on everyone involved, and also the way Sophie might have while of course wishing Peter wasn’t sick, and being selfless in her friendship with him, liked the closeness it brought them, and turned that into a crutch rather than expanding her social circle and forming a life of her own outside of him. Both wind up getting terribly, terribly hurt in the end by what their relationship has turned into, and what it couldn’t ultimately be for one person.

Well written. Also, bonus points for ADORABLE CHINCHILLA