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A review by xokristim
What You Left Behind by Jessica Verdi
5.0
(Thanks to SOURCEBOOKS Fire and NetGalley, I received an ebook copy of this book for free to review.)
“But this is not your typical “oops, got pregnant in high school, what do we do now?” scenario, like what happened to her. This is the much more rare “oops, I killed the love of my life by getting her pregnant in high School and ruined my life and the lives of all her family and friends in the process” situation.”
This book is about a seventeen year old boy (Ryden) who gets his girlfriend pregnant (Meg). I know what you are thinking “Oh another teen mom/dad type of book”. Let me stop you there. You quickly find out that Meg has cancer and because of her pregnancy she can’t receive her second round of chemo. Because of this she passes away while giving birth and leaves Ryden a single teen dad. The book takes place about six months after Meg’s passing and is very raw. Ryden is in a place where he blames himself for getting Meg pregnant thereby “killing” her. The story goes along to tell how he deals with being a single teen dad and his feeling of guilt over the whole situation, while also trying to get in to UCLA and have a semblance of a normal life.
I absolutely loved this book I thought the character development was great, and the fact that it was from a teenage boy’s perspective made it unlike many books I have read. It was very raw at times, which I feel added to the story greatly. I will admit it took me a few chapters to figure out how much I liked Ryden’s character because at first I was thinking “just another brooding character”, but when I tried to put myself in his shoes, I realized I really liked him. I thought the story flowed really well and also left a bit of mystery that kept me on my toes.
I would definitely recommend this book if you are looking for a fast paced “real” type of book.
“But this is not your typical “oops, got pregnant in high school, what do we do now?” scenario, like what happened to her. This is the much more rare “oops, I killed the love of my life by getting her pregnant in high School and ruined my life and the lives of all her family and friends in the process” situation.”
This book is about a seventeen year old boy (Ryden) who gets his girlfriend pregnant (Meg). I know what you are thinking “Oh another teen mom/dad type of book”. Let me stop you there. You quickly find out that Meg has cancer and because of her pregnancy she can’t receive her second round of chemo. Because of this she passes away while giving birth and leaves Ryden a single teen dad. The book takes place about six months after Meg’s passing and is very raw. Ryden is in a place where he blames himself for getting Meg pregnant thereby “killing” her. The story goes along to tell how he deals with being a single teen dad and his feeling of guilt over the whole situation, while also trying to get in to UCLA and have a semblance of a normal life.
I absolutely loved this book I thought the character development was great, and the fact that it was from a teenage boy’s perspective made it unlike many books I have read. It was very raw at times, which I feel added to the story greatly. I will admit it took me a few chapters to figure out how much I liked Ryden’s character because at first I was thinking “just another brooding character”, but when I tried to put myself in his shoes, I realized I really liked him. I thought the story flowed really well and also left a bit of mystery that kept me on my toes.
I would definitely recommend this book if you are looking for a fast paced “real” type of book.