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A review by thisbookaffair
What You Left Behind by Jessica Verdi
5.0
Gosh.
This book.
Ryden’s story is pretty unique and incredibly tragic: his girlfriend died and he was left with a baby. And above all that, he blames himself for what happened to her.
Funny thing, when I started reading the book I thought the narrator was a girl. I guess I just didn’t expect the story to be about a boy who is a single dad.
Reading this story from Ryden’s point of view was beautiful. The author did an incredible job with his voice. You can tell he’s trying really hard to put his life back together (with a teething baby, a job and school). The whole situation forced him to grow up faster. We see him trying to be a dad, something that he has no idea how to do, because for starters his own father abandoned him and his mother before he was born. Ryden believes that finding his father will help me figure out how to be one himself and we see him struggling with this idea a lot.
Let’s talk secondary characters for a minute: they were all brilliant, but I specially adored Ryden’s mom. She is one of the most supportive parents I’ve ever read about it. Their relationship is pretty awesome. I’m so grateful that Verdi built her up to be an actual mom. We often see how parents get pushed away from YA stories and seeing one so concerned and involved in his son’s life was amazing.
The things that I loved the most about this book:
- The character development. It took Ryden a while but he finally gets where he needs to. He was holding very hard to the past and had all these wrong conceptions of himself.
- The development of the story was great. Everything that happened and the explanations that you get at the end are much unexpected.
- The themes of loss and grieve are a big part of the story and we get to see different perspectives and how people deal with these situations.
It was an excellent read. It was heartbreaking and it made me cry, but at the same time it was so up lifting.
I received a copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This book.
Ryden’s story is pretty unique and incredibly tragic: his girlfriend died and he was left with a baby. And above all that, he blames himself for what happened to her.
Funny thing, when I started reading the book I thought the narrator was a girl. I guess I just didn’t expect the story to be about a boy who is a single dad.
Reading this story from Ryden’s point of view was beautiful. The author did an incredible job with his voice. You can tell he’s trying really hard to put his life back together (with a teething baby, a job and school). The whole situation forced him to grow up faster. We see him trying to be a dad, something that he has no idea how to do, because for starters his own father abandoned him and his mother before he was born. Ryden believes that finding his father will help me figure out how to be one himself and we see him struggling with this idea a lot.
Let’s talk secondary characters for a minute: they were all brilliant, but I specially adored Ryden’s mom. She is one of the most supportive parents I’ve ever read about it. Their relationship is pretty awesome. I’m so grateful that Verdi built her up to be an actual mom. We often see how parents get pushed away from YA stories and seeing one so concerned and involved in his son’s life was amazing.
The things that I loved the most about this book:
- The character development. It took Ryden a while but he finally gets where he needs to. He was holding very hard to the past and had all these wrong conceptions of himself.
- The development of the story was great. Everything that happened and the explanations that you get at the end are much unexpected.
- The themes of loss and grieve are a big part of the story and we get to see different perspectives and how people deal with these situations.
It was an excellent read. It was heartbreaking and it made me cry, but at the same time it was so up lifting.
I received a copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.