Review: Everything, Everything

Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I am one of those people that if I see a trailer to a movie that's based on a YA book, I go pick up the book and read it. That's what happened with this book, and I'm very glad that Hollywood decided to make a movie - otherwise I might not have decided to read it.

Maddy has been sick her whole life - she's allergic to everything outside of her house, so she doesn't leave it. She is 18 years old and doesn't even know what the neighborhood looks like beyond her windows sight. She doesn't know how to drive. Her best friends are her mother and her nurse, Carla. Honestly, Maddy is fine with this. She's grown up knowing she can't leave her house and she is very happy staying at home reading her books.

But new neighbors move in next door and everything Maddy thought she knew changed. She saw Olly, the very attractive and mysterious boy, and Maddy knew that she had to talk to him. She had to meet him. Through emails and IM's, Maddy and Olly talked to each other and found out each others secrets. When Carla decided that Olly could visit after going through the detoxing system and making sure he's not remotely sick, they get to meet in person.

And everything changes after that. Maddy knows that she wants a normal friendship with Olly and be able to see him, talk to him any time of the day. But she knows she can't. Maddy has to decide if staying in the house and being healthy is better than going outside and living a perfect, normal day is better. Whichever choice she makes, Maddy knows her life will never be the same again.

I feel for Maddy. She has been brought up with the knowledge of her disease and quiet honestly, she was living the perfect life that I used to dream of: staying at home, reading books all day. I would kill to be able to do that some days.

But after reading about Maddy's life... I'm not so sure that would be all that it's cracked up to be! Not being able to have fresh air and feel the sunshine on my skin? That would be torture. Granted, if I were Maddy, I wouldn't know what that feels like, so I wouldn't know what I was missing out on, but still. Torture.

I think the instant attraction thing between her and Olly was a bit stretched, but Maddy doesn't have a lot of contact with people outside her mom and Carla, so maybe it was just desperation to be around someone different, someone "normal"? Either way, both were attracted to each other way too seriously for my believing.

The twist in the book was awesome. I really enjoyed it and it made it a more suspenseful book because of it. It also made Maddy decide about her fate rather than just be sheltered.

Overall, I really enjoyed this novel and I'm glad I read it! Can't wait to see the movie and see what they kept or what they added!

View all my reviews