I haven’t left my house in over a year. My doctor says it’s social anxiety, but I know the only things that are safe are made of paper. My room is paper. My world is paper. Everything outside is fire. All it would take is one spark for me to burst into flames. So I stay inside. Where nothing can touch me. Then my mom hires a tutor. Jackson. This boy I had a crush on before the world became too … became too terrifying to live in. Jackson’s life is the complete opposite of mine, and I can tell he’s got secrets of his own. But he makes me feel things. Makes me want to try again. Makes me want to be brave. I can almost taste the outside world. But so many things could go wrong, and all it takes is one spark for everything I love to disappear…
more
Rogue and BlackKnight have progressed from just playing online chess matches to chatting on a regular basis. They hide behind their usernames, sharing more about themselves than they’d willingly share to friends offline. At the same time, at just seventeen Zoe battles agoraphobia and a panic disorder, leaving her unable to leave her home and incapable of maintaining personal friendships. Her older sister’s friend, Jackson, is the one she misses the most. He thinks of the quiet, smart girl often, wondering what has pulled her from school and away from his curious eyes. She presents a welcome distraction to his difficult days outside of school, spent wandering from location to location as he fights to survive on his own away from his addicted father. Tutoring and therapy bring the two together and they discover that the crushes they harbored are not unrequited. Together they work together to get Zoe outdoors, but Jackson continues to keep his secrets quiet, including the one that could change everything about their relationship.
Paper Girl isn’t your typical young adult romance; Zoe hides behind the paper planets she obsessives over and Jackson attempts to call his homelessness anything but what it really is. And each relies on their internet personas for honest human connection.The story primarily focuses on the difficulties each teen is facing in their lives and the steps they both take to tackle them and to avoid them. The pacing is slow, but the story is definitely more about their personal development rather than the romance they find in one another. It’s funny, sad, heartwarming, and complicated all at once. It’s a complex story about the baby steps, the leaps, the setbacks, and the people you need rooting for you along the way.
Paper Girl is one of the most realistic novels I’ve read in a while. I could picture Zoe’s paper projects, her nearly obsessive organization, and feel her terror seeping from the pages as she struggled to take even just a few steps out of her apartment’s elevator. Her struggles with anxiety are very accurate and I really appreciated the time Cindy R. Wilson gives to Zoe and her therapist and the dialogue they share. There’s a lot of growth in the novel and there’s space for Zoe to challenge herself, to set goals and to make them happen. It isn’t a novel about fixing the illness, but rather about facing it and fighting for a life that is filled with experiences. Jackson, on the other hand, deals with a situation that I do not personally relate with, but understand is becoming more common than we’d like. At such a young age he must care for himself, left mourning alone as his father chases his demons. He’s very mature, but at the same time his family life has shaped him and he doesn’t even realize he must tackle those feelings until he walks alongside Zoe as she faces her own.
Is it too much to say I think this is a book that should be required reading for every teenager? Cindy R. Wilson tackles topics that are difficult to discuss and often portrayed incorrectly in media. I do think it could be triggering, but at the same time I think that many youth are unaware of the prevalence of mental health issues and the way it shows itself in individuals. Just as Paper Girl touches on, those who suffer from anxiety and panic disorders are afraid of the judgement, they build it up so much in their mind that they never believe another could be there for them. Paper Girl made me cry, but it also made me feel hope. The story is sweet, funny, and features two characters with so much passion for life that their setbacks can’t hold them down. I highly recommend Paper Girl and am so glad I had the opportunity to read it.
ARC provided.
I really quite enjoyed reading this story. The characters and the theme were really interesting. Chess, Math, Astronomy and being brave. I loved seeing the characters overcome their difficulties. Zoe and Jackson were the best, I loved the “chess chats.”
I especially loved the art and imagery, it also helped that some settings in the story were written about real places. The description of Zoe’s room was amazing, I think it would be awesome to see it in real life.
This book is perfect for teens.
#Netgalley #Papergirl
This book was a real page-turner. Both of the characters were really developed in a way that you felt all of their pain and anxiousness. I know that I was rooting for both to figure out that the other was actually their anonymous chess partner online, but until they did, it was very interested to see just how much they’d share. Reading the descriptions of Zoe’s paper galaxy made me want to actually see pictures of it. I did my best to picture them in my head, but I’m sure I had nothing anywhere close to what it actually should have been. Jackson’s life was a hard one. It was very sad to read about him living in his car. But I guess even sadder is that there are actually kids probably doing that all the time. I was glad to see what happened with his dad went the way it did. Once in a while it is nice for there to be happy endings all around if possible. I loved Zoe’s mother, she was such a fun character. Her sister Mae, definitely made me mad at times, but that was because she was so realistic, just like a real sister probably would be. I feel like this book did a great job with showcasing so many different types of issues that teens today might deal with, and it kept me reading and wishing and hoping for the HEA. This is one I will definitely put on my list of books to order for my library with budget money in the future.
4 Paper Stars!
Review by Nancy
Late Night Reviewer
Up All Night w/ Books Blog
Paper Girl by Cindy R. Wilson is an intriguing story about a young girl with agoraphobia and social anxiety as well as a young boy trying to make his mark on the world— even after the world keeps knocking him down. Captivating and authentic, this is a very enjoyable read.
How do you deal with life when it becomes too much, too scary?
Zoe hasn’t left her house in over a year and Jackson is living in his car because he can’t go home. Zoe has created her own world and has filled it with origami. It wasn’t until Jackson came into her life that she wanted more than to just exist in her room. They are both fighting battles that most teenagers aren’t even aware of. Both Zoe and Jackson find solace in playing chess online. They start an online relationship not knowing that they already know each other in person.
Jackson and Zoe were so sweet together. I loved that the romance didn’t take over the book, it was just enough to make the story interesting.
I thoroughly enjoyed the characters as they developed in front of my eyes. I loved being able to follow their journey to self discovery and healing. The book was written in a way that just flowed. I was intrigued and wanted to keep reading. Definitely not the usual YA I read, but I found myself enjoying the story more and more as I continued to read.
Paper Girl by Cindy R. Wilson a five-star read that will rip you into pieces. What a book, I honestly didn’t expect this to be as amazing as it was, it had me in tears several times not just sad tears either. This was so nicely done, as we read Zoe’s story you will get drawn in and realise that everyone at some point in their lives could be a paper boy or girl, ripped apart so easily and at times pieced together again just as easy. This is a deep story but also at times comedically funny and so entertaining that you will love every page. When you read the description of the paper room and they are in such descriptive details that you can see the comets on the walls. This story will have you looking up origami and if you are anything like me trying to find easy pieces to try out. I hadn’t read anything by this author before, but I will be making sure to check anything she releases as I can’t get enough of this writing. If you have ever suffered from anxiety then this novel will speak to you, and if you know anyone with anxiety this will help you to understand them better, Cindy R. Wilson has a great talent for showing you the good, the bad and the beautiful of anxiety and how to deal with it.
Zoe is sure that she was born to be many things in real life, but none of them will come true thanks to her panic to leave her home. Confined to her penthouse, she spends her days counting footsteps, doing origami and playing chess at online game Chess Challenge where she met a certain blackknight who accompanies her on her “what if” journey. Between confessions and importants moves, she creates a parallel life for herself .
Her family even worried about her situation supports her in everything from hiring psychologists to replenishing her paper stock. When her mother decides to hire a tutor and this tutor ends up being her crush, she will have a new perspective on life when she realizes how she can be stronger than she thinks she is. She will find in Jackson a safe haven and a strong love capable of shaking her life controlled by fear.
Jackson is a struggling boy who dreams of fulfilling his mother’s wish and going to college. With all possible effort with condition of life not easy, he tries everything to avoid disapoint his mother. When he ends up hired to help Zoe in her math difficulty, he did not imagine that a new world would open up in front of him, provoking a revolution in his life as well.
I confess that I could not imagine what was waiting for me when I took this book, I really liked the synopsis and the cover, but it surprised me in such a strong way that I found myself immersed deeply in the plot, hoping that in the end everything would work out. It is a book with a different and very engaging plot, a great love story very well written and well tied up where two teenagers end up falling in love and finding a lot of strength within themselves.
Both Zoe and Jackson face their dilemmas with their head held high and in a very real and human way, I fell in love as the writer led the whole story showing that we need support, yes, at various moments in life, but that we also have to do things for us without depending on another person.
I am an incorrigible romantic and I loved the fact that the book had enough romance and overflowing with affection and cuteness, I spent much of the book sighing with the couple and the way they connected more and more with each encounter.
So So So Lovely!