AP Exams checkSAT test checkCollege Application checkDate the wrong guy and ruin everything you ve spent your whole life working for checkSuper-achiever Viviana Rabinovich-Lowe has never had room to be anything less than perfect. But her quest for perfection is derailed when her boyfriend leaks secret pictures of her to the entire school pictures no one was ever meant to see. Making matters … to see. Making matters worse, her parents might be getting divorced and now her perfect family is falling apart. For the first time, Vivi feels like a complete and utter failure.
Then she gets a job working at the community pool, where she meets a new circle of friends who know nothing about her past. That includes Evan, a gorgeous and intriguing guy who makes her want to do something she never thought she d do again trust. For the first time in her life, Vivi realizes she can finally be whoever she wants. But who is that? While she tries to figure it out, she learns something they never covered in her AP courses: that it s okay to be less than perfect, because it s our imperfections that make us who we are.
E. Katherine Kottaras once again captures what it means to be a teenager in The Best Possible Answer.
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In E.Katherine Kottaras’ new book, she explores the world of high anxiety in high school, but with a bit of crappy twist for the heroine of the story. Before I go on, I have to warn the reader that there will be spoilers, because I’m not sure I can hold back the really good aspects of Kottaras’ story without giving away a few things. First of all, discovering that the world is completely bonkers without having to contribute to its insanity is something that I think every teenager knows a little about. Not only did Vivi face what most of us have faced when dealing with constant pressure of success in AP classes and just passing classes in hs, she also has to deal with some other domestic problems that she couldn’t have foreseen. She handles it as well as anyone, I suppose. It’s terrible that anxiety gets a bad rap from people who don’t really understand it, and it is mistaken as a “call for help” or even worse, “a cry for attention”. It’s complete bollocks that they feel that way, but who cares?!
In her attempt at normalizing her life, she hangs out with her best friend, who happens to be a ridiculously funny gal named Sammie. Their relationship of course, is not without its ups and downs, and like any true friendship, it endures the heartache that is to come, for Vivi. Her parents’ problems loom in the horizon for her and for what it would eventually do to her life. Her father seemingly leads a double life, and her mother, in her infinite humility, seems to Vivi to just allow it to happen. Little does she know, her mother has always known of this part of her father’s life, and allows it to continue because she was essentially part of the issue.
Needless to say, this book was an emotional rollercoaster. I loved every bit of it, and I read it all in a day! Kottaras’ world is just amazing. I’ve never been to Chicago, and because of her I just want to go and explore what the city has to offer. I think many readers will enjoy this. Sure it’s not the usual supernatural YA lit that is all over the place today, but it puts life in perspective, especially when it’s “complicated”. I give this book 5 stars! Happy reading. 🙂
Although I received a copy of this e-book from NetGalley, all opinions are my own.
Devoured this book in just two sittings. In this novel you meet Viviana. It starts out with her in the hospital, having just fell asleep on her bike. You figure out that she has panic attacks. The way that Kottaras describes them was just as I experience them. Instant connection with Viviana’s character. The things she goes through in the one summer this book covers is just extensive and seeing her work through things with her family and in her life was really thought provoking. Though this may not describe every person with an anxiety disorder, it certainly rang real for me. I really enjoyed this book, nearly as much as the first Kottaras book I read.