“I know how to watch my back. I’m the only one that ever has.”India Maxwell hasn’t just moved across the country—she’s plummeted to the bottom rung of the social ladder. It’s taken years to cover the mess of her home life with a veneer of popularity. Now she’s living in one of Boston’s wealthiest neighborhoods with her mom’s fiancé and his daughter, Eloise. Thanks to her soon-to-be stepsister’s … Thanks to her soon-to-be stepsister’s clique of friends, including Eloise’s gorgeous, arrogant boyfriend, Finn, India feels like the one thing she hoped never to be seen as again: trash.
But India’s not alone in struggling to control the secrets of her past. Eloise and Finn, the school’s golden couple, aren’t all they seem to be. In fact, everyone’s life is infinitely more complex than it first appears. And as India grows closer to Finn and befriends Eloise, threatening the facades that hold them together, what’s left are truths that are brutal, beautiful and big enough to change them forever…
From New York Times bestselling author Samantha Young comes a story of friendship, identity and acceptance that will break your heart—and make it whole again.
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THE IMPOSSIBLE VASTNESS OF US – Samantha Young 5 STARS
India has kind of accepted her place in life. She’s in high school. The most popular girl in junior year. She’s nice to everyone – every clique. She works hard at all the extra curricular stuff, because she needs to get into a good college – she wants to be a District Attorney one day – to lock bad guys away forever!
But everything she shows to the world; all that power and control, is just a facade. She’s only existing. She’s not really happy, she’s not tough and confident. Every positive feeling towards people has been killed years ago.
And then suddenly her superficially perfect life gets even more complicated!
Her mom moves her from California to Boston! To move in with mom’s new mega-rich lawyer fiancé Theo and his private-school daughter Eloise.
… standing in cheap clothes in that big, expensive house, I suddenly felt this overwhelming fear that I would never find my power here, my control. I felt awkward. Unsophisticated. Uncultured.
Let the fun times begin! Because now she is so not the most popular girl at school anymore. And it’s also not really good for making new friends when she’s falling for her new sister’s boyfriend!
But also … everything is not really as it seems with all those new people!
What will happen with India in Boston??
Will there be a Happy End??
READ THE BOOK TO FIND OUT!
I really had no idea what to expect – I was afraid that the story was a bit too young for this old blogger. But pffft. I didn’t care!
You immediately like India. You know she’s been through a lot and she had to fight for her place in life and school. But now she’s in Boston and it gets even worse. She’s not the only person with a past or with secrets.
You can’t stop reading – you have to know what happened to everyone, what their secrets are, what they are trying to hide. Who is in love with whom? I loved it.
The story has shades of Gossip Girl and 90210 and so many other tv shows! It all really feels like you’re watching it on tv – on the edge of your seat because it’s all so mysterious and sad and heartbreaking and sweet and touching and romantic and funny and secretive and ugh. I just loved it!
The story touches some very serious and tough real-life problems. This book should definitely be on the reading lists of highschoolers!
But of course it’s not all sad and problematic. There are sweet and adorable and funny and even sexy moments too!
Perfect YA romance! I loved it!
I hope we – or rather Sam – will come back to this story again one day! I would love to hear how their life is like at college or even later!
THE IMPOSSIBLE VASTNESS OF US was such a heartbreakingly beautiful and adorable Young Adult story. After fighting and hiding for so long, India and her new friends, are this close to finding their places in life … and love. Run to your nearest amazon to find out if they do – and also – get your own Finn – this one is MINE!
I finished this last night and I want more. But from my reading, it appears the author will not be doing a sequel and I’m okay with that and I’m not okay with that.
This is such a great read.
India has worked hard to become well liked in school. She loves her friends and she works hard. But when her mother Hayley drops the bomb that she’s met someone and their moving cross country so they can get married, it turns her world upside down.
Again…
Because she’s already been through something horribly traumatic, and to be able to cope, India needs to have a sense of control, and moving to a posh area, which makes her feel like trash, is wildly beyond her control.
Hayley’s fiance Theo seems nice, but India doesn’t trust people, so she’s not about to let him in. His daughter Eloise, aka Elle, is a hard read. Elle considers her father her best friend, and India envies that in a way because of the rift between her and her mother. Sometimes Elle seems really warm, but she’s holding something close to her and India can’t make out what it is. India just knows it’s hard making friends, even with a bit of Elle’s help, at her father’s insistence. Elle’s help might just help her adjust to all the changes in her life.
The characters here are fabulous. Even their friend Bryce makes a good mean girl. Elle is nothing like I thought she would be, and I find her level of caring endearing. Finn was another surprise character that I didn’t think I would like, but I’m really fond of this main trio. I was so pleasantly surprised by their true personalities that I just wanted to take all of them and hug them.
India has been through something so traumatic in her life and it’s because of that trauma that she can see the pain in other people. I admire India for her strength and her courage. She handles each situation better than most teens, with a kind of subtle grace. Her relationship with her mother is typical of other teens, with a bit of a twist because of what Hayley had put her through.
There were a lot of things the author wrote that resonated with me. I think this quote especially because it’s still with me “Other kids my age…they didn’t know what it was like to grieve. To feel pain like that. To look around at people our own age and not understand them because what they think is important seems so trivial…” It really speaks of the pain that India carried around.
This was so well-written, it was near impossible to put down. So wonderfully done!
The book was EXTRAORDINARY!!! So many plot twists and so eye catching, you just wanna keep reading it. At first you might ask yourself as to what kind of book it is. But, you should give it some time and you’ll realize that it’s amazing and it’s definitely a book you can learn from and really relate to.
Started better than it finished.