Jade Fulton and Ethan Garrett are opposites in every sense of the word. Ethan is an all-American poster boy–a star athlete dating the most popular girl in school and a devout Christian. Jade keeps mostly to herself. She abhors joining “things,” hates everyone at their high school except her best friend, Gia, and considers herself agnostic.When Ethan and Jade find themselves locked in an aerobics … aerobics room overnight, their confinement forces them to push past the labels they’ve given each other. Jock. Loner. Jesus freak. Skeptic. Golden boy. Intellectual. Amid hours of arguing, philosophizing, and silly game playing, Ethan and Jade learn there’s a lot more to the other person than meets the eye.After that night, life returns to normal and each goes back to their regular lives. Still, neither one can shake the unexpected bond they formed and they can’t help but question what they’ve been taught to believe, who they want to be, and where their hearts truly lie.
more
This book is great I recommend it!
3 Give This Book a Try Stars
Review by Sue
Late Night Reviewer
Up All Night w/ Books Blog
Things I’d Rather Do Than Die by Christine Hurley Deriso is an interesting view and story of angst, prejudice, love and acceptance through the teenage perspective.
Ethan Garrett is confident, good looking as well as a quarterback and senior at Walt Whitman High School. He dates the head cheerleader, gets good grades, is a devout Christian and has always been ok with status quo.
One night with one quite different girl lead him to a journey of self discovery: Questioning his beliefs, his life as well as who he is and what he wants at his core.
Jade is a loner and feels separate from her classmates. Never quite feels like she belongs or fits in. One night with one caring and friendly boy has her wondering if she keeps herself at a distance on purpose.
During this fateful night, a friendship and kinship of sorts blooms and maybe even a kernel of love has been planted. But it is up to these teenagers to decide between taking the path well travelled and live a good life or taking the beaten path a have a chance at something extraordinary.
Ethan is a stand-up boy if not a little indecisive. I enjoyed seeing his character grow and change throughout this novel. I love that he makes mistakes and questions his faith, it made his character feel real to me. He did not make the expected or even the right decisions but, they were his.
Jade is an insecure girl who hides behind her sarcasm and snark. I loved seeing Jade’s subtle transformation.
I would have enjoyed the book a little more if the author would have shown us more of what the characters were feeling and going through during their difficult times. I found these scenes were cut off a little short and as result left me unable to completely connect with their pain.
Although Ethan is a devout Christian, this IS NOT a book about religion. It is a novel that reminds us to “never judge a book by its cover”. To make our own informed decisions on who someone is, not by who and what they present themselves to be but rather by who they actually are.
This book is told in dual POV and is well written. The pace was a little slow but all in all it was definitely worth the read.
I received a copy of this story from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I really enjoyed reading All the Wrong Chords earlier this year so I couldn’t resist when I saw Christine had another book coming out. I knew I’d be in for a bit of an emotional/introspective ride and I was not disappointed.
Jade and Ethan are very dynamic characters. The story started off in such a way that I couldn’t help but be sucked into their lives. Telling the story from alternating perspectives was a solid move; it would not have had the same impact if we had only seen Jade’s side of things.
Christine does a marvelous job of exploring the danger of assumptions and the toll non-traditional family structures can have on people on the cusp of young adulthood. It’s truly impressive how many topics she was able to tackle without it seeming preachy or forceful. It felt real.
I would recommend this to anyone who:
– has ever felt like an outsider
– had to grow up quicker than they should’ve
– enjoys young adult fiction