REVIEW: THE BEGINNING OF EVERYTHING BY ROBYN SCHNEIDER.

Title: The Beginning of Everything
Author: Robyn Schneider
Edition: Paperback
Published: August 27, 2013
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Pages: 335
Source: Finished copy sent by the Publisher
Category: Romance, Contemporary
Trailer: not applicable.

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Synopsis:

Golden boy Ezra Faulkner believes everyone has a tragedy waiting for them—a single encounter after which everything that really matters will happen. His particular tragedy waited until he was primed to lose it all: in one spectacular night, a reckless driver shatters Ezra’s knee, his athletic career, and his social life.

No longer a front-runner for Homecoming King, Ezra finds himself at the table of misfits, where he encounters new girl Cassidy Thorpe. Cassidy is unlike anyone Ezra’s ever met, achingly effortless, fiercely intelligent, and determined to bring Ezra along on her endless adventures.

But as Ezra dives into his new studies, new friendships, and new love, he learns that some people, like books, are easy to misread. And now he must consider: if one’s singular tragedy has already hit and everything after it has mattered quite a bit, what happens when more misfortune strikes?

Robyn Schneider’s The Beginning of Everything is a lyrical, witty, and heart-wrenching novel about how difficult it is to play the part that people expect, and how new beginnings can stem from abrupt and tragic endings.

Haumigosh!

Another book that took me by surprise!

I screamed!

I cried!

Like OMG I really can't!!

ASDFGHJKL!!!!!!!

THE FEELSSSSSSSSS!

WHERE HAS THIS BOOK BEEN ALL MY LIFE?? WHEREEEE!? 

The Beginning of Everything is THE BOMBBBBBB!

*Inhale, exhale*

I don't know about you guys. I loved every word this book has. I loved EVERY SINGLE THING ABOUT IT. It is one of the fantabulous novels I've read this year and The Beginning of Everything is another reason why I love, love, love Young Adult Contemporary because THE FEELS is overwhelmingly addictive! So thank you HarperCollins for sending it over for review!

When a tragedy you never have anticipated happens to you and ruins everything you're accustomed to, life becomes difficult. Just like what happened to Ezra, a car accident ruins his Tennis career and his "golden boy reputation" at school. But his personal tragedy leads him to discover things and meet people including Cassidy. She's very different -- personality wise -- and very intelligent. She's giving him a whole new approach in life and he's loving it, her too. But another personal tragedy occurs which left Ezra with nothing but a shattered heart.

At first, I really had issues. Its like I couldn't connect to it, like I wasn't getting the punch lines and I wasn't understanding the prose. I thought I wouldn't get into it but thank goodness I held on. Giving myself a chance to fully be one with the story, I slowly began to sync with it. The plot is a little predictable but executed unpredictably. At that point, everything became clearer, funnier and prettier! Being completely submerged with such an amazing story makes me a speed-read it because I wanted to get to the end quickly. I became obsessed with the need to know how the story would wrap up and boy was I swooning hard! This book alone justified the bursting fire I have for Contemporary and for the first time, I was surprised by how it was possible to quote an entire page, back to back! It is truly a wonderful read!

We all have 'personal tragedies'. Schneider made mine a little less complicated because of what she interpreted in The Beginning of Everything. Some of the tragedies were very very difficult to move on from. Her ways of incorporating a life catastrophe with a very promising love story lead to explosions of emotion and profanity on my end because you know, THE FEELS. Ugh! I just love it! There's a huge part of my heart that this book captured and true enough, I wouldn't be able to move on from this. It's like my own personal tragedy. Only a very beautiful kind of tragedy. (there's such thing as that now because of this book.)

WHAT DO YOU KNOW? I LOVE EZRA FAULKNER! I LOVE HIM THAT EVERY BEAT OF MY HEART HURTS. I was turned off a bit -- just a bit -- because of his very talkative POV. BUT OMGOMG he's frakking smart! Like, the smartest character I've ever stumbled upon. Kind of like beauty and brains to me which is perfect! Well, scratch that because his "injury" just made him BEAUTIFULLY BROKEN. Seeing things through his eyes gave so much meaning to even the littlest things and no, I feel no pity for him. His way of expressing his thoughts is hilarious and his way of expressing his feelings is THE sweetest! I also love Cassidy Thorpe because a) she's frakking smart, too b) she knows what she wants and c) she's honest. THIS LOVE STORY BASICALLY TORE MY SOUL TO PIECES that I sometimes wish it ended differently. But well, I can only wish because THAT ending is THE ending I've been searching for oh so loooooong now. THAT is MY ending! Jesus, I can't even explain how much I love THAT ending! *sobs*

OH, AND COOP!! SCHNEIDER, YOU JUST DIDN'T DO THAT TO ME!!!

The Beginning of Everything is stunning, hilariously smart and oozing with a romance that would take your breath away! Definitely one of the strongest suits of Young Adult Contemporary and it tops what I've read this year. Truly, it is a ravishing novel!!

Thank you ever so much Sarah of HarperCollins for the copy!

"I fell in love with her courage, her sincerity and her flaming self respect and it's these things I'd believe in even if the whole indulged in wild suspicions that she wasn't all that that she should be. I love her and that's the beginning and end of everything."
-- F. Scott Fitzgerald

"If everything really does get better, the way everyone claims, then happiness should be graphable. You draw up an X axis and a Y axis, where a positive slope represents a positive attitude, plot some points, and there you go. But that's crap, because better isn't quantifiable."

"The way I figured it, keeping quiet was safe. Words could betray you if you chose the wrong ones, or mean less if you used too many."

"I realized that there's a big difference between deciding to leave and knowing where to go."

"You see, you're just figuring it out now, but I discovered a long time ago that the smarter you are, the more tempting it is to just let people imagine you. We move through each other's lives like ghosts, leaving behind haunting memories of people who never existed. The popular jock. The mysterious new girl. But we're the ones who choose, in the end, how people see us. And I'd rather be misremembered. Please, Ezra, misremember me."