Rating: 4 stars
Official book description:
"They tell me that my memory will never be the same, that I'll start forgetting things. At first just a little, and then a lot. So I'm writing to remember."
Sammie McCoy is a girl with a plan: graduate at the top of her class and get out of her small town as soon as possible. Nothing will stand in her way--not even the rare genetic disorder the doctors say will slowly steal her memories and then her health.
So the memory book is born: a journal written to Sammie's future self, so she can remember everything from where she stashed her study guides to just how great it feels to have a best friend again. It's where she'll record every perfect detail of her first date with longtime-crush Stuart, a gifted young writer home for the summer. And where she'll admit how much she's missed her childhood friend Cooper, and the ridiculous lengths he will go to make her laugh. The memory book will ensure Sammie never forgets the most important parts of her life--the people who have broken her heart, those who have mended it--and most of all, that if she's going to die, she's going to die living.
I enjoyed this book while I read it. I thought it was engaging and well written, and Samantha "Sammie" McCoy is a very well-rounded protagonist. She's clever and ambitious and also very stubborn. She's certainly not perfect, and her decision to keep the truth about her illness from her probably only female friend and debate partner backfires rather spectacularly. It's understandable that Sammie is reluctant to admit weakness and that she tries to hide her growing deterioration from those who don't have to know, but if someone I considered a friend kept something that big from me, I would be hurt too.
I'm pretty sure I'm not spoiling anything for anyone who's read a single book before when I say that of the two guys mentioned in the book blurb, Stuart, the accomplished and sophisticated writer she has a crush on and initially dates, is not the one she ends up with. Anyone looking for an emotional teen romance should probably look elsewhere, though, as it's Sammie's illness and her learning to come to terms with it which is the main focus throughout the book.
As far as I can tell, the disease that Sammie is diagnosed with is absolutely real, and it sounds utterly terrifying to have to go through, both for Sammie herself and her family and friends. To not only have to face up to the fact that you have a disease that will kill you while you're still young, but have to live through losing control of your rational thought and bodily functions before this happens - a complete nightmare. As I mentioned above, Sammie is smart and driven, on track to winning a prestigious debate championship after years of preparation, she's likely to be her school's valedictorian and she has a scholarship to NYU. Her doctors and her parents keep telling her that she will need to adjust and that her plans as they are will not be achievable, but she stubbornly refuses to listen, trying her hardest to experience as much as possible in the time she has left.
Obviously, this book does NOT have a happy ending. You get really attached to Sammie and those around her throughout the book and I full on ugly cried towards the end. So you may want to take that into consideration if you were going to read the last third or so of the book anywhere public. I haven't read anything else by Lara Avery, but based on this, I would absolutely be interested in checking out more of her books.
Judging a book by its cover: This book cover screams "generic YA" to me, and it seems like the publishers haven't really tried to do anything to make the book distinctive in any way. There is nothing to attract the reader or give any hints of the content, and the lack of colour makes the whole book look very forgettable.
Crossposted on Cannonball Read.
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