"The world can't be expected to change and adapt to anything it perceives as different, if we don't first do it ourselves." (Isabelle Reagan)
I started reading this book a few hours before I wrote my last exam because I thought it would be a light-hearted romance. But, boy does this book deal with serious topics such as autism, bullying and domestic violence.
Count on Me is about the relationship that develops between Kayden Walker and Isabelle Reagan. Kayden is the popular guy at school and he and his friends relentlessly bully other students. Isabelle Reagan is autistic and is constantly bullied by Kayden and his friends at school. That is until Kayden decides to save her from being bullied.
Count on Me is narrated from both Kayden and Isabelle's perspective and this dual narration did wonders for this story and my feelings towards the characters.
Kayden comes from a difficult background. His mother abandoned him and he is being taken care of by his abusive and alcoholic older brother. While I could understand Kayden's background and how it makes him the douchebag that he is, I couldn't condone his actions before he started wanting to protect Isabelle and become a better person. Firstly, he might not partake in the bullying with his friends, but he doesn't stop it. Secondly, he picks on someone else in order to save Isabelle and putting someone else in the line of fire is not okay. But from his POV, I knew that he knew exactly what a terrible person he was, could sympathise with the guilt that he was feeling and could understand to a certain extent why he felt he should do certain things.
"I'm not broken. I'm just different." (Isabelle Reagan)
Isabelle, on the other hand, has earned a solid place in my heart. I don't know much about autism, but after reading Count on Me, I definitely want to find out more about it. I learnt so much about autism from Isabelle's reactions and thoughts. Isabelle is constantly bullied and called names such as 'freak' and 'retard' and is told that she smells because of her 'accidents'. But, Isabelle is one of the strongest characters that I have ever read about. She goes through so many terrible things in this book, but never lets them get her down. She also doesn't forgive Kayden easily after he's been such a douchebag towards her and her friends and I just love that about her. Isabelle reminds me of rainbows, sunshine and hope.
I did enjoy watching Isabelle's and Kayden's relationship develop and I love how they understand, support and challenge each other. There are so many endearing and adorable Kayden and Isabelle moments.
I also love Isabelle's family. Her mother and brother are amazing and words can't describe how much I love them.
Unfortunately, there are quite a lot of typos and grammatical errors that detracted me from the story and the dialogue is sometimes quite hard to follow.
Count on Me deals with strong topics and I felt that it deals with these topics very well. I love Isabelle, her relationship with Kayden and her heartwarming family.
"Love might have the power to heal, but it also has the power to hurt, which is what it's doing to me." (Isabelle Reagan)