Juniper Lemon's Happiness Index

by Julie Israel

[Jo]

Originally posted on Once Upon a Bookcase.

Juniper Lemon's Happiness Index by Julie Israel is a wonderful story all about love and secrets, family and friendship, grief and guilt, art and music, the lost and the found.

Two months after her older sister, Camilla, dies in a car crash, Juniper finds a letter Camilla wrote to a secret boyfriend - a boyfriend only called 'You' - dated the day she died. Feeling guilty over how they had fallen out just before she died, Juniper wants to deliver the letter to the mysterious 'You', to do this one final thing for her sister. At the same time, Juniper loses card 65 from her Happiness Index - a ritual encouraged by Camie to think about the positives in each day and write them down. But card 65 has a secret Juniper can't  bear for anyone to discover. In the search for ' You' and card 65, Juniper starts to find other secrets written by her fellow classmates. Juniper can't fix things with her sister, but maybe she can help those whose secrets she's found.

Juniper Lemon's Happiness Index was such a lovely, moving, heartbreaking read. Juniper is a complex characters, still grieving fro her sister, and feeling guilty about her death. Because of this, she wants to do some good - for Camie and for others. Through people and object lost, other objects and then people are found. Juniper is so set on trying to make up for the past that she doesn't quite see when helping someone becomes meddling, despite the several warnings she's given by Brand Sayers. And then there's the mystery of who 'You' is, plus the secret Juniper wrote on card 65 - though that part was pretty predictable. Over the course of the book, Juniper comes up with several theories of who 'You' could be as more clues come to light. The mystery element was so intriguing! I could see why Juniper suspected each person she thought of, but I also had my own theory, which was strengthen a little as more clues were discovered. I really want to talk about this in more detail, but there will be spoilers, so don't look if you don't want the book spoilt for you.


So, I was pretty sure that 'You' was going to be Mr Bodily, the student English teacher. 'You' will still be staying at the High School, even though Camie had graduated before the Summer - Juniper thought this meant Camie was seeing someone younger, but a teacher wouldn't be leaving the school, either. Camie had mentioned the quirky student teacher, Mr Bodily, that she liked (thought she didn't mean it in that way). This relationship is a secret, but none of Camie's previous relationships have been kept to herself - even from Camie's friends - maybe this time it's kept secret because it's inappropriate and illegal? 'You' has links to the local university - Mr Bodily is only 22 or 23, and is a student teacher. 'You' quoted poetry to Camie, and bought her a copy of Les Misérables by Victor Hugo - Mr Bodily is the English student teacher. And on and on. I was convinced from very early on that 'You' was Mr Bodily.

But we never find out who 'You' is. Juniper doesn't work it out, and so decides to make the letter public, along with a huge art installation all about Camie she decides to put up on the walls of the school. So 'You' reads the letter, but Juniper never works out who s/he is. And so, although we never know for sure, Juniper not finding out - us readers not finding out - leads me to believe that 'You' couldn't have been Mr Bodily, because student-teacher relationships are a huge deal, and something I feel Israel would have dealt with, along with the other big issues she tackles in the book. So I now have no idea who 'You' is, but at the same time, I'm not too bothered about now knowing, because, like Juniper says, it doesn't really matter. What matters is how Juniper copes with her grief and guilt, how she feels about her sister and her relationship with her sister, and how she moves forward with her friends and boyfriend.

I loved all of the characters in this book! I loved how sweet Nate was. I loved Sponge's quirkiness and his awesome memory. I loved Angela and how she was a huge fan of old school geniuses and classic literature. I loved Kody and just how nice she was - and I loved how things worked out for her, even if they started off not so great. And Brand! Oh, how I loved Brand! I loved how his bad boy reputation was simply that - a reputation - and that he was such a good guy underneath it all. I loved how complicated he was, how he could be so clever and intuitive when it came to other people, but stupid, if understandably so, when it came to himself. I loved how his and Juniper's relationship developed as they got to know each other - I just with a whole month after their first date wasn't left out, I would have liked to have seen their romantic relationship develop.

I also really loved all the appreciation for art, in all it's forms. Brand is in a band, Juniper used to be in the choir and had a solo in a musical, and Camie played guitar. Angela, as mentioned, is really into classic literature, Kody is really into the hue YA bestselling series that has been made into a movie. And Juniper really gets into her art class and creates thematic multi-media collages with the things she finds, plus the 'Camie was here' prints she makes and pins up around town. I really loved it all. It just gave the book this extra level, it made the characters feel more real, and it gives us readers something more to relate to. You could just feel Israel's love of creativity and art, and it was just wonderful.

Israel tackles some big issues in Juniper Lemon's Happiness Index, as well as grief and bereavement. She covers bullying, suicidal thoughts, and abuse, and I think they're all dealt with brilliantly - and, despite how heavy some of those issues are, she manages to writes about them in a way that doesn't take away from the general enjoyment of the book. The book itself isn't overly heavy - it balances the dark with the light.

Juniper Lemon's Happiness Index is such a great book, a wonderful debut, and I'm really looking forward to what Israel writes in the future.

Thank you to Penguin via NetGalley for the eProof.