My Life After Now

by Jessica Verdi

[Ashley]

Nose Graze — Young Adult book reviews

Life After Now was incredibly powerful and absolutely heartbreaking. For the first quarter of the book, my heart was HAMMERING. It's that scared, nervous, anticipating feeling you get when you know something bad is going to happen and you're morbidly curious but also a bit terrified. I knew the story was about HIV, I knew Lucy was going to get it, but part of me was curious to see how it happened, and the other part was terrified. It's just SO SAD. It broke my heart just thinking about it and it was like watching something happen in slow motion. I knew what was going to happen, but I was afraid to see it through.. but also curious.

This book manages to deal with some intense and deeply saddening issues, but in a non-judgmental way. On the one hand, I knew it was "wrong" for Lucy to have unsafe sex, but seeing it through her eyes made me sympathize with her instead of judge her for her mistake. I thought it was brilliantly crafted, and that allows the book to send a strong message without it being so in your face.

Lucy's parents (a male gay couple) were some of my absolute favourite characters. There was just something so sweet about them. They were such adorable, supportive parents, and I loved how open they were with Lucy. They were almost like close friends with her in the sense that they were always on her side and supporting her without question.

I highly recommend My Life After Now to anyone who loves contemporary and is looking for a sad, heartbreaking, but extremely powerful read. I read this book from front to back in one sitting because I was completely hooked. At 2:30am, my boyfriend turned to me and said, "It's time for bed, babes." But I just gave him that "MY BOOK IS SO GOOD" look and he knew he wouldn't be able to pry me away. So he stayed up with me until I finished (what a sweetheart ♥ ). I promise that you will completely power through this book and love it from front to back!