Be Not Far From Me by Mindy McGinnis

Reviewed by Hope M.
Grade 11

As I was considering what new book I should read, Be Not Far From Me grabbed my attention. I skimmed through the plot summary on the inside cover of the book and thought it might be an interesting story. However, upon reading the first few pages, I realized this was not going to be a page-turner. In comparison to the summary, the actual story was dull, illogical, and to be honest, uneventful.

The tale centers on Ashley Hawkins, a poor teenager who has a love for running and aspires to develop a future with that passion. She also appears to be deeply knowledgeable of nature. The story begins with a hike that Ashley, her friends, and her boyfriend take in the Smoky Mountains, just out for a night of drinking and partying. However, when Ashley finds her boyfriend cheating on her, she races off randomly into the darkness. Only when she plummets into a ravine does she stop her mad dash. The rest of the book is her attempt to escape the forest with a gruesome injury on her leg. Ashley must put her survival skills to the test, and when her own mentor didn’t make it out alive, what chance does she possibly have?

Although the plot sounds exciting at first glance, I found the novel to be quite boring. Because Ashley was by herself for roughly 95% of the story, there wasn’t as much dialogue as I prefer in books. Additionally, it never felt like there was a climax. Even though different circumstances arose, the tone felt the same the entire time I was reading, giving the story a very uneventful vibe. The fact that Ashley, who is apparently gifted in the ways of nature and KNEW the dangers of leaving the trail, couldn’t remember how foolish it would be to do just that is pretty far-fetched. I understand that being cheated on is a traumatic experience, but it still didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me.

I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone unless you enjoy reading something that's almost all description with little social interaction. As I mentioned previously, the novel was really a “straight line” in terms of excitement. While I think a good lesson was provided at the end, I would tell anyone who is considering this book to leave it on the shelf. Once you’ve read the plot summary, you’ve read the whole book.

Only Love Can Break Your Heart by Katherine Webber

Reviewed by Lacey R.
Grade 11

Most people have a place they go when they need a break from life, where they go for solitude, peace, or just to feel nothing. There could be a certain room in one’s house, a diner, a park, or even the beach, but for 17-year-old Reiko Smith-Mori, it is the California desert. Only Love Can Break Your Heart by Katherine Webber is a book filled with romance and intrigue--the story of a girl who had it all: the looks, the grades, the confidence, but all that changed when she lost her sister. She finds peace and solitude in the desert, and unexpectedly, a boy. This book relays the ups and downs of the pair’s relationship, if it could even call it that.

Reiko, is what one would call “an average teenage girl,” but she is far from average. She struggles with maintaining her veil of perfection, which can be depicted through her thoughts and sometimes extreme action. What those around her don't see is that she is not well, she is grieving her sister's loss, and moreover, repressing it. Someone stands in her way and isn't letting her move on--her sister, Mika, who she still sees and talks to as if she has not passed. Reiko, to escape the heartache of her sister, often escapes to the desert to relax. One night when she wanders out to the desert, she runs into a boy. They bond over a dreamlike moment of time, with the bright moon casting a soft glow across the abyss and the serenity of the desert night. The next day she sees him at school, and over time their relationship grows, until it doesn't. They unexpectedly and slowly grow apart, both dealing with dramatic changes. Reiko has to navigate her world of popularity contests, suppressed emotions and grief, and now a rocky relationship that may have been doomed from the start.

The book has a well-thought-out plot, yet character development would have made the read much more enjoyable. The plot follows the main character and her struggle of losing a loved one, with small scenes and short chapters, but the timeline becomes confusing. The rapid pace only deterred the characterization. The characterization, or lack thereof, seemingly changed the message of the book. While the author is trying to show the negative effects of miscommunications, there wasn't much communication between the writer and the audience. Emotions were told directly through the internal dialogue of the main character instead of actions or reactions. 

The book was a quick read, and seemed as if it were a quick write as well. There were chapters that did nothing for the plot, only reiterated something that was already known, useless conversations between characters, spontaneous trips that were only set up for later chapters to reveal something unimportant. There were many clichés in the book, with lines written in a way that it seems I have read them before, such as  “You’re selfish and spoiled, and usually you can get away with it, because you’re beautiful and charming,” which shows an overplayed arc and cheap characterization that is directly revealed to the audience.

Overall, if you are looking for a quick read for a school project, this is it, but if you are looking for a good book with a cute romance story, I would not recommend Only Love Can Break Your Heart. It seems as if the book was written in a short amount of time, with little attention to character development, conflict, and plot. The moral was produced in a way that was slightly insulting to the readers, such as a Disney movie about never judging a book by its cover; this book’s moral is that you never know what is going on with someone else and a lack of communication can be detrimental. The deeper moral, that was scattered throughout the chapters with a repetitive trope and a rocky relationship, was that to move past something, you must accept it first, which is of course a good lesson to learn, but in this book it seemed cheap. A book with a similar lesson would be The Boy in the Black Suit by Jason Reynolds, which goes about accepting loss and love, in a more defined and readable way.