Review – The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider (5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Length: 352 pages
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Release Date: August 27, 2013
ISBN: 978-0062217134
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Amazon Vine for Review
Rating: 5/5 stars

I got a copy of this book to review through the Amazon Vine program. It was a wonderful read. It’s a coming of age story in a high school setting that is at turns hilarious and heartfelt.

Ezra’s life is changed forever when a reckless driver hits his car, shattering his knee. Ezra’s career as a star athlete is shattered, as is his social life in high school. He finds himself on the debate team, at a table with his elementary school friend, and suddenly in the company of misfits. Things start looking up though when he meets the quirky Cassidy, she is everything Ezra’s never had in a girlfriend before and she opens up a whole new world to him.

This is one of those high school coming of age books that is incredibly witty, funny, and heartwarming. Parts of the book are very inciteful and the story is very engaging.

Ezra is an incredibly smart kid who’s given up his interests in hopes of fitting in and being popular. When he is forced out of the popular crowd because of a car accident he ends up back with his elementary school friends. There he finds the courage to be himself again and not worry about being cool.

Some of Ezra’s thoughts and comments are incredibly witty and inciteful. He’s obviously a smart kid who was misled by the urge to be popular. Those of us who are older can look back at this and remember the pressure to be popular and the choices you had to make in high school to be who you wanted to be or be who everyone else thought you should be. It’s something that everyone young and old can relate to.

As part of Ezra’s life changing experience he meets a new girl named Cassidy. Cassidy however has mysteries and issues of her own.

The story is very engaging and moves at a quick clip. We follow Ezra through his senior year as he tries to figure out who he wants to be. It is a pretty typical coming of age story, but it is very well done and entertaining. This was a quick read that was just a lot of fun to read.

Overall I really enjoyed this book. It was at turns laugh out loud funny and heartrending. Ezra is a witty and smart character who is easy to engage with and very likable. The style of the book and the topic reminds a lot of Gayle Forman’s, John Green’s, and David Levithan’s novels. If you are a fan of those types of books I would definitely recommend checking this book out.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– 100 Books in a Year Reading Challenge
– 150+ Reading Challenge