Decision
Grace Scheufele
Hello, Goodbye, and Everything In Between
Jennifer E. Smith
A relationship is something that’s very fragile. It can break in an instant if you’re not careful. The book Hello, Goodbye, and Everything In Between by Jennifer E. Smith explores a relationship on the verge of ending.
The couple this book follows is Clare and Aiden. They’re both leaving for college on opposite coasts, and they don’t know if they should break up or stay together. They spend their last twelve hours together going to all the places that are significant to their relationship over the years. Over the course of the entire book they contemplate their future together.
I can’t completely recommend this book. It isn’t terrible, but I found myself getting bored and frustrated while reading.
The first thing that stopped me from completely recommending this book was that the topic was stretched out too far for my liking. They spend the majority of the book on one question. Even though it’s a potentially life-changing choice, it still felt like it dragged on for too long.
Another aspect that I didn’t like was that I felt like the secondary characters were more interesting than the two main characters. I found myself wondering more about their friend’s story than Clare and Aiden. Clare’s friend Stella says, “We’re not gonna be around to fix things for you after tonight, so it’s time to grow up. You get that, right?” (150) Aidens best friend Scotty is the only one not going away to college, and we see glimpses of how he’s dealing with that. Stella, Clare’s best friend, has grown closer to Scotty and we also get to see that throughout the book.
The last part I didn’t like was the inconsistency of certain characters. Clare in particular was written in a way that was very confusing to me. She would say something and then completely contradict it a few pages later. It was confusing for me as I was reading. At certain points, Clare was portrayed as a nice girl who never said anything mean, but at other parts she was almost cruel towards others. For example, she lashes out towards her friend Stella: “‘Forget it,’ Clare says, cutting her off” (87).
Even though I didn’t overall think the book was amazing, it did have some parts that I really enjoyed. The concept was interesting to me which is why I read the book in the first place. I’ve never seen a story with the same idea, so the book is unique in my opinion.
The writing itself was very good. It was able to make me put myself into the position of the characters. It always felt genuine when emotion was being conveyed. In the book, Clare says, “I think we might have an expiration date” (51). At this point in the story I felt what both Clare and Aiden were feeling.
Hello, Goodbye, and Everything In Between
Jennifer E. Smith
A relationship is something that’s very fragile. It can break in an instant if you’re not careful. The book Hello, Goodbye, and Everything In Between by Jennifer E. Smith explores a relationship on the verge of ending.
The couple this book follows is Clare and Aiden. They’re both leaving for college on opposite coasts, and they don’t know if they should break up or stay together. They spend their last twelve hours together going to all the places that are significant to their relationship over the years. Over the course of the entire book they contemplate their future together.
I can’t completely recommend this book. It isn’t terrible, but I found myself getting bored and frustrated while reading.
The first thing that stopped me from completely recommending this book was that the topic was stretched out too far for my liking. They spend the majority of the book on one question. Even though it’s a potentially life-changing choice, it still felt like it dragged on for too long.
Another aspect that I didn’t like was that I felt like the secondary characters were more interesting than the two main characters. I found myself wondering more about their friend’s story than Clare and Aiden. Clare’s friend Stella says, “We’re not gonna be around to fix things for you after tonight, so it’s time to grow up. You get that, right?” (150) Aidens best friend Scotty is the only one not going away to college, and we see glimpses of how he’s dealing with that. Stella, Clare’s best friend, has grown closer to Scotty and we also get to see that throughout the book.
The last part I didn’t like was the inconsistency of certain characters. Clare in particular was written in a way that was very confusing to me. She would say something and then completely contradict it a few pages later. It was confusing for me as I was reading. At certain points, Clare was portrayed as a nice girl who never said anything mean, but at other parts she was almost cruel towards others. For example, she lashes out towards her friend Stella: “‘Forget it,’ Clare says, cutting her off” (87).
Even though I didn’t overall think the book was amazing, it did have some parts that I really enjoyed. The concept was interesting to me which is why I read the book in the first place. I’ve never seen a story with the same idea, so the book is unique in my opinion.
The writing itself was very good. It was able to make me put myself into the position of the characters. It always felt genuine when emotion was being conveyed. In the book, Clare says, “I think we might have an expiration date” (51). At this point in the story I felt what both Clare and Aiden were feeling.
If you have read and enjoyed Jennifer E. Smith’s other books, then you might enjoy this one. Her books “The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight” and “The Geography of You and Me” are very similar to “Hello, Goodbye, and Everything In Between.” Also, if you enjoy unique romance stories that you won’t find in every book, this might be worth a read.
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