The Start of Me and You

It's been one year since it happened....

When Paige Hancock's first boyfriend died in a swimming accident, she shut out almost everyone. Now Paige has decided it's finally time to rejoin the world, and she has a plan. First on the list: go out with Ryan Chase, her longtime and newly single crush. And last on the list: swim. Terrifying, yet possible?

But when Ryan's sweet, nerdy cousin Max moves to town and recruits Paige for the QuizBowl team (of all things!), her perfect plan is thrown for a serious loop. Starting over isn't easy, but Paige knows the scariest things are usually the most difficult. Can she face her fears and open herself up to life and love again? - excerpt from book

The Start of You and Me by Emery Lord is a story about a teenage girl who is dealing with her grief and trying to live life again after hiding for a year. I really love this book as I could relate to her feelings and what she is trying to do with her life. Obviously there are certain circumstances that are different between us but the grieve and wanting to start again is quite true.

The plot of the story was really smooth and I really like the incidents that happened in the book. I like how the twist and turns of the story suite the personality of the main character. Everything happens in such good timing and it was such fun reading about her activities. There were good times and sad times and many fun times in the book.

The characters of the book are truly the people who captured me. The friends and family surrounding the main character were such awesome people. Though they are flawed but perfect for the story. The support they offer to the main character was just so heart warming. I would really loved to have more friends like them. I honestly can say that I grieve a lot on my own and did not have many friends reaching out to me but Paige's friends were just there for her and they are a tight group. As for the boys in the book, they are wonderful boys and I loved reading about their interactions with Paige. Often their activities are ones that fun to read about. One of the family members of the character was also such a great support to her and offered many great advice in life.


Overall, this book spoke to me reminding me of many great things of life. For me, the characters really made this book a great book where I manage to laugh with them and cry with them. Having read many books on grieving I find that this is one of it that I could connect with the characters the most. Even though it was about grieving but the approach of the character to start again was truly touching to me. I will definitely recommend this book to contemporary lovers. This is one book worth keeping and in the future I would read it again. Here are some lines in the book that I loved:

"In books, sometimes the foreshadowing is so obvious that you know what's going to happen. But knowing what happens isn't the same as knowing how it happens. Getting there is the best part." - page 124, line 18

" Sadness still fell - the soft pitter-patter of spring rain - but each small joy opened like an umbrealla right above me." - page 312, line 9.

"Love extra, even if it means you hurt extra, too." 
"Everything else will fall into place. Just live your life"- page 331, line 10, line 14