First, let me thank netgalley and the publishers for approving my request for an early release of this book.  All reviews of my netgalley books can be found on goodreads and youtube.  Please be sure to check out the links attached.

Twins at risk for Huntington's disease decide to get genetic testing to foresee their futures. When one twin tests positive and another negative, they have to navigate through complex feelings.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Adina and Tovah are about as different as fraternal twins can get; from their looks to their interests to their ambitions.  Adina has always known that she would use her skills playing the viola to make all her dreams come true.  Tovah on the other hand wants to go to Johns Hopkins and become a surgeon.  Both girl has her eye on the prize during her senior year of high school, but each has her own personal issues that they struggle with.

Everything changes though when the girls go to get DNA tests to see if either carries the gene for Huntington's, a disease that their mother has.  Adina and Tovah each have their own mixed feelings about what a diagnosis would mean to them, and when the results are shared, both of their worlds will never be the same.

I have a personal connection to this book because I fraternal twin boys of my own.  I can already sense how they may struggle to maintain their own sense of self when they are so connected as brothers.  Adina and Tovah struggle with their own self identities, and each handles the stresses of their lives in different ways.  Solomon has also included details about Jewish culture, language, and rituals.  I loved getting to read the Jewish words sprinkled throughout, and I believe that it really added to the authenticity of the characters.  I think that a lot of teens that are Jewish will love being able to relate to teens like themselves and find comfort in the struggles that Adina and Tovah face not only in relation to their beliefs, but their daily life as well.  I highly recommend this book to older teens, and think it is a great addition to library collections.

Unfortunately, I was unable to read this book within the BlueFire reader 60 day limit due to a hectic college schedule, and cannot review this book! My apologies for any inconvenience caused.

This was a very hard book to read.  The subject of a serious chronic illness is one that is difficult and heavy, but true to life. Though it is not the typical kind of book that I read, it is well written and thought-provoking....actually haunting. I have read several books since this one, and yet, this one keeps coming to mind.

I barely finished this book. It's good that it talks about genetic diseases and there should be more books that deals with it,but apart from that,this book was annoying. I just could click with characters. Maybe I was too old for this,but this book just wasn't my cup of tea.

*eARC kindly provided by Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing via NetGalley*

This was an emotional rollercoaster ride. There was so much to appreciate about it--the Jewish rep, the realistically flawed sister bond, the sex positivity (so much open dialogue and action, including but not limited to oral sex, masturbation, consent and protection discussion), the anxiety over college and deciding your future, and the not knowing who you are but trying to figure it out anyway bit. It was painful, though, watching Adina and Tovah fall flat on their faces and having to pick themselves back up, especially Adina. But the great thing about this story? It's messy, and the characters are messy, imperfect people. It doesn't shy away from how complicated feelings and life and relationships are. I didn't always love it. I wasn't always a fan of the choices they made. But it was *so good* and it made me cry. And that ending was fucking fantastic. 100% looking forward to Rachel's next book!

TW: self-harm and suicidal ideation
Rating: 4.5 Paw Prints!

Unfortunately I was unable to read this book due to it not being available for kindle and it expired on my computer download before I could get to it.

Unfortunately I was unable to read and review the copy of You'll Miss Me When I'm Gone that I was sent because the file would not open on my computer or iPad. Given this I'm unable to comment on the contents of the book at all. I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for accepting me to review the book however. Sorry for any inconvenience caused.

Rachel Solomon’s YOU’LL MISS ME WHEN I’M GONE is book that I would have loved as a teen but couldn’t find. The relationship between these two Jewish sisters (one who tests positive for Huntington’s and one who does not) is complicated, and messy, and often realistically uncomfortable. 

Solomon structures this book in a brilliant way as well. We learn the test results quite early on in the book which allows Solomon to craft the story around how each sister LIVES in the aftermath of their diagnosis. 

There are no easy answers or relationships in this book. Solomon wonderfully and beautifully handles the difficult issues that her book touches upon-she does not shy away from them. 

It you’re a fan of hard-hitting fiction, empowered female MCs, and well-drawn, complex interactions, this book is for you.

You’ll Miss Me When I’m Gone is a revolutionary novel. I’ve just adored the writing style of Rachel Lynn Salomon, minimalist and powerful in the same time. She manages to give unique voices and personalities to her two main characters. And WAOUH, what characters!
Tovah and Adina are surprising, alive and round-fleshed, they are realist but far away from being “good” characters. But then, what is a good character? A nice and soft girl, who don’t do mistakes and is never wrong? A “good” protagonist who has to be smooth and beyond any reproach? It is not realistic. It is not who we are and I’d like that literature stop perpetuating this false idea.
Tovah and Adina are tornadoes, catastrophes, but they are deeply attaching because, no, I do not want heroines who are an escape from my own self-image anymore, like fantasies, I don’t want unrealistic girl to whom I don’t succeed to identify myself with.
I want women to become who are into the bad relationships, who want to control everything, who think they control everything, but who can change. The relationship of the two sisters is awful at the beginning but realist: two sisters who are no longer in sync – Tovah wants to become a chirurgeon while Adina is soul and body into viola – but who have to confront themselves to the harsh reality that is Huntington’s disease.
It’s a modern book about hope. Yes, there is sickness, and doubt, and hate. But there is so much more: there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
This book is strongly sex-positive and I want to thank you the author for that: for the realism in her book.

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Review: You’ll Miss Me When I’m Gone by Rachel Lynn Solomon
  By Kasey Giard | January 10, 2018 | Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Young Adult/Teen Fiction
You’ll Miss Me When I’m Gone
Rachel Lynn Solomon
Simon Pulse
Published on January 2, 2018
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About You’ll Miss Me When I’m Gone
Eighteen-year-old twins Adina and Tovah have little in common besides their ambitious nature. Viola prodigy Adina yearns to become a soloist—and to convince her music teacher he wants her the way she wants him. Overachiever Tovah awaits her acceptance to Johns Hopkins, the first step on her path toward med school and a career as a surgeon.

But one thing could wreck their carefully planned futures: a genetic test for Huntington’s, a rare degenerative disease that slowly steals control of the body and mind. It’s turned their Israeli mother into a near stranger and fractured the sisters’ own bond in ways they’ll never admit. While Tovah finds comfort in their Jewish religion, Adina rebels against its rules.

When the results come in, one twin tests negative for Huntington’s. The other tests positive.

These opposite outcomes push them farther apart as they wrestle with guilt, betrayal, and the unexpected thrill of first love. How can they repair their relationship, and is it even worth saving?

My Review
I read this book over my hospital stay in December, and it was a really great distraction from everything else going on before my daughter was born. (Everything’s good—we’re both healthy and doing well now.) I found it super easy to get lost in the story of two sisters waiting for the results of a genetic test and dealing with their anxiety over the results in vastly different ways. Both girls felt real and individual. I could tell whose point-of-view I was in just from reading a single paragraph.

While Adina has some mixed feelings about some casual sexual encounters in her past, she clearly feels empowered by her desirability. She comes across confident and eager for sex, but frustrated that she’s not able to trigger a transfer from lust to love in her partners. I found that complexity moving and believable. For me personally, I wish it had less explicit sexual content, but I liked the writing and the way the author showed a lot more about Adina’s character through her perceptions of herself and the way she related to men.

The tug-of-war between Adina and Tovah to rebuild or sabotage their relationship felt like a train wreck I couldn’t look away from (in a good way). The tension only increases when one sister receives a positive test result for Huntington’s.

I don’t know much about Huntington’s apart from the descriptions in this book, so I’m not a good resource for how accurately it’s represented. But many scenes showed Adina and Tovah’s mom and her changing moods and behavior in stark, raw ways that made it clear how much a positive result would impact each girl’s life plans and made it impossible not to empathize both with the girls and their family.

Readers who enjoyed Dana Reinhardt’s We Are the Goldens will find similar focus on sister relationships and strong writing.

You’ll Miss Me When I’m Gone was largely driven by its characters rather than its plot, and the way it was executed was superb. The author really took her time in establishing and shaping the leading characters, supporting cast, and their relationships with each other, which consequently allowed me to invest in all of them. This deliberately careful approach also resulted in a lot of interesting and engaging relationship dynamics among family members, among friends, between siblings, and between romantic partners – all of which I completely loved reading about. I particularly loved the wholesomeness and gradual pacing of the budding romance between Tovah and Zack. Everything about the two of them was endearing. I also loved the close family ties in this novel because I believe strong family involvement should be represented more often in YA.

I’d have to say that the strongest elements in this story lie in its heart-tugging character development and hauntingly lyrical writing. Every now and then, I felt chills racing up and down my spine. I was totally emotional all throughout the story, and I swear, I’ve lost count of the number of scenes that took my breath away. I wish I could write a better review, but if I’m being honest, I’m still coping with the awe that I felt. Basically, what I’m trying to say is: there are only a limited number of books that will truly, genuinely move you, and You’ll Miss Me When I’m Gone is one of them.

I always try to start my reviews with one specific thing about the book that particularly struck me but with You’ll Miss Me When I’m Gone there’s so many things that struck me I can’t even begin to pick just ONE. THERES JEWISH CHARACTERS AND ITS ABOUT HUNTINGTON DISEASE AND THERE’S COMPLICATED FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS AND UNLIKEABLE CHARACTERS THAT YOU STILL LOVE. If you can’t tell, I thought this book was amazing. I love books that allow me to learn about new things. Prior to reading this book, I didn’t know anything about Huntington’s disease so this book helped shed some light on the subject. Since You’ve Been Gone is a heart wrenching novel about sisters, family and religion that is sure to make you feel a multitude of emotions. One of the type of books I’ve been looking for lately is novels containing Jewish protagonists and while I’m not a practising Jew, it was still nonetheless nice to see characters that are Jewish like I am.

The most interesting part of this story was definitely the relationship between Adina and Tovah who are twin sisters. Their relationship was very complex and while reading it I felt so conflicted because at times both Asian and Tovah did some horrible things to each other and even though they were so mean to each other I couldn’t help but root for them. I could definitely relate to how irrational they were being at times because my sister and I have our fair share of irrational fights. I think the best type of books are the one where you recognize that the characters are being super unreasonable while also completely getting where they’re coming from.

While I love both of the sisters, I think Adina was my favorite though I definitely related to a Tovah more. Adina was such a complex character and I like really hated her for a lot of the book but I also loved her?? Some of her anger and meanness was really misplaced but other parts made her really feel for her. Many of her feelings and thoughts had me close to tears and all in all the way her character development happened throughout the novel was so well done. I just really want to applaud the author for not only Alina’s character but all of her characters. They were all really well done, and i just loved the family dynamics not only between Adina and Tovah but also with their parents. One thing that I would have appreciated is a little bit more insight into some minor outside charters but other than the characters were definitely the highlight of the novel.

I really enjoyed reading this. I was really invested in the story. At one point I just could not put it down anymore and I needed to know how it ended.
I connected with Tovah almost right away. I just liked her.
I had a harder time connecting with Adina. I questioned her actions multiple times.
It was nice to read a book about Jewish characters that wasn't set during the war. I've never read about Huntington's Disease in a book before and it was really interesting. I think Rachel did a great job with both of these parts in her book.

From the side characters I really liked Zack. He was a nice guy.

The book goes really deep and I have to warn you about some things. There is grief, self-harm and this book also includes sexual content. I don't have a problem with that last one myself, but this book is YA and not everyone who reads YA might be ready to read about this.

I definitely recommend this book. And I think if this sounds good to you and you will not be triggered by any of the above mentioned things, you will probably enjoy it too!

*To be posted 1/23/2018*

Hi! Here we have another ARC I was approved for via Netgalley about the undeniable bond between a pair of twin sisters.



Title: You'll Miss Me When I'm Gone

Author: Rachel Lynn Solomon

Series: Standalone

Rating: 3/5 stars



Summary

This story follows Adina and Tovah, two twin sisters. Adina is a musical prodigy and is planning on attending a prestigious music school with the help of her teacher. One of the main elements of this story includes Huntington's disease, which is a rare genetic degenerative disease. The twins are tested, where one tests positive and one negative (emitting for spoiler reasons) and their ongoing struggle is examined the rest of the book.

Likes

I found out about this book via the author on Twitter and was automatically interested. I normally don't read too many contemporaries but I really enjoyed this one because of how real it was. I felt genuinely attached to the characters and I felt for them on their journey throughout being teenagers as well as dealing with the looming test results. I found a lot of solace in knowing how genuine the story is and how the characters interacted with one another as well as their own deep inner personal struggles. I have been reading a lot of #ownvoices lately and I thought that that played a large role in this story as well because it made it more personal.

Dislikes

I can't note any specific dislikes but this book wasn't a 5-star read for me. I thought that it was quite short and I did read it pretty quickly, even quick for my own standards. I wanted more about the characters and about how the one diagnosed dealt with things after the end of the book. I was enveloped at that point and was sad that it was cut a little short for me. That being said, it did end in an acceptable place and I thought that it was a heartwarming ending that really needed to happen after such deep subject matter.

Recommendation

I would recommend this book for #ownvoices readers as well as those who love a moving contemporary!


Happy reading! ~ Taylor

<i> You'll Miss Me When I'm Gone</i> is a great debut novel that explores the intricate sisterhood of Adina and Tovah. While I can't say I necessarily liked Adina, the two stories were done very well. I didn't love this book, but I was always drawn to it and it always held my attention. 

Full review to come soon!

This is another anticipated read for 2018 and, so far since its release this past week, people have been really excited for! I decided to go ahead and dive in, even though I’m a few days late for it to be a real early read. It definitely didn’t disappoint, though.

The book is told from two different perspectives: Adina, a viola prodigy-to-be that is in love with her music teacher, and Tovah, a smart student who wants to go to medical school. They both are fraternal twin sisters and, currently, they are not speaking. However, the 50/50 possibility of one of them having Huntington’s disease brings them together in the craziest of ways.

Details

This book deals a lot with personal issues and I do appreciate the fact that the author has provided a trigger warning for suicidal thoughts, self-harm and depression. It’s not in the book itself, but she acknowledged it and provided useful links on Goodreads. I applaud her for that because not a lot of authors, from what I’ve seen so far, do that. Both sisters tell their stories with depth and emotion, mainly when it concerns the disease and their family. That’s the main aspect when it comes to the details: emotion. It’s very raw and true. This isn’t a romance. This is about family and sisters finding each other again through dire circumstances.

Adina

Adina is the pretty and confident sister. She has a curvy body all over and a signature red lip. She loves to take advantage of this aspect with men, but she wants her music teacher more than anything because she feels a connection, mainly sexual. He is older than her, though. Obviously, she is in over her head, especially when she kind of becomes obsessed with him to the point of stalking. However, her behavior causes her to act out and come up with a “death by dignity” pact for herself as her story goes on. This disease scares her because she worries about ending up like her mother, who has this disease. she doesn’t want to stop being Adina, you know? She did annoy me at times when she would act like a total bitch, but it was (almost) understandable. You know the stages of mourning and coping? Anger, denial, all that? This is kind of what we see. 

Tovah

Tovah is so focused on getting into medical school. She excludes having a boyfriend because she wants to stay focused: student council, AP classes, volunteering, etc. She wants to be the best and, thinking about this disease, kind of ruins that for her. It causes her to really stress out, especially when it comes to how her sister is acting. Tovah is obsessed with perfection and it’s as if the disease, no matter what direction it’s headed in, messes with that perfection as the story goes on. She’s more rational than Adina, that’s for sure. I think she is the stronger sister, if I had to choose between the two. It’s a close one.

The Bottom Line

This story was really touching and very hard to read. It wasn't the “difficult” kind of hard. The emotional depth and what the author has laid out on paper was very hard on my heart. I did connect to some aspects of it and, thankfully, Rachel did not abuse her power of using suicidal thoughts, self-harm and depression in her story. I wasn’t triggered by it whatsoever, but it did tug at m heart strings because I connected with Adina and even Tovah. If you’re looking for a powerful read this year, this is one of them.

Adina and Tovah Siegel are teens who are twins. But further on they have nothing in common; Adina plays viola on a high level and wants to go to a music college to become a pro. She has music lessons from Arjun, and there is something going on between the two of them that is against the rules. Tovah is studying hard to once get accepted in to her dream college to become a surgeon. Her longer goal is to find a cure agains Huntington's disease. 

Their mother Ima, who is from Israel, is suffering from this progressive illness, and in the book, both girls are tested if they have they carry the illness in their genes; Adina tests positive, while Tovah is negative. This turns Adina's world upside down; when will she get the first symptoms, will she die early because of it? Will it ruin her chance to go to college? While Tovah finds comfort in their Jewish religion, Adina rebels against its rules, as it doesn't cure her upcoming illness. She tries to figure out if the relationship with her music teacher is the right choice and both sisters are going off to college in the end, after they solved all the issues they had with each other.

Yess, finally another YA novel that deals with chronic illness. I really liked this book, as I am dealing with a non-curable chronic illness myself. The other red line in the book is the  bond between the two sisters. They really are total opposites of each other, and they have quite some struggles because of that, it just wasn't all happy and pretty in this book and I really liked that!!! This is not a book suitable for very young teens though, as it contains quite some mature scenes and deals with pretty heavy health issues and explicit language. What I also liked about this book was the background from the family, as the mother is from Israel and the author added some Hebrew in to the book, and let the main characters also explain what they mean. I loved how, altough the sisters where not so nice to each other all the time, they truly where a support system together with their dad for their mother, whose illness progresses quite fast in the last part of the book. And the ending was just the perfect one! Overall I found it a very good and impressing read which I highly recommend reading!!!

Oh, this book ... So beautiful, touching, heart-wrenching yet ultimately hopeful. It's an incredible examination of how our sisters are often our best friends and those who love us the most, yet may also be those who hurt us the most. I loved every minute reading this exceptional, intimate, profound story.

Bonus points for being non-Holocaust-related Jewish fiction, the type of book Tovah mentions wishing she'd had when she was learning more about her religion in middle school - as she examines her bookshelf full of Holocaust and Holocaust-aftermath stories. It was nice to learn more than what I already knew about Jewish faith and Jewish culture.

I truly felt like I'd been given a gift straight from the author's heart the entire time I was reading. It's a very special book, and an incredible debut for one who is surely a rising star in YA!