A Taxonomy of Love is a sweet coming of age story about Spencer, and his discoveries on the complexities of life and love. After seeing the cover and reading the blurb, I knew I would love the book.
The story follows Spencer through his experiences leaving middle school to entering high school, all while dealing with Tourette's and his complicated relationship with the people around him, especially Hope. 
Spencer is such a wonderful narrator. His sincerity and softness is something that is so rare to see. His social anomalies usually lead to awkward silences within the story, and many other hilarious encounters. 
The story was split into two parts: when Hope came into his life... and when things got messy. I will admit that I liked the latter part much much more.
The book definitely gave of Love, Rosie vibes. The story between Hope and Spencer was honestly a big rollercoaster ride. I loved the BirdsongBarton moments. And hated it sometimes, too. I read their moments together and apart, aching over the bad timing, bad decisions, and lost chances. Like life. 
The books take a few leaps in Spencer's life, jumping over periods of his life. It makes the readers feel like they're jumping in and out of the life of Spencer as if travelling through time and looking at how he's progressed. This was definitely a new experience and a fresh read. It was evident how much Spencer has changed over the years.
What made me smile so much was how much the importance of his illness had diminished over the years. When beginning the book, it was evident how much of a toll it took on him and his ability to make friends. As the story progressed, you could see how he paid much less attention to it. Other than a tic here and there, he lived a completely normal life, drastically different from how he imagined it three years ago. The amount of change Spencer experiences is amazing and in a very good way. I literally wanted to enter the book at the end to slap him on the back.
His taxonomies before the chapters are absolutely adorable and sweet. As well, I loved the letters that Hope wrote to Janie. That was the only way where we got a bit of point of view from Hope.
The blurb states it so clearly: sometimes things in life can't be easily classified as one thing or another, and sometimes, it's a good thing.
If there was any book that has left me fuzzy and warm inside, it's this one.

This book was just okay for me. It was hard for me to keep track of what age each of the characters were throughout the book because it was not said. There were only two points in the book that I was aware of where the author says their age and/or hints at what age they are. I wish that she would have had their age as a chapter heading or something every time that they were another year older. It made certain parts of the book uncomfortable for me because they have sexual relationships but it seems like they are still thirteen like when the book started.
I had a hard time with Hope and Spencer's relationship. I didn't like Hope very much at all. She seemed selfish to me because she did whatever made her feel good regardless of how it made everyone around her feel. Spencer was the one shining light in this book. He may not have made very good decisions at times but he tried to think of others. He attempted to help those around him and just wanted to be treated like a human being rather than a problem or mistake. I loved that the book was from his point of view. He was going through something extremely difficult and it broke my heart to see how people treated him especially members of his own family. I was rooting for him the entire book because he grew so much over the course of the book. He took a lot of beatings but he came out on top in my opinion.

I was hooked by the book synopsis; a character with Tourette's Syndrome. The cover was gorgeous, and the first few pages were interesting, so I knew I had to request this title from Netgalley! Many thanks to ABRAM Kids, who approved my request to receive an advanced copy of A Taxonomy of Love.
I love how we had a protagonist with Tourette's Syndrome. Reading is a gateway towards understanding others' lives, and I felt like we got a good taste of what it might be like to have Tourette's Syndrome. A Taxonomy of Love covers many aspects of disability, ranging from the medication schedules, side-effects, and experimentation, to the stigma experienced. I particularly appreciated how Allen showed that disability isn't necessarily a hindrance towards a 'normal' life.
However, unfortunately, I don't think A Taxonomy of Love is a particularly memorable book. As a contemporary novel, it blends into the background of all other contemporary YA novels, despite its strong, intriguing protagonist. For me, A Taxonomy of Love followed the same formulaic structure that most contemporary YA novels follow: childhood friends, high-school angst, with an eventual romantic relationship. The only thing that really makes this book stand out would be the character's diagnosis of Tourette's Syndrome.
Many contemporary YA novels fail to address a key aspect of many teenagers' lives; family. I love how A Taxonomy of Love was not one of these novels, with the strong emphasis on Spencer's parents and grandmothers. I also really appreciated Allen tackling Spencer's difficulty in obtaining his father's approval and his feelings of inferiority to his brother. Coming from a family where there are three girls - I constantly felt like I had to fight with my sisters for my parent's attention and approval, and I loved how Allen addressed this, particularly as Spencer has Tourette's Syndrome, which I would imagine would compound these feelings of inferiority, as Allen continually repeats in the book.
At times, it did feel like I was reading a middle-grade novel - but this was mostly in the first half of the book. I did feel like this book is less accessible who people who aren't familiar with the U.S. schooling system - I was unsure what age the characters were due to the distinct U.S. take on this story, and so I initially thought this book was more middle-grade oriented.

All in all, A Taxonomy of Love is a wonderful take on a protagonist with Tourette's Syndrome, that is ultimately marred by a predictable plot, which reduces this tale down to a simple story that is twisted by high-school love and drama. If the entire plot of this story didn't rest on Spencer's obsession on Hope, I think I would have enjoyed this story a lot more, as it would have seemed less juvenile.
Nevertheless, A Taxonomy of Love is still a good read for anyone who would like to understand Tourette's Syndrome a bit more.

I really enjoyed A Taxonomy of Love. I cannot speak to the representation of the main character with Tourette’s Syndrome but I feel like I have a better understanding of the disorder. The story takes place in six parts - grades 7-12 (ages 13-19) and an epilogue. All the characters had arcs that were realistic for the issues that were dealt with in the story: bullying, racism (overt and aversive), unexpected loss of a loved one, the increasing complexity of relationships as you grow, and how your views of people around you can change with time and life experience.

I would recommend for readers who are looking for books similar to Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia and What to Say Next by Julie Buxbaum.

*Note - I read this arc on an e-book so some of the formatting/chapter headers and what I think are taxonomy graphics were a little wonky but it didn’t detract from the overall story.

This was a heartwarming story of Spencer and Hope. It follows them from 7th grade through the end of high school. It's a heart wrenching catalog of the way life affects us and our relationships. This book deals with loss, Tourette syndrome and growing up. I really enjoyed watching Spencer and Hope grow and their relationship blossom. A Taxonomy of Love was beautiful, real and pure. I loved it

A fairly good book. This coming of age novel tackles tourettes and young love, and how they intersect. I read this fairly quickly since I was on a 6 hour flight and didn’t have much else to do, but if I wasn’t on a plane I doubt I would have read it as fast. This novel is pretty slow, and the passage of time is hard to tell - though that’s what real life is like sometimes. I felt a bit confused at times when suddenly it would be a new year.

To begin with, I want to point out that this book was an eBook I received as an ARC from NetGalley for free, but all thoughts are still my own. The release date for this book is the 9th of January 2018. This book is from the perspective of Spencer Barton, a 13-year-old boy with Tourette's Syndrome. This book is in 6 parts plus an epilogue, so we go through the book from him aged 13 to age 19. It revolves around him meeting his new neighbour, Hope Birdsong when they were both 13 (at the beginning of the book) and their developing friendship, but Spencer struggles with the feelings he has developed for her, as well as suffering from his Tourette's. The book also contains messages and letters from Hope (and her sister) during a very tough and traumatic time in her life, but Spencer wants to support her. At times their friendship was very confusing and the book really did have you feeling for Spencer and Hope. Hope seemed like the only person who truly understood and accepted Spencer, which is a massive thing within this novel, and Spencer just wants to fit in as he is teased because of his Tourette's and because he knows so many things about bugs and random facts and hope accepts that and even is as 'weird' as he is made out to be by other people. This book isn't just about love, but acceptance, understanding, growing up and friendship and finding a passion for something, which Spencer most definitely does. Both Spencer and Hope go through so much together (and apart) but they remain friends, even though their friendship could be a bit rocky and confusing at times like previously said. They develop as characters and as you would between 13 and 19, and Spencer overcomes so many things to do with his Tourette's and I felt like you could really root for him and I felt so happy for him at times even though he's fictional. It was a lovely book and had so much more involved than just love. I highly recommend this when it comes out in January.
Link provided will be active on the 14th of December
Review copied and pasted from my blog.

This book has a cute premise that has caught my attention at the very first glimpse but somehow, through my reading, I felt that the book might not be up to my interest. I'm truly sorry :( Maybe someone would enjoy this book more than I am.

The starting of the chapter was a bit slow and I find it hard to grasp what is what and I'm so frustrated that it took so long for the two main characters to be together. #icry

Anyway, I like that got to learn new thing from the book especially Tourette syndrome. I never heard before but now, I know.

I'm sorry but this is not going to be my last reading a book from the writer.

I'd have to read it again to be sure, and probably take a look at the finished version, but A Taxonomy of Love may just be the contemporary book I've been looking for all along.

The story has so many elements that are a huge YES for me. The first, most obvious one is that it follows the progression of our protagonists throughout the years. The book starts when Spencer and Hope are thirteen and ends when they're nineteen. We get to see them develop as people along the way, watch them stretch and grow into themselves. I've mentioned before--numerous times, in fact, that I wanted to see more of this. The lack of seeing characters for more than a few chapters of their lives is what I previously viewed as an unfortunate weakness (and sometimes strength) of YA lit, but my hope for it has grown as I've come across books like Rachel Cohn and David Levithan's Twelve Days of Dash and Lily, Marie Lu's Life Before Legend, and now Rachael Allen's A Taxonomy of Love.

In fact, the book reminded me of many books (in good ways), but out of all of them, it reminded me of Better Off Friends the most.

Elizabeth Eulberg's Better Off Friends has been a longtime favorite of mine because it has the friendship-to-love element and follows the development of the characters the same way that A Taxonomy of Love does. The reason why this book still manages to stand alone, and a large part of the reason why I have so much hope for it, is the significant gap in complexity. While Eulberg is the more veteran writer and certainly has her standouts as well, with this book Rachael Allen demonstrates stronger understanding of the subtle things that make characters real and moments memorable. A Taxonomy of Love surprised me again and again with its deeper undertones to the fluffy, contemporary plot and the shades to the characters.

What I really didn't expect in approaching this read was a book that would bring me back to Amber Smith's masterpiece The Way I Used to Be, which is one of the best books I've ever read on grief and sexual assault. A Taxonomy of Love deals heavily with the emotional baggage that Spencer and Hope carry around, and it doesn't do it in the typical lazy fashion. No, instead, this book does it by demonstrating that even with hardship, life goes on. People continue to be happy, and gradually, so do you, even if happiness doesn't come in the form you thought it would. The book demonstrates that life can really suck sometimes, and that best-laid plans can get thrown off the tracks.

I was so impressed with the way that Allen handled the character development. She unraveled everyone little by little, starting first with Hope and Spencer and branching out into the supporting cast. With Hope and Spencer, it's pretty obvious. I mean--one of the biggest (and only) criticisms I have is that the time we see Spencer and Hope as 13-year-olds is pretty drawn out, to the point where I wanted to stop reading within the first 20%. After I got past it, I really respected Allen's ability to completely switch gears and get into the head of her narrator, but the cringiness of middle-school Spencer and Hope was a bit too real for me.

Then I started to notice more.

By the end, no one character could be completely villainized. Each one had their own strengths and weaknesses, moments of greatness and moments of harshness. In particularly, I liked the relationships that Spencer and Hope had with their families. The relationships with the parents were especially positive, which is always a plus in YA. I also liked how endearing Allen made Spencer's older brother, Dean. Oh, Dean. I actually wanted to see much more of him by the end of the book, but I got the feeling that the amount we see him was just the right amount. Any more and I may change how I feel about him. Dean isn't nearly as deep or sweet as Spencer, but he cares about people too, just in a different way. Not everyone can be as selfless and conscientious as Spencer, and I found myself sympathizing with Dean. Even though I didn't necessarily like him, I sympathized with him--even empathized with him--and that's where a writer's strength lies.

And in addition to the strength of the execution and character structures, the plot was more compelling. With Better Off Friends, as much as I love the book, 70% of it is Macallan and Levi getting into different relationships, causing unnecessary drama, and hurting a bunch of people (including each other) before finally confronting their feelings. With A Taxonomy of Love, we see just how much Spencer and Hope have to change as people before they're ready for relationships and for each other. This is much more interesting, challenging to pull off, and true to life.

Ending notes? I loved this one, but I still think it could be stronger. As mentioned before, I wasn't a fan of seeing so much of Spencer and Hope's childhood. There's only so much I can read phrases like "Oh my pancakes" before losing patience for seeing it in print. I understand and appreciate what Allen was trying to do, but I think she generally needs to trust her audience more. Amber Smith's strength in The Way I Used to Be is how she never tells us anything about what the protag is going through. We just watch as her life goes down the drain. In relation to Hope's grief, her gradual change in character, and the transitions throughout the story (like when Hope drastically switches back the same person) could be much less obvious and would be so much stronger if they were. 

Overall, it's a great story that makes me curious about Allen's other works. Had high hopes for this one, but Rachel Allen surpassed all of them. Realllllllly want some changes made here and there to touch up the final product, but I'd be fine if it stays the same. Recommended for people who like their contemporaries flavored a bit more serious + gradual. 4 stars.

A Taxonomy of Love is a coming of age novel that spans the teenage years of Spencer and Hope. Rarely, if ever, do we get to see this many years in a character’s life. So many books I’ve read have centered around a single incident or a specific time period. With this novel, I felt as if I’d watched these kids grow up.

One of the perks of a novel covering so many years is the ability to cover a wide range of topics then see how they unravel and what short and long term affects they have on each character. The topics in this novel included Tourette syndrome (a neurological disorder), bullying, sibling rivalry, death, multigenerational relationships, young love, first times, and interracial relationships in the south. Whew! That’s a tremendous amount to fit into one story, but Rachael Allen does it seamlessly. The events and characters are woven together just like real life.

The relationships between the characters are what make this story special. They are realistic, not neat and wrapped up in a bow. The kids are faced with hardships and triumphs and it is how they deal with each situation that makes this book so addicting. The voices and characters are so beautifully crafted with strong voices that grow as the kids age, I did not want to let them go.

As an individual with Tourette syndrome, finding a novel with a character living with this disorder was what originally drew me to this book. I was so pleased with Spencer’s character and how Rachael Allen explained and dealt with the issues of his Tourette’s. Again as a novel that spans many years, readers were able to see how this disorder impacted his life at different stages. Like life, this is a disorder that is constantly changing.

When 14 year old Spencer Barton meets Hope Birdsong for the first time, he knows something significant has just happened. They never run out of things to talk about - from her planning adventures lal over the world to his encyclopedic (and occasionally disgusting) knowledge of weird bugs and their behavior (he has a tarantula named Lord Voldemort!). They explore the boundaries between being friends, not friends, best friends, and more than friends as they simultaneously grapple with both typical and atypical middle / high school issues: Spencer has Tourette’s which garners him more than his share of nastiness and Hope experiences a traumatic death which seems to knock the very breath from her life.

The story is told in first person from Spencer’s perspective. His humorous and yet deeply reflective voice is easy and fun to read. He likes taxonomies which help him make sense of the world and they offer an orthogonal picture of the story. Diversity is fully embraced in the recitation with some consideration of what it means to be “other” both embodied in the narrative and discussed directly at times. As an aside, some really good descriptions of what it is like to have Tourette’s, what kind of coping mechanisms can be used, and what kind of positive brain side effects might come of having it.

There are some issues with pacing - indeterminate amounts of time seem to have elapsed between chapters and although it’s not that difficult to figure out, it is a little jarring.

Good for fans of “What to Say Next” and “Words in Deep Blue”

A Taxonomy of Love had so much potential! While reading the first 10%, I was convinced I would go on to give this book four stars, if not five. But the story seemed to lose steam halfway through and meander off into confusing directions. I write this review with frustration, because this could have been the perfect YA novel and I was so ready to champion it. But instead, I'm awarding it 3.5 "so close but so far" stars.

Spencer is a teenage boy with Tourette's syndrome. Young Spencer is also one of the most adorable male YA characters I've come across (older Spencer, however, is a different matter). But young Spencer is right up there with Noah Sweetwine from I'll Give You the Sun. In fact, A Taxonomy of Love reminded me of Jandy Nelson's novel in some ways, as Rachael Allen's writing had a similar fluid poetic style, but sadly Taxonomy failed to live up to its contemporary.

When Hope moves in next door, Spencer is immediately taken with her. She's the same age as him, likes adventures and shares his love of climbing trees - what's there not to like? They soon become best friends... until tragedy strikes and they slowly drift apart.

Hope and Spencer's friendship is very sweet and believable at the beginning. She accepts that he has Tourette's with a pinch of salt (in her eyes, it makes him all the more interesting) and unlike the other kids in the neighbourhood, doesn't make fun of him for it. They make a good duo... until the story takes an unfortunate turn.

A lot of the action seems to take place unseen, between chapters, or off the page. One minute Hope and Spencer are arguing as young teens, the next they're about to turn 18 and Hope has seemingly had a personality transplant. I found the sudden shift in time jarring. It unsettled the story. This happened a few times in the book and felt like a lazy way to help the story progress.

The sudden change in personality of the main characters was also a disappointment. Spencer was obsessed with Hope, but at times it felt like he didn't view her as a real person with her own thoughts and feelings. She seemed to only exist as the object of his affections, and when she didn't live up to his expectations, he cast her aside. Hence my not liking older Spencer.

I would have liked the subject of Tourette's to be explored in more detail. We learnt about Spencer's tics, but we never really got to see the full affect of it on his life or his family's. The author touched on it when Spencer's medication had a negative effect on him, but there was still much to be explored, and we never got to meet the kids at Tourette's camp despite him mentioning them a bunch of times. I felt that was a missed opportunity.

Whilst A Taxonomy of Love started on a fantastic note and had the potential to be a one-of-a-kind YA novel, it lost its direction with its sudden time jumps, and the main characters weren't people I found myself rooting for at the end.

Is there a way to understand and capture the complexities of life, friendship, and love? A Taxonomy of Love is a sweet story that captures all the magic and heartbreak of friendship and growing up.

When the new girl moves in next door, she and Spencer become strong friends. Who else but Hope could understand Spencer's love of bugs and climbing trees. Who else could understand the ways in which he is different and yet not treat him as if he is any different at all. But sometimes life is messy and not as easy to categorise as Spencer would like. Friends, more than friends, not friends at all?

A Taxonomy of Love spans seven years. Written in six parts, plus an eliplogue, this book starts when Spencer is thirteen, picks up again when he is fourteen and continues revisiting him for a chunk of time each year until he and Hope are nineteen. In this way we readers get to view the journey of Spencer and Hope's friendship, from their early teen years and their first days as friends spent climbing trees and making plans for the future, through family tragedies and other relationships, to times when they were not speaking and times when they were each other's rock. This large timespan also allows readers to watch Spencer and Hope grow up. It made me really proud to see what sort of adults they were becoming, watching how their pasts shaped them, but also how the choices they made changed them. These six parts do mean that a few things are skipped over. We don't get to witness first-hand all the major events of their lives. But this worked surprisingly well, and it was always fun to begin a new part and catch up on the events of the past year.

All the chapters are written from Spencer's point of view, however, throughout the novel Hope's perspective is shared through her journal entries and emails and texts to her older sister. These are particularly prominent during a traumatic time in her life and they help readers to understand what she is feeling and experiencing - if only poor Spencer could have had the same privilege. But misunderstandings, distance, and hurt are all part of life, as Spencer learns.

A Taxonomy of Love is about love and romance, but it is also about so much more than that. Spencer has Tourette's syndrome and his journey of understanding and accepting this, or rather, more importantly, how he sees other people accepting him, is a prominent and important part of this book. So too is his relationships with his father and with his brother. Along with the complexity of his friendship with Hope, Spencer has other friendships and relationships and the glimpses of these help us to understand Spencer and who he would like to be. Wrestling, too, becomes an important part of Spencer's life. It is all these little things that connect to make up the bigger story, one that is - at its heart - a simple but powerful journey of a young boy growing up, learning, falling in love, and accepting himself.

The publishers provided an advanced readers copy of this book for reviewing purposes. All opinions are my own.

Find more reviews, reading age guides, content advisory, and recommendations on my blog Madison's Library.

I liked this one very much, but I did get a little hung up on following the timeline and the voice occasionally. This could have been because I was reading an e-galley, which is why I didn't take any stars off. Thank you, NetGalley, for the preview copy!

4.5 stars

A Taxonomy of Love follows Spencer and Hope as they grow up. Starting at 13 years old, when they first meet. They become immediate best friends. But as time continues, life gets complicated. The two grow together and apart. This book includes a rollercoaster of feelings through sibling feuds, family tragedies, new relationships and broken hearts.

And for me, it was worth every page of reading. I also learned a lot because Spencer has Tourette's syndrome, which basically means he has these tics like shrugging and sniffing. It is just a lovely read. Spencer draws these taxonomies and they are great. Hope is also great. She has all these dreams and she has a great bond with her older sister of which we learn through their e-mails and texts.

This book also has a great, present family, as in a realistic family and an adorable, funny grandmother who is basically Spencer's second best friend. (I love Mimi).

<spoiler>The second half broke my heart when we learned about Janie's death. Especially, how it affected Hope. From the texts Hope sent when they were going to pick Janie up from the airport to the letters addressed to Janie after her death... it was just heartbreaking. I just can't imagine what it would be like to go through losing a sister. As far as my judgement can go, I think Hope's experience was well written, especially because she still has difficulty dealing with it years later.

I really liked how Spencer looked back on his liking of Hope and realised that he basically worshipped Hope when they were still in middle grade. His relationship with Jayla, probably, taught him that it is better not to put anyone on a pedestal.

I don't NOT like the misunderstanding though. I almost never do. I think they are the bane of any kind of romantic novels. I guess they are part of the deal but I prefer not to see them and if they do appear I want them to be understandable misunderstandings a la November 9 and Confess by Colleen Hoover.</spoiler>

I would definitely recommend this book if you just love YA contemporary romances.

Spencer is positive he’s met the great love of his life right before seventh grade. Hope Birdsong is mysterious, beautiful, and most of all she doesn’t make fun of his Tourettes. Unfortunately, life is never easy. Spanning the length of several year Hope and Spencer grow, change, and face challenges. Spencer tries to understand the best way he knows how, using taxonomies, but it doesn’t seem scientifically likely that Hope will ever choose him.

The use of taxonomies, journal entries, e-mails and IMs give this book a really unique edge. I love when books find different ways to tell a story. Spencer and Hope are both individuals with different friends, interests and lives outside of each other. I absolutely loved all of Hope’s musical references.

I want to touch on the lives outside of each other because I find it’s too rare in young adult literature. Romance novels often laser focus on the couple and forget to flesh out friends and family. Spencer and Hope both have a spider web of relationships both platonic and romantic throughout the novel that aren’t with each other. It makes them feel real, and it makes their love story more satisfying.

There is also the fact that this book spans over several years of their lives. It’s nice to see a love story that exists outside of the first year of meeting. That some love takes a while to find the right time. That the first love isn’t always the last, that you can date other people and still move on to true love afterwards.

Combine all this with a diverse cast that manages to teach readers about acceptance without being preachy? This is a top notch book. Seeing Spencer live with his Tourette’s Syndrome and how people treat him for it. Seeing Jayla deal with being a black girl with big dreams in a small southern town. There’s even a painfully raw depiction of grief.

There is a bit of a slow pace at the beginning of the book. One that almost made me not want to finish it, so I can’t blame people who give up near the beginning. There are also some very awkward moments that name Spencer seem like a Nice Guy (tm) but it’s clear that the author doesn’t want to support that. There’s a lot of effort put into Spencer accepting people not wanting to love him back, and that being a good friend is okay too. He makes really cringey mistakes, but by the end it feels like he has learned.

There are so many brilliant emotions and moments in this book, it does start out slow but once the pace picks up you won’t be able to put it down!

I appreciated the story and characters in this book. I obtained a free copy of this at a conference I attended earlier in the summer and was immediately drawn to the cover. And once I delved into the book, I was pleasantly surprised by the content. Well done indeed.

I feel like I should preface this review to say that I’ve solely been reading YA contemporaries over the past couple months. I’ve devoured one, sometimes two a week, and I don’t plan to stop anytime soon. So, when NetGalley approved an eARC of A Taxonomy of Love by Rachael Allen for me, I dove in head first - what a great swim it was! This book will stand out in the sea of contemporaries that I’ve been reading.

“Maybe it's about finding the other people who don't fit the same way you don't fit.”

The first thing I loved about this book is the fact that I feel more informed and sensitive to things. Reading about Spencer’s Tourette’s helped me to see what that would be like, and how to react in those moments. I also loved the subtle - I mean, maybe not so subtle - hints of equality in the book. It wasn’t the main focus, but it’s always relevant, especially in the South and in a high school in the South. Ultimately, these pieces made the book feel real. It made the love story take a back seat sometimes, and I - surprisingly - wasn’t upset!

Spencer’s character is down right hilarious. I found myself laughing out loud all the time at what would go through his head and out of his mouth. The way he went about and handled life was so fun to follow. I love that he was a nerd and jock and “the kid with Tourette’s” all at the same time. His complexity was refreshing after so many male characters in YA books seem one dimensional - broody and sad or cool but “understanding.” Spencer is weird! Spencer loves his stepmom! Spencer goes to camp and talks about how to cope with things! I love Spencer. And I love that Spencer plays Magic.

Side note: I’m glad we never experienced Spencer at camp. I feel like that’s a totally different book, and the omission of it was right. I liked hearing about what he learned and that he always went.

Oh, Hope. How I relate. Tragedy is something I haven’t had to deal with much in my life - praise the Lord - but I know being a girl in high school is hard. Well, that was an understatement, but you get what I mean! Confusion about who you should be with and like and surround yourself with is rampant in those ages. Fighting what your heart says with your mind was (read: is) the headline for my life! Again, another “realness” factor.

I didn’t find myself squealing quite as much in this book as I have with other YA contemporaries. This was more a coming of age novel of a young guy. A young guy who’s in high school in Georgia and deals with that while having Tourette’s and falling in love with his neighbor. The last piece was what drove the story, but the other pieces really are what kept the story alive. I devoured this book, and I can’t wait for others to read Rachael Allen’s novel.

As for who should read this: I highly recommend this novel to anyone who has loved Words in Deep Blue by Cath Crowley or Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia. I got a lot of the same feelings in this one. I hope you enjoy this book when it’s out in January of 2018, and thanks for reading!

Can I just say that I love all of the nerdy references in this book? I don't know that it's entirely realistic, but the Magic! The Gathering references left me sending quotes to my husband. Best of all, he loved those sections and he doesn't even typically read fiction! Great nerdy coming of age story.

There's a lot that could be good about this book. Spencer, the main character, has Tourette's Syndrome, which is a nice opportunity to learn something new. Spencer learned a lot about himself and Tourette's, figuring out how to best manage it and how best to navigate through a world that doesn't understand him. Frustratingly, a lot of these realizations happen "off camera" - at a Tourette's summer camp. Spencer's best friend, Hope, also has a lot to deal with, particularly with the death of her sister to a mysterious brain tumour. This all sounds pretty good, right? Which is why it's so disheartening that it's all so BORING. I wanted to abandon this book many times, just because I was so uninvested and so disinterested in what would happen with the main characters. In spite of their extraordinary circumstances, neither Hope nor Spencer were interesting at all. By the end, I was not rooting for either of them as they finally got together. I just yawned.