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From Barnes and Noble:
You go through life thinking there’s so much you need. . . . Until you leave with only your phone, your wallet, and a picture of your mother. Marin hasn’t spoken to anyone from her old life since the day she left everything behind. No one knows the truth about those final weeks. Not even her best friend Mabel. But even thousands of miles away from the California coast, at college in New York, Marin still feels the pull of the life and tragedy she’s tried to outrun. Now, months later, alone in an emptied dorm for winter break, Marin waits. Mabel is coming to visit and Marin will be forced to face everything that’s been left unsaid and finally confront the loneliness that has made a home in her heart. An intimate whisper that packs an indelible punch, We Are Okay is Nina LaCour at her finest. This gorgeously crafted and achingly honest portrayal of grief will leave you urgent to reach across any distance to reconnect with the people you love.
Rating: 4.5/5
What I thought: At first, I wasn’t sure about this book. I read the online excerpt and decided to go for it. The beginning was slow, but the characters more than made up for it. Marin moved across the country to go to college and her former best friend is going to visit her. The visit between Mabel and Marin is very awkward and it takes a while for the reader to find out why. Mabel continuously asks Marin to come back to California with her but she refuses.
The backstory behind her refusal was not at all what I was expecting. The author dropped hints but I never picked up on any of them; I didn’t want to. I wanted her grandfather to go off into the sunset and I wasn’t changing my mind on it.
It was the best YA book I’ve read this year by far. I kept staying up late so I could read more of it. It didn’t get a 5/5 because it didn’t end entirely how I wanted it to.