Friday, August 30, 2013

The Infinite Moment of Us

The Infinite Moment of Us by Lauren Myracle
3.5/5 stars
Amulet Books, 2013
316 pages
YA Contemporary

Source: Received an e-ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest opinion.

I adored Myracle's Shine so it was a no-brainer to request this one. Sadly as I prepared to read this, I started seeing a lot of negative reviews, which got me anxious for my reading experience. When many of the bloggers I trust and tend to agree with dislike a book, I expect that I won't like it either. However I actually ended up enjoying myself, perhaps because of lowered expectations, perhaps because I just had such a strong connection with the author from her previous work, perhaps I just was craving a romantic contemporary although I'll admit that as the book progressed, I became more frustrated.

Let's go back to the beginning, which introduces our two protagonists. First up is Wren Grey, the only child of her parents who have pushed and tried to mold her into perfection. But as she graduates high school, she finally rebels: deferring admission and a scholarship to take a year off to give back in Guatemala. But before that, she has another rebellion by getting her first boyfriend. This boy is Charlie Parker, a foster kid with scars no one should bear, who can't believe that the gorgeous Wren is actually talking to me yet alone willing to be in a relationship with him. What kind of future do this two people have? Can they really belong together?

For the most part, I cruised along following their relationship contentedly. Because the book alternates, in third-person, between them, we get to see their thoughts pretty closely. Neither can quite believe that the other is willing to be together but are so happy that they are. Pretty soon their relationship includes a serious physical component as I mention in my content warning. I'm a veteran romance reader so I didn't bat an eye but if that matters to you, then you're going to want to skip this. I appreciated the mix of physical and emotional especially with the brief reflections of Wren's best friend and her boyfriend's relationship, which also seems to balance the physical and emotion.

Wren is not my favorite character as I sympathized with her parents' concerns over her deferment of college but even more so with her delay in telling them (a delay of months). They did not act in the way she hoped but I wish she had found the courage to let them know sooner. Still I identified with her feelings of expected to be perfect though mine were more internally imposed. Charlie, though, I adored. His early life was brutal with a poor excuse for a mother, a dad who ran, and various poor foster parents. But now Charlie has a good family and I loved them all to bits (there could have been more of them in all honesty!)

BUT the ending is where it really fell apart for me. With a different ending, this book maybe could have gotten a 4. What happens is that Charlie's ex, who has been a thorn between Wren and Charlie throughout their relationship, causes a scene that challenges the young couple and at the very end, Charlie makes what I consider to be a pretty dumb decision. And that's how the book concludes. Jen Ryland's review with spoiler captures my feelings pretty strongly. For reference, I thought the ending might be a bit more like Elana K Arnold's Burning and it is not. I don't want to say too much for fear of spoilers other than that I expected more after the brilliance of Shine.

Content Warning: A lot of underage drinking and sexual content; moderate amount of language-definitely recommended for the more mature reader.

Other Opinions:
Alexa Loves Books
Rather Be Reading
Readers in Wonderland
The Flyleaf Review
Young Adult Book Haven

26 comments:

  1. Hmm... I've never read a book by this author before and thought this sounded interesting, but you're making me reconsider whether I should pick it up or not... An ending that makes a story fall apart always annoys me a lot.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A lot of people have had problems with this book-I'd suggest you start with Shine!

      Delete
  2. I haven't come across many positive reviews for this one. I am glad that you found some things to like about it but that ending does seem to be a cop out.

    I have a feeling teens will like this one though regardless of any flaws.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I wonder if anyone just out of high school will find their own concerns reflected in here-most of my friends were pretty driven to go right to college so it didn't match my life experience.

      Delete
  3. Thank you for your awesome review. <3 I will not ever be reading this book, because of all the bad reviews I have seen. And what you say about the ending :\ Not happy. But I am glad you still enjoyed some parts of the book :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think I enjoyed it more than a lot of other people but I can see why you'd be leery.

      Delete
  4. I feel bad because this book has gotten so many meh/bad reviews -- yours is one of the few semi-positive ones I've read (except for the ending).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I feel bad too especially since I did mostly enjoy it-I hope it finds its audience!

      Delete
  5. Glad you enjoyed for most part even if the end frustrated you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh that ending! I think that was a sticking point for a lot of readers, which really sucks since that is our lingering impression of the book.

      Delete
  6. I'm curious about that ending now. I might want to read this book just because I'm applying for university this year and sometimes reading stories about people in similar situations helps me stay focused (and not freak out). It's not my type of book, but definitely a "maybe".

    -P.E. @ The Sirenic Codex

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well I hope you do check it out and offer your perspective as someone in a similar time-I'm a bit removed from that period.

      Delete
  7. Too bad this one wasn't as good as your previous experience with this author. I hate it when that happens! I want them to keep getting better!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Always the wish, eh? I'll still be ready for another read from this author though so it hasn't completely turned me off.

      Delete
  8. Sorry this didn't completely live up to previous expectations of Lauren! I haven't read Shine, but I really want too, so I think I'll focus on that one.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, definitely read Shine! If I could encourage readers of this review to do anything, it would be to check out Shine.

      Delete
  9. I've heard that a lot of people were disappointed in this one and I also heard that there was a lot of sexual content. This is one that I'll be skipping.

    Tressa @ Tressa's Wishful Endings

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Knowing your preference for cleaner reads, I think that skipping it is probably best for you. Plus there's the negative buzz :(

      Delete
  10. I have it on my list. I'm waiting for the book to be on sale on Kindle to buy it :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh I hope you like it-I want to see more positive reviews!

      Delete
  11. I have been trying to decide whether to read this one or not. Everything sounds good until the ending, I'm a little leery of it now. I'll think about this one. Great review.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I would love for you to give it a try and then we can compare thoughts-think hard about it :)

      Delete
  12. Ah…. this one was so frustrating to me. Wren is exactly the kind of character I should easily be able to connect with, but I found her sort of whiny and self-centered. There were parts of this I enjoyed but the ending killed me. It's certainly possible that some people will love it, but it felt SO wrong in terms of character growth.

    I really look forward to reading Shine, though!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, I preferred Charlie, which was weird for me since I do tend to prefer the female character. Hope you love Shine!

      Delete
  13. Interesting thoughts, I also gave this a three. I so agree about that ending, Charlie's ex felt thrown in and way too crazy. Too much drama.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The ex part was not well handled although thanks to my skimming of early reviews, I was somewhat prepared and not too thrown.

      Delete

Thank you for commenting-I love to read your thoughts! Feel free to leave a link to your latest post so I can stop by!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...