4.5 to be exact.I picked this book up pretty much on a whim. I was at an author's signing and Rothenberg was one of the appearing authors on the panel. I remember seeing this book here on Goodreads and thought, why not? After listening to Rothenberg speak, I was super excited to start reading this.
I loved this book. Brie, our main character, literally dies of a broken heart. I know, I was a little skeptical as well. But what the author did was take this scenario and effortlessly weave it over the real story: which was dealing with the stages of grief. Set against a soundtrack for each chapter, Rothenberg does this with humor, extremely likeable characters, and realistic emotions. Also with a little bit of Disney thrown in there (which I loved).
Brie was far from perfect here. I mean, she's dead so I give her some leeway, but there were times where I could not believe how petty she was being. But then again, she was only 16 when she died. I absolutely adored Patrick. I loved his corny jokes and the way he tried to guide Brie through her afterlife, even when she was being unreasonable.
One thing I found interesting was the title of this book. I went in figuring I knew who the "you" was, but as I made my way through, I realized that technically the title could relate to any of the characters in Brie's circle (Jake, Sadie, her dad, Patrick). Ultimately, I knew who it referred to, but I liked how fitting the title felt to me. I don't know if this is something the author planned out, and if she did - brilliant.
Oh, and I can't forget to say how much I LOVED Hamloaf. This dog...I can't even. There are reasons why I'm a dog person. Dogs never stop loving you. But not going to lie, the whole time I was picturing Hamloaf as:
All in all, a very good debut novel. And I look forward to seeing what else Rothenberg pens in the future.
