Would you give love a chance? | Hello, Goodbye and Everything in Between

Hello, Goodbye and Everything in Between by Jennifer E. Smith

Published: September 1st 2015 by Poppy

Genre: young adult, contemporary

Goodreads summary: On the night before they leave for college, Clare and Aidan have only one thing left to do: figure out whether they should stay together or break up. Over the course of twelve hours, they retrace the steps of their relationship, trying to find something in their past that might help them decide what their future should be. The night leads them to family and friends, familiar landmarks and unexpected places, hard truths and surprising revelations. But as the clock winds down and morning approaches, so does their inevitable goodbye. The question is, will it be goodbye for now or goodbye forever?

Charming, bittersweet, and full of wisdom and heart, this irresistible novel from Jennifer E. Smith, author of The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight, explores the difficult choices that arise when life and love lead in different directions. 

REVIEW

Jennifer E. Smith is one of my favourite YA contemporary authors, Hello, Goodbye and Everything, being the fourth book I read by her. She truly excels at writing cute and fluffy romance, but also incorporating more serious topics. Except for The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight, which I was disappointed in, she always hit close to home and I ended up sobbing.

In each of her contemporary novels, Smith tries to make the narrative more original, for example with postcards in The Geography of You and Me, here it was about places that had marked the characters’ relationship. While I liked this concept in the end, because it allowed me to know about their love story without actually reading about that time, it took me a while to wrap my head around it. Reading about characters in a relationship, wondering if they should break up or not, was quite interesting, because I don’t think I’ve ever read a novel like that, but also heart-wrenching, because I was scared of the outcome.

I found the characters to be realistic, they were quite flawed but it made it even easier to relate to their story. For example, Clare, the female protagonist, was blaming her best friend for not telling her what she had been up to during the summer, when Clare herself had been self-centred during the whole summer, wondering if she should break up with Aidan or not. While at first, I blamed her, I realized that I, myself, acted this way and even if it was hard to be put in front of my flaws, it made me love the book even more, in the end. Aidan was loving and adorable, but he was also short-tempered. I really liked him as a love interest and I think any girl would be happy to have such a boyfriend.

I loved the topic the author chose to cover, which is saying goodbye to your friends, when a new life awaits. I’ve been in this situation and I know from experience that I don’t have many contacts with my high school friends – but well, I’m not very social either, haha – and I could easily relate to Clare’s sadness. It made me remember when I left and was happy about it, but cried for so many hours. I totally understood her need for a new life, without leaving anything behind. I mainly sobbed because of the theme and even now, as I’m typing my reviews five days later, I’m still crying. I loved the epilogue, because it gave so much hope, that when you want something, you just have to work hard to get it.

Overall, contemporary isn’t my favourite genre, but this type of books makes me want to read more of them. Hello, Goodbye and Everything in Between was a cute coming-of-age story, set in a short time span, but I cared so much for the characters, since I related to them so much. I liked that the romance was already there before I opened the book, because most of the time, it’s about finding love. Here, it was about choosing to keep it. I cannot wait to see what this author has in store next!

Other:

• Review of This is What Happy Looks Like
• Review of The Geography of You and Me

Have you read this book? What did you think of it? Have you read any of Jennifer E. Smith's other books? Who is your favourite contemporary writer?