#TNReads: Real Quick Reviews for Lazy Readers featuring Tahereh Mafi

I’m a bit conflicted about this one. I’ve loved all of Tahereh Mafi’s books – I love her writing style and the emotion she brings to the page – quick plug for me gushing about AVLEOS (which is becoming a movie! Woo!). I was excited when I heard the Shatter Me series was getting more books, and I really enjoyed Restore Me, but Defy Me felt like a bridge to another story. I’m pretty sure the entire story took place over the course of like two days…We learned a TON of information, but the story wasn’t exactly cohesive and the information wasn’t presented in the most creative way. What was done through flashbacks and info dumps could have been explained much more creatively through new POVs.

But, I’m invested in this series. I will read the last book to see if it gives more context to Defy Me. I need to know how the story ends for better or for worse.

It’s been ten years since Annika and Jonathon have seen each other when they run into one another in the freezer aisle of a grocery store. Once upon a time, they were college sweethearts who met at their college chess club and then, somehow, they weren’t. The Girl He Used to Know is the story of how they fell apart and how they found each other again.

The most important thing to know about this novel is that Annika is written perfectly with what is easy for the reader to diagnose as autism. The writing is such that you can feel her discomfort and at times I physically ached knowing how hard she was trying. But while this book may be about a woman with autism, it’s really just about a woman and a man and how hard they work to be together.

There’s a twist ending that I’m still not sold on, but I still think The Girl He Used to Know is worth reading to decide what you think for yourself.

Lukas Wunand is the cool guy on campus, the one everyone wants to hang out with but who no one really knows. His story starts out a bit muddled and with almost pretentious prose but unravels into an intimate look at the power of first love. The story unfolds across two timelines. We see Lukas in the blush of first love and the barriers that forbid it and later in life in a downward spiral as Lukas faces old emotions and new complications.

As in his first novel, The Boys who Danced with the Moon, the second by Oleksiw explores young love and coming of age. Munching on the Sun is by no means a light read and for a time I feared it would end horribly. However, a satisfactory, maybe even too perfect ending, wraps up Lukas’ story and may have you reminiscing about some of your own past loves. If you dare to go there.