SYNOPSIS: Growing up in the shadow of a famous mother, Clara has never felt good about her body. Now, at sixteen, she has an unhealthy obsession with healthy eating. After a social media disaster, she decides to escape for the summer to Paris to stay with her estranged dad and her six-year-old brother, Alastair, who is on the autism spectrum. Charged with his care, Clara and Alastair set out to explore the city. Paris teaches Clara about first love and gives her a new love of food. And Alastair teaches Clara about patience, trust and the beauty of loving without judgement. Rating: 4/5
I received a copy of this book via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review. First of all, I LOVE this cover. I was ready to request this book based on just the cover alone when I saw it! The pastel colours and the little pictures are just perfect. When I read the description, however, I was even more intrigued. I struggle with eating problems myself and I find autism very fascinating, so I was interested to see what this book would do with these two topics. Also Paris, which is always a good place to set a story. Clara's eating disorder is portrayed so well. Not only the way she handles it, but also the way people around her handle it. They stumble around the subject and aren't sure how to act, and Michel thinks he can just fix her quite easily. This actually happens a lot, as people don't understand how you can just not want to eat, so showing this so honestly was a real plus for me. I do not have any firsthand experience with the sort of autism that Alastair has, so I can't say if it's realistic. It felt realistic for me though, and I appreciate how Clara handled it. The bullying is also something that I know autistic people can struggle with, and I just love how Clara explained to Mag how to deal with Alastair's bullying. It's very honest but not cruel. She says: ""You don’t want to be a sheep but you don’t want to get beat up, either", which I think is a good way of describing it. Clara's relationship with Alastair was super sweet and I loved the two of them a lot. Now onto another important part of the story: Michel. Overall, I thought he was alright. I got very frustrated with him for the way in which he handled Clara's eating disorder, but I understand why he acted this way. He meant well. It is also explicitly mentioned that he is mixed race and that he has struggled with this in school, which is a nice touch to the story, especially because Young Adult romances are too often about two white kids. I do have to say, I am quite disappointed in the fact that Michel is 20 and Clara is 16. He is just too old for her, and I'm sad that this happens in many romance novels. As if teenage girls cannot fall in love with a guy their own age. I feel like there will always be a power imbalance in a relationship between two young people with a big age gap. If Michel had been a bit younger or Clara a bit older, I would've approved of their relationship much more, because Michel was really trying to help Clara, he loved Alastair too, and he was just a big sweetheart. This book was not lacking in character development, despite the fact that it moved very fast. Clara, her mother, Mag, Alastair, Michel.. everyone showed character development in some form. This is one of the reasons why I would love to see a sequel for this book! I am dying to see what will happen with all the characters, and also with the plotlines that were started but never really got closure, like what Bree is up to, and the fact that Alastair is good at photography. To close this off: I want to praise Jennifer Gold for making me cry! On the Spectrum and the final Harry Potter book are the only two books to have ever made me cry so far! All in all, a lovely read which I would recommend to anyone when it comes out on September 12th this year! Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/book/show/34415919-on-the-spectrum Amazon: (Pre-order!) www.amazon.co.uk/Spectrum-Jennifer-Gold/dp/1772600423/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1493468373&sr=8-1&keywords=on+the+spectrum+jennifer+gold
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AuthorHi! I'm Marcella. As you might have guessed, I quite like YA books.. Archives
February 2018
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