I'm confused about how I actually feel about All the Bright Places. I often found Violet and Finch to be pretentious a la Dawson's Creek or John Green characters, but I felt like their story was an important one. Seriously, do not read or listen to this unless you are looking for a punch in the heart.

I'm sad to see that so many YA novels of 2015 are focusing on suicide, not because they are bad or a "trend" but because suicide is still a horrible reality for far too many. Niven dealt with the topic sensitively and with insight, as she herself is a "survivor of suicide," or someone who has lived through the suicide of a loved one.

Unfortunately, I felt the story was uneven. A horrible student newspaper article announcing a student was stopped from jumping to his death is basically ignored by any adults in the story (really?!) and the characters mostly felt they couldn't talk to or get assistance from the adults in the story. This was redeemed at the end for one character, I won't get into spoilers, but phew. Also after the big SHOCK, I felt the ending meandered on in an unrealistic way.

However, still a worthwhile read, and will definitely be popular with fans of hard issue contemporary fiction.