Review originally appears on the book review blog: justonemorepaige.wordpress.com.

Really the best word I can think of to describe this book is adorable. This is, potentially, one of the cutest overall stories I've read in a long time. When I originally read the blurb about the book, I thought it was going to be a magical realism type story - the girl who cannot touch other people or she'll die. I mean, that's what it sounds like. Not an intense magical realism, like Garcia Marquez (though I love those too), but like one of those books about the lady that bakes cakes that can help your love life...something like that (read: anything by Sarah Addison Allen*). And I love those, like immeasurably love them, so I picked this one up quickly. Despite not actually being magical realism, it had a lot of the same feelings/quality.

An, here's that word again, adorable little love story about self-discovery and coming out of your shell - the not touching people thing was so much more real than I had anticipated. There's even a little note about it at the end. That the "allergy" to the proteins in other people's skin is not something that has ever been documented, but it's based on similar/other extreme allergies. And the same fears/concerns/possibilities of treatments are things that many people really do face on a daily basis. That was what grounded the story a bit more than a normal magical realism piece would be. But regardless, this was still a story that I really enjoyed.

Like I mentioned, a great piece of self-discovery, for many of the characters. Jubilee herself of course, leaves her house for the first time in 9 years and we get to see her experience so many of the joys and sorrows of life - finding a job, making and losing friends, love, loss, fights, forgiveness, helping each other through pain (learning to lean on people and having to be there for them in turn). Just, all the feelings that we usually see as normal, she gets to learn all at once. It's a lot, it's intense, but the pacing for it was perfect - fast enough that we don't get bored, but not so fast that it's unrealistic. Eric and Aja and Ellie and Madison all get their chances to grow and learn as well. Eric about parenthood, how it looks different in so many cases and no one is an expert, about the grieving process, and about love, of course. Aja begins his own grieving process and starts to open up, to make relationships. Ellie, though she is not there much in her own right, learns some about forgiveness. And Madison learns self-forgiveness and to make friends for herself, to appreciate the people that are there for her when she needs them. Through it all, we experience all the different ways that love and families (and the relationships within) can look.

I loved the way each section started with a little piece of an article about Jubilee, it was a great way to get all the background information about her condition without making awkward exposition sections throughout. I also loved (of course) the prominent part played by books - for Jubilee, for Eric/Ellie, and just the quotes and authors and books that, in general, connected all the characters. The one thing I was iffy about was the epilogue. It was part of what gave the book the full happy ending feeling of a magic realism novel on par with, as I mentioned earlier, a SAA* novel. And though I love her, I love her stories, reality was just stronger in Oakley's story and that that type of ending felt a little less appropriate there. I actually think that, though a bit harsher on our poor hearts as readers, the ending of the last chapter (before the epilogue starts) would have been the right, more realistic, ending for the story. Just my personal opinion, which primarily stems from my assumption of the type of book it was, so take that with a grain of salt. But overall, a really satisfying, quirky read with a very lovable cast of characters that tugs just the right amount on the heartstrings.