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proseandpucks 's review for:
Rules For Ghosting
by Shelly Jay Shore
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Do you ever get literally 4% into a book and just KNOW it's going to be special? Because that's exactly what happened with this book for me. Four percent was all it took for me to know that I was going to love it, and boy did I love it.
Also it is completely wild to me that this is a debut. I can't imagine the things that Shelly Jay Shore has written before we got this gem of a story, because what the hell. It's such a fascinating, refreshing concept for a romance that I stopped in my search for my next read immediately to pick it up.
From the first page, I understood Ezra's need to be the one to fix things with his siblings. The one to take on all of their problems and make it all better for them, while holding onto that stress or responsibility himself. Feeling like you're the one person that keeps the family together and convincing yourself your happy about it? Yeah, been there. It was so wild to see this on the page and brought me to tears several times, because I was that sibling for most of my childhood.
I love a messy family dynamic, and boy is the Friedman family messy. Even their ghosts have drama, and I ate it up. As messy and angry as they all are, they are also so full of love for one another and I just could not help but root for them to get it together. I'm a huge found family truther and this? Oh, this found family is everything. Ezra's initial reluctance to let them get close made me stop and have a long look in the mirror, because am I this book's main character? Everything was just so close to home it got me good.
And Jonathan. Sweet, sweet, Jonathan. I loved him immediately and he only became more perfect as the story went on. Equally stubborn and soft (but always so full of love he made me sob), he was the perfect counterbalance to Ezra's instincts to shut it down and bolt. They fit so well together and it was just so lovely.
This review is a novel in itself now, but Rules for Ghosting is a book about dying, living, grieving and finding yourself and your community through it all. I silently wept through probably the last hour of the book and it is easily one of my favorite things I have ever read. Honestly might be my top of the year and and it's only May.
Please keep this one on your radar.
Also it is completely wild to me that this is a debut. I can't imagine the things that Shelly Jay Shore has written before we got this gem of a story, because what the hell. It's such a fascinating, refreshing concept for a romance that I stopped in my search for my next read immediately to pick it up.
From the first page, I understood Ezra's need to be the one to fix things with his siblings. The one to take on all of their problems and make it all better for them, while holding onto that stress or responsibility himself. Feeling like you're the one person that keeps the family together and convincing yourself your happy about it? Yeah, been there. It was so wild to see this on the page and brought me to tears several times, because I was that sibling for most of my childhood.
I love a messy family dynamic, and boy is the Friedman family messy. Even their ghosts have drama, and I ate it up. As messy and angry as they all are, they are also so full of love for one another and I just could not help but root for them to get it together. I'm a huge found family truther and this? Oh, this found family is everything. Ezra's initial reluctance to let them get close made me stop and have a long look in the mirror, because am I this book's main character? Everything was just so close to home it got me good.
And Jonathan. Sweet, sweet, Jonathan. I loved him immediately and he only became more perfect as the story went on. Equally stubborn and soft (but always so full of love he made me sob), he was the perfect counterbalance to Ezra's instincts to shut it down and bolt. They fit so well together and it was just so lovely.
This review is a novel in itself now, but Rules for Ghosting is a book about dying, living, grieving and finding yourself and your community through it all. I silently wept through probably the last hour of the book and it is easily one of my favorite things I have ever read. Honestly might be my top of the year and and it's only May.
Please keep this one on your radar.