Review Detail

Once again, the Australian author card has been played and a well-crafted, delightful story has been created! (Seriously, Australians, dude, ya’ll are awesome).

By far my favorite thing about this book is the characters. They aren’t perfect and I appreciate that so much! They’re honest and I probably know someone like each of them.

Troy and Michelle! My top 2 favorite characters. I wish they each had their own story or something. Two very family oriented people who I believe really just want to help Jess.

Sebastien is just sweet. “Wealthy, gorgeous, incredibly gifted and incredibly sheltered”. Yeah, basically. That’s him. Sometimes he would say things super smooth but so corny, and I kept being reminded of this guy that texts me sometimes and it is semi creepy. And for my own selfish reasons, I didn’t like him as much as I like Jay. (Yeah surprise, surprise. I like the sensitive bad guy).

Jess was forever blushing. For everything. The most random shit made her face heat. But she is a strong girl, and that made her an admirable heroin.

Now. I feel the need to bring this up because I see it so much in YA books. The texting stuff.
“Jst lvng now, soz. A.”

First off, I spent a few seconds trying to process that. I still don’t know what “soz” is and I can’t help but wonder if people actually text like that. At least no one I know does. Does it save time or something? I mean, you spend the time putting in that comma but you can’t spell out the damn words.
I hate that shit and I see it in books all the time and I don’t understand it.

Anyways.

“Music could get to me sometimes, made me ache for something I couldn’t really describe.”
That sentence is perfection. Yes. That’s exactly what music is.

This Is Now is full of sweet, little flawless sentences that made me stop and smile. I really appreciate a book that is actually original.

“I didn’t understand the attraction with nightclubs either: it was loud, the drinks were expensive and usually not very good, and the only guys that ever seemed to hit on me were drunk and obnoxious or drunk and charming because they thought this gave them a better chance at getting into my pants”.
Oh my damn, yes. That is how I feel about clubs. Jess, you understand me!

The whole time I was reading this I was thinking about something that I love as much as Sebastien loves his cello or Jess loves architecture and I couldn’t think of a damn thing that I could spend the rest of my life doing and never get sick of it. (I was told traveling the world doesn’t count. And I can’t make a living off of being a ridiculous fandom freak). And so now this book has given me a life crisis and I’m kind of freaking out.

Maybe we are all supposed to get something different out of this book. It’s not something I will forget any time soon.

If you’re looking for an easy, pleasant story, this is it