Book Review- The Sky is Everywhere

Last night I finished reading The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson for an Around the World Tour.

From Goodreads:

Seventeen-year-old Lennie Walker, bookworm and band geek, plays second clarinet and spends her time tucked safely and happily in the shadow of her fiery older sister, Bailey. But when Bailey dies abruptly, Lennie is catapulted to center stage of her own life—and, despite her nonexistent history with boys, suddenly finds herself struggling to balance two. Toby was Bailey’s boyfriend; his grief mirrors Lennie’s own. Joe is the new boy in town, a transplant from Paris whose nearly magical grin is matched only by his musical talent. For Lennie, they’re the sun and the moon; one boy takes her out of her sorrow, the other comforts her in it. But just like their celestial counterparts, they can’t collide without the whole wide world exploding.

This remarkable debut is perfect for fans of Sarah Dessen, Deb Caletti, and Francesca Lia Block. Just as much a celebration of love as it is a portrait of loss, Lennie’s struggle to sort her own melody out of the noise around her is always honest, often hilarious, and ultimately unforgettable.
 
Wow, I really enjoyed this book.  I feel like I had been a mini-reading  slump lately but this book brought me out of it.  It had a little bit of everything--humor, grief, sympathetic characters, and great writing.
 
First off, I loved the writing.  I usually don't tend to like books that deviate from the norm when it comes to writing styles, but this book was a change for me.  Almost every chapter started or ended with something that Lennie had written somewhere in town about what she was feeling.  It was like reading part of her journal.  And then just the way that the rest of the story was written and flowed was beautiful.
 
And the characters were great.  You could really feel what Lennie was feeling.  You felt her grief over losing her sister and her joy (and guilt) of falling in love.  And the boys were great too.  While I definitely loved Joe more (who wouldn't love a happy-go-lucky boy was crazy about you), but I loved Toby too and could tell how heartbroken he was and how in love he was with Bailey.  And the side charaters of Gram and Sarah were great too.  (Big was just a tad too weird for me though.)
 
This was a beautiful story and it will make you laugh and cry!
 
I gave this book a rating of 4/5.
 
This book fulfills items in the following challenges:
A to Z Challenge: N
2010 100+ Reading Challenge: 84
2010 Young Adult Reading Challenge: 63
2010 Debut Author Challenge: 25
ARC Reading Challenge 2010: 62
 
*FTC Disclosure: I was given this book for free for an honest review as part of the Around the World Tours.