Book Review- The Future of Us

I stayed up until late last night/early this morning to finish The Future of Us by Jay Asher & Carolyn Mackler for an Around the World ARC Tour.

From Goodreads:

It's 1996, and less than half of all American high school students have ever used the Internet.

Emma just got her first computer and an America Online CD-ROM.

Josh is her best friend. They power up and log on--and discover themselves on Facebook, fifteen years in the future.

Everybody wonders what their Destiny will be. Josh and Emma are about to find out.

Ok, so I have to be honest.  After reading rave reviews of Jay Asher's Thirteen Reasons Why and then reading it myself and being majorly disappointed, I was a little reluctant to read The Future of Us.  But I am sooooooo glad that I did!  It was one of my favorite books of the year!!

The Future of Us is a complete trip down memory lane for me.  Like the characters, I was 16 in 1996 and so am the same age as the future Emma and Josh now.  So I could completely relate to everything in the story!  Beepers and Discmen and DIAL-UP AOL!  And then I could relate now because I am completely addicted to Facebook.

But aside from that fun and wonderful reminiscing, I also liked them main theme of the book.  How every decision we make, from the teeny tiny choice of what shirt to wear, to major decisions like who to date, can have an impact on our future.  As I was reading, I couldn't wait to see what was going to have changed for Emma and Josh in the future each day.  And I was so glad that Emma realized that she couldn't live her life trying make decisions that could change the future to the outcome she wanted.  It just doesn't work that way.

So while this book might not be amazing to some people, I enjoyed it so much more than I thought I would and am glad to have found a new favorite 2011 book!

I gave this a rating of 4.5/5.

The Future of Us will be released on November 21, 2011.

This book fulfills items in the following challenges:
2011 100+ Reading Challenge: 92
2011 ARC Reading Challenge: 73
2011 Young Adult Reading Challenge: 73

*FTC Disclosure: I was given this book for free for an honest review as part of the Around the World Tours.