Ever wonder "What if?" Everything That Makes You is a romantic, epic story about one girl—and her two possible lives after an accident changes her fate.
Fiona Doyle's face was horribly scarred as a child. She writes about her frustrations and dreams in notebooks, penning song lyrics. But she'd never be brave enough to sing those songs in public. Fi Doyle never had an accident. She's the best lacrosse player in the state and can't be distracted by her friend who wants to be more than that. But then her luck on the field goes south.
Alternating chapters between Fiona and Fi tell two stories about the same girl—hopes and dreams and crushes, fears and failures and loss. This beautifully written realistic contemporary novel with a twist is perfect for fans of If I Stay by Gayle Forman and Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver.
I didn't really buy this book. I finished it because I wanted to know how the lives were reconciled, but was ultimately disappointed.
This book honestly could have been two separate books, except that without that premise there'd be nothing very interesting to keep anyone reading. I'm usually super excited about the idea of multiple perspectives and the idea that a single event can change a life, but I kept wondering while reading this what the point was.
I was perpetually having to remind myself which character Fi was and which character Fiona was and what roles the people in their lives played correspondingly. And I didn't care enough about either to have to do this. Fi was kind of obnoxious and two-dimensional, obsessed only with lacrosse, and Fiona was bland and unintriguing.
Really, the most interesting character in the book was Marcus, the boy Fiona begins dating, and even his premise isn't the most unique in YA right now.
Fiona's half-scarred face wasn't really described and I was unsure how extensive the damage from a childhood accident really was, but as she eventually gets surgery and a skin graft to fix the scarring, that didn't even play much of a role.
I found the plot to be predictable and didn't even feel excited when I guessed something correctly.
I was excited for this premise, but it fell completely flat for me.
7
