Book Review—Every Day by David Levithan

This review contains spoilers for Every Day.

The premise of this story is what made me want to read it: What would it be like if you changed bodies every day? If you couldn’t create connections with people, become attached to things, have friends? If you could never fall in love?

This story was not only a roller coaster of emotions, but I fought with myself while reading it. At some points, I loved the book. At others, I wasn't sure how I felt. The ending is what pushed me over the edge. It was so unexpected, yet so perfect. I didn't know that this was a series, but I'll definitely be reading the other two books.

The story opens on main character. They've just woken up and are figuring out whose body they are in. They can access the person's memories and usually try not to interfere with the person's life too much; They've made that mistake before.

Each chapter of the book is a different day, which I love. There is so much diversity in this story and I love that the main character inhabits so many different people. A lot of these people, I didn't get to know very well because A, the main character's name is just "A", doesn't spend much time in them and the story is mainly focused on his thoughts, not theirs. One day, A wakes up to find himself inside the body of a kid name Justin. From the information A gathers, Justin is kind of a jerk. Still, A goes to school as Justin would and ends up meeting Justin's girlfriend—Rhiannon.

A can tell from her demeanor that Justin doesn't treat her well. He tries to treat her as Justin would, but she's so gorgeous and kind that he just can't. Rhiannon picks up on this and is a little weirded out, but is more-so grateful and feels like Justin may be changing for the better.

They go on a beach date and it's romantic and then A is sad when he comes to the realization that he'll never see her again and even if he did, he wouldn't be able to be with her.

I'm not a person who cries when I read. I wouldn't consider myself a lover of romance novels, most of them are too sappy and cliche for my liking, but this reoccurring tragedy of Rhiannon and A not being able to be together completely broke me. I don't think it was the fact that they couldn't be together that hurt so much, that conflict is the conflict every romance novel is built on. It hurt so much because I, as the reader, couldn't even imagine a way for them to end up together in the end. There was no work-around to their problem in my mind.

Because I didn't see a way for them to realistically end up together, the middle of the book was a struggle for me to read. Of course I wanted to see how the story was going to end. I felt like the author was hinting that they were going to end up together in the end, and since I didn't see a realistic way for that to be accomplished, my expectations for the book were quickly going down hill. I thought the ending was going to be cliche or unrealistic, but I was so wrong.

Throughout the majority of the story, A struggled to meet up with Rhiannon in different bodies. He eventually told her the truth. Along with the A and Rhiannon conflict, another major conflict arises between A and a kid named Nathan Daldry. A inhabits Nathan after he falls in love with Rhiannon and drives to a party in Nathan's body to meet up with her. One of the constraints of A's ability is that he has to be asleep before midnight, or else he is ripped from the body he's inhabiting and it's very painful. It is also a shocker for the person who he's inside of when they wake up in a strange place if he doesn’t get them back in their bed before midnight. When he's in Nathan, he loses track of time because he's hanging out with Rhiannon. On the drive home, he pulls over on the side of the road and falls asleep minutes before he is ripped from Nathan's body.

When Nathan wakes up, he knows something happened and thinks he was possessed by the devil. He finds A's email address on his computer and is constantly contacting him throughout the story to try to get information on who A is and on what happened the night of the party.

At the end of the story, Nathan and A meet up and A explains everything. Only Rhiannon and Nathan know about A's ability, but at the end of the story, A discovers there may be more people like him and that they are in hiding.

The final chapter is the one that crushed me the most. Not only did it obliterate my preconceptions, but it completely changed my view of the story and made me applaud the author and the story.

In the final chapter, A is a kid named Alexander Lin. Alexander is witty, kind, has a good family and social life, and is just one of those people who loves life. A deeply connects with him and Alexander is one of the only people that A inhabits who we really get to know. As usual, A meets up with Rhiannon and they go on a date. At the end of the night, they have a nice dinner in Alexander's tree house and everything is very romantic. A little before midnight, A tells Rhiannon that they can't go on like this and that they can't be in a relationship like they want to. I did not see this coming. Like I said earlier, I expected them to end up together somehow and when it didn't happen, I was shocked and really happy that the author did not choose the "easy" ending.

A tells her that Alexander is a good guy and that they will be happy together. A then makes Alexander remember Rhiannon, so that when he wakes up, he will adore her and remember all of the moments that happened between A and Rhiannon throughout the story. A and Rhiannon lay in bed until midnight and A knows that this could be the last time he ever sees her. But he has to leave and try to find the other people like him.

This ending ripped my heart out. I was so surprised and shocked by it. It was absolutely incredible. If you haven't read this book, read it! It's not cliche in the least. It's a heart breaker and one of those books that makes you think.

Thank you for reading this review! I hope you enjoyed it. If you've read this book, what are your thoughts? Leave a comment letting me know!

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It's been a pleasure writing for you and until next time—stay weird and stay writing. - Lexi