Friendship, family, life, experience, humour.
I'm a huge Jess Vallance fan so I already had Expectations when it came to this book. And they were definitely exceeded by the time I finished this book.
Getting my hands on this book was a bit of a YOLO moment. I was at YALC and it was getting late on the Sunday, I'd just pushed Birdy by Jess Vallance into Charoltte's hands saying "it's DARK" when I spotted the proofs at the back of the table. I had a bit of an eek fan girl moment and straight up asked the publicist what I had to do to win a proof because YOLO. Turns out absolute fan-girling works, and they handed it over so I had another eek fan girl moment and hugged the book for an hour.
When you first meet her, Gracie is a bit of a hypochondriac, very serious about her studies and her future, and a little bit dramatic. OK, she's very dramatic. I loved how she overthinks everything, she over exaggerates everything. It was so me as a teen! Every little thing has the potential to be Drama.
This book explored the pressures people face from practically every aspect of their lives. Gracie has the pressures of school, exams, her future, social media, friendship, the expectations of others... And that's just on the surface. I loved how Gracie realised so early on that maybe this isn't it.
Her journey of self realisation, and living in the moment, was hilarious. Gracie is the type of person who needs to plan every moment, and seeing how she reacted to being forced out of her comfort zone made for a lot of laughs and some cringe-worthy moments.
I loved how Gracie was pretty sure of her sexuality. She was like "yeah, not boys" and that was that. And everyone around her was fine with that. I loved her coming out too, it was so like my own experience. And I loved how it wasn't a big deal that Gracie likes girls. She just does. And I am here for non-judgmental sapphic representation.
My absolute favourite part of this book is actually near the beginning. Not giving too much away, it involves a trip to Paris and a book soggy with tears. As much as Gracie has her initial "What's the point?" moment right at the start of the book, I feel that this was where she truly understood what she was trying to do.
There were some moments when I felt a little bit scared for Gracie. When she decides to seize the day she really goes for it, and although I admire her confidence and her drive I was at times on the edge of my seat thinking about everything that could go wrong. And because I'm accustomed to the author's typically dark books, I was expecting everything to go wrong. It made You Only Live Once an unexpectedly tense read!
I can't wait for more Gracie, and I'm so glad this is going to be a series. I can't wait to see what Gracie does next, for more overthinking and laughter.
Getting my hands on this book was a bit of a YOLO moment. I was at YALC and it was getting late on the Sunday, I'd just pushed Birdy by Jess Vallance into Charoltte's hands saying "it's DARK" when I spotted the proofs at the back of the table. I had a bit of an eek fan girl moment and straight up asked the publicist what I had to do to win a proof because YOLO. Turns out absolute fan-girling works, and they handed it over so I had another eek fan girl moment and hugged the book for an hour.
When you first meet her, Gracie is a bit of a hypochondriac, very serious about her studies and her future, and a little bit dramatic. OK, she's very dramatic. I loved how she overthinks everything, she over exaggerates everything. It was so me as a teen! Every little thing has the potential to be Drama.
This book explored the pressures people face from practically every aspect of their lives. Gracie has the pressures of school, exams, her future, social media, friendship, the expectations of others... And that's just on the surface. I loved how Gracie realised so early on that maybe this isn't it.
Her journey of self realisation, and living in the moment, was hilarious. Gracie is the type of person who needs to plan every moment, and seeing how she reacted to being forced out of her comfort zone made for a lot of laughs and some cringe-worthy moments.
I loved how Gracie was pretty sure of her sexuality. She was like "yeah, not boys" and that was that. And everyone around her was fine with that. I loved her coming out too, it was so like my own experience. And I loved how it wasn't a big deal that Gracie likes girls. She just does. And I am here for non-judgmental sapphic representation.
My absolute favourite part of this book is actually near the beginning. Not giving too much away, it involves a trip to Paris and a book soggy with tears. As much as Gracie has her initial "What's the point?" moment right at the start of the book, I feel that this was where she truly understood what she was trying to do.
There were some moments when I felt a little bit scared for Gracie. When she decides to seize the day she really goes for it, and although I admire her confidence and her drive I was at times on the edge of my seat thinking about everything that could go wrong. And because I'm accustomed to the author's typically dark books, I was expecting everything to go wrong. It made You Only Live Once an unexpectedly tense read!
I can't wait for more Gracie, and I'm so glad this is going to be a series. I can't wait to see what Gracie does next, for more overthinking and laughter.