Fifty Shades of YA

The Infinite Moment of Us by Lauren Myracle

The Skinny: For as long as she can remember, Wren Gray’s goal has been to please her parents. But as high school graduation nears, so does an uncomfortable realization: Pleasing her parents once overlapped with pleasing herself, but now… not so much. Wren needs to honor her own desires, but how can she if she doesn’t even know what they are?

Charlie Parker, on the other hand, is painfully aware of his heart’s desire. A gentle boy with a troubled past, Charlie has loved Wren since the day he first saw her. But a girl like Wren would never fall for a guy like Charlie—at least not the sort of guy Charlie believes himself to be.

And yet certain things are written in the stars. And in the summer after high school, Wren and Charlie’s souls will collide. But souls are complicated, as are the bodies that house them… – From Goodreads

BFF?: So… you know when there is a character who you just love up until a certain point and then OMG you can’t stand her? That’s kinda how Wren was for me. Like she started out pretty good, a likable character wanting to branch out and be her own person. I can totally get down with that. And even at the beginning of her relationship with Charlie she was still pretty awesome. But then… I don’t know. She just started to grate on my nerves. I can’t quite explain it, but she just did. While I felt she was very REAL in most ways, I also felt like her personality was one of those “check out these hilarious crazy people on Facebook” personalities. Maybe it’s because I’m older, but a lot of the things she did, especially in her relationship with Charlie, just made me go “oh brother.”

Readability: I was pretty much hooked from page one. While I sort of didn’t always enjoy the story, I actually loved the reading – does that make any sense? The writing was spot on, the characters were extremely realistic, everything was.. well, unputdownable!

Crush Level: 3
Charlie, like Wren, started off pretty strong. But he has some major flaws that I just can’t get over. Mostly… well, he just has major flaws. Let’s leave it at that.

Another thing that kind of bothered me – and excuse me being blunt – is that he kept getting “hard” all the time. I mean, yes.. I’m well aware that this is something guys do, but there was one scene in particular where Wren says something and, I kid you not, “his cock hardened.” (okay, that’s not a direct quote but I’m pretty sure the word “cock” and “hard” came up (ha, no pun intended)). I actually had to ask a guy friend about this… I mean, does this really happen? (his answer: not really)

Also, I really hope this review doesn’t get major spam for me using those words!

Bonus Points:
Mission Trip

Wren kind of pulls a 180 on her parents and decides to defer college to go to Guatemala to volunteer, thus starting a war in her house. I mean, I got both sides, but her parents were kind of over the top about this… How cool is it that your daughter wants to go help poor people? How many 18 year olds want to give up going off to college to do that?

Awkward Sex Scene

This isn’t a spoiler because there’s an author’s note in the front that says this book includes sex. Basically… everyone’s first time is kind of funny. I’ve yet to meet anyone who says “my first time was like making love on a rainbow!” Seriously, it’s awkward, it’s odd, and are you sure you’re doing this right? Maybe I’m just a bitter old woman, but I might have giggled uncontrollably while reading what I’m sure is supposed to be the sexiest scene in the book.

Commencement Speech: I feel like this review has been mostly negative. And while I did have some issues with this book, it was a pretty good one. I actually read it in one sitting and really enjoyed it. There were just a lot of things I couldn’t really get past.

That being said, I feel like this one will probably better resonate with teens. I think they’ll relate better to Wren and Charlie and see themselves within their relationship. I, personally, just couldn’t. To me, they just seemed to be immature while thinking they were mature… you know, typical high school students (sorry if that offends anyone!). And maybe that’s what bothered me, that so many teens are that way. They do things they’re not ready for. They blow up over minor things. They try to do things that are well beyond their years because they think they’re what grown ups do. And while I think most YA has some of these things, I think this one, for me, just showed the worst side of it.

However… and this is a big HOWEVER… I liked this book for what it was. I thought it showed a real teen relationship, filled with normal situations that actually do come up. Were there some things that were a little over the top? Yes. But I’m also 30. When I was 18? I was MAJOR over the top. This wasn’t my favorite book, but I would highly recommend it to others.

Yearbook Quote: None! ARC!

Superlatives – Best tehehe scene

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