Review: Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

Hello, everyone! I hope you are all doing well. Today I have another book review.

Title: Everything, Everything

Author: Nicola Yoon

Genre: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult

Series? Standalone

Synopsis: My disease is as rare as it is famous. It’s a form of Severe Combined Immunodeficiency, but basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in fifteen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla.

But then one day, a moving truck arrives. New next door neighbors. I look out the window, and I see him. He’s tall, lean and wearing all black—black t-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly. I want to learn everything about him, and I do. I learn that he is funny and fierce. I learn that his eyes are Atlantic Ocean-blue and that his vice is stealing silverware. I learn that when I talk to him, my whole world opens up, and I feel myself starting to change—starting to want things. To want out of my bubble. To want everything, everything the world has to offer.

Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster.”

Everything, Everything was a very entertaining book. It has the same sort of storyline as with The Fault in our Stars and Five Feet Apart. The story revolves around Maddy, a girl with Severe Combined Immunodeficiency, more commonly known as SCID. She hasn’t left her house in fifteen years. But then a boy moves in next door, Olly, and everything changes.

The fact that Maddy was African American/Japanese was a big plus for me. Diversity in books is a big thing for me. I enjoyed Maddy’s character. She’s sweet and has a kind heart. You definetely want to root for her and achieve what she wants to do.

I also loved Olly’s character. His love of climbing things he probably shouldn’t and his witty remarks are really funny. He acts his age, which should be obvious, but a lot of teenagers in books act more mature than their age suggests.

One thing that I thought was a little unrealistic was Maddy’s nonexistent concern for her own health. She falls in love with Olly and it’s like all of her worry is gone because of him. I don’t want to give too much away, but with the level of concern she had for herself, which wasn’t very much, she could have died.

I was not prepared for the major plot twist at the end. I had a suspicion that something was off earlier in the story, but I didn’t expect that much of a twist.

I felt that the pacing was slightly fast in the story as well. Maddy “meets” Olly (seeing him from a window), and she falls in love with him, really over IMing. I don’t feel like that’s too realistic, since you can’t truly get to know the person unless you meet in face to face.

Everything, Everything was an entertaining, heartfelt story. Though there were some aspects that I didn’t particularly enjoy, I still had a lot of fun reading this book.

My Rating: 3.5/5 dragons