I was given this book to read in exchange for an honest review and I have to say that this book has one of the most inventive story ideas that I have read in a long time, if not ever.
Kieran is the cute new boy that just moved to a very small town and the first day of school he makes a huge impact by having an 'episode' in class. What are his episodes? He has narcolepsy. For anyone that does not know what that condition is, it basically makes a person fall asleep at random times. You could be walking down the hall, eating lunch, having a conversation, and scarily, driving and just fall asleep. As you can imagine this causes huge problems in Kieran's life. He has very over protective parents and a sister that is more like a bodyguard and his condition prevents him from being a normal teen. As I started to read about his situation I was thinking it would be refreshing to hear about a teen relationship that has to deal with the real life situations medical problem can cause. I was right about that. It was heartbreaking at times to think about how much it already impacts his life, and how uncertain his future as an adult will be. Most of the time the situations caused by his narcolepsy are funny, but only because Kieran has such a great attitude about his condition and can easily laugh at himself.
Zip is the other half of this teen romance. Obviously Zip is a nickname, but it is all anyone has ever called her. I fell in love with her character right away. She is the typical girl next door, future valedictorian, head of the girls basketball team, but still sweet and humble. This was refreshing because it seems like most of the time the girls in teen romance books are on the fringes of the school population. If a girl is smart and captain of the basketball team they would be written as part of the 'in crowd' and would be very stuck on themselves. It was refreshing to have a girl that was popular and at the same time be a normal, nice person. Zip never once considers Kieran's narcolepsy a reason not to be his friend. In fact through much of the book most of the other kids at school won't even talk to Kieran. Zip's acceptance and unshakable loyalty to Kieran will make anyone fall in love with her character.
Just when you think the narcolepsy is the only twist in this story of teen love you find out that Kieran's family has been keeping a huge secret. This throws the whole story in to a new direction. Zip gets pulled in to a crazy situation because of her relationship with Kieran. This is where you truly see how much Zip cares about Kieran and how far she is willing to go to protect him.
There wasn't anything about this book that I disliked. All of the characters are well written and the story is told in such a way that everything that happens is believable even if it seems so strange at times. This is a wonderful book and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a great read with a new twist on the typical teen romance.
Parent Guide: This is a teen romance book so there is kissing and the teens do get a little hormonal but nothing happens other than heavy kissing. There was also some very, very mild language. Overall a great book for anyone old enough to appreciate romantic stories.
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