Every Time I Think of You
Every time I think of you I remember why I read books.
I couldn’t shake the feeling this book was a kind of therapy for me after reading Memorizing You. The plots have some similarities, in both of them the MC are teens discovering the first/true love, both are set in the 70s and both have an accident that changes their lives forever since. It’s unfair but for me was almost like a series in which this one is the second part you must not fail to read. I don't really feel sorry for that but I apologize for my twisted thoughts.
One of the things I most liked of this story was that it’s totally unusual. The beginning is weird as hell and you wonder how two people can fall in love in those circumstances because they’re far from romantic. At first sight, that is.
Where the hell have you been all these years?
In the first pages I thought Everett was an asshole. Yes, I know, it doesn’t start well if you don’t get on with the MC. If I meet someone that irresponsible and reckless and cocky and dishonest I’d think he’s jerk whose only aim is to have fun and don’t give a damn about other people’s feelings. And that’s true, in a way, but not when it’s related to Reid. Because that casual and nervy façade hides a heart mesmerized by his love for Reid. That confused me like it did for Reid, it was a mixture of disappointment, pain and joy. Everett makes you feel everything in the space of two seconds but in the end you give in to his charm because when he lays his heart on the ground for Reid you only can do two things: forgive him or thank him, or both at the same time.
“We’re gonna be great together.”
That's why at the beginning I thought Reid is the one who is really into the relationship and that it’s a game for Everett to just have a good time. But with the following pages you wonder if that’s really true, and you finish them convinced that it’s just the opposite: for Everett it was a big deal from the start and for Reid it get more serious with each passing day.
“I’m okay! I finally found the person I’ve been searching for!”
Reid is a normal guy who was closed in his inner world, shy and extinct until Everett appears in his life. And then there is no turning back. He is ruined forever and he knows it. It’s his POV we know during the story, and he is a memorable narrator, with his feelings and his letters and his way of seeing the world and the his shining bliss of having Everett in his life. In spite of all the obstacles trying to make them apart, they get stronger defying them all.
About a week later, a small box arrived in return. Fortunately, my parents respected my privacy and hadn't opened it. Inside a large plastic bag was one of his jock straps.
I found this book utterly daring, like challenging the reader to say something against the circumstances. That writing confidence captivated me and I only wanted to feel trapped in its pages. I have thought about it and haven’t found any page that felt missing or in excess. Every one of them serves a purpose and... is there something more perfect than that?
“You know what I need? If you have any other boyfriends who take trains and bang up cars and break into houses and get drunk and practically fuck in front of your parents, one at a time, if you recall, just to be with you, I’d really like to meet him. He sounds like a great guy.”
The personalities of both MC are so well captured what I could almost touch them. And I wanted to touch them, because they felt so real and so ideal at the same time I needed assurance of their existence even though I coulnd’t deny it because, you like it or not, they make their seats in your heart.
"Be good. And if you can't be good..."
"Be perfectly wicked!"
I grew up with them and I laughed with them and I wanted to cry with them (the tear didn’t drop but I felt my throat like being squeezed). I really felt close to the MC, and I could easily put myself in their shoes.
I knew with every postcard Everett imagined just such a gazebo, except we were two cute little bike messengers, without the girl, or the Nazis, or even the bike, but definitely the rain.
“That day… in the forest?”
“Mmm,” I mumbled.
“… was like I conjured you.”
“Hmm?”
“I wasn’t just doing that to do it. I was hoping for someone as daring, as crazy as me. And there you were.”
In the end I hugged my paperback and thought about how the world would be a better place if people could see the wonder of making this magic from naught. I know, cheap philosophy and all of that, but this is my review!
