ebook review: How to be brave

An emotional contemporary YA novel about love, loss, and having the courage to chase the life you truly want.

Reeling from her mother's death, Georgia has a choice: become lost in her own pain, or enjoy life right now, while she still can. She decides to start really living for the first time and makes a list of fifteen ways to be brave - all the things she's wanted to do but never had the courage to try. As she begins doing the things she's always been afraid to do - including pursuing her secret crush, she discovers that life doesn't always go according to plan. Sometimes friendships fall apart and love breaks your heart. But once in a while, the right person shows up just when you need them most - and you learn that you're stronger and braver than you ever imagined.

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My Review:

10% impression: This book isn't the most exciting, but it is definitely interesting. It strikes me as one of those important this-book-might-save-your-life books. We meet (nain character) and her mother, body positive people in a world filled with fat shamers. (Nain charachter) has just lost her mother, and instead of crumbling under the pressure and depression of the experience, she decides to take her mother's advice: to do everything and be brave.

25% impression: evelyn is a really interesting character. You get the impression that she and Liss were the ones meant to be best friends, but that's what life in high school feels like sometimes, too.

50% impression: I really admire the development in this book. While Georgia and Liss's relationship with evelyn devolved (as they are wont to do when you're young and hang out with someone because they look cool), Georgia's relationship with her dad got so much stronger and I wanted to cry because of all the emotion. Before this, her dad felt like a prop.

The book really could have ended at the end of chapter thirteen, but I kept reading anyway. I was really worried it would feel slapped on or forced, but it didn't. It was emotional and important a great way to tie everything up.

Would I buy it? It's a great book, but not relevant to me. I've never lost a parent. I'm past high school. I've never been fat shamed by anybody. But anyone who has should definitely read this book.

Book source: Netgalley