It took me a while to decide on a book for this month’s Back to School theme.  I spent a solid hour searching Goodreads and Amazon and Google, reading reviews and samples and such.  I finally chose The Beginning of Everything by Robin Schneider, solely based on it’s pretty cover. (I know, I know–don’t judge a book by it’s cover!) I wasn’t disappointed–it made up for my lackluster choice last month.

RIVETING. What part of this book could you not get enough of?

Robin reeled me in right from the beginning and kept me until the very end.  I think I mostly just enjoyed spending time with the characters.  They were so likable.  I loved Ezra’s wit and Cassidy’s random knowledge and how neither one of them were typical.  I enjoyed watching their relationship develop and change.  There was a unique twist towards the end that completely threw me and changed my whole perspective on the story.

A few favorite quotes:

• Everyone’s life, no matter how unremarkable, has a moment when it will become extraordinary–a single encounter after which everything that really matters will happen.
• The funny thing about gold is how quickly it can tarnish.
• And then I realized that there’s a big difference between leaving and knowing where to go.
• We’ve all been fooled into believing in people who are entirely imaginary.

ELEMENTS.  How did you relate to/care for the characters?  What’s your thought on the plot line?

I fell in love with Ezra in the first chapter, when he so stoically responded to catching his girlfriend cheating.  He is one of those mature and witty high-schoolers that are great in books but so rare in real life.

I enjoyed the other characters too- Ethan, Toby, Charlotte, Cassidy, Phoebe.  I could visualize each of them and their respective cliques as they existed back in relation to my own (long-ago!) high school days.

ASSOCIATE. What other books, movies, or tv shows remind you of this book?

I was very much reminded of John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars, minus the cancer and everyone-dying parts.

DESIGN.

Love.  From the roller coaster that represents life to the lopsided title text to the colors, I think this cover is spot-on.

STARS.

3 of 5.  This was a great read, but it was also a very easy read that didn’t require any thought or emotion.
The next link-up is October 26 and the topic is a thriller/horror published before 2010.  Choose a book and link up with us–you have an entire month!

Have you read This Is The Beginning?  What was your opinion?