David Levithan does it again in Another Day

                I hope you all are having a great Wednesday.  Today I have a different kind of review for you today and a first for me.  A few months back I reviewed David Levithan's Every Day here.  Today I'm going to be talking about the companion novel Another Day.  I was so excited to see this on NetGalley and even happier to be accepted to receive it.  This is not a sequel novel nor does it follow a different character after the events like the other companion novels I've read have been.  Another Day strictly takes place during the time from of Every Day only from Rhiannon's perspective.

Rating: 5 Stars

                If you're not familiar with the basic plot it follows Rhiannon in her life as she meets 'A' a being who has no body.  A moves from body to body every day never in the same one twice and never able to have their own person.  A also has no gender but for simplicity A will be referred to as a he in my review because I saw A as a he.  Rhiannon has accepted her life as is even her distant and temperamental boyfriend Justin.  One day he is completely different and she has a perfect day.  Then the next day it's as if it never happened to anyone but her.  Then as she meets a few strangers she is told by one that they were the one she spent her perfect day with, because they 'A' were inside of Justin's body that day.  It's hard to take in.  We follow Rhiannon as she continues to meet this 'A' in all the different forms and push her beliefs on what really matters in the heart the shell or the soul.

                This book I think could be read without having read Every Day.  I think having read it, and recently, I knew most of what was going to happen so most things weren't super surprising to me but I really enjoyed seeing it from her perspective.  We had lots of stuff that we didn't get in the first book from 'A' while he was dealing with his own internal struggles we see how Rhiannon copes with learning this strange and unbelievable fact that has become part of her life. 

                Seeing how she handled each different incarnation and her struggle to adjust her way of thinking.  Could you love a soul if one day it was a boy and the next a girl always bouncing back and forth?  Could you feel equally attacked to each form because of what is inside or does the outside count for something?  As someone who has had body image issues her whole life this was really interesting to watch her look at.  I loved her comparisons to the car and the driver.  Rhiannon had much more depth in this book and I could understand her reasoning so much more in this.

                My favorite part though was seeing one body in particular through her eyes.  'A' is a boy, one who is very obese and he is clearly uncomfortable.  In Every Day you see how disgusted he is to be in that body, which was new he always respected all the bodies he had, but this one got him and it was at a point that hit the reader.  After reading Every Day I was dreading her reaction to this assuming it would be worse than his, however, Rhiannon was okay with it.  She was more put off by his reaction to it and that he put the awkward space between them there not her feelings on it.  Same goes for how Rhiannon saw some of the other bodies, jealous she wasn't as attractive and how her attitude changed when around that body.  It just shows that we are our worst critics and many times what other people see in us we don't see ourselves. 

                I really enjoyed this book.  I love how Levithan is able to weave so much power and meaning into an entertaining story.  Both books make you take a look at your life.  What is important in a relationship.  Can you truly love only the soul?  Can it work?   'A' always moving never knowing what it is to have anything long term, literally living each day, then with Rhiannon she has sees the downsides but sometimes when you have a life that is stuck the idea of escaping and being someone else for a day sounds appealing. 

                The ending is the same place but the last line.  THE LAST LINE.  Every Day leaves you with a sort of open ending, where there are so many possibilities for the future.  A fanfiction dream of openness.  I had my theory, then finishing Another Day and it is blown away.  I spent hours figuring out an option that I think now suits the story.  Bogdana at Bogdana The Booknerd reviewed this too and was my sounding board coming up with our own 'down the road' ending we are both happy with. 

                I highly recommend reading both of these books.  It really is like reading a completely different story both times because there is so much more in between.  You can check out Another Day now as it came out yesterday August 25th!