~I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson~ Review and Giveaway!!!

                Welcome back!  Okay so I have a moment of ‘duh’ to share first.  I kept hearing everyone mention time change and how I should make sure I don’t forget about it.  I figure ‘I got this’ I will not forget.  Trouble is I don’t have a normal 9-5 job and my days off rotate by week.  Well I was off and I had spent the day down at my families and all so it was like a weekend and I had to work the next day.  It felt like Sunday apparently, even though my TV schedule didn’t agree my brain was set it was the day for time change.  I figured I’d gain an hour, which is really a free hour to read, and then when my alarm went off and I had 20 minutes to get up showered food ready and out the door I realized my error.  Yep it was Tuesday night not Sunday night.  So bright side is I didn’t forget time change I just got a bit eager in it.  That little bit aside the moral is this Sunday (I’ve confirmed this per Google and set an alarm) you book lovers gain an hour that can be spent reading! 

                That aside today I really have a review and giveaway for you, one I’ve been putting off for some time because…well my feelings are a bit complicated.  The book giving me all these conflicting thoughts and feels is I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson.  Before I rate this I wanted to go ahead and share that this book was a high 5 Stars for me through most of the book, I was loving it, but then after one thing that is more of a personal pet peeve of mine that makes me blow a gasket I lost all my love for it and wanted to give it up with not much to go.  I did keep reading, and ranting to my read along pal Bogdana, and while my one thing still annoys me to the point of insanity I have had a chance to look at the whole thing.  While I don’t think it’s fair to give a book I loved so much a 0 star for one thing that is such a personal issue, yes I wanted to for a while, I decided to just take some time and space from it before I rated it.

Rating: 4 Stars (I only took 1 star)

                I’ll Give You the Sun is a story told from two different POVs and from two different times.  Before and After.  Twins Jude and Noah are super close at thirteen but things change and only three years later they hardly speak.  Something wrecked the twins in different ways.  The early years are told from Noah’s perspective and the later years we hear from Jude.  What the twins don’t realize is that they only know half the story and it’s not until you have both sides that you have a whole picture and maybe a chance to find their way back to one another. 

                The time jumps between the different time lines and character was done in a way that really showcased the story.  I liked going from one time line to the other and seeing how things played out.  It was great since I found Jude to be a bit unlikable in the early years but in the later chapters I got to see a different side of her and it soothed the rougher edges of her personality.  Noah is the only character I think I enjoyed through the whole story.  He may have had his not so grand moments but I totally understood each move and understood them from the start. 

                 I can’t really discuss the story line itself but they do overlap in characters they meet and interact with and such.  It showed how far they had fallen from one another as twins.  From their game of dividing up the world to the love of art they both shared.  The story covers it all from family, loss, first loves, and betrayal.  It’s a sweet and compelling contemporary read I think I would have loved without a shadow of a doubt if I didn’t have a specific pet peeve.  So not wanting to push others from it, as most don’t agree with my pet peeve or think I over react which I admit is a strong possibility, I say to give it a go because I really did like the story.

                I figure I’ll get some questions on this so I’ll add it here.  My nuclear pet peeve with this is:  Someone screwing up, realizing it was big, and never apologizing.  Or some lame and vague apology that doesn’t have any depth and expect everything is good 5 minutes later like it magically never happened makes me roll my eyes.   Maybe it’s too many experiences where people have hurt me in the past and never apologized or did in a way that you couldn’t tell if they were sorry for what they did or for being caught doing it/called out on it.  I get wanting to get past the awkward phase but you can’t ignore it or it will never be repaired.  What kills me is this story would never have made me blow a gasket if two scenes had been switched that’s it two little things…so in my head and for my sanity I just change the order a bit.  Again totally my personal preference.  I just find I can’t like a character who can hurt someone and not apologize and someone who can just go on like nothing happened without anything I lose respect for them.

                 Anywho those are my thoughts on this story and a bit more about myself.  Please share your thoughts below in the comments.  I’m really interested to know if any of you have any personal pet peeves that can ruin a perfectly good book for you.  Let’s discuss I know I can’t be the only one out there in the world.  Now for the giveaway curtesy of Amazon and the mix up.  I ordered this book and they sent me two copies, and after I tried to do the right thing and advise them of the mix up they told me I could keep the second copy for their mishap so I figured it would be perfect for a giveaway! 

                Until next time…

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